NATURE 



209 



THURSDAY, JULY 7, 18S1 



BURMEISTER'S ''MAMMALS OF THE 

 ARGENTINE REPUBLIC' 

 Description Pliysique dc la Repiibliqiie Argentine d'aprcs 

 des obseniations persoitnellcs ct i!traiigeres. Par Le Dr- 

 H. Burmeister. Traduite de I'Allemand avec le concours 

 de E. Daireaux. Tome III. Aniinaux Vert^brds : 

 premiere partie, Mammifi^res, vivants et (^teints. Royal 

 8vo. (Buenos Ayres : P. E. Coni, 1879.) 



THE veteran naturalist, Dr. Burmeister, has devoted 

 the third volume of his great work on the Argentine 

 Republic to an account of the Mammals, recent and 

 fossil, of his adopted country. As regards the latter 

 series it is well known how long and how laboriously the 

 author has worked on the extinct Mammalian Fauna of 

 Buenos Ayres, and what excellent results have followed 

 on his investigations. The summaries of his various 

 memoirs on this subject contained in the present volume 

 will therefore be much appreciated by those who may 

 not have leisure or opportunity to refer to the originals, 

 and will be especially useful in bringing the chief results 

 already arrived at in a convenient shape before future 

 explorers. Although so much has already been done in 

 this direction, there are few countries in the world that 

 still offer such a promising field for the paleontologist as 

 the pampas of the Argentine Republic, where in certain 

 spots bones of Meoailieritim, Glypiodon, Macraiichcnia, 

 and other extinct monsters seem almost to strew the 

 upturned soil ! 



As concerns the recent Mammals of Buenos Ayres, Dr. 

 Burmeister has also given us a very useful work, the only 

 previous available authority on the subject being the 

 summary of the Mammal-Fauna contained in the same 

 author's second volume of his well-known " Travels " in 

 the Argentine Republic, which is neither so full nor so 

 complete. But we fear there is also still much to be done 

 before this branch of the subject can be deemed to be 

 satisfactorily known, and that Dr. Burmeister has not in 

 every case made himself acquainted with the most recent 

 investigations published upon several points. 



In the first place, as regards thS general arrangement of 

 the Mammalian series. Dr. Burmeister will forgive us if we 

 point out that he is a little behind the age. The Cuvierian 

 division of the class into " Unguiculata," " Ungulata," 

 and " Pinnata " was no doubt most in vogue thirty years 

 ago, but we cannot agree with our author that it is still 

 adhered to by "la plupart des zoologistes modernes." It 

 is certainly strange to zoologists of the present day to find, 

 in a work dated 1879, the Marsupials located in the centre 

 of the placental series, and the Seals divorced from the 

 other Carnivores. Again, on referring to the accounts of 

 the more obscure groups of Bats and Rodents, we find a 

 disposition to quote from Rengger and the " Voyage of 

 the jSt'Of/i?" instead of giving particulars obtained from 

 modern specimens. Surely the Museo Publico of Buenos 

 Ayres must have a well-arranged and properly-determined 

 series of the native Mammals, whence particulars respect- 

 ing their ranges and variations might have been taken. 



The recent Mammals of the Argentine Republic, 

 according to Dr. Burmeister's enumeration, are about 

 Vol. XXIV. — No. 610 



112 in number. Of the Ouadrumana only four species 

 intrude into the northern provinces, where alone forests 

 are met with, the American monkeys being exclusively 

 arboreal in habits. Of Chiroptera Dr. Burmeister allows 

 twenty species, but there are doubtless more to be dis- 

 covered when the fauna is worked out. The Ferae are 

 twenty-one in number, embracing the jaguar and puma, 

 both of which extend all over the Republic, and five other 

 smaller species of Felis, besides seven different dogs of 

 peculiar types. Five opossums of varying sizes constitute 

 the Marsupial fauna of the Argentine Republic, and are 

 succeeded in Dr. Burmeister's classification by twenty- 

 seven Rodents — here, as is usual, except in Australia, 

 the most numerously represented order of Mammals. 

 Amongst them are the two most characteristic animals of 

 the Argentine pampas — the Patagonian cavy {Dolichotis 

 patiiLlionicd) and the \'izcacha [Lagostoimis triclwdac- 

 tyliis), which are spread over the whole Republic. The 

 recent Edentata are represented by seven armadillos and 

 two ant-eaters — a feeble remnant of the huge monsters of 

 the same group that once existed in the country. Amongst 

 these the most remarkable is the Pichy-ciego {Cldamydo- 

 phorus tnincatiis), found in sandy dunes of San Juan and 

 Mendoza, of which, and its singular habits, Mr. E. W. 

 White has lately given us a most interesting account.^ 

 This diminutive burrowing armadillo is indeed one of the 

 marvels of the class of Mammals. Such are its fodient 

 powers, says Mr. White, " that a man has scarcely time 

 to dismount from his horse before the creature has buried 

 itself to the depth of its own body." 



In Ungulates, like the rest of the neotropical regions, 

 the Argentine territory is poor. Dr. Burmeister enume- 

 rates only ten, of which one-half are deer of the American 

 type Cariaciis. Besides these there are only two lamas, 

 two peccaries, and the ordinary tapir of the lowlands 

 {Tapirus siitllus). which occurs in Tucuman and Cor- 

 rientes, and concludes the terrestrial Mammal-fauna. 

 Amongst the marine Mammals or " Pinnata," with which 

 Dr. Burmeister, following Cuvier, concludes his list, are 

 included two Seals and fourteen Cetaceans. One of the 

 former {Otaria jubata) is well known in this country from 

 the living examples in the Zoological Gardens. The latter 

 have as yet been but imperfectly studied, and several of 

 the species mentioned appear to be rather doubtful. 



An atlas, intended to accompany this volume of Dr. 

 Burmeister's important work, is announced to appear in 

 livraisons at a later date. 



THE ARABIAN DESERT 

 Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia. By the late Major 

 R. D. Upton. (London : C. Kegan Paul and Co., 

 1881.) 



THE author of this volume was an enthusiastic ad- 

 mirer of the Arabian horse, and seems to have 

 visited the Arab tribes in the neighbourhood of Aleppo 

 and Damascus with the single purpose of seeing and pur- 

 chasing high-bred animals and acquiring information 

 about the breed. The narrative part of the book is not 

 furnished with dates, but from incidental remarks it ap- 

 pears that Major Upton was at Aleppo in 1875 and at 

 Damascus in 1878. On the former occasion he journeyed 



' Pn\. Zool. Soc. 1880, p. 8, "Notes on Chlamyplwrus truncatm," by 

 E. W. White, F.Z.S. 



