Forest and stream . d, that it contains but one animal found withinthe faunal limits of the United States, and this is theCommon Oppossum, an animal about which much isknown, and much has been written, but whose history,find it where we may, is always full of interest, both tothe casual observer as well as to the naturalist. To the Common Opossum then, with a few incidentalreferences to its congeners, the present paper will bedevoted: and first it will be observed that our Opossumis a marsupial animal, as is shown in the above classifica-tory List. Now, although we find a few Opposums indiffer
Forest and stream . d, that it contains but one animal found withinthe faunal limits of the United States, and this is theCommon Oppossum, an animal about which much isknown, and much has been written, but whose history,find it where we may, is always full of interest, both tothe casual observer as well as to the naturalist. To the Common Opossum then, with a few incidentalreferences to its congeners, the present paper will bedevoted: and first it will be observed that our Opossumis a marsupial animal, as is shown in the above classifica-tory List. Now, although we find a few Opposums indifferent parts of America, the great stronghold of theMarsupialia is, as we are well aware, in Australia, andoutside of these two countries, animals presenting ananatomical structure peculiar to them do not occur. Inthe earlier history of our earth, however, marsupials en-joyed a very general distribution over its surface. WhenI say Australia I mean, of course, the Australian region, 204 FOREST AND STREAM. [Oct. 6, FEMALE OPOSSUM WITH FOUR HALF-GROWN YOUNG. Drawn bt the Author. as some marsupials are found in New Guinea and the ad-jacent islands, while Opossums as a species do not occurthere at all. The Australian marsupials—and the mammalian faunaof that region is chiefly made up of them—widely vary,both as to their external forms and in many of theiranatomical characters, but notwithstanding this fact,zoologists have, for convenience sake, kept them asso-ciated in the same group. They all more or less agree, however, in the followinggeneral structural characteristics: (1), they possess a pairof epipubic bones, peculiar structures surmounting thepelvis in front; ( ), they present a characteristic develop-ment of the reproductive organs; (3), their young areborn in an exceedingly rudimentary condition, andare never nourished by means of an allantoic placenta,bat are transferred to the nipple of the mother, to whichthey remain firmly attached for a considerable time,nouris
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