30 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : ZOOLOGY. 



Mr. Prichard says it is "called 'cavy' or 'hare' indiscriminately by 

 the English residents ; liebre by the Argentines and Chilians ; paahi by 

 the Tehuelches." 



Although Mr. Hatcher obtained a specimen at the mouth of the Rio 

 Chico, Mr. Prichard gives the Rio Deseado as the "southern limit of the 

 distribution of the Patagonian Cavy," and adds : 



" As far as my experience goes, I never observed a cavy after October 

 23, upon which day I counted fourteen upon the pampa between Lake 

 Musters and the settlement of Colohuapi. The residents of Colohuapi 

 informed me that the place formed the southern limit of the distribution 

 of the cavy. It is, of course, impossible to lay down an exact line, but I 

 think it safe to say that the range of the cavy does not extend south of 

 the 46th parallel. This limit is the more remarkable inasmuch as the 

 country south of latitude 46° does not in any way materially differ from 

 that over which the cavy is commonly to be met with. One most often 

 finds these animals on patches of dry mud. They are comparatively easy 

 to stalk, as easy as an English rabbit. The best method of shooting them 

 is, of course, with the rifle, though occasionally you may start them from 

 a thicket and shoot them as you would an English hare with a shot-gun. 

 They generally weigh between 18 pounds and 25 pounds, though I heard 

 of one which I was assured weighed 31 pounds." [L. c, p. 257.) 



Dolichotis niagellanica ranges northward into southern Argentina, and 

 is replaced in the Province of Cordova, central Argentina, by a northern 

 subspecies Dolichotis magellanica centricola Thomas, where it occurs 

 with the much smaller D. salinicola Burmeister. 



Family CHINCHILLID^. 



The Viscacha of Paraguay and Argentina is the only member of the 

 family Chinchillidae known to occur in Patagonia, where it is apparently 

 not found to the southward of the Rio Negro, and thus hardly calls for 

 extended notice in the present connection. The genera ChincJiilla and 

 Lagidium are restricted to the Andean region, mainly of Peru and Chili. 



Genus VISCACCIA Oken. 



Viscacia Rafinesque, Anal, de la Nature, 1815, 56. Nomen nudum. 

 Viscaccia Oken, Lehrb. d. Naturg., Ill, 18 16, 835. Type, Lepus chilensis 



