SHORT-TAILED OPOSSUM. 
523 
excepting on the basal portion, are not sufficiently numerous 
to hide the scaly shin beneath : at the tip of the tail beneath 
is a small naked space of about a quarter of an inch in 
length. The ears, which are very short as compared with 
those of most other Opossums, are clothed with small 
yellowish hairs. 
It is necessary to observe that this animal is subject to 
some slight variation in its colouring. Sometimes the upper 
parts of the body are suffused with yellowish. A specimen 
in the British Museum collection has the sides and under 
parts of the body unusually pale, the former being tinted with 
ochreous yellow, and the latter yellow T -white : its back is ashy 
grey, pencilled with black; about half an inch of the tail 
at the base is covered with fur like that on the body, and the 
remaining portions are well clothed with short black hairs ; the 
sides of the muzzle are brown ; and the feet are of a pale dirty 
yellow tint. It is from Brazil. 
Zoological 
Society. 
Male, 
Brit. Mus. 
Pari 8 
Museum. 
Ins. Lines. 
Ins. Lines. 
Ins. Lines. 
Length from tip of nose to root of tail ... 
6 0 
6 G 
G 9 
“ of tail 
2 8 
2 7 
2 6 
“ from nose to ear ... . 
1 6 
1 4§ 
1 3 
“ of ear 
4 
11 of fore foot and nails ... ... ... 
8 
“ of hind foot 
8i 
8§ 
The first of the above columns contains the dimensions 
of a specimen brought by Mr. Darwin from Maldonado, 
La Plata. 
