78 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The family Didelphididae is peculiar to the warmer parts of 

 America. It contains about lo genera, all strictly tropical with the 

 exception of the following: 



Genus Didelphis Linnaeus 

 1758 Didelphis Linnaeus, Systeina naturae, ed. 10. 1:21. Type Didel- 

 phis m arsupi alis Linnaeus. 

 Size of a house oat; fur a mixture of short, fine, soft hairs and long coarse 

 bristles ; pouch always well developed ; fifth toe on hind foot markedly shorter 

 than second, third and fourth, which are subequal. (Didelphis; Gk., two 

 womb) 



The genus Didelphis is peculiar to the warmer parts of America, 

 it contains three or four species, one of which reaches our limits. 



Didelphis virginiana Kerr Common opossum 



1792 Didelphis virginiana Kerr, Animal kingdom. 1: 193 (Virginia). 



Blackish varied with grayish white ; ears naked, leathery ; tail dark at base, 

 light at tip; total length 700 (271), tail vertebrae 28 (11), hind foot 57 (2J). 

 (virginiana; N". Lat. Virginian) 



The common opossum is abundant in woods and old fields throughout 

 the austral zones of the eastern United States. At the northern limit 

 of its range it is irregular in distribution. Notwithstanding the popular 

 misconceptions on the subject the process of reproduction in the 

 opossmn is, with the exception of the one peculiarity common to the 

 members of the subclass Metatheria, precisely as in our other 

 mammals. 



Order Ungulata Hoofed animals 



Terrestrial, herbivorous or omnivorous auimals with hoofed toes ; front teeth 

 variable in form (sometimes wanting in upper jaw) but never long and with 

 chisel-like edges; cheek teeth with broad flat crowns for grinding vegetable 

 matter. (Ungulata; Lat., a hoof) 



The order Ungulata contains about a dozen famihes distributed 

 practically throughout the world outside of Australia and the neighbor- 

 ing islands. Four of these occur in America north of Panama, and two 

 have been found within our lim.its during historic times. The domestic 

 horse, cow, sheep, and pig are well known representatives of the order. 

 The North American members of the group belong to the suborder 

 A r t i o d a c t y l[a , in which an even number of toes (usually two) are 

 well developed in each foot. 



