C A P R O M Y S. 



6 f3 



genera requiring the shelter of a green-house. The 

 caprifoliums (climbing like a goat!) are climbers; 

 the loniceras (called after A. Lonicer, a German 

 botanist) are mostly shrubby. All are propagated 

 by cuttings planted in a shady place, and in almost 

 any kind of soil. 



CAPROMYS. A genus of Rbdentia or gnawing 

 mammalia, belonging to the rat family, and conse- 

 quently to that division of the order which are fur- 

 nished with clavicles. These animals have been 

 known, in the island of Cuba, of which island they 

 are natives, for more than three hundred years; but, 

 as is the case with most of the natural productions of 

 those parts of America which were, or are, in the 

 possession of the Spaniards, nothing was known 

 respecting them till within these few years ; and we 

 owe the best account of them to the indefatigable 

 Desmarest. 



The external characters of this genus place it in- 

 termediate between the rats, properly so called, 

 which have their feet and toes slender, and produced, 

 and their tails round, conical and scaly, and the mar- 

 mots, which have their extremities stout and short. 

 They are climbing animals, and not burrowing ones, 

 as is the case with most of the order ; they are 

 nocturnal ; and it is understood that they are 

 chiefly or exclusively feeders on vegetable matter ; 

 but this is inferred rather than ascertained, for the 

 manners of the animals are exceedingly obscure. 

 They are plentiful in the woods of Cuba ; but as they 

 keep themselves carefully concealed during the day, 

 it is rare indeed to get a sight of them. There is 

 only one known species. 



CAPROMYS FUUNIERI, called the Utia or Hutia by 

 the inhabitants of Cuba; and probably synonymous 

 with the racoon rat of Brown's History of Jamaica. 

 The size is about the same as that of a middling 

 rabbit, but the head is rather longer, conical and a 

 little compressed laterally. The extremity of the 

 snout is truncated, and presents a large muzzle 

 covered with fine skin of a deep black colour, free 

 from any mucous secretion, and thinly sprinkled 

 with very fine hairs. The nostrils are wide, placed 

 obliquely, and approach near to each other at their 

 inferior extremities, and their terminations are mar- 

 ginated. The upper lip is marked by a suture or 

 furrow, very distinct. The opening of the mouth is 

 moderate, as are also the incisive teeth, the only ones 

 that have been examined. The eyes are also of a 

 moderate size, very prominent, with brown irides, 

 and they are situated rather nearer the basis of the 

 ears than the point of the muzzle. The pupil, as in 

 the greater number of nocturnal mammalia, is oval 

 during the day, and has its axis vertical, as in the 

 cats, thus indicating a climbing animal, or an animal 

 which ranges for its food, in the vertical plane, and 

 not the horizontal one. In this respect the animal 

 is quite the reverse of hares and rabbits, and other 

 rodent animals which seek their food on the surface 

 of the ground. It does not appear that the eyes of 

 this animal are able to bear the light ; for during the 

 day the pupil is closed to a perfect line, though in 

 the twilight it is round and expanded, the iris ap- 

 pearing to have great sensibilility. 



Sensibility in this part of the organ appears to be 

 the chief reason why nocturnal animals, in general, 

 see so badly in a strong light. This is very conspi- 

 cuous in cats, and more so in owls, the pupils of 

 whose eyes are so completely shut in clear sunshine, 



that, the animals are helpless, and run themselves 

 against any obstacles which happen to be in their 

 way. It is, indeed, exceedingly probable that the 

 power of vision in eyes depends much more on the 

 sensibility of the pupil, or rather of the iris, than of 

 any other part: and all animals, birds especially, 

 which can bear to turn the eyes to the sun with un- 

 closed eyelids, do not gaze on that luminary, or see 

 it at all, but have the pupil entirely closed by the 

 stimulating action of the light. 



The eyelids and eyelashes of these animals are 

 very handsome, the latter being long and neatly ar- 

 ranged. Their ears are rather more than a third 

 part of the length of the head, shaped very similarly 

 to those of rats : quite naked, of a black colour, and 

 with a slight notch in the posterior margin. Their 

 mustachios or whiskers are very long and moveable, 

 and no doubt, as is the case with many other night 

 animals, assist them in feeling their way. Their neck 

 is short, the body much larger and thicker in the 

 under part than anteriorly ; and the back from the 

 shoulders is considerably arched. The tail, which is 

 equal to about half the length of the head and 

 body, is very strong and muscular, conical, and 

 surrounded by one hundred and fifty scaly rims, be- 

 tween which there are a few straggling coarse hairs. 

 The legs are very stout, firmer in proportion than 

 those of the marmots, especially the hinder ones. 

 The fore paw consists of four toes, freely separated 

 from each other, and furnished with strong and 

 crooked claws ; and there is a rudimental thumb or 

 fifth toe, furnished with a small blunt claw, as is the 

 case in most of the Rodentia. The second toe is the 

 longest, the third the next, then the first, and lastly 

 the fourth, as in the human hand. The hind feet 

 have five toes, formed in a similar manner to those of' 

 the fore feet, but they, and also the claws with which 

 they are furnished, are longer and stronger. The 

 soles of the feet are covered with naked skin of a 

 black colour, which is grained all over, and formed 

 into tubercles or pads in the following manner: four 

 tubercles at the bases of the toes, three under the 

 metatarsal bones, two 'on the middle of the toes, 

 and one on the heel. The mammae of the female are 

 four in number, two pectoral and two abdominal, but 

 they are of small size. 



The hair is in general rough, and that on the part 

 behind the head is turned forward, and forms a sort 

 of crest at the nape. That upon the back and sides 

 is long, and of two qualities, a fine one nearest the 

 skin of a grey colour, and a coarser kind generally 

 brown, but with yellowish rings near the point, and 

 having the very points black. This gives a beautiful 

 mottled colour to the whole covering, not unlike that 

 of the agouti. The hair on the rump is harder than 

 that on the other parts, it lies flatter to the body, and 

 is of a reddish-brown colour. The hair on the breast 

 and belly, which is very fine, but not very abundant, 

 is sand-colour, a little inclining to grey. The hinder 

 part of the belly is quite naked. The hair which 

 forms the mustachios springs from the extremity of 

 the muzzle. The feet are black; the hairs on the 

 basal part of the tail are red, those on the distal part 

 brown. 



The name Crtproinr/s signifies a "hog-rat," the 

 former part of the name applying to the rough and 

 bristly hair on the upper part, their mode of walking 

 on the ground, and various other characters; while 

 in the form of their teeth, so far as known, arid in 



