THE OPOSSUMS 
165 
THE OPOSSUM FAMILY. 
Didelphyidae. 
The New World contains more than twenty 
species of omnivorous animals, varying in size 
from a large cat to a small rat, mostly provided 
with long, hairless tails that are fully prehensile, 
and always well clad with fine and abundant 
hair. In all species save a few, the female pos- 
sesses the abdominal pouch to which every mar- 
supial female is entitled, but in some species it is 
either rudimentary or wholly lacking. These 
animals are the Opossums, and while the major- 
ity of the species are confined to South America, 
our North American representative is about as 
widely known as all the tropical species com- 
bined. 
The Virginia Opossum 1 is a typical marsu- 
pial, but differs widely from all the Australian 
members of that Order. Seemingly it is a dull- 
witted, slow-moving creature, and so ill-fitted by 
Nature either to fight or to run away, that it 
might be considered almost defenceless. But 
let us see what use this odd little animal makes 
of the physical and mental equipment which 
Nature has given it. 
It eats almost everything that can be chewed, 
—wild fruit, berries, green corn, insect larvae, 
eggs, young birds and quadrupeds, soft-shelled 
nuts, and certain roots. It is a good climber, 
and has a very useful prehensile tail. It forages 
on the ground quite as successfully as a raccoon. 
Usually it burrows under the roots of a large 
tree, where it is impossible for a hunter to dig it 
out, but sometimes it makes the mistake of enter- 
ing a hollow log. Like the bear and woodchuck, 
it stores up under its skin a plentiful supply of 
fat for winter use, when food is scarce and dear. 
Above all, the female has a nice, warm pouch in 
which to carry and protect her helpless young, 
instead of leaving them in the nest to catch their 
death of cold, or be eaten by some enemy. 
The young of the Opossum vary in number 
from seven to eleven. Not until they are about 
five weeks old do they begin to venture away 
from the mother; but for a season they are very 
careful not to get beyond grabbing distance of 
her shaggy coat. 
The Opossum is a very hairy animal. Its un- 
der fur is woolly and white, and the outer coat 
1 Di-del'phis vir-gin-i-an' a. 
is straight, coarse, and tipped with black. The 
nose, lips, and half the ear are pinkish white, 
and the eyes are like a pair of shoe-buttons. The 
tail is naked, white, and strongly prehensile. 
A large specimen has a head-and-body length 
of 15 inches, tail 12 inches, and the weight of a 
large specimen is 12 pounds. In the South, the 
flesh of this animal is much prized as food, and 
I can testify that when properly roasted, and 
served with nicely browned sweet potatoes and 
yellow corn bread, it is an excellent dish. 
One habit of this animal is so remarkable and 
so widely known it has passed into a proverb, — 
VIRGINIA OPOSSUMS. 
“playing ’Possum.” When found by hunters, 
the Opossum deliberately feigns death, hoping to 
escape by being “left for dead.” Give it a tap 
on the head or back, and it stretches out, limp, 
motionless, and seemingly quite dead. Its 
breath is so short and feeble the thick fur almost 
conceals the chest movement. 
When but a lad I killed my first Opossum in 
an Indiana forest, and had carried it by the tail 
for half a mile when we came to a rail fence. In 
climbing through, I noticed that the front claws 
of my Opossum caught on a rail, and held fast 
in a manner highly unbecoming in an animal 
that was honestly and sincerely dead. A close 
examination revealed the fact that my victim 
was only nominally dead. In other words, it 
was fully alive, and sharply watching for a chance 
to escape. This discovery led me to keep the 
animal alive in confinement, until finally it did 
escape. 
The Virginia Opossum is the species found in 
the United States, from New York to Florida, 
and westward through the southern States to 
