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Show 96 ZOOLOGY OF TilE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. pale. The tail is furnished throughout with minute decumbent hairs, excepting a small naked space at the tip beneath, of about one line in length ; on the upper surface they arc brown, and on the under, they are whitish. The fur of the upper and under parts of the body is deep gray at the base ; on the lower part of the cheeks, chin, and on the mesial line of the throat and chest, the hait·s nre uniform-not gray at the base. The ears are brown, and to the naked eye, appear naked. In. Lines. Ll'ngLI• from JIOSO to root of tail of tail In. Lines., . 4. a . 4 4· Length from nose to car of car 1 1 ~ 0 7~ of tn.rsns (claws included) . 0 7 ~ width of car 0 7~ Habitat, Valparaiso, Chile, (October.) This little Opossum, which is the only species I am acquainted with from the west side of the Cordillera, was exhibited at one of the scientific meetings of the Zoological Society, and. its characters were pointed. out by Mr. Jame!:l Reid., who proposed. for it the specific name of lwrtensis, *' a name which was given from the circumstance that in Mr. Darwin's notes it is stated that a small Opossum was found in u garden at Maldonado. These notes however refer to the Didelphis bracltyum. The skull of this animal is figured. in Plate 35. Fig. 5, a, represents the upper siue; 5, b, the unuer side; and 5, c, is the side view. Fig. 5, d, is the lower jaw, and 5, e, is the same magnified. The length of the skull is 14~ lines; width, 8 lines; length of palate, 7{- lines; inter-orbital space, 2t liues; length of ramus of lower jaw, lOt lines. In the palate are two long openings wl1ich commence opposite the posterior false molar, and terminate opposite the hinder portion of tlte penultimate true molar: the incisive fommina are nearly one line iu length. On the posterior portion of the palate thel'e are four othcl' foran1ina, one on each si<.le near the posterior molar, and. one on either si<.le the mesial line, behind the large palatine openings above mentioned. "These little animals frequent the thickets growing on the rocky hills, near Valparaiso. They are exceedingly numerous, and arc easily caught in traps Laited either with cheese or meat. The tail appeared to be scarcely at all used as a prehensile organ; they are able to run up trees, with some degree of facility. I could distinguish in their stomachs the larvre of Leetles."-D. • See Proceedings of the Zoologic.al Society of London for January, 1837, p. 4.; its characters were· not published. |