[* Hawkesw. vol. iii. p. 182.]

The countenance of this animal much resembles that of a fox, but its manners approach more nearly to those of the squirrel.  When disposed to sleep, or to remain inactive, it coils itself up into a round form; but when eating, or on the watch for any purpose, sits up, throwing its tail behind it.  In this posture it uses its fore feet to hold any thing, and to feed itself.  When irritated, it sits still more erect on the hind legs, or throws itself upon its back, making a loud and harsh noise.  It feeds only on vegetable substances.

This specimen is a male.  The fur is long, but close and thick; of a mixed brown or greyish colour on the back, under the belly and neck, of a yellowish white.  Its length is about eighteen inches, exclusive of the tail, which is twelve inches long, and prehensile.  The face is three inches in length, broad above and very pointed at the muzzle, which is furnished with long whiskers.  The eyes are very large, but not fierce.  On the fore feet are five claws; on the hind, three and a thumb.  The teeth are two in the front of the upper jaw, and two in the lower; the upper projecting beyond the under.  In the Kanguroo it is remarkable that there are four teeth in the upper jaw, opposed to two in the under.  The testicles are contained in a pendulous scrotum, between the two thighs of the hind legs, as in the common opossum.  The affinity of almost all the quadrupeds yet discovered on this coast to the opossum kind, in the circumstance of the pouch in which the female receives and suckles her young, seems to open a field of investigation most interesting to the naturalist:  and the public will doubtless learn with pleasure, that it is the intention of the most able comparative anatomist of the age, to give a paper on this subject to the Royal Society.  It cannot, therefore, be necessary at present to pursue the enquiry any farther.

The vulpine opossum.

This is not unlike the common fox in shape, but considerably inferior to it in respect to size, being, from the point of the nose to the setting on of the tail, only twenty-six inches; the tail itself fifteen inches:  the upper parts of the body are of a grisly colour, arising from a mixture of dusky and white hairs, with rufous-yellow tinge; the head and shoulders partaking most of this last colour:  round the eyes blackish:  above the nostrils ten or twelve black whiskers, four inches or more in length:  all the under parts of the body are of a tawny buff-colour, deepest on the throat, where the bottom of the hairs are rust-colour:  the tail is of the colour of the back for about one quarter of its length, from thence to the end, black:  the toes on the fore feet are five in number, the inner one placed high up:  on the hind feet four toes only:  with a thumb, consisting of two joints, without a claw, placed high up at the base of the inner toe.  The whole foot serving the purpose