384 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



perate parts of southern South America, from the valleys of 

 central Chile in about latitude 33 S., southward to the Straits 

 of Magellan and eastward across Argentina to extreme southern 

 Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Over this wide area there is 

 some geographic variation, so that at present three living 

 races are recognized: the typical form of Chile at lower alti- 

 tudes; the race bonariensis of northern Argentina, Uruguay, 

 Paraguay, and southern Brazil, in which the notch at the 

 posterior border of the palate is broadly arched and concave 

 instead of strongly V-shaped as in the typical coypus; and 

 lastly the Patagonian race M. c. santacruzae, of southeastern 

 Argentina, in which the skull is larger with the posterior border 

 of the palate V-shaped as in the Chilean animal, but the upper 

 cheek teeth increase conspicuously in size from before back- 

 ward, the last with nearly twice the crown area of the first, 

 instead of being of uniform size. All three races are evidently 

 closely related and to be distinguished only upon comparison 

 of skins and skulls. 



The coypu, like the North American muskrat, is an animal 

 of lakes, streams, and swamps, but on the south coast of Chile 

 it is said to frequent the coastal tide waters as well, living in 

 the bays and channels among the small islands. Although 

 primarily a vegetarian, it is said also to eat shellfish. According 

 to Bennett the breeding season is in September and October, 

 but Gay (1847) states that there are two litters, or even three, 

 in a year, and young may be up to five or seven to a litter. 

 Hudson (1892), however, says that the number may be as 

 many as eight or nine, and he has published a sketch of an 

 adult female, with her brood, swimming, some of the young 

 being ferried along on her back, the others paddling behind. 

 He mentions the peculiar moaning cries the animals make, 

 but these may be given mostly at mating seasons, as with the 

 muskrats. 



The soft, plushlike underfur of this animal early attracted 

 the notice of Europeans. At the beginning of the last century, 

 Azara in his account of the species in Paraguay (where it was 

 known by the native name of "quouiya") says that the fur 

 was then beginning to be used for felt hats. Since his day this 

 use has greatly increased, while the pelts also, after the long 

 coarse guard hairs have been plucked, are much used in fur. 

 They dye easily and give a soft plushlike effect. So great has 



