. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. THE OPOSSUMS. 219 There is a little kind, measuring only three inches in length, with white fur everywhere, except on the upper parts, which are ashy grey ; and in Western and Southern Australia there is one wliich has great ears, very slender limbs, and a short and thick fat tail. It looks like a large-eared, fat-tailed Mouse, and is under four inches in length. All these of Phascogale, except the brush-tailed one, belong to a group with very short hairs on the tail, and are sometimes classified under the name Antechinus, the thic
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. THE OPOSSUMS. 219 There is a little kind, measuring only three inches in length, with white fur everywhere, except on the upper parts, which are ashy grey ; and in Western and Southern Australia there is one wliich has great ears, very slender limbs, and a short and thick fat tail. It looks like a large-eared, fat-tailed Mouse, and is under four inches in length. All these of Phascogale, except the brush-tailed one, belong to a group with very short hairs on the tail, and are sometimes classified under the name Antechinus, the thick-tailed one being termed Podabrus ; and they all have shallow pouches. CHAPTER III. - THE OPOSSUMS. PrcUistoric Opossums—Description of the Animal—Their Teeth—Habits—The Common Opossum—D'Azara's Opossum— The Crab-eating Opossum—The Thick-Tailed Opossum—Meeian's Opossum—Pouchless Opossums—Their Young ^The Murixa Opossum—The EleGju;t Opossum—The Yapock—Classification of Marsupial Animals—Geographical Distribution of the Sub-Order-Ancestry of the Marsupials—Fossil Remains. VI.—THE OPOSSUM FAMILY.—DIDELPHID^. The Marsupial animals included in this famOy are not found in Australia or in Van Diemen's Land, or in any part of the natural history province to wliich those countries belong. They are numerovis, however, and are now living on the American continent; but formerly some inhabited Eui-ope during that geological period whicli is called the Eocene. The Opossums are very rat-like in form, the largest species being about the size of a large Cat, but they have the snout more elongated; and in some species in which the individuals are large tlie body is proportionately stout, and on mast there is a comfortable fur, with short and long hair. The tail is almost always very long, nearly destitute of hair, excepting at the root, and is covered with a scaly skin, there being a few scattered hairs. It is a useful organ, for the Opossums hang by it, and it
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