“’Live? ’Possum am a mighty onconsideratin’ animal when h’it ’live. An’ w’en a man kin ketch ’possum any time he go fur him, he am a berry sma’at man, fo’ sho! Dere’s ony one sech man in dese y’ere pa’ats, an’ h’it am Uncle D’rius w’en he was young an’ spry.” And that was all Uncle Darius could tell me about opossums. Certainly he knew very much more. He had hunted them, and eaten them, and brought home baby opossums to bring up for pets--but unluckily, Uncle D’rius had not habits of observation, nor any gift for telling what he knew. Fortunately I had other means of learning something about opossums. Let us first indulge in a few plain statements about the opossum, and then devote a little time to some of its interesting habits. 1. The opossum, like the beaver, is a very ancient animal; its fossils are plentifully found in the strata of the Eocene age, the first age of the last world-building period.[53] 2. The opossum is entirely an American animal; is unknown in Europe and Asia; and is found from the northern part of the Southern States to the north boundary of Patagonia. 3. It belongs to the mammalian order of marsupials, or pouched animals, furnished with a pouch or pocket for carrying the young. 4. Its nearest relatives are found in Australia. 5. With one exception it is the lowest of the mammalian orders. 6. Its scientific name is Didelphys. 7. This family has two groups: first, a very large group to which the opossums and their nearest kin belong; the other group has but one species of animal, the yapock, which thus claims a whole genus for itself. The yapock is a little creature with webbed feet, aquatic in its habits: it feeds on fish and small crabs; its home is in Guatemala and Brazil; its fur is gray marked with brown. Having disposed of the genus represented only by the yapock, let us describe the opossum and the general characteristics of its kindred. The animal is small, varying from the size of a mouse to that of a large cat. It has several very marked characteristics. First, the opossum has a great number of teeth, fully fifty. These are fitted for tearing and eating flesh, for grinding up the horny bodies of insects, and also for devouring roots, berries, eggs, and fruits. While belonging to the carnivorous class of feeders, the opossum is thoroughly omnivorous, and seldom finds any variety of food which he disdains to taste. The second marked peculiarity is the pouch, formed of a large fold of the skin of the under part of the mother opossum’s body. This fold makes a bag, supported by two slender but strong bones, from which the order receives its name--didelphys. In this bag the mother opossum stows her little ones, and carries them about with her until they are old enough to be weaned, and can look out for themselves.