ORDER RODENTIA. 231 



elliptical in shape ; the neck and body, like the head, 

 are thick, large, and cylindrical ; the tail is nearly nine 

 inches long - , round, and thickish at the insertion ; to- 

 ward the tip, for nearly two inches, it is naked, the rest 

 of it being hairy ; the hairs on the upper side of the tail 

 are long, erect, and very stiff, and give the organ the ap- 

 pearance of being compressed laterally ; the anterior feet 

 have four toes, which are, compared with each other, 

 nearly equal, with sharp thick nails, calculated for digging; 

 the hind feet have only three toes, of which the middle is 

 the largest, armed with nails similar to those before ; the 

 internal side of the middle toes has a large gland, furnished 

 with stiff hair, or rather bristles ; it is plantigrade in its 

 motion. 



The general colour is dirty-white ; the fur of the body 

 being of two sorts, one entirely white, and the other, which 

 is largest, black, except at the root, where it is white; the 

 bristly hairs on the upper part of the tail are dark, but the 

 sides of the tail are bright brown ; the sides of the head 

 are black, the hair on these parts being long, harsh, and 

 stronger than those of the Hog ; the mustaches are upwards 

 of seven inches long ; a whitish band proceeds from the 

 extremity of the muzzle, and passes between the mus- 

 tache and the eye, and terminates behind the latter ; round 

 the eye is brown ; the throat, belly, and insides of the limbs 

 are white. The female does not differ in colour from the 

 male. 



The softness of the general fur, and the harshness of the 

 long hairs of the tail and whiskers, are very analogous to 

 those of the Chinchilla ; an animal at present considered 

 to belong to the Hamsters, but whose real characters are 

 not very satisfactorily described. One might conjecture 

 that the Viscache should belong to a distinct genus, and that 

 the Chinchilla should be associated as a congener with it. 



