VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM. 473 
The Opossums were long supposed to be pe- 
culiar to America; but later discoveries have 
evinced that several species, unknown to Ame- 
rica, exist in other parts of the globe. It is ne- 
cessary to observe^ that a degree of confusion still 
prevails among authors, relative to the synonyms 
of the different species. 
VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM. 
Didelphis Virginiana. D. suhcinereo-Jiavescens, cauda uuda, an- 
riculis rotundatis nudis mgris, margine albis. 
Yellowish-grey naked-tailed Opossum, with black, naked^, 
rounded ears edged with white. 
D- Marsupialis? Lin, Syst, Nat. ^.71. 
D. Opossum? Lin. Syst. Nat. Gmel. p. 105. 
Opossum. Phil. Trans, abr. 2. p. 884. 13. 
Virginian Opossum, Museum L^veriafium, vol. i. p, 24.. pi. 6, 
This, which seems to have been the species 
first discovered in America, is not much inferior 
in size to a Cat, but is of a thicker form, owing 
to the length and upright growth of the fur. 
The general measure seems to be about one foot 
four inches from the nose to the tail, which is 
commonly about a foot or thirteen inches long*. 
It is an animal of an inelegant aspect; having a 
long, sharpened face, and very wide mouthy 
* Mr. Pennant, in his last edition of the History of Quadrupeds, 
says, about twenty inches from the tip of the nose to the base of 
the tail : of the tail thirteen inches, 
V. I. P. II. 31 
