84 Desmarest on Capromj/s. i 



slightly apparent, are nearly the size and form of a kidney bean, 

 and have a trifling degree of mobility. The hair with which the 

 animal is covered, is plentiful and generally rough. The extremity 

 of the snout, the edge of the nostrils, and the lips are black, and 

 clothed with an excessively fine short hair. The eyelids are naked 

 and black ; as are also the ears, but these are beset with some 

 very fine long hairs of a grey colour. The skin of those parts of 

 the body which are covered with hair, is of a whitish grey ; that 

 of the under part of the belly, which is almost naked, is browner. 

 The upper part of the toes, of the metacarpus and metatarsus, 

 which is of a black colour, is covered with scales interspersed with 

 hairs. The under part of the feet is granular, naked and black. 

 The tail is marked with about a hundred and fifty rings, formed 

 of prominent angular scales, which progressively diminish in size 

 from the base to the extremity. Short stiff hairs, in the direction 

 of the tail, appear between these scales, and are more abundant 

 above than below, where they are sooner worn down, by the con- 

 tinual friction to which the lower surface of this part is exposed. 

 The hair of the forehead is directed backwards, and is continued 

 in the older individual into a sort of tuft towards the occiput, 

 which is not the case in the younger. The hair of that part from 

 which the whiskers grow is blackish, and thus forms a very obvi- 

 ous spot of that colour on each side the muzzle. 



The hair of the lower part of the forehead, of the corners of the 

 mouth, of the chin, and of the under part of the neck is generally 

 grey ; that of the upper part of the forehead, the cheeks, the back of 

 the neck, the back, the flanks and the exterior surface of the 

 limbs, is generally brown ; each hair has a ring, more or less 

 broad, of a yellowish colour, towards the extremity, and the 

 extreme point is black. From this mixture results a general tint 

 of greenish brown, of which the yellowish colour is distributed in 

 specks. The hairs on the rump are stiff"er than the others, and 

 pass into a reddish brown ; and those v/hich are near the base of 

 the tail, are much thicker, hard, rigid, and wholly of a reddish 

 colour. 



The bristles which compose the whiskers are very long and 

 nearly thirty in number on each side ; some of the largest are 



