PRELIMINARY LIST OF THE MAMMALS OF NEW YORK 293 



Throughout this paper, except in the tables of synonymy, bibliographic 

 references are made by what is now generally known as the " Harvard " 

 system. On pages 375-385 is given a complete list of the works referred 

 to arranged alphabetically by authors. Under each author the separate 

 papers are placed chronologically, each preceded by an abbreviation of 

 the date on which it appeared. These abbreviations serve as an index. 

 Thus for instance the reference " J. A. Allen '94b n would refer to the 

 second paper published by J. A. Allen in 1894, the full citation of which 

 may be found when needed. 



RECENT SPECIES 



Didelphis virginiana Kerr Opossum 



1792 Didelphis virginiana Kerr, Animal kingdom 1 : 193. 

 1842 Didelphis virginiana De Kay, Zoology of New York, Mammalia 

 P 4- 



1896 Didelphis virginiana Fisher, The Observer. May 1896, 7 : 194. 

 1898 Didelphis virginiana Mearns, Am. mus. nat. hist. Bui. 9 Sep. 1898, 

 10:330. 



1898 Didelphis virginiana Mearns, U. S. Nat. mus. Proc. 21 : 360. 

 Type locality. Virginia. 



Fannal position. The opossum is strictly an inhabitant of the austral 

 zones. 



Habitat. Woods, thickets and old fields. 



Distribution in New York. Lower Hudson valley, Long Island and 

 the lake region. 



Principal records. De Kay, "Although it is abundant in New Jersey, I 

 have never seen it in this state, but have heard that it has been noticed 

 in the southern counties on the west side of the River Hudson, and it 

 will probably be found in the western counties " ('42 p. 4). 



Fisher, " Strictly speaking this animal should not be included in the 

 present list [of the mammals found at Sing Sing, Westchester co.] 

 because as far as known it has never been taken in Westchester county. 

 Nevertheless it is tolerably common in Rockland and Orange counties 

 two or three miles to the westward, and is only prevented from entering 

 our domain by that ideal but insuperable barrier, the Hudson river. 

 This broad, deep, powerful stream so dreaded by the old Dutch sailors 

 of New Amsterdam, seems likewise to' be feared and avoided by the 

 equally slow-going opossum " ('96 p. 194). 



Mearns : " In the [Hudson] highlands the opossum has always been 

 fairly common since my boyhood, and hence long before its too 'sue- 



