S06 
DIDELPHIS. 
habits the Eaft India iflands, but is.not found in Surinam, 
as, B.uffon conjectures. 
12. Didelphis Brunii, or Javan opoffum ; diflinguifhed 
by a narrow fox-like head, upright pointed ears, a brown 
itripe palling through the eyes, very fhort fore legs, five 
toes on the fore feet, three on the hind, two of which 
are very ftrong, the outermoft (lender and weak ; tail thick, 
and (barter than the body. In the upper jaw are fix cut¬ 
ting teeth, and two in the lower, formed like thofe of a 
fquirrel. They have no canine teeth. The hair on the 
body is coarfe ; and the face of the animal is analogous 
to that of a hare. They wfere firft difcovered by M. Le 
Bruyn, who faw, in Java, feveral of them in an inclofure 
with rabbits; they burrowed like them, but nurtured 
their young in their pouch ; the young would often peep 
out when the old ones were dill. 
13, Didelphis gigantea, the gigantic opoffum, or kan¬ 
garoo. This curious animal is a native of New Holland, 
and was firft figured and deferibed by Mr. White, in his 
Voyage to New South Wales. It has a (mail head, neck,, 
and (boulders, but its body incr.eafes in tlncknefs to the 
rump ; its head is oblong, like that of a fawn, tapering 
from the, eyes to the note; (he end of the nofe is naked 
and black, and its upper lip is divided; its nollrils are 
wide and open ; its lower jaw is fhorter than the upper; 
the aperture of the mouth is fmall; it has whifkers on 
both jaws,, thofe on the upper (trongeft; it has ftrong 
hairs alfo, both above and below its eyes ; the eyes are 
not large, irides dufky, and the pupil of a blui(h black; 
its ears are eredt, four inches long, oblongly ovate, 
rounded at the ends, and thin, covered with (liort hair. 
It has no canine-teeth : there are four cutting teeth in the 
upper jaw, and two long lance-like teeth in the lower, 
pointing forward, with four grinding teeth in each jaw, 
remote from the others ; its belly is convex, and large ; 
the fore legs are very fhort, fcarcely reaching to the nofe, 
and nfelefs for walking ; the hind legs are almoft as long 
as .the body, and the thighs are very thick; on the fore 
feet are five toes, with long, conic, ftrong, claws ; on the 
hind, feet there are only three, of thefe the middle toe is 
very long and thick, like that of an oftrich, the two 
others are placed very diftindl and remote from it, and 
are fmall, with (liort, thick, blunt, claws; the bottom 
of the feet and their hind parts are black, naked, and tu- 
bercula.ted, owing to the animal often reding on them. 
The tail is very long, extending as far as the ears ; it is 
thick at the bafe, and tapers to a point. The hair on 
the whole animal is foft, and of a brownifti afti-colour, 
lighted on the lower parts. It is a large animal, mea- 
furing from four to five feet in length ; and the female is 
furnilhed with the falfe belly or pouch, like others of 
the"genus. It moftly inhabits the weftern fide of New 
Holland, and has not as yet been difcovered in any other 
part of the world. It lurks in the woods and long grafs, 
feeds on vegetables, and goes entirely on its hind legs by 
fprings or bounds, making life of tlje fore feet only for 
digging, or bringing its food to its mouth : its dung is 
like that of a deer ; it is very timid : at the fight of men 
it files from them by amazing leaps, fpringing over 
bullies feven or eight feet high, and going progreffively 
from rock to rock. The natives of New South Wales 
call it patagarang. Captain Hunter, in his Journal of 
the Trail factions at Port Jackfon and Norfolk Illand, 
publiftied in 1793, fays, that a kanguroo was (hot in his 
prefence, which weighed 140 pounds; its tail was forty 
inches long, and feventeen in circuinference at the root; 
the flefh was eaten with great relilh, and vvas nearly of 
the flavour of good unit top. Th,e ftrengfh this animal 
has in its hind quarters, be lays, is very great : in its en¬ 
deavours to efcape, when furprized, it fprings upon its 
hind legs, and leaps at each bound about fix or eight 
yards, but does not appear to let its fore feet come near 
the ground. They have vail, ftrengtii alfo in their tail, 
wtuQh forms a principal part of their defence when at¬ 
tacked ; for with it they can ffrike with prodigious force, 
captain Hunter fays, with fufiicient power to break the 
leg of a man ; nor is it improbable that this great ftrength 
in the tail may aftill them in making thofe aftonifliing 
fprings. In hunting them with greyhounds, he had an 
opportunity of obferving that they uPe their claws and 
teeth alfo : the dog is much fwifter titan the kanguroo ; 
the chafe, if in an open wood, which is the place mod 
frequented by that animal, is feldom more than eight or 
ten minutes. As foon as the hound feizes him, he turns, 
and, catching hold with the nails of his fore paws, ftrikes 
at the dog with the claws of his hind feet, aiid tears him 
to fuch a degree, that many of the dogs have nearly loll 
their lives in the druggie. Some of the male kanguroos 
are of a very large fize : this author faw fome, that when 
fitting on their haunches, were five feet eight inches high, 
but the females were generally fmaller. 
14. Didelphis tridadlyla, or fmall kanguroo. This 
little animal hath the vifage of a rat, with two (harp- 
pointed cutting teetli in the upper, and two in the lower, 
jaw r , with truncated ends ; fore feet very (liort, furniihed 
with four toes ; hind legs apd tail refembling the great 
fpecies ; three toes on each hind foot, the middle greatly 
exceeding the other two in length ; on the belly is a 
pouch, within which are four nipples : the colour above 
is of a pale brown, lighter on the belly. One of tit is 
fpecies was (hewn in London in 1790, which wa.s nearly 
the fize of a rabbit. 
15. Didelphis obefula, or porculine opoffum: tail 
longifh ; fore feet five-toed, exterior claws fmall; hind 
feet four-toed, two interior united. Inhabits New Hol¬ 
land ; fize of a half grown rat. Body rufty above, whit- 
ifh beneath, corpulent; hind-legs much longer; interior 
claws double ; ears rounded ; hair coarfe. 
16. Didelphis macrotarfus, the tarfier opoffum ; with 
a pointed vifage, (lender nofe, bilobated at the end ; eyes 
large and prominent; ears erecl, broad, naked, femi- 
tranfparent, an inch and a half long; between them, on 
the top of the head, is a tuft of long hair; on each fide 
of the nofe, and on the upper eye-brow, are alfo long 
hairs. In each jaw are only two cutting, and one canine, 
teeth, which forms an exception in this genus ; it has 
therefore been placed fometimes among the maucaucos, 
and fometimes with the jerboas ; Gmelin lias at length 
placed it here. Geoffroy and Audebert make it a fepa- 
rate genus, tarfier. It has four long (lender toes, and a 
dfftindl thumb, on each foot ; the lower part of each is 
tuberous ; claws ftiarp-pointed, but, except on the two 
interior toes of the hind feet, are attached to the (kin; 
the thumbs of the hind feet are broad, and greatly di¬ 
lated at their ends ; hair on the legs and feet (hort, white, 
and thin ; tail almoft naked, the greater part round and 
fcaly ; but grows hairy towards the end, which is tufted. 
Hair foft, but not curled ; of an adi-colour mixed with 
tawny. The length from nofe to tail is fix inches; the 
hind legs are of a great length ; the tail is nine inches and 
a half. This is deferibed from two fpeciinens in the ca¬ 
binet of dodtor Hunter. It inhabits the remoteft iflands 
of India, efpecially Amboyna, and is called by the Ma. 
caffars, podje. 
17. Didelphis vulpecula, tire vulpine opoffum. This 
fpecies hath remarkable long whifkers; ears ere 61 and 
pointed ; upper parts of the body greyifh, mixed with a 
dulky white, tinged with rufous about the (boulders ; all 
the under parts are of a tawny bud’; about a quarter of 
the tail next the body is of the fame colour with the 
back ; the refidue is black ; its length from the tip ot 
the nofe to the tail is two feet two inches, and the tail it- 
felf fifteen. This is like wife an inhabitant of New Holland. 
18. Didelphis maculata, the fpotted kangaroo. This 
is dj.dinguifhed by a long canine vifage ; upright, (harp 
ears ; head and body black, the firft plai,n ; the body and 
thighs marked with large fpots of white, thinly dif- 
perl’ed ; tail covered with (liort hairs at the bafe, the reft 
very bufhy, covered with long black hairs ; fare legs co¬ 
vered with (liort hairs for a fmall fpace next to the body, 
