526 Anali/tkal Notices of Books, 



shoulders and the buttocks being brownish green. In the Golden 

 Agouti on the contrary, the ear is bordered above by a broad 

 black fascia, the hinder part of the body is of an extremely bril- 

 liant golden yellow, and the cheeks, neck and shoulders are of the 

 san>e green colour as the middle of the body. 



But considerable as these differences may appear, they are, as 

 M. Cuvier observes, much less so when we examine their cause. 

 In both these species the hairs are furnished with alternate rings 

 of black and yellow. In those parts of the body in which the 

 yellow and black share the visible portion of each hair, the fur 

 exhibits the beautiful green tint which is seen on all the anterior 

 parts of the golden Agouti. If the black slightly exceeds the 

 yellow we have the colour of the middle of the body of the crested 

 Agouti ; if the yellow predominates considerably, it produces the 

 golden hue of the hinder parts of the former animal ; if the black, 

 it gives the dull colour of the shoulders or thighs of the second, 

 &c. In other words the most external characters of these animals 

 present a community of features, a fact which may also be ob- 

 served in numerous other genera. Thus to the experienced natu- 

 ralist the mere appearance of the hairs is often a certain indication 

 of relations of the most important kind, which might be expected 

 to manifest themselves only in organs of a much more elevated 

 order. This latter observation is well worthy of general attention, 

 since, although it must have repeatedly occurred to every Zoolo- 

 gist, it is seldom so much adverted to as it deserves. In every 

 department of animated nature this fact is equally to be traced ; 

 in the hairs of Quadrupeds, in the feathers of Birds, in the colours 

 of Insects, and even in the texture of the shells of Mollusca. 



Monographies de Mammalogie ; ou Descriptions de quelques 

 Genres de Mammiferes dont les Especes ont ete observees 

 dans les differens Musees de P Europe. ParC. J. Temminck, 

 Livraison, 4eme. 



Among the genera of Mammalia there is none more distinctly 

 circumscribed in its limits, or more uniform in its characters, than 



