474 VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM* 
armed with very numerous sharp teeth : the ears 
are thin, naked, blackish, round, and edged with 
a border of white : the legs are short : the feet 
armed with sharp claws, but the interior toes or 
thumbs of the hind feet are flat and rounded, and 
have nails like those of the Monkey tribe": the 
tail is blackish at its origin, and covered with 
longish hair, but from that part to the end is 
naked, and covered with a scaly skin, the divi- 
sions of Avhich are marked in such a manner as 
to give the tail very much the appearance of a 
whitish snake : it is strongly prehensile, or pos- 
sessed of the power of coiling, like those of se- 
veral ]\Ionkies, round any object from which the 
animal pleases to suspend itself Its general co- 
lour is a dingy yellowish white ; the legs black- 
ish; the tail, as before observed, blackish, and 
furred to some little distance from the base, 
and from thence to the tip naked: the belly 
is white; and its lower part, in the female, is 
furnished with a large cavity or receptacle, which 
can be opened and closed at pleasure : in this are 
situated the teats; and in it the young, imme- 
diately after birth, are either placed by the pa- 
rent animal, or introduce themselves; for this 
is one of those particulars in natural history 
which hitherto seems to have eluded investiga- 
tion: it is, however, more than probable, that 
the parent herself places them there ; since, even 
long after their residence in it, they are void of 
hair, and resemble foetuses or embryos, strongly 
adhering to the teats. When they have attain- 
