OEDEE OF MARSUPIALS. 



29 



provided with fifty teeth, perfectly organized for dismembering a 

 living prey. They sally out at twilight or at night ; during the 

 day they lie hid in the midst of bushes, in hollow trees, or on 

 branches. They feed on small quadrupeds, birds, eggs, insects, 

 molluscs, and even fruits or young vegetable shoots, from which 

 they suck the sap. The females are remarkably prolific ; they 

 have from ten to fifteen young at a litter, and nurse their 

 progeny with that tender solicitude which Florian has so well 



Fig. ll.-Feinale of Virginian Opossum ( liUlitliikis) witli lier young. 



described in his pretty fable of La Sarigue et ses Petits. One 

 of the largest species is the Virginian Opossum (Fig. 11). This 

 animal is particularly fond of the eggs of the wild Turkey, and 

 it seeks for them with avidity. They sometimes make incursions 

 upon poultry-yards, and then the carnage which they perpetrate 

 is something fearful. If the Opossum is surprised by the farmer 

 "flagrante delicto," it lies down on the ground, counterfeits death, 

 and takes any amount of beating without wincing ; but as soon 



