VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM. 
Ill 
nations, and conclude his nightly round in search of food. Although a 
slow traveller, the Opossum, by keeping perseveringly on foot during 
the greater part of the night, hunts over much ground, and has been 
known to make a circle of a mile or two in one night. Its ranges, how- 
ever, appear to be restricted or extended according to its necessities, as 
when it has taken up its residence near a corn field, or a clump of ripe 
persimmon trees, {DiosperosVirginiana^ the wants of nature are soon sat- 
isfied, and it early and slowly carries its fat and heavy body to its quiet 
home, to spend the remainder of the night and the succeeding day in the 
enjoyment of a quiet rest and sleep. 
The whole structure of the Opossum is admirably adapted to the 
wants of a sluggish animal. It possesses strong powers of smell, which 
aid it in its search after food ; its mouth is capacious, and its jaws pos- 
sessing a greater number and variety of teeth than any other of our 
animals, evidencing its omnivorous habits ; its fore-paws, although not 
armed with retractile claws, aid in seizing its prey and conveying it 
to the mouth. The construction of the hind-foot with its soft yielding 
tubercles on the palms and its long nailless opposing thumb, enable it 
to use these feet as hands, and the prehensile tail aids it in holding on to 
the limbs of trees whilst its body is swinging in the air ; in this manner 
we have observed it gathering persimmons with its mouth and fore-paws, 
and devouring them whilst its head was downwards and its body suspen- 
ded in the air, holding on sometimes with its hind-feet and tail, but often 
by the tail alone. 
We have observed in this species a habit which is not uncommon 
among a few other species of quadrupeds, as we have seen it in the rac- 
coon and occasionally in the common house dog — that of lying on its back 
for hours in the sun, being apparently dozing, and seeming to enjoy this 
position as a change. Its usual posture, however, when asleep, is either 
lying at full length on the side, or sitting doubled up with its head under 
its fore-legs, and its nose touching the stomach, in the manner of the 
raccoon. 
The Opossum cannot be called a gregarious animal. During summer, 
a brood composing a large family may be found together, but when the 
young are well grown, they usually separate, and each individual shifts 
for himself ; we have seldom found two together in the same retreat in 
autumn or winter. 
Although not often seen abroad in very cold weather in winter, this ani- 
mal is far from falling into that state of torpidity to which the marmots, 
jumping mice, and several other species of quadrupeds are subject. In the 
Southern States, there are not many clear nights of starlight or moonshine 
