is very common, it is considered as “‘ varmint,’’[1]
(vermin) and disliked for its ravages in the poultry vards; 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.
Family II. Dasyuripz.
(Hairy-tails.)
The most obvious distinction between the animals of this Family and the Opossums, consists in the tail being void of any prehensile power, and being thickly clothed with hair through its whole length. The form of the skull is, however, more dog-like; the canines are larger, more curved and pointed, and the incisors are fewer in number, eight only being found in the upper, and six in the lower jaw. ‘The thumbs of the hind feet are either very small or altogether wanting.
- ↑ 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.”
