126 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



to the rabbit, but differs from it in having a long tail 

 furnished with tufted hair, which is very thin towards 

 the root, but thick and long as it apju'oaches the tip. 

 It does not carry its tail turned over the head like the 

 squirrel, but stretched out, as it were, in a horizontal 

 direction : its joints are slender and scaly. These animals 

 conceal themselves in holes of the rocks, in which they 

 make their retreats, not forming burrows in the earth 

 like rabbits. There they congregate in considerable 

 numbers, and are mostly seen in a sitting posture, but 

 not eating : they feed on the herbs and shrubs that grow 

 among the rocks, and are very active. Their means of 

 escape do not consist in the velocity of their flight, but 

 in the promptitude with which they run to the shelter 

 of their holes. This they commonly do when wounded ; 

 for which reason the mode of killing them is by shooting 

 them in the head ; as, if they receive the charge in any 

 other part, although much injured, they do not fail to go 

 and die in the interior of their burrows. They have this 

 peculiarity, that as soon as they die their hair falls off; 

 and on this account, although it is softer, and somewhat 

 longer and finer, than that of the rabbit, the skin cannot 

 be made use of for common purposes. The flesh is 

 white, but not well flavoured, being especially distasteful 

 at certain seasons, when it is altogether repugnant to 

 the palate." Molina speaks of the em})loyment of its 

 wool among the ancient Peruvians, adding, that the 

 Chilians of the present day (his work was originally 

 published in 1782, and reprinted with additions in 1810) 

 use it in the manufacture of hats. 



The general colour of the viscacha of the western ac- 

 clivities of the Peruvian Andes, or Cuvier's lagotis (Z. 

 Cuvieii)^ is grayish ash, clouded here and there with a 

 tint of brown. The hairs of the tail are mingled black 

 and white. The ears equal the head in length. The 

 body measures sixten inches, including the head ; the 

 tail, about twelve inches. Fig. 81 represents the skele- 

 ton, and Fig. 82 the skull of the Lagotis Cuvieri : a, 

 skull seen from above ; b, the same seen from below ; c, 



