158 UK. E. A. GOELDI OX THE [Juiie 7, 



7. On the rare Rodeut JJinomys branieJdi Peters. By 

 Dr. Emil a. Gokldi, C.M.Z.^S.^ Director of the Goeldi 

 Museum^, Para. 



[Received May 16, 1904.] 



(Plate X.*) 



The zoological worlil was surpvised in 1873 by the novelty of 

 the discovery of a strange, large Rodent, introduced scientifically 

 by Pi'of . Peters, then Dii-ector of the Berlin Museum, under the 

 name Dinomys hranickii. It was stated that the animal had been 

 found in the neighboui-hood of a town in Peru, wandering about 

 in an orchai'd. It was further stated that the natives themselves 

 were entirely miacquainted with the creature. Prof. Peters 

 published a- somewhat extensive memoir on the subject, based 

 principally upon anatomical features, especially of the skin and the 

 more oi- less complete skeleton. Up to this date I have not had 

 the opportunity of consulting this memoir t, whicli I know only 

 from a few lines of quotation in recent manuals on mammalogy, 

 such as Flowei' and Lydekker, • An Inti'oduction to the Study of 

 Mammals,' London, 1891, p. 489; and Beddard, "Mammals,' 

 London, 1902, p. 495 seq. These citations are barely sufticient 

 to permit a certain identification of this peculiar foi-m of Rodent 

 and to exclude the possibility of confusion. 



So far as the literature at my disposal goes, there is no indi- 

 cation of any living specimen having been examined by a 

 zoologist, nov does there exist any notice of any further specimen 

 as having been met with since 1873, so that the type specimen at 

 the Berlin Museum i i-emains till now the only one known to be 

 in existence. 



I have now the extreme good fortune to be able to make 

 fui-ther additions to oui- knowledge of the subject. I consider 

 the rediscovery of Binomj/s hranickii in the Amazonian region, 

 from a general point of view, as the second most impoi-tant 



* For explanation of the Plate, see p. 162. 



t Since beginning to write the present article I have received both the extensive 

 memoir of Prof. Peters as well as the preliminary communication on the subject 

 in the ' Monatsberichte der k<3nigl.-preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin,' 

 July-August 1873, pp. 551-552. 1'heir contents correspond so nearly to my suppo- 

 sition that I lind no necessity for changing anything in the wording of my note. 

 The coloured lithographic figure given by Prof. Peters on plate i. identifies the animal 

 satisfactorily, but, of course, can make no claim to rival the photographs taken from 

 the living specimens, which give au essentially different conception of the unimaFs 

 physiognomy. The most noteworthy difference consists in the tierce expression of 

 countenance, resembling that of an angry rat ready to bite ; while my photographs 

 show a face whicli might be called the personification of perfect good humour. As 

 I foresaw, there still exists no information as to the anatomy of the soft parts 

 of Dinomys, \\'hich in all probability is still in reserve for me to bring to light. — 

 April 7, 100-4. 



+ On reading the memoir of Prof. Peters, I find — what was absolutely impossible 

 to presume from the brief references in the above-cited manuals — that this type 

 specimen does not belong to the Berlin Museum, but was only lent to its Director to 

 be described by him, and that it forms part of the collections of the Warsaw 

 Museum, for which it had been oljtained by the Polish naturalist and explorer 

 Oonstautin Jelski. 



