This volume reviews and integrates all published morphological, developmental and quantitative data concerned with the digestive system of the North American opossum, Didelphis virginiana. The review emphasizes the developmental interrelationships between the epithelial lining of the developing digestive system and its associated intrinsic and extrinsic glands. Pre and postnatal developmental events for the entire digestive system are discussed and presented unter seven separate headings: oral cavity, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, pancreas and liver.