476 SPANISH TOWX. 



previous nights, that the Cony's confidence is well 

 secured, the springe is set, and the morning scarcely 

 ever fails to exhibit him caught and strangled. 



" Jan. 20th, 1851. — I procured the other day an 

 Indian Cony, and have the head, feet, and tail in 

 spirits, to be transmitted to you by the first vessel 

 for England. I am led to think you will find, on 

 examining these several parts, that our animal is the 

 Plagiodontia (Bdium of your extracts. In pressing 

 the limbs to stow them, I observed the tight manner 

 in which the fore-paws closed up, showing great 

 power of prehension, and the extent to which the 

 hind toes under a similar degree of force expanded 

 and stretched out. The hand, though thumbless, 

 has evidently all the grasp peculiar to the Squirrel, 

 and the hind feet more of a capacity for pressing 

 rugged surfaces than belongs to the feet of the Rabbit. 

 Every observer concurs in representing the Indian 

 Cony as frequently sitting up while eating, but few 

 assign to it that ability in using the hand that is 

 given to the Agouti and the Capromys, and all 

 doubt whether it has much power to hold the food 

 and carry it to the mouth single-fisted. I could have 

 wished I had seen a living specimen, not alone for 

 making observations on this uncertain point; but 

 specially for another matter in which this particular 

 animal is interesting above all others whatever. The 

 teats are not, like those of rabbits, or other allied races, 

 placed on lines from the belly to the breast. They 

 are situated midway between the belly and the back, 

 that is, just at the extremity of the short-ribs along the 

 gides, where they shoot out backward as protuberant 



