OCR Text |
Show MAMMALIA. 15 hairs are of an uniform buff colour. Tl1e hairs of the moustaches are long and stiff, and of a black colour. The hairs of the back, which are very long, are brown at the base, vet-y pale towards the skin, and of a deep brown in the opposite direction; each hair is then white, and at the apex black. The tail is whitish, mottled with black ; the apical portion is black, and there is a patch of the same colour towards the base on the upper side. In. Lines. Length from nose to root of tail 27 6 Lougth of ear to base of car 5 9 Height of body at shoulders of tail (hair included) u G Habitat, La Plata, Patagonia, and Chile. ln. Lines. 3 2 14 0 The black and white portions of the hairs on the back produce in that part a mottled appearance, and in the specimen from which the above description is taken, these two colours are about equal in proportion. In another specimen now before me, the black colour predominates on the back. The fur in the younger animals of this species is not so long nor so harsh, and the upper parts are grizzled with black and white; that is to say, these two colours do not form patches of considerable extent as in the adults; the general colouring is also somewhat paler. The chin is brown-black or brown, instead of black, and the upper band, or that, which in the adult extends across the upper part of the neck, is interrupted in the middle ; in fact, is only traceable on the sides of the neck. Azara, in his description of the Agouarachay, says, the muzzle, as far back as the eyes, is blackish ; whereas, in all the specimens examined by me, the muzzle is of the same colour as the other parts of the head, or very nearly so. In other respects his description agrees with the animal described by me, and not with the Canis cinereo-argentatus, which Desmarest and Lesson suppose to be the Agouarachay of Azara. In Fischer's "S!Jnopsis JJtiammalium" the Canis Aza1'te is described as having the tip of the tail white; whereas it is black, not only in the five specimens which have come under my notice, but also in those in the collection of Prince Maximilian* (who was the original describer) and in the Paris Museum. "This animal has a wide range ; Prince Maximilian brought specimens fi·om Brazil; and it is common in La Plata, Chile, the whole of Patagonia, even to the shores of the Strait of Magellan ; and a fox, which lives on the small islands not far from Cape Horn, probably belongs to this species. This animal generally frequents desert places; I saw many in the valley of the Despoblado, a branch of • I am indebted to 1\ir. Ogilby, who visited tho P rince's collection, for a description from tho specimens of C. A ~IWW therein preser ved. In this description the tip of tho tail is said to be black. |