PY^MY OPOSSUM. 
501 
per parts of the fore feet are whitish ; and the 
lower half of the tail is of a deeper black than the 
beginning. In the structure of the feet it agrees 
with other Australian Opossums : the two interior 
toes of the hind feet being united under one com- 
mon skin. 
The dried skin of this species was sent over by 
Mr. White^ and the specimen figured in the 
Zoology of New Holland was described from it. 
PYGMY OPOSSUM. 
Didelphis Pygmaea. D. hypochondrm prolixis wlitans, Cauda 
plano-pinnata lineari. 
Opossum with lateral flying membrane, and flatly .pinnated 
linear tail. New Holland Zoology, No. i. p. 5. 
This is by far the most minute of all the Opos- 
sums, and, from its diminutive size, not exceed- 
ing that of a common mouse, has been named the 
Pygmy Opossum. It has been most elegantly 
figured in the Zoology of New Holland, and the 
representation here given exhibits the animal in a 
similar posture. It is furnished on each side the 
body with an expansile membrane, exactly in 
the manner of the flying squirrel ; by the assist- 
ance of which it is enabled to spring to a consi- 
derable distance. The fur on the whole animal 
is extremely fine ; the colour is a soft or palish 
brown above, and almost white beneath: the 
edges of the flying membrane are also white : the 
nose, feet, and ears internally, are of a light pink 
