48 



The legs are grayish mixed with brown, becoming of a paler gray 

 towards the feet, and the claws are deep black. 



The following measurements were taken from the stuffed spe- 

 cimen. 



inches, lines. 



Length of the head and body 6 8 



tail 4 



head 1 8 



muzzle, anterior to eyes 8 



longest whisker 2 



Height of the ears 9 



Breadth of ditto 7 



Length of carpus to the end of the longest toe. ... 9 



— — . tarsus to ditto 1 3 



The bones having been removed, no reliance could be placed on 

 the remaining measurements, for which reason they were not given. 



Two living specimens of this interesting little Rodent, for which 

 the Society is also indebted to Mr. Cuming, have been exhibited 

 during the winter among the smaller animals at the Garden, where 

 they retain all their liveliness and activity. They appear rather shy 

 and have but little playfulness, but readily leap, with great agility 

 and without any appearance of exertion, from the floor of their cage 

 to a narrow perch placed at the height of nearly a foot, on which 

 they remain seated quite at their ease. Their food, as might be 

 inferred from the structure of their teeth, is entirely vegetable. Mr. 

 Cuming states that, in their native country "these animals burrow in 

 the ground, but always under brush-wood fences or in low thickets. 

 They are so abundant in the neighbourhood of Valparaiso, that in 

 the high-road between that place and St. Jago, more than a hun- 

 dred may frequently be seen at one time in search of food. Some- 

 times, but not often, they are observed on the lower branches of 

 the shrubs and on those which form the fences. They fly at the 

 least alarm, and in running carry their tufted tails bent like a bow. 

 A species of horned- Owl, of which I had the pleasure of presenting 

 a specimen to the Society, feeds principally on these pretty little 

 creatures." 



