VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM.
- Didelphis Virginia. D. subcinereo-flavescens, cauda unda, auriculis rotundatis nudis nigris, margine albis.
- Yellowish-grey naked tailed Opossum, with black, naked, rounded ears edged with white.
- D. Marsupialis? Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 71.
- D. Opossum? Lin. Syst. Nat. Gmel. p. 105.
- Opossum. Phil. Trans. abr. 2. p. 884. pl. 13.
- Virginian Opossum. Museum Leveranium, vol. 1. p. 24. pl. 6.
This, which seems to have been the species first discovered in America, is not much inferior in size to a Cat, but is of a thicker form, owing to the length and upright growth of the fur. The general measure seems to be about one foot four inches from the nose to the tail, which is commonly about a foot or thirteent inches long[1]. It is an animal of an inelegant aspect; having a long, sharpened face, and very wide mouth, armed with very numerous sharp teeth: the ears are thin, naked, blackish, round, and edged with a border of white: the legs are short: the feet armed with sharp claws, but the interior toes or thumbs of the hind feet are flat and rounded, and have nails like those of the Monkey tribe: the tail is blackish at its origin, and covered with longish hair, but from that part to the end is naked, and covered with a scaly skin, the divisions of which are marked in such a manner as to give the tail very much the appearance of a whitish snake: it is strongly prehensile, or possessed of the power of coiling, like those of several Monkies, round any object from which the animal pleases to suspend itself. Its general colour is a dingy yellowish white; the legs blackish; the tail, as before observed, blackish, and furred to some little distance from the base, and from thence to the tip naked: the belly is white; and its lower part, in the female, is furnished with a large cavity or receptable, which can be opened and closed at pleasure: in this are situated the teats; and in it the young, immediately after birth, are either placed by the parent animal, or introduce themselves; for this is one of those particulars in natural history which hitherto seems to have eluded investigation: it is, however, more than probable, that the parent herself places them there; since, even long after their residence in it, they are void of hair, and resemble fœtuses or embryos, strongly adhering to the teats. When they have attained sufficient growth and strength, they emerge, after which they occasionally take refuge in the same receptable on the appearance of any danger, and are carried about by the parent. This is the practice with most of the Opossum tribe; but there are two species which have no ventral pouch for the reception of their young, but a kind of depression or furrow in its stead.
When important into Europe (at least into our own island), the Opossums have never been known to breed; the late Mr. John Hunter having frequently procured several for this purpose, but could by no means succeed in his endeavours to ascertain the particulars of their history in this respect. The Kanguroo, however, which is an example of a similar contrivance of Nature, has afforded opportunities of illustrating the subject more satisfactorily.
The Virginian Opossum, like all the other American species, is a carnivorous animal, and preys on poultry, small birds, &c. in the manner of the European Polecat: it is also frugivorous, eating several kinds of roots, fruits, &c. It is of a gentle disposition, and may easily be tamed; but, like some other species, it has a disagreeable smell: its voice is a sort of grunting squeak: its pace in running is not swift, but it is very expert in climbing trees, and readily passes, by means of its clinging tail, from bough to bough, in the manner of a Monkey. The female produces four or five at a birth, and has the power of closing the pouch so strongly as to make it extremely difficult to open it by the hand; nor will any torture compel the animal to loosen it. This power of strongly closing the pouch is performed by certain bones and muscles which Nature had provided for that purpose. These were observed and described by the celebrated Cowper, in the last century, as also by Dr. Tyson. The female, when ready to produce her young, is said to make herself a nest of dry grass, in some bush, near the root of a tree.
A variety of this species is sometimes seen, in which the back is of a deep brown. This is the Didelphis Molucca of Gmelin’s edition of the Systema Naturæ of Linnæus.
- ↑ Mr. Pennant, in his last edition of the History of Quadrupeds, says, about twenty inches from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail: of the tail thirteen inches.