516 Hisioav OK 



liair ; the breast and belly is whitish ; but what most deserves 

 our attention in the formation of this little animal, is the legs $ 

 the fore-legs are not an inch long, with four claws and a thumb 

 upon each, while the hinder legs are two inches and a quarter, 



and the general resemblance of form, together with the characters of the 

 teeth as given in that notice, unqnestionably wartant at least a close ap. 

 proximation. But we apprehend that the alteration above made in the do. 

 scription of the teeth of the chinchilla, together with the discrepancy in the 

 number of the toes, which in our animal are four on the hind feet, wliile in 

 lagostomus they are but three, will be considered fully sufficient to establish 

 a generic difference between them. The close affinity subsisting between 

 these animals has been subsequently recognised by M. Cuvier from the very 

 imperfect materials in his possession, consisting' only of mutilated skins of 

 the one and drawings and descriptions of the other. In the new edition, 

 just published, of his Regne Animal he regards them both as decidedly form- 

 ing part of the same genus ; but does not venture, until he shall have seen 

 their teeth, to determine their position in the series, which he considers so 

 uncertain as to render it doubtful whether they approach most nearly to the 

 guinea-pigs, the lagomies, or the rats. In there moval of these doubts we 

 are happy to assist by fiiruishing the proof that, although generically dis- 

 tinct, they both evidently belong to the same natural tribe, and contribute, 

 along with higomies and pedetes, to establish a connexion between the 

 otherwise widely separated families of the hares and the jerboas. 



" The length of the body in our specimen is about nine inches, and that 

 of the tail nearly five. Its proportions are close-set, and its limbs compara- 

 tively short, the postericr being considerably longer than the anterior. The 

 fiu- is long, thick, close, woolly, somewhat crisped and entangled together, 

 grayish or ash-coloured above, and paler beneath. The form of the head 

 resembles that of the rabbit ; the eyes are full, large and black j and the 

 ears broad, naked, rounded at the tips, and nearly as long as the head. The 

 moustaches are plentiful and very long, the longest being twice tlie length 

 of the head, some of them black, and others white. Four sliort toes, with a 

 distinct rudiment of a thumb, terminate the anterior feet ; and tlie posterior 

 are furnished with the same number, three of them long, the middle more 

 produced than the two lateral ones, and the fourth, external to the others, 

 very short and placed far behind. On all these toes the claws are short, 

 and nearly hidden by tufts of bristly hairs. The tail is about half the length 

 of the body, of equiU thickness throughout, and covered with long bushy 

 hairs ; it is usually kept turned up towards the back, but not reverted as in 

 the squirrels. 



" To the account of its habits given by Molina we can only add that it usu. 

 ally sits upon its haunches, and is even able to raise itself up and stand upon 

 its hinder feet. It feeds in a sitting posture, grasping its food and conveying 

 it to its mouth by means of its fore paws. In its temper it is generally mild 

 .ind tractable, but it will not always suffer itself to be handled without re- 

 sistance, and sometimes bites the hand which attempts to fondle it when 

 Vot in a humour to be played with. 



" Although a native of the alpiue valleys of Chili, and consequently sub. 

 jectcd iu its own country to the effects of a low temperature of the atiuo- 



