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.
Their fur is not esteemed or used, save that the Indians spin it into
girdles and gaiters."

Bating the exaggeration about their tenacity of life, and also the error
as to their mode of bringing forth, the above account hits off the
opossum to a nicety. Lawson might have added that their tails are
highly prehensile, and are not only used for suspending them to the
branches of trees, but also employed by the female for holding her young
upon her back--in which fashion she often carries them about.

The flesh of the opossum is not only eatable, but much eaten, and even
sought after as a delicacy both by negroes and whites.

It is surprising how the number of species of this animal has lately
multiplied, under the research of naturalists. Perhaps no creature
illustrates more forcibly the folly of setting limits to the species of
animals, by simply trusting to the account of those known or described.
Over thirty species have been found in America, of which five or six
belong to the northern division of the continent. The tropical region
is their head-quarters; but they are not confined to the torrid zone,
since there are species existing everywhere, from Canada to Chili.

Another form of pouched animal that can scarcely be called an opossum is
the Yapock of tropical South America. It is a smaller animal than the
opossum, aquatic in its habits, and in fact approaches nearer to the
family of the water-rats. Of this, too, there are several species.

Crossing to Australia we find the pouched animals, as already observed,
of several different and very dissimilar genera.

Taking them in the usual order of mammalia, we have three kinds truly
carnivorous. First, the Tasmanian wolf, a creature which possesses all
the fierce attributes of his synonyme, and is, in fact, a wolf, only one
who carries a pocket. He is an animal as active as fierce, and lives by
preying on the kangaroos and other kindred animals. He is also
troublesome to the breeders of sheep; as, since the introduction of
these innocent animals to his country, he appears to have formed a
preference for mutton over kangaroo flesh. Fortunately his range is not
extensive, as he is confined to the island of Van Dieman's Land, and has
not been observed elsewhere. Only on