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Show 44 BOOK J, \ • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. Tile Plaqe where this quadruped mofl: abounds is the king• rump. •L c-r • • /.1, dom of Michuacan, where it is called .Ahora. Tue "J. efettzcwnt , that is, the mountain-dog, is a wild beaft fo fmall, that 1t ,"ppear.s a. little dog, but it is fo daring that it attacks deer, and ~omettmes k11l& them. Its hair and tail are long, its body black, but J.ts head, neck, anri breall: are white ( p). The Xo/oitzcuint/i is brger than the two pre~ ceding; there being fome of ther?, whofe. bodies are ev~n four feet long, Its £1ce is like a dog, but 1ts tu!ks like the ~olf, 1ts ears. ere~1 its neck grofs, and tail long. The g reateil: fingulanty about th1s ammal is its being totally deftitute of hair, except upon its fi10ut, where it has iome thick crooked brill:les. Its whole body is covered with a; fmooth, (oft, a(h-coloured fkin, but fpotted in part with black and tawny, Thefe three fpecies are almoft totally extinCt, or at leail: very few of them remain ( 9). The Ocotocht/i appears agreeable to the defcription given of it by Hernandez, to belong to the clafs of wild cats ; but the author adds fome circumftances to it which have much the air of a fab.l. e; not that he has been defirous of deceiving, but that he has truft~d too much to the informations of others (r). The Cojopollin is a quadruped of the fize of a common moufe ;. but the tail is groifer which it \.lfes as a hand. Its fi10ut and ears are 1imilar to thofe of a pig: its ears are tranfparent, its legs and feet are white, and its belly is of a whitiib yellow. It lives and brings up its young in trees, When its young fear any thing, they cling clofely to· their mother. ' (p) Butfon believes the Tepeitzcuintli to be the glutton; but we contradi~<t this opinion in our l>iR'ertations. (I)) Giovanni Fnbr,i, a Lincenn academici:llt, publifl1ed at Rome a long and learned di1Ter..tation, in which he endeavoured to prove, that the xoloit7,cuintli is the fame with the wol£ of Mexico; having without duubt been deceived by the origim1l drawing of the xoloitzcuintli. · which was fent to Rome with other piClurcs of Hernmdcz ; bnt if he had read the defcription· which this eminent naturnlift gives of that animal in the> book of the ~ad rupeds of New Spain, he would have fparcd himfclf the labour of writing that Difi'ertation and the expences of publi! hing it. , ( 1') Dr: ~ern:mdez fay s, th~t whrn .the Ocotochtli makes any prey it covers it with leaves,. ~nd mounung ~ftcr •. n fomc ne1ghbourmg tree, it hegins howling to invite other animals to cat Its p~e~ ; and 1tfclf JS always the Ia~ to cat l bwntfc the poifon of its tongue io fo !lrong,. that ~~ 1t ~a t. firll the prey would be tnfeCled1 and other animal~ who cat of it wouhl die, Thia fil.ble u Jhllm the mouths of the vulgar. Th~ H I S T 0 R. Y 0 F . M E X I. C' 0. The 'l'oz.an, or Tu~a, is a qu.adtuped of the· bigners ·of an European BooK r .. mole, but very different otherwife. Its body wh ~c 1 is well made is ' "' , feven or eight inches long. Its fnout is like that of a mouie, its ~ars fmall and _round, and tail fhort. Its mout is armed with very ftrong teeth, and its paws are furqHhed with ftrong crooked nails, with: which .it digs into the earth and makes little holes, where it inhabits. The Tuza is moil: deftruaive to the fields by ftealing the corn, and to the pighways by the number of holes and hollows which it makes in them ; for when it cannot, on account of its little fight, find its firft hole, it ma:kes another, multiplying by fuch means the inconveniences and dangers to thofe who travel on horfeback. It digs the earth with its claws, and with two dogs- teeth which it has in the upper jaw, larger than its others; in digging it puts the earth into two membranes like purfes which are under 1ts ear, which are fur. qilhed with mufcles neceffary for C0ntracti<m or difienfion. When the membranes are full, it empties th~m by ftriking the bottom of the membr.tn s with its paws, and then goes on to dig ag.1in in the fame manner, uJing its dogs-teeth and chLWS as a mattock~ and its two membranes as a little fack or ba c.et. The fpecies of the Tuza is very numerous; but we dp not tee 11le6l: to have ever feen them in. the place~ where the land-fquirrels inl ·1bit. The Abuitzot/ is · an amphibious quadruped, which for the moil: part dwells in the rivers of warm countries. Its body is a foot long, its fnout lung and £harp, and its tail large. Its fk.in is of a mixed black and brown colour. The Huitzt/acuatzt'n is the hedge-hog or porcupine ·of Mexico. It is as large as a midling dog, which it refemblcs in the face, although its muzzle is flat ; its f~et and legs are rather grofs, and its tail in proportion with its body. The wh'ole of its body, except the belly, the hinder part of the tail, and iniide of the legs, is armed with quills or fpines, which are empty, £harp, and a {pan loug. On its. fi1out and forehead it has long ftrait briitJes, which rife upon its head like a plume. All its fk.in, even between the fpines is covered witb a foft black hair. It feeds only on the fru its of the earth (s). • (1) Bull'on would make the Huitztlacu:t 1.in the Coendu of Guiana, but the Coen~u ie car" mvon~us, whereas the Huitztl:tcuat;r,in f<"cds on fn1its . The- • |