An Animal Collector. 59 



bit, but with a longer tail. Its ways and habits were 

 of the greatest interest to the explorer, who made 

 voluminous notes upon it. He cites as a singular 

 circumstance that it was never seen east of the Uru- 

 guay, the great river forming a barrier to its prog- 

 ress, and that it was a very conspicuous feature in 

 the zoology of the pampas region. 



The biscacha attracted his attention particularly 

 on account of its peculiar habit of collecting. Its 

 holes were common about the pampas, and were 

 conspicuous for the variety of curious articles found 

 around them, gathered from far and near by the 

 biscacha. The objects included stones, bones, lumps 

 of earth, pieces of wood, thistle stalks, and various 

 things. So confirmed is this habit that when the 

 natives lose any thing along the road they immedi- 

 ately go to the holes of the biscacha, generally 

 finding the missing articles in the heap. Thus Dar- 

 win was informed that spurs, whips, and even a gold 

 watch which had been lost were recovered in this 

 manner. 



On October 1st the exploring party arrived at Rio 

 Tercero, famous as the burying-ground for many 

 large fossil animals. Among other specimens our 

 young naturalist discovered two enormous skeletons, 

 standing out in relief against the cliff-like sides of 

 the Parana. They were in the last stages of decay, 

 and the teeth only could be preserved. 



It is interesting to note that the Indians believed 

 the animals to be subterranean like the biscacha, 

 from the fact that the skeletons were found under- 

 ground, a supposition entertained by the Chinese 



