Part 30

D. vellere longo et molli, corpore suprà cinereo-fuscescente lavalo; pedibus corporeque subtùs albis, oculis nigra circumdatis, interspatio cinerescente; auribus magnis fuscescentibus; caudá, capite et corpore, paulo breviore.

DESCRIPTION.—Muzzle slender and pointed; ears large; tail rather shorter than the head and body taken together; fur long and very soft: general tint of the upper parts of the head and body ashy gray washed with brown; on the sides of the body, especially near the shoulders, a faint yellowish tint is observable; the lower part of the cheeks, the throat, under parts of the body and the feet, are white, with an indistinct yellowish tint; the eyes are encircled with brownish black, which tint is extended forwards on to the sides of the muzzle; the upper surface of the muzzle and the inter-orbital space is pale. The tail is furnished throughout with minute decumbent hairs, excepting a small naked space at the tip beneath, of about one line in length; on the upper surface they are brown, and on the under, they are whitish. The fur of the upper and under parts of the body is deep gray at the base; on the lower part of the cheeks, chin, and on the mesial line of the throat and chest, the hairs are uniform—not gray at the base. The ears are brown, and to the naked eye, appear naked.

In. Lines. length from nose to root of tail 4 6 of tail 4 4 of tarsus (claws included) 0 7½ from nose to ear 1 1½ of ear 0 7¼ width of ear 0 7½

Habitat, Valparaiso, Chile, (October.)

This little Opossum, which is the only species I am acquainted with from the west side of the Cordillera, was exhibited at one of the scientific meetings of the Zoological Society, and its characters were pointed out by Mr. James Reid, who proposed for it the specific name of hortensis, a name which was given from the circumstance that in Mr. Darwin’s notes it is stated that a small Opossum was found in a garden at Maldonado. These notes however refer to the Didelphis brachyura. The skull of this animal is figured in Plate 35. Fig. 5, a, represents the upper side; 5, b, the under side; and 5, c, is the side view. Fig. 5, d, is the lower jaw, and 5, e, is the same magnified. The length of the skull is 14½ lines; width, 8 lines; length of palate, 7¼ lines; inter-orbital space, 2½ lines; length of ramus of lower jaw, 10½ lines. In the palate are two long openings which commence opposite the posterior false molar, and terminate opposite the hinder portion of the penultimate true molar: the incisive foramina are nearly one line in length. On the posterior portion of the palate there are four other foramina, one on each side near the posterior molar, and one on either side the mesial line, behind the large palatine openings above mentioned.

“These little animals frequent the thickets growing on the rocky hills, near Valparaiso. They are exceedingly numerous, and are easily caught in traps baited either with cheese or meat. The tail appeared to be scarcely at all used as a prehensile organ; they are able to run up trees, with some degree of facility. I could distinguish in their stomachs the larvæ of beetles.”—D.

4. DIDELPHIS BRACHYURA. PLATE XXII.

Didelphis brachyura, Auct.

D. vellere brevi, corporis suprà cinereo, flavo lavato; lateribus capitis, corporisque, et partibus inferioribus rufescenti-flavis, gulâ et abdomine pallidioribus; caudâ brevi.

DESCRIPTION.—Head large; canine teeth very large; ears rather small; tail short; rather more than half the length of the body; fur short and crisp; the back and upper surface of the head ashy gray, grizzled with yellowish white; the sides of the head and body, and under parts rusty yellow, rather paler on the belly than on other parts, and of a deeper hue on the rump and cheeks; the eye is encircled with rusty yellow; feet yellowish; tail clothed with short stiff hairs, and exhibiting scales, brownish above, and dirty yellowish white beneath—a small naked space beneath, at the tip, of about two lines in length. Fur of the back grayish at the base, that on the belly uniform; ears clothed with minute yellowish white hairs.

In. Lines. Length from nose to the root of tail 6 0 from nose to ears 1 6 of tail 2 8 of tarsus (claws included) 0 8¾ of ear 0 3¾

Habitat, Maldonado, La Plata, (June.)

Never having seen a good figure of this animal, I have thought it desirable to introduce it in the plates of this work.

The Didelphis brachyura is closely allied to the D. tricolor of authors, but in that species the upper parts of the body are nearly black; the sides of the head and body are of a deep rusty red tint, and the under parts are almost white.

“Was caught by some boys digging in a garden. Its intestines were full of the remains of insects, chiefly ants and others of the Hemipterous order.”—D.

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Mammalia Pl. 1.

Desmodus D’Orbignyi. ]

Mammalia Pl. 2.

Phyllostoma Grayi. ]

Mammalia. Pl. 3.

Vespertilio Chiloensis. ]

Mammalia Pl. 4.

Canis antarcticus. ]

Mammalia. Pl. 5.

Canis Magellanicus. ]

Mammalia Pl. 6.

Canis fulvipes. ]