Natural History: Mammalia/Didelphidæ

by Philip Henry Gosse

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Family I. Didelphidæ.

(Opossums.)

The Opossums are small animals; the largest species scarcely equalling the domestic cat in size; while several are no larger than mice. They consist of about twenty species, most of which, as has been already stated, inhabit South America. The whole constitute but one genus, with the exception of a single species, which, from its aquatic habits, indicated by broad webbed feet, has been separated, under the name of Cheironectes. They are distinguished by the great number of their teeth, which are arranged as follows: inc. 10/8; can. 1—1/1—1; false molars 3—3/3—3; molars 4—4/4—4;$=$50. The incisors are small, and disposed somewhat in the form of a semicircle; the canines are large and strong; the molars are crowned with sharp tubercles.

The feet have each five toes, armed with strong curved claws: the inner toe of the hind feet, however, is destitute of a claw, and is so placed as to be opposible to the others, thus constituting a true thumb.

Genus Didelphys. (Linn.)

To the characters enumerated above, we may add, that the tail in the true Opossums is more or less prehensile at the tip, and that in conformity with this structure, their habits are arboreal. The soles of the feet are covered with a naked skin of great sensibility: the ears and the tip of the muzzle are likewise naked. The fur is generally more or less woolly, and is not valued. In some species the pouch exists only in a rudimentary condition, as slight folds of the skin: "the young of these, when very small, remain attached to the nipple of the parent, but when of larger size, they quit this, and are carried on her back, where they hold themselves, by entwining their prehensile tails round that of the parent." In the British Museum there is a well-prepared specimen of D. dorsigera, (Linn.) which shews the young in this position.

The common Opossum of the United States, (Didelphys Virginiana, Linn.) is perhaps the best known species of the genus, as it is one of the largest and most characteristic. As early as 1649, it was thus described in the "Perfect Description of Virginia;"—"Passonnes.— This beast hath a bagge under her bellie, into which she taketh her young ones, if at any time they be affryghted, and carrieth them away." And Lawson states of the "Possum,"—"She is the wonder of all the land animals, being the size of a badger, and near that colour. The female, doubtless, breeds her young at her teats, for I have seen them stick fast thereto, when they have been no bigger than a small raspberry, and seemingly inanimate. She has a paunch, or false belly, wherein she carries her young, after they are from those teats, till they can shift for themselves. Their food is roots, poultry, or wild fruits. They have no hair on their tails, but a sort of a scale, or hard crust, as the beavers have. If a cat has nine lives, this creature surely has nineteen; for if you break every bone in their skin, and mash their skull,

VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM.

VIRGINIAN OPOSSUM.

leaving them for dead, you may come an hour after, and they will be gone quite away, or perhaps you may meet them creeping away. They are a very stupid creature, utterly neglecting their safety. They are most like rats of anything. I have, for necessity, in the wilderness, eaten of them. Their flesh is very white, and well-tasted; but their ugly tails put me out of conceit with that fare. They climb trees as the racoons do.

In the southern United States, where this animal is very common, it is considered as "varmint,"^[1] (vermin) and disliked for its ravages in the poultry yards; where it sucks the blood without eating the flesh. It climbs trees readily, but crawls slowly on the earth: it is fond of hanging from a branch, suspended by the tail; and, thus pendent, frequently swings itself from bough to bough. When attacked, it will feign itself to be dead, when no beating will induce it to shew any signs of life; even dogs are deceived, and turning it over, pass it by. The initiated, however, maintain that they can at all times, even when the relaxation of the muscles of the body and limbs seems to be perfect, distinguish an Opossum in this singular state of hypocrisy from one really dead, by a living coil in the last joints of the tail, which is never resigned. From this curious habit, a person assuming a feigned character, is provincially said to be 'possuming.

1. The writer, when in Alabama, having on one occasion alluded to this animal as "a singular creature," was corrected in the following terms: "A 'possum is not a crittur, but a varmint."