36 MR. E. T. BENNETT ON THE CHINCHILLID#. 
tunity of examining its teeth and internal organs, a new genus, which, from the pecu- 
liarly lengthened form of its ears, I proposed to call Lagotis ; dedicating its specific 
name to the memory of the illustrious Cuvier, whose loss the world of science was just 
then called on to deplore. The name of Lagotis Cuvieri was therefore placed upon the 
cage in which the little animal was confined, together with the English synonym of the 
long-eared Viscacha ; and the opportunity being now afforded of redeeming my pledge, 
I propose to lay before the Society a full description of this new genus, including its 
internal anatomy and the peculiarities of its bony skeleton. To this description I shall 
add a comparison of its form and structure with both Chinchilla and Lagostomus, which 
the materials now and heretofore at my disposal enable me to make in some degree 
complete. 
Before entering, however, into this more purely technical part of my subject, it may 
not be uninteresting to take a review of the history of the two Viscachas, which appear to 
have been long since indicated in the writings of South American travellers, although 
one (the Lagostomus) was first characterized only five years ago, and the other has re- 
mained until the present moment entirely unknown to science. In another place I have 
given the history of the conterminous genus Chinchilla up to the year 1829; but the 
progress of science has added, in the brief period that has since elapsed, several valuable 
notices of that animal also, which, in order to make my account of the family more 
complete, I shall enumerate in their proper place. 
The earliest notice of the Peruvian Viscacha which I have met with, is contained in 
Pedro de Cieca’s ‘ Chronica del Peru’!. An English version of this book was published 
so late as the year 1709, under the title of ‘The seventeen years Travels of Peter de 
Cieza through the mighty Kingdom of Peru’; and from this the following account of 
the Viscacha is extracted. The original Spanish will be found ina note below. ‘‘ There 
is another sort of creature they call Viscacha, about the bigness and resembling a 
hare, but that it has a long tail like a fox; these breed in stony places and among 
rocks, and many of them are shot with guns and cross-bows, and taken by the Indians 
in gins [with the lasso], they being good to eat after hanging to tender; and of their 
hair or wool the Indians make large mantles, cloaks, or blankets, as soft as silk, and 
very valuable?.” 
Father Joseph de Acosta, who wrote in 1590, also mentions the Viscacha of Peru as 
an animal resembling a hare, but larger, which was hunted and eaten’. He is followed 
1 Any. 1554. fol. 268 v.—Robertson mentions an edition published at Seville in 1533; but I have seen none 
earlier than that quoted above. 
2 « Ay otro genero de animal que Haman Viscacha del tamafio de una liebre y de la forma, salvo que tienen 
la cola larga como raposa: crian en pedregales y entre rocas, y muchas matan con ballestas y arcabuzes, y los 
Indios con lazos: son buenas para comer como esten manidas: y aun de los pelos o lana de estas Viscachas 
hazen los Indios mantes grandes, tan blandas como se fuessen de seda: y son muy preciadas.”” 
3 «Otros animalejos Ilaman Vizcachas, que son a manera de liebres, aunque mayores, y tambien las cagan y 
comen.”—Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias, Sevilla 1590. p. 288. 
