163 
ular group but one species belongs to the United States; this is Didelphys 
virginiana, the Possum, the only North American representative of the 
family. . | 
DIDELPHYS VIRGINIANA Shaw. 
OPOSSUM; ’POSSUM. 
1778. Didelphys marsupialis, Schreb., Saugt., iii, 1778. 
1800. Didelphys virginiana, Shaw, General Zoology, i, 1800, 478, pl. evii 
—-Desm., Mamm., i, 1820, 255.—Harlan, F. A., 1825, 119.—Griff, 
Cuv., iii, 1827, 24—Temm., Mon. Mamm., i, 1828, 27.—Fischer, 
Syn., 1829, 263.—Wagener, Suppl. Schreb., 11, 1841, 87.—DeKay, 
N. Y. Zodl.,*i, 1842, 8, pl. xv, f. 2—Waterhouse, N. H. Mamm. 
i, 1846, 165 —Bachman, Pr. A. N. S., 1848, 40 (development). 
Aud. & Bach., Quad. N. A., ii, 1851, 107, pl. lxvi.—Giebel, Saiugt., 
1855, 708.—Burmeister, Erlaut. Fauna Braziliens, 1856, 60, tab. 
v, vi, f. 1 and 3 (skull).—Jordan, Manual of the Vertebrates, 
1878, 35. aL 
1833. Didelphys californicus, Bennett, Pr. Zool. Soc., i, 1833, 40 —Wagner, 
Suppl. Schreb. i111, 1843, 40; ib., v. 1855, 2283—Waterhouse, N. 
H. Mamm., i, 1846, 476.—Aud. & Bach., Quad. N. A., 1854, 3381. 
—Burm., Wrlaut. Fauna Braziliens, 1856, 63. 
1833. Didelphys breviceps, Bennett, Pr. Zodl. Soc., i, 1883, 40.—Wagner, 
Suppl. Schreb., 111, 1843, 40; ib., v, 1855, 224.— Waterhouse, Nat. 
Hist. Mamm., i, 1846, 478 —Aud. & Bach., Quad. N. A., iii, 
1854, 224. 
1843. Didelphys pruinosa, Wagner, Suppl. Schreb. iii, 1848, 40 (note); ib. 
vy, 1855.— Waterhouse, N. H. Mamm., i, 1846, 477. 
Virginia Opossum, Penn., Quad., 11, 1781, 801; pl. xxxiv; ib., Arctic 
Zool., i, 1784, 73. 
Opossum, St. Hilaire and Cuvier, Hist. Mamm., iii, 1819 (two 
plates.) 
Specific Characters.—The Opossum averages twenty inches in length 
from end of snout to root of tail; the tail averages fourteen and one-half 
inches; the head from end of muzzle to occiput is about five inches. The 
body fur is interspersed with long white hairs. The hairs of the general 
pelage are whitish, with brown tips, imparting a dusky shade. The legs 
and feet are uniforraly dark brown or black; the fingers and toes are 
white. The general color of the head is yellowish-white, the chin and 
top of head being scarcely darker. There is a dusky suffusion around 
_ the eye. 
The above are the characters which mark the Hastern form of the 
Opossum. The Western variety, or, perhans more prop ly, rcoeraphical 
