ZOOLOGY. 



Genus— OPOSSUM. Specie*- WOMBACH; or, 

 OPOSSUM HIRSUTUM. 



Character.— Five cutting teeth in front, next to which two 

 canine teeth and eight grinders ; body having a 

 pouch for the young ; the tail short, concealed 

 under the furry skin ; the fore feet having five 

 hooked toes, the hind feet only four toes. 



THE Worabach is a newly discovered animal from 

 Botany Bay, and on many accounts highly deserving the 

 attention of the Naturalist. He is a thick short-legged ani- 

 mal, rather inactive in his motions, and of the size of a 

 turnspit dog. His figure and movements, if they do not 

 exactly resemble those of a bear, at least strongly remind us 

 of that creature. His length from the tail to the nose is two 

 and a half feet ; the head seven inches ; the tail only half an 

 inch ; the hair is coarse and about an inch and a half long, 

 and thickest upon the loins and rump. The colour is of a 

 light sandy brown, varying in its shades, but darkest along 

 the buck. The head is large and flattened, and when look- 

 ing at the animal's full face, seems to form nearly an equi- 

 lateral triangle, any side of which is about seven inches and 

 a half; the hair lies in regular order upon its face, as if it 

 were combed, with its ends pointing up like radii, from the 

 nose as its centre. The mouth has whiskers all round, as also 

 has each cheek, and the nostrils form tv/o distinct cavities 

 in front, placed near to the mouth, which is short and small. 

 The fore legs are very strong and muscular, their length to 



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