THE PHILANDER OPOSSUM. 
49 J 
agrees perfectly, us regards the colouring, with the specimen 
described by myself, excepting that in that individual the 
under parts of the body are yellow, whilst the author just 
mentioned states that they are white in the specimens 
which he examined. The specimen preserved in spirit, of 
which I have given the dimensions, agrees more nearly with 
M. Temminek s account in this respect, the abdomen being 
nearly white. These male specimens, on the other hand, 
differ much from those noticed by M. Temminek, with regard 
to size; that author gives thirteen and a half inches (French 
measure) as the total length of three male specimens in his 
possession, of which, he states, the tail measured eight and a 
half inches, and the head one inch and ten lines 1 . 
The female Philander differs from the male in being less 
bright in its colouring; it has the same narrow dusky mark 
on the forehead, bordered on either side by pale grey, or 
whitish, and the tail spotted in parts with brown on a whitish 
ground colour, but the upper parts of the body are ashy 
grey, slightly suffused with rusty yellow ; the under parts 
are yellowish white, and so are the cheeks and inner side of 
the limbs. 
According to Schreber and Temminek, the Philander 
Opossum inhabits Surinam ; the last mentioned of these 
authors states that he had never seen specimens in collections 
as possessing a pouch, but his observations tend to show that it is more 
open than in the species hitherto described. Temminek states that the pouch 
is perfect in the female Philander. I cannot put much faith in Seba’s state¬ 
ment, since I do not find his descriptions by any means remarkable for 
accuracy or precision : he appears, as Schreber remarks, to have drawn 
up his descriptions chiefly from his plates. 
‘ The head and body, taken together, would then be only five Freneh inches, 
and yet one inch and ten lines is given as the length of the head, thus making 
it more than one-third of the length of the trunk. It these dimensions be 
correct, the D. Philander of Temminek would have a head larger in propor¬ 
tion to the body than the D. Opossum , whilst his description states that it is 
remarkable for the shortness of its head. 
