489 
CAYENNE OPOSSUM. 
Didelphis Cancrivora. D. cauda squamosa fere caha corpus 
prope ceqmnte, plajitarum migue pollicari piano, Lin. Syst. 
Nat. Gmelp. io8. 
O. with nearly naked scaly tail almost the length of the body^ 
and the nail of the thumbs flat. 
Crabier. Buf. suppl, 3. 272. 54. 
This species was first described by the Count 
de BufFon. It is a native of Cayenne^ and is said 
to be a very active animal, living on trees by day, 
and by night descending into marshy places in 
order to prey on crabs, which it draws out of 
their holes by its feet^ and sometimes by its tail. 
Its colour above is a reddish tawny^ and below 
yellowish : the fur is somewhat woolly, but beset 
with much coarser or more bristly external hairs^ 
especially along the back, where they almost form 
a kind of dusky mane : the fore feet have nails^ 
the hind feet claAvs, except the thumbs or interior 
toes^ which have nails : the face is long and slen- 
der; the ears upright, short, and pointed: the 
tail very long, taper, and naked. The length of 
that described by Buffon (which was but young) 
was seventeen inches, and of the tail fifteen. 
