Mr. Brookes 07i 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 "la queue 6toit de moyenne longueur, touffue et tout k 

 fait relevee contre le dos :" while M. de Blainville remarks 

 {Desm., Enc. Meth. Mammalogie, ii. 314.) " La queue du seul 

 individu observ6 etoit tronquee et mutil^e, 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, 1 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, i. 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- 

 oxus, 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 



