Mr. BRooxzs on a new Genus of the Order Rodentia. 103 
have proposed, trichodactylus, is derived from a curious and 
hitherto unnoticed character, the animal being remarkable for 
a tuft of bristly hairs on the back of each of the hinder toes. 
In one important particular the descriptions of the zoologists 
to whom I have referred differ materially. M. F. Cuvier states, 
that **]a queue étoit de moyenne longueur, touffue et tout à 
fait relevée contre le dos:" while M. de Blainville remarks 
(Desm., Enc. Méth. Mammalogie, ii. 314.) **-La queue du seul 
individu observé étoit tronquée et mutilée, et il en restoit envi- 
ron deux pouces.". For this discrepancy I can only account by 
supposing that the animal seen by the former naturalist was not 
the same as that described by the latter. Mr. Cross, I believe, 
received a pair of these animals at the same time, one of which 
escaped from his cage and was lost. "The individual in question 
was skinned and stuffed by Mr. Leadbeater, who delivered the 
recent body to me; and. it is obvious that the tails of the skin 
and that of the skeleton correspond with regard to length, 7.e. five 
or six inches. In the stuffed specimen the tail is bushy, of a 
darker colour than that which prevails over the body, and having 
the hairs spread laterally, pectinated similarly to those of a My- 
orus, or of a common Squirrel. 
The size of the Lagostomus trichodactylus, as described by 
M. de Blainville and M. F. Cuvier, is that of a full-grown Rab- 
bit of moderate dimensions. "This, although sufficiently accu- 
rate, and as correct as the dimensions of any active and savage 
. animal can be estimated while it is living, is by no means 
sufficiently precise. I therefore subjoin some of the more im- 
portant measurements of the skeleton, which I give in preference 
to those of the skin. 
From 
