POSSIBLE PETS 
281 
tenacious in retention, the suricate’s paws are expres- 
sive, plaintive, and wholly irresistible. The creature 
is made for a pet, and is so affectionate to its master 
that it can undergo any degree of “ spoiling ” without 
injury to its temper. A larger, more beautiful, and 
most charming creature, not unlike the suricate in 
some respects, though in no way related to it, is the 
brown opossum from Tasmania. “ Sooty Phalanger ” 
is the elegant name given to it by naturalists ; but 
except when the specimen kept by the writer dis- 
covered that a chimney made a good substitute for 
a hollow tree for its midday sleep, there was nothing 
in its appearance to justify the scientific adjective. 
The fur is of the richest dark-brown, and covers its 
prehensile tail like a fur boa. Its head is small, with 
a pink nose and very large brown eyes ; and it has 
a “ compound ” hand, with the claws on its fingers, 
and an almost human and clawless thumb, with the 
aid of which it can hold a wine-glass, or eat jam out 
of a teaspoon. That owned by the writer was, with- 
out exception, the most fearless and affectionate pet 
he has ever known. In the evening, when it was 
most lively, it would climb on to the shoulder of any 
of its visitors, and take any food given it. It had 
a mania for cleanliness, always “ washing ” its hands 
after taking food, or even after running across the 
room, and was always anxious to do the same office 
by the hands of any one who fed it. It made friends 
with the dogs, and would “ wash ” their faces for them, 
catching hold of an old setter’s nose with its sharp 
