This animal belongs to the same climate, and is of a similar species to
the other oppossums. Sibillas Merian, is the first who gave a figure
and description of it. Seba considered that of Merian's to be the
female, and gave another figure for that of the male, with a kind of
description; this animal, he says, has very sparkling eyes, surrounded
with a circle of brown hair. The body is covered with a soft hair, or
rather a kind of wool of a reddish yellow colour, which is mostly red
on the back, and of a yellowish white on the snout, forehead, belly,
and feet: the ears are naked and pretty hard. There are long hairs in
form of whiskers on the upper jaw and above the eyes; its teeth are
pointed and very sharp. Upon the tail of the male, which is naked, and
of a pale red, there are dark red spots, which are not seen on the tail
of the female. The feet resemble the hands of the ape; the fore-feet
having four fingers and a thumb with short and obtuse nails, while
only the thumb, or great toe, of the hind-feet is flat and obtuse, the
rest being armed with small sharp claws. The young of these animals
grunt somewhat like pigs. The teats of the female resemble those of
the murine opossum. Seba justly observes, that in the figure given by
Marian, the feet and toes are badly represented. The females produce
five or six at a time. The tail is very long and prehensile, like
that of the sapajous. The young ones get on the back of their mother,
and fix themselves securely by twisting their tail round her's. In
this situation, which is familiar to them, they carry them with much
swiftness and safety.