FAMILY. 
DIDELPHXDAE. 
Incisor teeth , canines premolars molars feet five-toed, plantigrade; coecum moderate. 
The opossums are peculiarly American animals, the various forms occurring over a great 
extent of both North and South America. They are usually of small size, the largest scarcely 
exceeding a cat in bulk, the smallest a little larger than a mouse. Their food consists chiefly 
of insects, small reptiles, and birds, with their eggs. 
Some of the species have only a very rudimentary pouch, the mammae in which are very 
numerous, varying from nine to thirteen. All the Didelphidae may be readily distinguished 
from other mammals by the great number of incisors in the jaws (^). 
The tail is generally very long, nearly naked, and covered by a scaly skin, with a few scat¬ 
tered hairs ; as in many other Marsupiata, it is prehensile. The feet are naked beneath, five¬ 
toed, all the toes furnished with moderate claws, except the inner one of the hind foot, which 
has no claw. 
