Austral English Part 185

1869. J. F. Blanche, `The Prince's Visit,' p. 21:

"When came Victoria's son on Ballarat."

1896. H. Lawson, `While the Billy boils, etc.' p. 3:

"After tea they would sit on a log of the wood-heap, . .

and yarn about Ballarat and Bendigo--of the days when we spoke of being `on' a place oftener than `at' it: on Ballarat, on Gulgong, on Lambing Flat, on Creswick."

Onion, Native, n. i.q. Native Leek. See Leek.

Onychogale, n. the scientific name of the genus containing the Nail-tailed Wallabies (q.v.). They derive their name from the presence of a peculiar h.o.r.n.y appendage to their tails. (Grk. 'onux, 'onuchos, a claw, and galae, a weasel.) For the species, see Wallaby.

Opossum, n. The marsupial animal, frequent all over Australia, which is called an Opossum, is a Phalanger (q.v.). He is not the animal to which the name was originally applied, that being an American animal of the family Didelphyidae. See quotations below from `Encycl. Brit.' (1883). Skeat (`Etym. Dict.') says the word is West Indian, but he quotes Webster (presumably an older edition than that now in use), "Orig. opa.s.som, in the language of the Indians of Virginia," and he refers to a translation of Buffon's Natural History' (Lond. 1792), Vol. i. p. 214. By 1792 the name was being applied in Australia. The name opossum is applied in Australia to all or any of the species belonging to the following genera, which together form the sub-family Phalangerinae, viz.--Phalanger, Trichosurus, Pseudochirus, Petauroides, Dactylopsila, Petaurus, Gymn.o.belideus, Dromicia, Acrobates.

The commoner forms are as follows:--

Common Dormouse O.-- Dromicia nana, Desm.

Common Opossum-- Trichosurus vulpecula, Kerr.

Common Ring-tailed-O.-- Pseudochirus peregrinus, Bodd.

Greater Flying-O.-- Petauroides volans, Kerr.

Lesser Dormouse O.-- Dromicia lepida, Thomas.

Lesser Flying-O.-- Petaurus breviceps, Water.

Pigmy Flying-O.- Acrobates pygmaeus.

Short-eared-O.-- Trichosurus caninus, W. Ogilby.

Squirrel Flying-O., or Flying Squirrel-- Petaurus sciureus, Shaw.

Striped O.-- Dactylopsila trivirgata, Gray.

Tasmanian, or Sooty O.-- Trichosurus vulpecula, var. fuliginosus.

Tasmanian Ring-tailed-O.-- Pseudochirus cooki, Desm.

Yellow-bellied Flying-O.-- Petaurus australis, Shaw.

Of the rare little animal called Leadbeater's Opossum, only one specimen has been found, and that in Victoria; it is Gymn.o.belideus leadbeateri, and is the only species of this genus.

1608. John Smith, `Travels, Adventures, and Observations in Europe, Asia, Africke, and America, beginning about 1593, and continued to 1629;' 2 vols., Richmond, U.S., reprinted 1819; vol. i. p. 124 [On the American animal; in the part about Virginia, 1608]:

"An Opa.s.som hath a head like a Swine,--a taile like a Rat, and is of the bigness of a Cat. Under the belly she hath a bagge, wherein she lodgeth, carrieth and suckleth her young."

[This is the American opossum. There are only two known genera of living marsupials outside the Australian region.]

1770. `Capt. Cook's Journal' (edition Wharton, 1893), p. 294 [at Endeavour River, Aug. 4, 1770]:

"Here are Wolves, Possums, an animal like a ratt, and snakes."

1770. J. Banks, `Journal,' July 26, (edition Hooker, 1896, p. 291):

"While botanising to-day I had the good fortune to take an animal of the opossum (Didelphis) tribe; it was a female, and with it I took two young ones. It was not unlike that remarkable one which De Buffon has described by the name of Phalanger as an American animal. It was, however, not the same. M. de Buffon is certainly wrong in a.s.serting that this tribe is peculiar to America, and in all probability, as Pallas has said in his Zoologia, the Phalanger itself is a native of the East Indies, as my animals and that agree in the extraordinary conformation of their feet, in which they differ from all others."

1789. Governor Phillip, `Voyage to Botany Bay,' p. 104:

"The pouch of the female, in which the young are nursed, is thought to connect it rather with the opossum tribe."

[p. 147]: "A small animal of the opossum kind."

[p. 293]: "Black flying-opossum. [Description given.] The fur of it is so beautiful, and of so rare a texture, that should it hereafter be found in plenty, it might probably be thought a very valuable article of commerce."

1793. J. Hunter, `Voyage,' p. 68:

"The opossum is also very numerous here, but it is not exactly like the American opossum: it partakes a good deal of the kangaroo in the strength of its tail and make of its fore-legs, which are very short in proportion to the hind ones; like that animal it has the pouch, or false belly, for the safety of its young in time of danger."

1798. D. Collins, `Account of New South Wales,' fol. i.

p. 562:

"At an early age the females wear round the waist a small line made of the twisted hair of the opossum, from the centre of which depend a few small uneven lines from two to five inches long. This they call bar-rin."

1809. G. Shaw, `Zoological Lectures,' vol. i. p. 93:

"A still more elegant kind of New Holland opossum is the petaurine opossum ... has the general appearance of a flying-squirrel, being furnished with a broad furry membrane from the fore to the hind feet, by the help of which it springs from tree to tree... . Known in its native regions by the name of hepoona roo."

1830. R. Dawson, `Present State of Australia,' p. 67:

"Their food consists of fish when near the coasts, but when in the woods, of oppossums [sic], bandicoots, and almost any animal they can catch."

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 143:

"The sharp guttural noises of opossums."

Ibid. p. 174 [`The Native Woman's Lament']:

"The white man wanders in the dark, We hear his thunder smite the bough; The opossum's mark upon the bark We traced, but cannot find it, now."

1853. J. West, `History of Tasmania,' vol. i. p. 324:

"The opossums usually abound where gra.s.s is to be found, lodging by day in the holes and hollows of trees. The most common species is the Phalangista vulpina (Shaw), under which are placed both the black and grey opossums... . The ringtail opossum (Phalangista or Hepoona Cookii, Desm.) is smaller, less common, and less sought after, for dogs will not eat the flesh of the ringtail even when roasted."

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 200:

"Dogs, immediately on coming into the Australian forest, become perfectly frantic in the pursuit of opossums."