Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/370

342 French, Spanish, and Indian blood with a basis generally emancipated negro. The native is more useful to the naturalist than to the struggling planter, as he objects to all work, though he often has a sporting tendency.

Didelphis marsupialis. Large Manicou.—Ruthless war is waged by all and sundry upon these Opossums, which have a great predilection for poultry. They are to be found in Trinidad, Tobago, and St. Vincent to my knowledge, and in the last-named island I found that on moonlight nights they were to be shot in certain trees, the fruit of which acted as an unfailing lure. I have seen them killed in the day time with a mongrel pack of dogs, but their habits are generally nocturnal. They used to show their carnivorous propensities by eating my trapped victims; sometimes carrying the trap away also. One female which I dissected carried seven immature young in her pouch.

Philander trinitatis. The Yellow-eyed Manicou.—Though this little animal was only described by Mr. O. Thomas about three years ago, I found it plentiful and generally distributed wherever I collected.

Marmosa murina. The Black-eyed Manicou.—This is much the most common of the three marsupials found in Trinidad. Many partially eaten rats in my traps I fancy may be put to their credit, though banana was their favourite bait. One which I caught in a hollow stump in the daylight opened its mouth, and as it showed its teeth "swore" at me in the most unmistakable manner, with a sound like the rasping of a metal comb. It is found in Tobago.

Dasyprocta aguti.—This animal is the usual species taken in Trinidad; it is hunted with dogs and eaten by the natives, who will not let their hounds eat the entrails, which they say "disagree with them, as they feed on poisonous berries." Whether this is true I know not, but they always carefully disembowel these rodents and hang the intestines out of reach.

Dasyprocta cristata.—The main difference to the eye in D. aguti is the red rump, which in this species has a markedly yellowish hue. Before I brought the two species back from Trinidad, only the former had been recorded from that island. Both of them give excellent sport, and I have had several good runs with dogs in their pursuit. One that the dogs ran into in