OPOSSUM. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Two canine teeth in each jaw. 
Cutting teeth vary in number. 
Five toes on each foot. 
Tail very long, slender, and usually naked. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
DiDELrms marsupialis. D.mammis octo intra abdomen. Linn. 
Syst. Nat. Gmel. 1. p, 105. 
Has eight teats within the pouch. 
Philander maximus orientalis. Sel. 
Mus. 1. p. 64. tab. 3 Q. 
Opossum Sin. Buff. v. 5. p. 404. pi. l6l, 162. 
Penn. Hist. Quadr. v. 2. p. 18. 
pi. 63. Bew. Quadr. p. 3Q5. Shaw 
Gen. Zool. pi. 10/. 
Among the various ways in which Providence hath 
chosen to diversify the forms of different animals, 
there is hardly one so singular as that which is al- 
lotted the opossum for the security of its young. 
When the female finds herself near the time of 
bringing forth, she prepares a nest of coarse grass 
covered with long pieces of stick. Upon this nest 
