Mr. W. S. MacLeay's Notes on Capromys. 275 



" where I shall have to treat of the animals of the Continent, there will 

 " be much more to write, as on the Costa Jirme there are many quadru- 

 " peds very different from those of Spain. As to this island (St. Do- 

 " mingo), all the old Cliristian emigrants agree that it has only five na- 

 " tive quadrupeds,* which are called Hutla, Quemi, Mohuy, Cori,-\- 

 " and a small kind of terrier dog." 



Of the animal called Hutla.J 



" There is in this island an animal called Hutia, which is a quadruped 

 " like a rabbit, but somewhat less, and with smaller ears, indeed its 

 " ears and the tail are somewhat like those of a rat. They are killed 

 " virith a small kind of native terrier dog, that the Indians domesticate, 

 " and which is mute ; but the sport is'still better with the greyhounds 

 " and dogs that have lately been brought from Spain. These Hutias are 

 " of a grey mixed colour, as I have been informed by many persons 

 " who have both seen and eaten them, and who praise them much, as 

 " being excellent food. These animals begin already to get rare." 

 (Oviedo, Lib. XII, fol. 98.) 



Original Synonyms of the Hutia. 

 Capromys Fournieri, Desmarest, Mem. d'Hist. Nat. Vol. I, p. 43. 



Of the animal called Quemi. '^ 

 " There is another animal in this island, Hispanola, called Quemi, 

 " which I have not yet seen, nor indeed at present is it to be found, but 

 " according to many persons who have seen it, it is a quadruped as large 

 " as a middling-sized hound or beagle. It is of a grey colour, Uke the 

 " Hutia, and exactly of the same form and proportions, only much 

 " larger. Many persons in this island and city, who have both seen and 

 " eaten them, approve of them much as food ; but the truth is, that, 

 " according to what I have already said of the toils and privations which 



* Probably Oviedo did not consider Bats to be quadrupeds. 

 t The Cori is, without doubt, from the description of Oviedo, no other than 

 the Guinea-pig fCavia Cobaya). 

 X Not Hutias, as the careless compilers have made it. 

 § Not Chemi, as the negligent compilers have corrupted the name. 



