George Shaw

“ It is of a gentle disposition, and may easily be tamed; but, like some other species, it has a disagreeable smell: its voice is a sort of grunting squeak: its pace in running is not swift, but it is very expert in climbing trees, and readily passes, by means of its clinging tail, from bough to bough, in the manner of a Monkey. The female produces four or five at a birth, and has the power of closing the pouch so strongly as to make it extremely difficult to open it by the hand; nor will any torture compel the animal to loosen it. ”

“ When they have attained sufficient growth and strength, they emerge, after which they occasionally take refuge in the same receptable on the appearance of any danger, and are carried about by the parent. This is the practice with most of the Opossum tribe; but there are two species which have no ventral pouch for the reception of their young, but a kind of depression or furrow in its stead. ”

“ THE animals of this highly singular genus first became known to naturalists on the discovery of the Western Continent, and most justly excited the admiration of the philosophic world, by the strange, and, till then, unheard-of contrivance of Nature for the protection and preservation of the young ”