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Show 16 ZOOLOGY OF TilE VOYAGE OF TilE BEAGLE. that of Copiap6, where there is no fresh water, and where, with the exception of some small rodents, (the constant inhabitants of sterile regions) scarcely any other animal could exist. I saw also very many of these foxes wandering about by clay (although Azara says they are nocturnal in Paraguay) on the plains of Santa Cl'llz, where various kinds of mice arc abundant, and likewise around the Sierra Ventana. In the course of one day's ride in this latter neighbourhood, (not far from Bahia Blanca, lat. 39° S.) I should think I saw between thirty and forty. They generally were wandering at no great distance from their burrows; but, as they are not very swift animals, our dogs caught two. Azara states that in Paraguay this fox, which he calls the Agoudt-chay, inhabits thick woods, and that it makes a great nest or pile of straw, to lie on; but that near Buenos Ayres it uses the holes of the Bizcacha. Further southward, where the Bizcaeha is not found, it certainly excavates its own bunow."' In Chile these foxes are very destructive to the vineyards, from the quantity of grapes they consume; so that boys are generally kept in the vintage season with bells and other means to frighten them away. Azara states, that in Paraguay they likewise eat fruit and sugarcane. By the same authority it is said, that the Agour(t-chay, when taken young, is easily domesticated."-D. 1. FELIS YAGOUAROUN DI. PLATE VIII. Felis Yagouaronndi, Desma1·est, Mammologic, p. 230. Yagouarouudi, .A.c:a1·a, E sais sur l'histoirc Naturclle cles QuadrupCdes de la Province du Paraguay, tom. i. })· 171. Felis Darwinii, Ma1·tin, Proceedings of tho Zool.ogical Society of London, 1837, P· 3. F. vellere brevi, adpresso, pwpurascenti-Jusco ; pilis jlavescente aunulatis ; pedil11ts nig1·o laval is; cauda longissima; auribus pa1·mtlis. DEscRIPTIO .-The fur is rather harsh, short, and somewhat adpressc1l: the under fur is of a pale grayish brown colour ; the hairs which constitute the chief clothing of the animal, are black, annulated with brownish yellow, or in some parts, yellow-white, each hair having about three or four rings. The black and pale colours are about equal in proportion, and their mixture pro- * Considering the great diffi ronco of climate and other conditions between tl10 hot and wooded country of Parnguay, and tho dcsohtte plains of P atagonia, one is led to suspect that the Canis Azane of La Plata and ~atagonin, which wanders about by day, and inhabits burrows instead of heaps of ~traw, may turn out to be a different species from tho .Agouara-chay of .Azara, which is nocturnal in its habits, and lives in thiok coverts. |