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Show 158 DK. E. A. GOELDI ON THE [June 7, 7. On the rare Rodent JJinomys branickii Peters. By Dr. E m i l A. G o e ld i , C.M.Z.S., Director of the Goeldi Museum, Para. [Received May 16, 1904.] (Plate X.*) The zoological world was surprised in 1873 by the novelty of the discovery of a, strange, large Rodent, introduced scientifically by Prof. Peters, then Director of the Berlin Museum, under the name Dinomys branickii. It was stated that the animal had been found in the neighbourhood of a town in Peru, wandering about in an orchard. It was further stated that the natives themselves were entirely unacquainted with the creature. Prof. Peters published a somewhat extensive memoir on the subject, based principally upon anatomical features, especially of the skin and the more or less complete skeleton. Up to this date I have not had the opportunity of consulting this memoir f , which I know' only from a few lines of quotation in recent manuals on mammalogy, such as Flower and Lydekker, ‘ An Introduction to the Study of Mammals,' London, 1891, p. 489; and Beddard, ‘ Mammals,' London, 1902, p. 495 seq. These citations are barely sufficient to permit a certain identification of this peculiar form of Rodent and to exclude the possibility of confusion. So far as the literature at my disposal goes, there is no indication of any living specimen having been examined by a zoologist, nor does there exist any notice of any further specimen as having been met with since 1873, so that the type specimen at the Berlin Museum J remains till now the only one known to be in existence. I have now the extreme good fortune to be able to make further additions to our knowledge of the subject. I consider the rediscovery of Dinomys branickii in the Amazonian region, from a general point of view, as the second most important * For explanation of the Plate, see p. 162. t Since beginning to write the present article I have received both the extensive memoir of Prof. Peters as well as the preliminary communication on the subject in the ‘ Monatsberichte der konigl.-preuss. Akademie der Wissenscliaften zu Berlin,' July-August 1873, pp. 551-552. Their contents correspond so nearly to my supposition that I find no necessity for changing anything in the wording of my note. The coloured lithographic figure given by Prof. Peters on plate i. identities the animal satisfactorily, but, of course,can make no claim to rival the photographs taken from the living specimens, which give an essentially different conception of the animal's physiognomy. The most noteworthy difference consists in the tierce expression of countenance, resembling that of an angry rat ready to bite; while my photographs show a face which might be called the personification of perfect good humour. As I foresaw, there still exists no information as to the anatomy of the soft parts of Dinomys, which in all probability is still in reserve for me to brin°- to lig h t__ April 7, 1904. X On reading the memoir of Prof. Peters, I find- what was absolutely impossible to presume from the brief references in the above-cited manuals- that this type specimen does not belong to the Berlin Museum, but was only lent to its Director to be described by him, and that it forms part of the collections of the Warsaw Museum, for which it had been obtained by the Polish naturalist and explorer Constantin Jelski. |