MAMMALIA. FER^;. Opoffum. 193 



5. Virginian Opoflum. — Didelphis virgittiana. 



The tail is fhorter than the body, and hairy at the bafe, the reft is naked and prehenfile ; 

 the face is white, with a dufky fpace round the eyes ; the body is thick, clumfy, and 

 blackifh on the back ; the fides dufky; the belly dirty white ; the legs and thighs 

 black. Perm. Lift, of quad. n. i S 1. pi. xxxvi. Aivh zool n. 24. 



Inhabits Virginia, Louifiana, Mexico, Brafil, and Peru.— Mr Pennant deferibes and figures this 

 animal from a fpecimen in the Leverian Mufeum : He fuppofes it to be the fame with the Didelphis 



marfupialis of Linnaeus, but, at the fame time, expreffes his doubt of the identity by a mark of inter- 

 rogation : Dr Gmelin, on the contrary, quotes this fpecies from Mr Pennant as fynonimous with the 

 Didelphis Opoffum, or Sarigue of Buffon and of this edition ; there is not, however, any refemblance 

 in the three defcriptions, and I have therefore ventured to disjoin them.— T. 



From the tip of the nofe to the tail this animal is twenty inches long, and the tail twelve 5 the nofe 

 is long, and fharp pointed, having long ftiff hairs on each fide; the cars are large, rounded, naked, 

 very thin, of a black colour, and edged with white; the eyes are fmall, black, lively, and furrounded 

 with a dufky fpace ; the face is covered with foft, Ihort, white hair ; the neck is very ihort, thick, 

 and of a dirty yellow colour at the fides ; the hind part of the neck, and the back, are covered with 

 long, foft, uneven hairs, which are yellowiih white at the bottom, black in the middle, and whitifh 

 at the ends ; the hair on the fides is of the fame length, mixed dirty white and dufky colours ; the 

 belly is covered with foft, woolly, dirty white hair ; the feet are dufky, with white claws, having five 

 toes on each ; the great toes on the hind feet are diftinft, and like a thumb ; the bafe of the tail is 

 hairy ; the reft is prehenfile, and covered with fmall fcales, like a fnake, the firft half being black, 

 and the reft white; the body is round, very thick and clumfy, with fhort black legs; the female has 

 a pouch or falfe belly in which the teats are placed, and in which the young take fhelter immediately 

 after birth, faftening fo clofely to the teats that they can hardly be feparated ; they are then very 

 fmall, naked, blind, and referable foetufes ; when older, they acquire hair, get their fight, and ven- 

 ture out of the pouch, but return on the leaft alarm. This animal is very fetid, vet the flefh, even 

 of the old ones, is very goo.l, and eats like that of a fucking pig. 



6. Cayopollin. — 4. Didelphis Cayopollin. 6. 



The tail is longer than the body ; the belly has no pouch ; the eyes are furrounded 

 with a flight black ring. Schreber, iii. 544. t. cxlviii. 



African Philander, of a dark chefnut colour on the back, the belly of a yellowiih dirty white, 

 and the tail marked with dark chefnut fpots. BrifT. quad. 2 la.-Cayopollin, with a prehenfile 

 tail. Fernand. nov. hifp. 10—Male African Moufe, named Kayopolin. Seba, Muf. i, '49. t. 31 

 f. 3. -Cayopollin, or Mexican Opoffum. Sm. Buff. v. 438. pi. cxlii. Penn. hift. of quad. n. 1.86— 

 Cayopollin, f. Animal caudimanum. Nieremb. hift. nat. 158. 



Inhabits the mountains of New Spain—The muzzle is thicker, and the cars fhorter and narrower 

 than thofe of the Didelphis Opoffum, or Sarigue, already defcribed, or of the Didelphis muring 

 which follows;, the body is from fix to nine inches long; the tail is longer, being hairy at its origin 

 and the reft naked, but marked with dark chefnut coloured fpots on a whkiih ground. Mr Pennant 

 defenbes this fpecies from a fpecimen in the Leverian Mufeum, having large, angular, and tranfpa- 



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a ° rent 



