POSITION OF THE TEATS. 477 



nipples to the right and left of the body, two on 

 each side. This is altogether without analogy in the 

 kindred Agouti. In that animal BufFon says, " II 

 m'a paru que cet animal avoit douze mamelons, sept 

 sur la poitrine, trois a droite et quatre a gauche, et 

 cinq sur le ventre, trois a droite et deux a gauche ; 

 mais je n'ai pas pu m'assurer que tons les tubercules 

 que j'ai pris pour des mamelons, fussent en eifet de 

 vrais mamelons, ou qu'il n'y en eut encore d'autres 

 que je n'aie pu distinguer de tubercules qui se 

 trouvoient a la racine de chaque poil. II resulte de 

 la position de douze mamelons dont je viens de faire 

 mention, qu'il devroit y en avoir deux de plus, I'un 

 sur le cote droit de la poitrine, et I'autre sur le cote 

 gauche du ventre." — (1st edition, 1760, vol. viii. 

 page 386.) This is certainly a curious arrangement 

 of the teats in the Agouti, not, however, as to place, 

 but as to the numerical distribution of the nipples 

 along the belly and the breast. Yet it makes no 

 approach to the anomalous position of those of our 

 Cony. I wonder whether there be anything of this 

 in the Utia of St. Domingo [Plagiodontia) or in that 

 of Cuba {Caj)romi/s). Rudimentary tubercles in the 

 male, the representatives of teats, are found in the 

 same situation. 



" To conceive the animal in the act of suckling, we 

 must picture it seated in the posture of a Hare in a 

 form, pressing the body to the earth and filling the 

 udder with milk, while the young ones draw the 

 nipple on both sides at once. We must conclude 

 from this organisation that the cavities in rocks and 

 trees in which it lives and breeds, are not narrow 



