OCR Text |
Show 124 MAMMALIA. vorous Carnar1.a•, the anima. ls tha.t compose it are also perfectly similar to the latter in their regimen. DIDELPHis, Lin. The Opossums, ( 1) wh l.C h of a1 1 the Marsupialia have been the. lon. gest k form a genus pecu 1I. ar t o America• They have t.e n InCisors hnoovwen , the mi.d dle ones b e.m g rather the longest, and e. ight be. low; 1 d tah ree ' anten. or compresse d gn'n ders and four po.s t1e' ri•o r brb1l st e grindet·s the super.i or one s triangular' and the m•er1or o ong, which w' ith the .~o ur cam. m. , rna ke in all fifty teeth, the g.r eates.t num- ber hi.'t herto o b serve d m. Quadrupeds. Their to.n gu.e 1s paphi llatbe d· , and their tail prehensile and partly naked. Their hmd~r t ~m IS long and very opposa bl e to the other four toes, .f rom which chi rcum-stance these animals are sometimes styled Ped~mana; th~y ave no 'I Their extremely wide mouth, and great naked ears gLve them a nvaelr y· pecu 11. ar p hysiognomy• The glans penis is bifurcated. T. hey are fetid and nocturnal animals, whose gait is slow; they rema~n. on trees, and there pursue Birds, Insects, &.~., th?ugh not desptst~g fruit. Their stomach is simple and small, the1r ccecum of a m1d· dling size and without any enlargements. . . The females of certain species have a deep pouch m which are the rnammre, and in which they can enclose their young. Did. virginiana, Penn. Hist. Quadr. 30.2.(2) (The Opossum.) Almost the size of a Cat; fur, a m1~ture of black and white · ears, one side black, and the other white; head nearly all white.' Inhabits all America; steals at night into villages~ at· tacks fowls eats their eggs, &c. The young ones at b1rth, sometimes ~ixteen in number, weigh only a grain each. Al· though blind and nearly shapeless, they find the. mammre .by instinct and adhere to them until they have attamed the s1ze of a Mouse, which happens about the fiftieth day, at which epoch they open their eyes. They continue to return ~o t~e pouch till they are as large as Rats. The term of gestatiOn m the uterus is but twenty-six days.(3) Did . .llzzarre, Temm. (The Gamba, or the Great Opossum of Paraguay and Brazil.) Differs from the preceding in the ( 1) Carigueia, according to Marcgrave, is their Brazilian name, whenc~ w~ have Sariguoi, Cerigon, Sarigue. They are called Micoure in Paraguay; Mantcou m the islands ; Opossum in the United States; Thlaquat~in in Mexico. (2) It is the Sarigue des Illinois, and the Sarigue a longs potts; Duff. Supp. VII, p. xxxiii and xxxiv; Did. marsupia/is, Schreb. pl. cxlv. (3) Sec the letter of Dr B. s. Barton toM. Roume on the gestation of the Opos· sum. MARSUPIALIA. 125 black which marks the muzzle and nearly the whole of the ears; the tail is also longer. Did. marsupialis, and JJid. cancrivora, L.; .Buff. Supp. III, liv. (The Crab-eating Opossum.) Size of the preceding; yellowish, mixed with brown, with brown hairs; a brown streak on the cbanfrin. It frequents the marshes of the sea coast, where it feeds chiefly on Crabs.( 1) Did. opossum, L.; Buff. X, xlv, xlvi. (The Four-eyed Opossum.) Chesnut above, white below, a white or pale yellow spot over each eye; posterior third of the tail white; larger than a large Rat. Other species possess no pouch, having a mere vestige of it in a fold of the skin on each side of the abdomen. They usually carry their young on their backs, the tails of the latter being entwined around that of the mother. Did.nudicauda, Geoff.; JJ. myosuros, Temm. (The Bare"tailed Opossum.) Fawn coloured; tail very long, and naked even at its base; two whitish spots over each eye, one beneath. Did. cayopollin,(2) Did. philander, and JJid. dorsigera, L.; Buff. X, lv. (The Cayopollin.) A greyish fawn colour; the circumference of the eyes and a longitudinal band on the chan" frin brown; tail marked with black; size that of the Norway Rat. The superior third of the tail furnished with hairs. Did. cinerea, Temm. (The Cinereous Didelphis.) A light ash colour, with blackish reflections; some red on the breast; the posterior half of the tail white ; of the same size as the preceding. From Brazil. Did. murina, L.; Buff. X, Hi, liii. (The Marmose.)(3) Fawn coloured grey; a brown stripe, in the middle of which is the eye; tail immaculate; less than a Rat. (l) It is the pretended Great Oriental Philander of Seba of which Linna:us has ~~e his Did. marsupia/is. Buffon, who has described the male, Supp. lH, pl. , 111 • erroneously thought the female had no pouch, which was the cause of the Improper establishment of a second species, Did. cancrivora, Gm., carcinopltaga, Bodd, The Crab-eater is called at Cayenne pian, orpuant. h ( 2 ) Oayopollin, the name of a species that inhabits the mountains of Mexico; it as, somewhat arbitrarily, been applied to this species in particular. ~) ~armose, a name adopted by Buffon from a typographical etTor in the French Th slabon of Seba, who assures us in the text that it is called Marmot in Brazil. B e.~uth is, that the Dutch, in the time ofMarcgrave, called it Wood-Rat, and the llii'uasztthhaavn s Taidb i,· Rat-de-bois is also its name among the French at Cayenne. Seba e ren ered Bosch-ratte by Marmot. to N.B. There has been found, in the plaster quarries ncar Paris, the fossil skele-n of a Didelphis allied to the Marmose. . |