L. pallipe. (Lagoa.' pallipes, Bennett). The fur of this species, he observes, is perhaps even softer to the touch than that of L. Curicri ; a feel which is probably owing to its being leas dense, on account of the comparative shortness of the hairs composing it; the fur of L. Curicri imparting to the hand the sensation of fulness and conse quent firmness, while that of L. pallipes is yielding with its softness. The hairs in both species, especially these which form the masa of the fur, are wavy for the great part of their length, their tips only being straight; those of the middle of the sides measure, when their natural waves are not intefered with, three-quarters of an inch in L. pallipes, and an inch and a quarter in L. Curled.. In neither of these species however in the quality of the fur at all comparable to that of Chinchilla lanigera.
The following is the English version (1709) of the passage in Pedro de Cieea's 'Chronica del Peru ' (1554), descriptive of the habits of these animals :—" There is another sort of creature they call viseacha, about the bigness of and resembling a hare, but that it has a long tail like a fox. These breed in stony places and runong rocks, and many of them are shot with guns and crossbows, and taken by the Indians in gins (with the lasso), they being good to eat after hanging to tender; and of their heir or wool the Indians make large mantles, cloaks, or blankets, as soft as silk, and very valuable." Ullon's account (`Notichus Americanise,' 1772) Is, in the opinion of Mr. Bennett (whose translation we adopt), the best history that has been given of its habits and manners. " Taking the place of the rabbit, which is wanting in Peru, there is another kind of animal called viscacha, which is not found in Quito. In form, and in the colour of its fur, it is similar to the rabbit, but differs from it in having a long tail furnished with tufted hair (like that of the squirrel), which is very thin towards the root, but thick and long as it approaches the tip. It does not carry its tail turned over the head like the squirrel, but stretched out, ItA it were, in a horizontal direction; its joints are slender and scaly. These animate conceal themselves in holes of the rocks, in which they make their retreats, not forming burrows in the earth like rabbits. There they congregate in considerable numbers, and are mostly seen in a sitting po-tore, but not eating ; they feed on the herbs and Aruba that grow among the rocks, and are very active. Their means of escape do not con sist in the velocity of their flight, but in the promptitude with which they run to the shelter of their holes. This they commonly do when wounded ; for which reason the mode of killing them is by shooting them in the head ; as, if they r6 ceive the charge in any other part, al though much in jured, they do not fail to go and die in the interior of their burrows. They have
this peculiarity, that as soon as they die their hair falls off; and on thin account, although it is softer and somewhat longer and finer than that of the rabbit, the skin cannot be made use of for common purposes. The flesh is white but not well flavoured, being especially distasteful at certain seneons, when it is altogether repugnant to the palate." Molina speaks of the employment of its wool among the ancient Peruvians, adding that the Chilinns of the present day (hin work was originally published in 1782, and reprinted with additions in 1810) use it In the manufacture of testa Its burrows, according to the report of eye-witnesses, have two flats, communicating by a spiral staircase ; in the lower it deposits its food, while it lives in the upper, which it seldom quits except at night.
It collects round the mouth of its burrow whatever has been 'eft behind or lost by travel lers : and its flesh, which is white and tender, is preferred to that of the rabbit or hare. But this account is liable to the same objections as that in the 'Journal de Phy sique.' Dr. Tschudi, in his `Fauna Peruana,' has comfirmed most of these particulars, with regard to the habits of the Viscachas, and also the distinction between the two species above named. L.Peruanum of Meyer, and Canons aureus of Geoffrey and D'Grbigny, are probably varieties of L. Curieri.
Chinchilla. Incisors, 2.
2' molars, 4 - = 20.
4--4 The molars generally consist of three complete oblique plates, except the anterior lower molar, which has but two lamellae, the anterior lamella being deeply bilobated. Skull posteriorly retuso-truncated, above depressedly flattened ; cellules of the tympanum conspicuously inflated. Anterior feet 5-toed, pos terior feet 4-toed, the nails small and subfalcular. The ears ample. The tail rather long.
C. lanigera. The length of the body is about nine inches, and that of the tail nearly five. Its proportions are close-set, and its limbs comparatively short, the posterior being considerably longer than the anterior. The fur is long, thick, close, woolly, somewhat crisped, and entangled together, grayish or ash-coloured above, and paler beneath. The form of the head resembles that of the rabbit ; the eyes are full, large, and black ; and the ears broad, naked, rounded at the tips, and nearly as long as the head. The moustaches are plentiful and very long, the longest being twice the length of the head, some of them black and others white. Four abort toes, with a distinct rudiment of a thumb, terminate the anterior feet ; and the posterior are furnished with the same number, three of them long, the middle more produced with long bushy hairs; it is usually kept turned upwards towards the back, but not reverted as in the squirrels.