318 PATAGONIA 



(Canis azarse and C. magellanicus). The former species is much 

 the smaller, is of a light gra}'^ color witli a black spot at the base 

 of the tail, and is quite tame and exceedingly common every- 

 where on the plains. The second and much larger si)ecies is 

 rather shy, and is found onl}'' in the mountains. The puma or 

 mountain lion (Felis concolor) is al)undant, while a smaller cat, 

 perhaps some species of lynx, is not uncommon. A small skunk 

 (^Mephitis 'patagonica) was formerly abundant, but a few years 

 since they were almost exterminated in one winter over a large 

 area along the southern coast by some disease, apparently con- 

 tagious, among them. Their skulls and skeletons are now to be 

 picked up in great numbers, and occasionall}' a live specimen is 

 still met with. Only one species of armadillo is at all common 

 in the region visited by us, and it does not extend south of Santa 

 Cruz river. Deer are absent on the plains, but one species is fairly 

 abundant in the mountains. It is about the size of our Virginia 

 deer, of a rich dark-gold color, the males armed with a pair of 

 two-pronged horns. I killed about fifteen of these animals and 

 saw several others, but never observed one with more than two 

 points on each horn. We nowhere observed the larger species 

 of deer said to be abundant in the Cordilleras farther northward. 

 Rodents are extremely abundant, especially in the valle3's and 

 along the bluffs of the rivers and smaller streams in the vicinity 

 of the mountains, where the entire earth for a depth of nearly 

 two feet is literally undermined over areas of man}^ square miles 

 in extent, with subterranean passages which greatl}^ impede the 

 traveler, whose horse drops in at every step half-way to the knee. 

 In some regions so abundant are these burrowing rodents, espe- 

 ciall}'' in the sides of the bluffs, that they become real and not 

 inconsiderable agents of erosion. That they have aided consid- 

 erably in producing many of the present topographic features I 

 do not in the least doubt, not so much by the actual removal of 

 material as by the production of a condition throughout the sur^ 

 face of the soil and rock such as to render it more easy of being 

 removed by recurring rains. Among those rodents contributing 

 most to the facility with which the bluffs are here being eroded 

 are various species of mice, and especially two species of Ctenomys, 

 whose ability and propensity for burrowing can scarcel}' be over- 

 estimated. Formerl}'- rodents were very abundant all along the 

 coast, but since the introduction of sheep some ten years ago they 

 have disappeared almost entirely from the coast region, and the 

 larger species are now rarely seen there. 



