DIDELPHIS. 
marmot: in the abdominal pouch of the female, the ma 
fupial bones in oo {exes, — in the fyftem of the ee 
e opoffum in the formaticn i 
with “kengeroo. The marfupial bon 
by Geoffroy, in that easy 
creature, the duck- bit quadruped, a ad the Platypus 
of Dr. Shaw, and Ornithorhynchus of Geoffr 
an abdominal pouch I 
offum is not peculiar to this genus of 
o three genera of thofe 
of which, ae ea to that aut or, there are 
the opoffum g divided into two genera, an ane 
guroo CPedinanes}, the Platypus acl iia the new 
genus Pha conftituting the oth 
Mott * e ae e opoffums inhabit oe a, and live in 
holes in woody ¢ chess burrowing in the earth, and being of 
the carnivorous kind, feeding on {mall birds, cou, reptiles, 
l 
marfupial bon 1es, ‘he opening of the vagina, which is double, 
he genus, from the Greck (di- 
The flefh of the opoffum is, 
however, occafionally introduced to table as an article of 
food. 
Species. 
RSUPIALIS. ‘T'eat ee within the pouch. 
‘ber. Philander Amboinenfis, & Briff, 
This {pecies a inhabits head is about the fize of 
a large cat. noftrils are perpendicular, and lunar; 
whifkers long ; at eh corner of the mouth eight briftes, 
and under the throat five: the ears oval, lax, black, with t 
tip white; the grinders lobate: legs black, — a 
befet pe i hair and the tail the length of t 
Opos 
brows paler. 
Schre-~ 
The common or Virginian ase is about the fize of 
af{mall cat. The face is long and 
ae power opesiney| ike 
aa colour is a dingy oe white, the le black- 
ifh, and belly white. The abdomin pen is a a barge 
cavity which can ae ee and clofed at P leafure. It is in 
When t 
th vey 
he have 
emerge, a 
the animal to loofen it. 
f pouch is performed by certain bones and mufcles which 
nature has provided for that purpofe. The female, when 
‘ready to produce her young, is faid to make pana a neft of 
dry grafs, in fome bufh near the root of a tree.— riety 1s 
defcribed by Gmelin under the name of Molucca, He om of 
which is dark brown, and the belly whitsfh. This is found 
chicfly in the ifle of Ceylon 
Cayorotiin. Tail longer than the body: no abdomi- 
nal pouch: eyes furrounded with a black border. Schreber. 
rat Africanus ; Cayopollin dius. Seba. Mexican Opof= 
"The Cayopollin inhabits the mountainous parts of New 
Spain w arge pu ar ace 
tran{parent ears, a erg. 
colour above is 
whitifh : the face whitith with a al line down the eee 
and a blackifh or brown border e to 
length is about feventeen cienea of eu the bay ead 
x and the tail eleven 
Tail half naked ; ‘Tian: 
teats fix. 
Mus fyl- 
erent colour 
gen y bro 
; the eyes cea ‘with black. 
a 
- in this {pecies me all furnifhed 
the ce hi or great toes of the 
Dorsieerd ‘Tail at the be ‘hairy, and longer than 
the 
