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Show 'POSSUMS IN A POCKET. HOW THE WEE LITTLE THINCS BEGIN THEIR LIFE. Trom the Sire of a la They Inhabit a L Curioim Far-Lined Nnrrj In I'er- 1 , fcrt Kecurlly I'ntll Old f Enough to Co Alone. Living in the Unite! States 'there is one species of wild animal that might naturally excite tho envy of the very small boy. It in born with a pocket. Not such a pocket as the boy gets in his early htages of "trouserdom" barely large enough to squeeze a top into hut a capacious pocket that would hold not only a top, but also a knife, a whistle, an assorted lot of strings, a dozen marbles and all the other valuable valua-ble property that tho average small boy loves to freight himself with. It is a harmless little animal, this lucky one with the natural pocket, but it puzzles the naturalist more than almost al-most anything else of animal kind. It is the opossum, found only in America, the very mention of which will cause , the mouth of a southern negro to "water." "wa-ter." Tho wonderful peculiarity of this little animal is the arrangement that nature has provided for the period of babyhood. Although the full-grown opossum is as largo as a cat. tho young ones at birth are not bigger than a pea. But this is not the strangest thing about the little 'possums. They have a sort of double birth. At so early a stage of their lifo that they look as much like a pea a like an adult opossum, they are transferred form the normal birthplace to a secondary one. The latter is a pocket or pouch on tho exterior ex-terior of tho female's abdomen. It might bo likened to a patch sewed outside 011 tho knee of a gamin's trousers, trou-sers, with the top left open. This pocket is lined with fine hair, and it opens or closes at the will of the animal ani-mal by an arrangement of muscle and bones suited for the purpose. At a very early stage in the existence exist-ence of tho young opossums, and they average a dozen at a time, they pass into this pocket, and each finds a fountain foun-tain of nourishment ready, to which it at once seals its lips. There is an old adage about the desirability of st icking to a good tiling, and tho infantile opossum opos-sum seems to understand its importance. import-ance. Although they are only . about tho tiizo of a pea when they first appear in the pocket, as remarked before, tho youngsters tako possession of the founts and never let go, night or day, for several sev-eral weeks. In fact, they hold on until un-til they are big enough to travel, to emerge from the pocket and frisk about in early attempts to gain knowledge knowl-edge about the queer world of 'possum-dora. 'possum-dora. But if danger appears while the young cnes are taking their early outings out-ings the mother gives a shrill signal and tho little fellows scamper to her and tumble headlong into that capacious capa-cious and very useful pockot, something some-thing like the retroat of a brood of chicks under tho old hen's wings when the hungry hawk is looking for a breakfast of spring chicken. Tin re nre other very queer things ' about the opossum. It seems to liko a very soft couch to sleep on, and to gratify this whim, it often sleeps in the air. It does this by twisting its tail around the limb of a tree, and then hanging head downward. It also assumes as-sumes this attitude for catching small animals, hanging motionless from a limb with one eyeopon ready to pounce on anything that, from an opossum standpoint, or rather hang-point, might cein good to eat. Tho tail is a very important part of the opossum's anatomy. Sometimes a not her may bo seon trudging along with her whole brood dangling from her nock by thoir little tails. This caudal appendage is vory strong, almost al-most hairless, and so rough that it will not slip when employed for hanging purposes. Not much can be said for tho lors. They are very shoit, and the animal is not a good traveler. But it is an excellent climber, has a pair of very sharp eyes, and is liberally supplied sup-plied with tooth an even four dozen of ordinary ones and two very large ones in add'.tion. - Its head id shaped something liko thai of a fox. Its tlesh is oily, with a pungent odor. In addition to the colored peoplo in tho south some white people regard 'possum n delicacy, but if the reader should have courage to tackle it tho conclusion would probably prob-ably bo similar to thai of the man that I could eat crow, but didn't hanker after it. t Besides the opossum there Is one large nnimal that has a strange pocket residence for its young ones. Tho kangaroo, found only in Australia and W tho neighboring islands, has a countor- 1 . part of the opossum's pocket, although the two animals are utterly unlike in other respects. The kangaroo grows as large as two hundred pounds in weight nnd has an enormous tail, which eerves it as a sort of fifth leg. It has very long and powerful hind logs, although its fore legs are short and comparatively comparative-ly puny. When moving slowly it walks on all-fours, but when in a hurry it moves by leaps on its hind logs, and can thus travel as fast as tho fleetest liorso can run. Its average leap when j pursued is about fifteen feet, but it has own known to make jumps of thirty feet. There is no crowding in the """""K- pocket home of the young kangaroo. Sometimes there are twins, but ordinarily ordin-arily one of these queer creatures has She whole apartment to itsolf. |
