155 



hairs on the toes are dirty white. The tail is clothed with short 

 brown hairs. The ears, which are rather small, are well-clothed with 

 moderately long hairs, and these are variegated with pale brown and 

 dusky ; they are much hidden by the long fur of the head. 



From Mr. Bridges' notes I leam that this little animal was found 

 near the margiu of the Lake of Quintero. 



Mr. Waterhouse also characterized a new species of Octodon con- 

 tained in a former collection sent home by Mr. Bridges : — 



Octodon Bridgesii. Qct. corpore suprct, flavescenti-fusco nigroque 

 penicillato ; subtils flavescente ; pedibus albis ; auribus magnis 

 postice emarginatis ; caudd, ąuoad longitudinem, corpits feri 

 (Bquante, nigrd, subtils sordide albd, dimidio apkali pilis longis 

 vestitd. 



unc. lin. unc. lln. 



Longitudo ab apice rostri ad caudse basin . . 8 O vel 8 6 



caudee 5 6 „ 5 8 



tarsi digitorumgue 1 6į „ 1 6f 



auris O 6į „ O 6|- 



Hab. Chile. 



The general hue of this animal is brownish, a tint produced by 

 the admixture of brownish ochre and black : the hairs of the fur are 

 deep slate-grey next the skin, and on the back black extemally, bu t 

 most of them broadly annulated with deep ochre towards the point ; 

 the last-mentioned colour prevails on the sides of the body, where 

 numerous long interspersed white hairs are observable, as well as on 

 the nimp, The under parts of the body are of a cream-yellow. The 

 ears are rather large, deeply emarginated behind, and clothed inter- 

 nally -vvith small pale hairs, excepting towards the margin, where they 

 assume a dusky hue ; extemally the ears are furnished with minute 

 dusky hairs, but at the base they are white. The head, in the region 

 of the ear, is very pale ; the throat, inner side of the legs and the 

 tarsi are white ; the tail is about equal to the body in length ; the 

 basai half is tolerably well clothed with short hairs, \\%ich are black 

 on the upper surface and dirty white on the under ; on the apical 

 half the hairs are longer (averaging rather more than a ąuarter of an 

 inch in length) and almost entirely black. The fur is long and mo- 

 derately soft. 



The Octodon Bridgesii differs from the O. Cumingii (or O. Degus, 

 as it should be called) in being considerably larger, of a less bright 

 colour, and in having the tail longer and less distinctly tufted at the 

 apex ; the feet moreover are white, or very nearly so. 



The dimensions given are taken from two specimens, one in the 

 British Museum collection and the other in that of the Zoological 

 Society, which were brought to this countiy by Thomas Bridges, 

 Esq., a very zealous coUector and good observer, after whom I have 

 named the species. The škulis of these two specimens agree vitb 

 each other, and differ considerably from those of the O. Cumingii, 

 In the first place they are about one-third larger, less arched above ; 

 the nasal bones are narrower in proportion, the frontai bones smaller 



