150 



SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



The Patagonian Cavy, or Mara 



{Dolichotis Patachonica, Desm. ; Cavia Patachonica, 

 Shaw). 



This large cavy is rare in European museums, A 

 fine specimen, however, is preserved in the British Mu- 

 seum and the Museum of the Zoological Society. It is a 

 beautiful animal, standing high on the legs, with much of 

 the port of some of the bush antelopes of Africa. Its 

 height at the shoulder is about a foot and a half. Its 

 length is about two feet six inches, including the tail, 

 which is nearly two inches long. (Fig. 96.) It lives 



Patagonian Cavy. 



on the Pampas south of Buenos Ayres, and especially 

 in Patagonia. It is noticed by Narborough, Wood, and 

 Byron as being very abundant at Port Desire, and also 

 at Port St. Julian, where, how^ever, it does not now appear 

 to exist. It is only where the country has a desert cha- 

 racter that this species is common ; and in the wilds of 

 Patagonia little groups of two, three, or four may be 

 continually seen hopping after each other in a straight 



