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Show 88 ZOOLOGY 01'' TilE' VOYAGE OF THE DEAGLE. FAMILY-CIIINCHILLIDJE. LAGOS'l'Ol\IUS TlliCHODACTYLUS. T ansactions of tho Lm. ncan OC·l Ct y, vo 1. .x vi . p . 95 ' Pl. 9. L"gostomus trichodactylus, B7·ooks, r , ll d n "drtlpcdcs de la Province du Pamgun,y, u • I'll' t . Nn,turc 0 cs •x,llu La Vizcache, Azm·a, Essms sur 11 ~~r\ 4·1 Trncl. Franc. vo · u. I · · · 2 p 584· Yiscbacha, .Meyen, .Acta Acadcmire, c. l . c. r atune Curiosorum, Tom. XVI. pars , . . Habitat, La Plata. 'd b t the habits of this animal in my "I will not repeat wha t I hav~ sm faA. ~u ·a's account. According to th. at . · . 1 corroboratiOn o zm . . . Journal, as Jt IS mere y a h f 30o. and its southern hmit occurs m t1Ie · l · t found nort o , < • • author, the Bizcac la IS n~ . o Where the plains are gravelly, tt IS not ncighboUl·hood of the Rw Negro m 4 1 .p . ) I.t precers an argillaceous and . f' . th C ict ata o·omca, J' abundant, but (differently rom e av Ao . The Bizcacha abounds over h tl t near Buenos yies. d sandy formation , sue as la . h d f Mendoza and there it is replace t the nei O'hbour oo o ' d the whole Pampas, even o . o. Of the latter animal, I saw one seate on in the Cordillera by an Alptue species. bt . specimen of it. Azara""' has l · 1 b t I could not o am a . a pinnacle at a great telg 1t, u 1 c . l 'nhabitants of Banda Oriental, IS h B. 1 fortunate y 101 t 1e I " remarked that t e tzcac Ia, . . . d what makes the case more ·d f the Rw Uruguay, an not found to the eastwai o d d l e river it has crossed the broader remarkable is, that although _thus boun e . )ytlon provi~ce of Entre Rios. I was . f l p . and IS numerous m 1e . .· banter o t 1e a~an a, . (! l t t that tl1ese ammals, quasi assure d by a man ' whose veractty I can perJect y rus , canes, post coitum adnexi sunt."-D. FAMILY- CAVIIDJE. KERODON KINGII. Kcrodon Kingii' Bennett, Proceedings of the Zoolog·t ca 1 So m·e t y o f London for 1835, P· l 90. Habitat, Patagonia. " The Kerodon is common at intervals along the coas t o f p a taOo 'onia , from th e " Azam ' Voyages dans l' Amerique 1\:[ en' dL' ona.1 c ,· vol . i . p . 316 . 1\U.MMALIA. 89 Rio Negro (Lat. 41°) to the Strait of Mngelfnn. It is very tame, anJ commonly feeds by day: it is said to bring forth two young ones at a birth. At the Rio Negro it frequents in great numbers the bottoms of old hedges: at Port Desire it lives beneath the ruins of the old Spanish buildings. One old male killed there weighed 3530 grains. At the Strait of Magellan, T have seen amongst the Patagonian Indians, cloaks for smaJI children made with the skins of this little animal· and the Jesuit Falkner says, that the people of one of the southern tribes, take thei; name from the number of these animals which inhabit their country. The Spaniards and half-civilized Indians, call the Kerodon, ' conejos,' or rabbit; and thus the mistake has arisen, that rabbits are found in the neig-hbourhood of tl1e Strait of Mage11an."-D. - 1. C A V I A C 0 .n A I A. Cavia Colmia, Auct. Habitat, Maldonauo, La Plata, (June.) " This animal, known by the name of Aperea, is exceedingly common in the neighbourhood of the several towns w~ich stand on the banks of the Rio Plata. It frequents different kinds of stations,- such as hedge-rows made of tl1e Agave and Opuntia, or sand-l1illocks, or again, marshy places covered with aquatic plants ;-the latter appearing to be its favourite haunt. Where the soil is dry, it makes a burrow; but where othe1·wise, it lives concealed amidst the herbage. These animals generally come out to feed in the evening, and are then tame; but if the <.lay be gloomy, they make their appearance in the morning. Tl1ey are said to be very injurious to young trees. An old male killed at Maldonado, weighed 1 lb. 3 oz. In all the specimens I saw there, (during June, or winte~·,) I observed, that the hail· was attached to the skin less firmly than in any other animal I remember to have seen."- D. 2. CAVIA PATACHONICA. Cavia Patachonica, Sha?o, General Zoology, vol. ii., part I, p. 226. Dasyprocta Patachonica, Dcsmarcst, 1\'Tamm. p. 358, SJl. 574. Dolichotis------------- in Note, p. 359-360 Chloromys Patachonicus, Lesson, Manuel de Mamrnalogic, p. 301. Lievre Pampa, Azara, Essais sur l'IIistoire Naturclle des Quad. de Ia Province du Paraguay. French Translation, vol. ii. p. 51. In the form of the cranium, and in the structure of the teeth, this animal possesses all the characters of the Cavies ( Caviidce).* Habitat, Patagonia. • Sec Proceedings of the Zoological Society for April, 1839, p. 61. N |