396 



VERT EB RAT A. 



*S^' ? 



AGOUTIS. 



upon their first discovery. The same rule of geographical distribution holds good generally in 

 other cases, namely, that where groups of islands are detached at some distance from the main- 

 land of a particular continent, the smaller species of inhabitants are usually found spread i 

 both, while the larger and more bulky are confined to the main-land alone, and are never found 

 to be indigenous in the small insulated lands. 



Though the Agoutis use their fore-paws as hands to hold their food while they eat, yet their 

 toes are nevertheless rigid and inflexible, and their claws large, blunt, and nearly straight. They 

 are consequently deprived of the power of ascending trees; and as they also do not construct bur- 

 rows, they wander at large among the woods, sheltering themselves beneath fallen timber, or in 

 the hollow of some decayed tree. Here they produce and nurture their young, bringing forth, 

 according to some accounts, three or four times in the year; according to others, never having 

 more than a sino-le litter in the same season, and even that consisting of not more than two or 

 three individuals. It is probable, however, from the amazing number of these animals found in 

 all the hotter parts of South America, notwithstanding the destruction made among them by 

 small carnivorous animals, as well as by the Indians, and likewise from the close affinity which 

 they bear to the hare and rabbit, that the Agoutis are tolerably prolific. The young are broughl 

 forth with their eyes closed, as in the case of most of the Rodentia and Camivora ; but they are 

 covered with hair, or rather small bristles, of the same color as the mother; they soon acquire tbe 

 use of their limbs, and learn to shift for themselves. 



'I he hind-legs of the Agoutis are considerably longer than the fore, and their pace is tolerably 

 rapid for a Bhorl distance. But they seldom trust to speed of foot for their safety, but seek for 

 shelter and security in the first hollow tree, or under the first rock thev meet with. Here they 

 allow themselves to be captured, without any other complaint or resistance than the emissioi 

 a sharp, plaintive note. The head of the Agouti is large, the forehead and face convex, the nose 

 Bwollen and tuberous, the ears round, short, and nearly naked, and the eyes large and black. The 

 hair is annulated in differenl degrees with black, yellow, and green; it is generally coarse 

 bristly, like the weak spines of a hedge-hog, though in one species it approaches in fineness to tb<' 

 fur of the rabbit; the tail is must commonly a mere naked stump or tubercle, which in the Acou- 

 chy alone attains any apparent length, and is covered with a few short, scattered hairs. The t' i 

 are twenty in all, namely, two incisors and eight molars, four on each side, in each jaw. Of tin- 

 genus there are several species. 



