No. 586] EARLY PORTRAYALS OF THE OPOSSUM 589 



quando lattano. Quest' animate mostruosa con tre suoi &g 

 portato in Sibih'a & indi in Granata."— p. 1187. 



Minister's illustration of the "Simivnlpa" is evidently 

 derived from figures of the opossum appearing in several 

 editions of Ptolemy's "Geography" from 1522 onward, 



and other early maps of South America, all traceable in 

 the first instance to AValdseemiiller's world-map of 1516, 

 where the same representation occurs (Fig. 3). It is 

 there accompanied by essentially the same legend as one 

 finds in the "Tabula Terre nove" of the 1522 Ptolemy, 

 and in later maps and atlases, 3 such as Cornelius de 

 Jode's (1585), and van Linschoten's (1598). 



