Petaurine Opossum, Lemurine Opossum. Australian Possums antique print c1808.
$125.00
Antique print of Petaurine Opossum and Lemurine Opossum.
George Shaw wrote "Among the New Holland Opossums the Lemurine Opossum is one of the most elegant: of the size of a Cat, of a fine dark-grey colour, yellowish underneath; with an exquisitely soft fur, and with a face much resembling the genus Lemur; the tail is long, deeply furred and prehensile at the tip.
A still more elegant kind of New Holland Opossum is the Petaurine Opossum, often measuring more than a yard in length from the nose to the tip of the tail. 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, and to a very considerable distance: the hind-feet are furnished with thumbs, and the tail is long and thickly furred: the colour of the whole animal is a most beautiful sable or blackish grey, of a yellowish cast beneath, and its fur is still finer than that of the lemurine Opossum. It is known in its native regions by the name of Hepoona Roo."
Fine copperplate engravings by John Eastgate (fl.1799-1811) for "Zoological Lectures delivered at the Royal Institution by George Shaw, M.D. F.R.S. &c… from the first Authorities and most select specimens" published by George Kearsley c1808 with later colour.
Page size 23 x 14cm (9 x 5.5 inches). Image window approximately 21 x 13cm (8 1/4 x 5 1/8 inches)..
