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Show 348 MR. E. R. ALSTON ON THE GENUS DASYPROCTA. [Apr. 4, margined with the light colour ; feet dusky. Length about 22 in., hind foot 4 25 in. Hab. Central America. This Agouti is at once distinguished from all the others which have black and yellow annulated fur, by the long hairs of the rump being black with broad pale tips. Seven or eight individuals of both sexes agree in all essential characters, but differ slightly in the colour of the tips of the long hairs, and consequently iu the general colour of the rump. The exact distribution of the species is still uncertain. Several living examples have been received from Colon by the Society, which have hitherto been referred to D. punctata*; and it appears probable that the Agouti of Costa Rica which Dr. von Frantzius calls D. cristataf will prove to be the same. 2. D. CRISTATA. Cavia cristata (Geoffroy), Desmarest, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. i. p. 215 (1816, descr. orig.). Dasyprocta cristata, Desmarest, M a m m . p. 358 ; Waterhouse, M a m m . ii. p. 383 ; Wagner, Suppl. Schreb. Saugeth. iv. p. 41. Dasyprocta antillensis, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 666, pl. lxxxii (descr. orig.). Fur very dark, ringed with black and reddish or brownish yellow, nuchal tuft and rump black, the long hairs either dusky or obscurely ringed at the base. Length about 18 in. ; hind foot 3*75 in. Hab. West Indies. The West-Indian Agouti for which Mr. Sclater proposed the provisional name of D. antillensis, is identical with the specimens which Mr. Waterhouse identified with Desmarest's D. cristata, and seems to agree perfectly with the original descriptions. The phrase pelage noiratre, piquete de roux, is particularly characteristic; and I ara convinced that Mr. Waterhouse was correct, although the figure in F. Cuvier and Geoffroy's 'Mammiferes' (iii. livr. 52) gives the idea of a lighter animal. The species was founded on a pair of Agoutis in the Jardin des Plantes, which were said to have been received from Surinam. There'can be little doubt, however, that this was an error, and that the species is a strictly insular race. The Society has received living specimens from St. Vincent and St. Lucia; and there are skins from St. Thomas in the British Museum. In one example from the first-named island, the hairs of the rump are obscurely ringed at the base, and the nuchal crest is but little developed. 3. D. VARIEGATA. Dasyprocta varieyata, Von Tschudi, Faun. Peru. p. 190, pl. xvi. (1844, descr. orig.). Fur dusky at base, black, ringed with pale yellow only near the tip, the long hairs of the nape and rump entirely black, or with a narrow pure white ring near the tip. Length about 22 inches, hind foot 4 inches. Hab. Peru, New Granada, Panama? * Cf. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 666. t Cf. TViegm. Arch. 1869, p. 274. |
