As there can be little doubt but these animals would produce in the climates of France; as they are easily tamed, and their flesh is excellent food, they might be rendered an advantageous acquisition, especially as one individual would be equal to seven or eight rabbits, and their flesh not inferior.
M. de la Borde agrees with most of the foregoing particulars, and says also that the paca generally has his hole on the banks of rivers, and that he so forms it as to have three ways to enter or retreat; that when disturbed he takes to the water, and endeavours to effectuate his escape by diving frequently, and that he makes a stout defence when attacked by dogs.
THE opossum is an animal of America, which is easily distinguished from all others by two singular characters; first, the female has under the belly a large cavity where she receives and suckles her young; secondly, both male and female have no claws on the great toes of the hind feet, which is separated from the others, as the thumb on the human hand, whilst all the other toes are armed with crooked claws, like the feet of other quadrupeds. The first of these characters has been observed by most travellers and naturalists, but the second had escaped their observation. Edward Tyson, an English physician, seems to be the first who made this remark; and he only has given a good description of the female in a treatise printed in London in 1698, under the title of The Anatomy of an Opossum. Some years after, W. Cooper, a celebrated English anatomist, communicated to Tyson the observations which he had made Upon the male. Other authors, and especially the nomenclators, who have multiplied beings without necessity, have here fallen into numerous errors respecting this animal.
Our opossum, described by Tyson, is the same animal as the oriental philandre of Seba, since of all the animals which Seba has described, and to which he gave the name of philandre, opossum, or carigueya, this is the only one who has a bag under the belly, and thumbs without claws behind. This animal is a native of the warm climates of the new world; for the two we have in the king’s cabinet came from America. That which Tyson had, was sent him from Virginia. M. de Chanvallon, correspondent of the Academy of Sciences in Martinico, who has given us a young opossum, acknowledged the two others to be true opossums of America. All the travellers agree, that this animal is found in Brasil, New Spain, Virginia, and the Antilles; and none mention having seen it in the East Indies; thus Seba was mistaken in calling it the oriental philandre. He says, his philandre was sent him from Amboyna, under the name of coes-coes, with other curiosities, but he confesses, at the same time, that it had been transported from some other remote countries to Amboyna. This should be sufficient to shew, that the denomination of oriental philandre was improper; for it is possible that travellers have transported this animal from America to the East Indies, but nothing proves that he is a native of Amboyna; and even the passage of Seba, which we have quoted, seems to indicate the contrary. The cause of this error and even of the name coes-coes, is found in Piso, who says, that in the East Indies, and only in the island of Amboyna, is found an animal very much like the opossum of Brasil to whom the natives give the name of cous-cous. Piso quotes no authority for this assertion. It would be strange, if it was true, as Piso affirms, that this animal is only found in Amboyna, while Seba, on the contrary, says, that the opossum sent him from Amboyna, was not a native of that island, but had been brought there from more distant countries; though he was ignorant of the native country of his philandre, he nevertheless gave him the epithet of oriental, though he is certainly the same animal as that of the West Indies; the proof of it will clearly appear by comparing the figure he has given with Nature. But another error of this author is, that while he gives to the opossum of America the name of great oriental philandre he presents us another animal, which he thinks a different one, under the name of the philandre of America; and which according to his own description, differs only from the former by being smaller, and having the spots above the eyes of a deeper brown colour; which differences are merely accidental, and too inconsiderable to constitute two different species, for he does not mention another difference more essential, if it existed, that Seba’s philandre of America has sharp claws on the hind toes of the hind feet, while his oriental philandre has no claws upon his two thumbs. It is certain, that our opossum, which is the true one of America, has no claws to his toes behind; if an animal with sharp claws did exist, such as is represented by Seba, it could not be, as he asserts, the opossum of America. But this is not all, Seba mentions a third animal, under the name of oriental philandre, of whom, however, he speaks only after Valentin, an author who, as we have observed already, deserves little credit: and this third animal is yet the same as the two first. We are, therefore, persuaded that the three animals of Seba are individuals of the same species, and which species is the same as our opossum; and that the difference between them might be occasioned by their age, as it entirely consists in their size and slight variations in their colour, particularly in the spots above their eyes.
Seba says, “that according to Valentin, this last philandre is the largest species seen in the East Indies, and particularly among the Malays, where he is called pelandor aroé, which signifies a rabbit of Aroé, though Aroé is not the only place where these animals are found; that they are common in the island of Solor; that they are kept promiscuously with rabbits, to whom they do no harm; and that the inhabitants eat their flesh, which they reckon excellent.” These facts are very doubtful, not to say absolutely false, for according to Seba, this is not the largest species of the oriental philandre, that it bears no resemblance to the rabbit, therefore is very improperly termed the rabbit of Aroé; and that no person who has travelled in the East Indies has mentioned this remarkable animal; neither is he found in the island of Solor, nor in any other part of the ancient continent. Seba himself seems to have perceived not only the incapacity, but also the inaccuracy of the author whom he quotes: F. Valentin has written a Natural History of the East Indies in five volumes folio, and for the credit due to his testimony, both Artedi and Seba refer to a passage wherein he affirms, “that the pouch of the philandre is the womb in which the young are conceived; that having himself dissected a female, he found no other; and if that pouch is not the real womb, the teats are to the young, what the pedicles are to fruits, that they stick to them till they are sufficiently grown, and then they are separated like the fruit, when it is come to ripeness.” What seems to be the truth is, that Valentin, who affirms that those animals are common in the East Indies, especially at Solor, had never seen any there; that all he says, even his most manifest errors, are copied from Piso and Marcgrave, who are themselves copyists of Ximenes, and are mistaken in everything they have advanced of their own authority; for Marcgrave and Piso say expressly and observatively, as well as Valentin, that the pouch is the true womb where the young of the opossums are conceived. Marcgrave says, he dissected one, and found no other womb: Piso, who says he dissected many, affirms he never could discover any womb in the internal parts, and also maintains the opinion, equally ill-grounded, that this animal is found at Amboyna. One may judge of what credit ought to be given to Marcgrave, Piso, and Valentin’s assertions, the first of whom had not examined with accuracy; the second had added to the errors of the first, and the last copied from both.
I should willingly ask pardon of my reader for the length of this critical disquisition, but when obliged to correct errors, we cannot be too exact or too attentive, even to the smallest circumstances.
M. Brisson, in his work upon the quadrupeds, has adopted whatever he found in that of Seba, and adopts both his denominations and descriptions; he goes even farther than his author, in making three distinct species of the philandres, described by Seba; for, if he had adhered to Seba, he would have observed that the latter did not give them as really different from each other. Seba had no doubt that an animal of the warm climates of America, could be found also in the torrid regions of Asia; but he distinguished them according as they came to him from one or the other continent. It seems clear that he does not use the word species in its most strict sense, nor did Seba ever pretend to make a methodical division of animals into classes, genera, and species; he has only given the figures of the different animals in his cabinet, distinguishing by names, according as he saw some difference in their size, colour, or the countries from which he received them. It appears, therefore, that M. Brisson was not authorised by Seba, in making three different species of philandres, especially as he has not employed the distinctive characters, and makes no mention of the want of the claws, in the hind toes of the hind feet; he only says, in general, that the toes of the philandres have claws, without making any exception; yet the one which he saw in the King’s cabinet, and which is our opossum, had no claws to the hind toes of the hind legs, and which seems to be the only one he has seen. The work of M. Brisson is very useful, but in his catalogue the species are more numerous than in that of Nature.