AGRIMONY A G R I O N I D 



51 



and the rest of the upper part, though distinctly an- 

 nulated with colours nearly similar to those of the 

 common species, is much darker. 



The Palagonian Agouti, or Mara (A. Palagonica), 

 which inhabits regions further to the south, and there- 

 fore less tropical in their character than those which 

 are inhabited by the other species, has corresponding 

 differences of appearance. It is larger in size, shorter 

 and stouter in the body, has the legs longer and 

 clearer in their make, the neck and head more slender, 

 and altogether it has more the air and expression 

 of an animal which ranges over open pastures than 

 of one that threads the brakes, which is indicated 

 by the weasel-like shape of some of the species. 

 When full grown, the mara measures two feet and a 

 half in length, and more than one and a half to the 

 most elevated part of the arched back. The outline 

 of the back does not sink so low at the shoulders as 

 in any of the former species, and the union of the 

 neck with the body is more marked. The ears, too, 

 are longer, more pointed and erect, and the contour 

 of the forehead is nearly a straight line. The texture 

 and colours of the covering are also different. It is 

 soft, and the prevailing colours are fawn on the upper 

 part, and white on the under. Anteriorly the fawn 

 colour is mottled with white, and inclining to black 

 on the mesial or ridge line, which increases in depth 

 to entire black on the croup, forming a definite out- 

 line on the hams for half their external breadth, on a 

 level with the rudimental tail, below which the hinder 

 parts of the hams are white, as is also the chin, and 

 the middle of the throat and belly. These markings, 

 and also the form of the hinder part, and the short- 

 ness of the body, give to that part of the animal some 

 resemblance to a deer ; but the resemblance is slight; 

 and confined to the parts behind the shoulders, and 

 above the dorsal joints. The feet are distinctly those 

 of the rest of the genus, only the toes arc more slen- 

 der, and the tarsi of the hind ones more produced, 

 and have the peculiar flexure of those animals which 

 squat on them and the hams, so as to be able to 

 have the fore legs free while the body is in an erect 

 posture. 



The habits of the mara resemble those of the hares 

 more than the other agoutis. They live on the open 

 plains, feed chiefly upon green vegetable matter, of 

 which there is a successsion of crops, such as clover 

 at one time and thistles at another, during the greater 

 part of the year, in America, from the Pampas 

 southward. They do not burrow, but squat on forms, 

 generally in the cover of herbage ; and though they 

 are not gregarious, the pairs generally continue 

 together all the year, the female hiding her newly- 

 dropped young for some time in the deserted burrow 

 of some of the digging animals, with which the same 

 districts abound. They are timid animals, and seek 

 safety in flight, so that they afford chase ; the mode 

 of capturing them being by following on horseback, 

 and throwing the bokis (two iron balls united by a 

 cord), which the people of that country use with 

 great dexterity. In a natural system, or one in which 

 animals were classed according to their general 

 structure, habits, [and haunts, it is probable that the 

 mara should be a genus separate from the true 

 agoutis. 



AGRIMONY (Linnaeus), A genus of herbs 

 found on the northern parts of both continents. Lin- 

 mi'im class and order, Dodecandria Digynia. Natural 

 order, Rosaccce. The A. cupaturia is a British plant, 



common on hedge-banks ; formerly of some repute 

 as a medical herb, and still used in nerb teas. 



AORIMONIA EUPATORIA ; a.flowcr, showing the twelve stamens 

 b, the five pistils. 



The root in spring is sweet-scented, and the flowers 

 fresh gathered smell like apricots. When the plant 

 is coming into flower it dyes wool a dull yellow, and 

 if gathered in September a still deeper shade. For- 

 merly it was used for dressing leather. 



AGRIONID^ (Dragon Flies). A family of 

 insects belonging to the order Nenropterce, the Libcl- 

 lula of Linnaeus, and which Dr. Leach has named, 

 and separated into two genera, from the Agrion of 

 Fabricius. 



All this family have a long, slender, and cylin- 

 drical body, many of them variegated with beautiful 

 colouring ; in some of the exotic species, the length 

 of the body is five inches and a half, and not thicker 

 than a good-sized quill. They are all very powerful 

 on the wing, and possess the faculty of flying back- 

 wards and forwards without turning. In some of the 

 genera belonging to this family, the insect rests with 

 the wings expanded, so that it can take itself to in- 

 stant flight without further preparation ; in the genus 

 Agrion, however, this is not the case, the animal 

 always resting with the wings erect. 



The A. puclla appears to be subject to some variety, 

 but it is possible others have been confounded with it ; 

 the body, in general, is of a most beautiful blue in the 

 male, and bluish grey in the female. They inhabit 

 the rushes by the sides of ditches, and are one of the 

 commonest of the British species, of which Stephens, 

 in his catalogue, enumerates ten. We should recom- 

 mend to the entomologist, as the insects of this genus 

 are very delicate in their bodies, and will not admit 

 the usual process of filling with cotton, after the re- 

 moval of the contents of the abdomen, as in the larger 

 libellula, that a needle furnished with a coloured 

 working cotton be passed through the body, which 

 would possibly save the colours, and certainly 

 strengthen the specimen. 



Genus LESTES, (Leach,) wings membranous, with 

 an oblong-quadrate parallelepiped stigma: abdomen 



