ORDER RODENT! A. 243 



does ; it will cut, in a few seconds, any cord with which it 

 may be'fastened ; gnaw itself a way through the door which 

 is closed upon it, and in general escape with ease from 

 every confinement. When frightened, in a natural state, it 

 stops to listen, and strikes the earth with its hind feet, like 

 the Rabbit and the Porcupine ; if much irritated, it utters a 

 cry like a young pig, and erects the hair on the crupper. 

 D'Azara even states that if its fears be excessive, the con- 

 traction of the skin is so great, that the hairs fall off in 

 handfuls. We know that something similar happens to the 

 quills of the Porcupine when the animal erects them too 

 suddenly. 



Sight seems the most acute of the senses of this animal, 

 which otherwise, in general, are obtuse, and its intelli- 

 gence is very limited. It is one of those animals whose 

 natural qualities are only to be known in a state of liberty ; 

 as soon as they are domesticated, they become almost im- 

 moveable, eat if food is given them, but without avidity — 

 distinguish nothing, neither the person who feeds, nor the 

 accustomed hand at which they receive their food, neither 

 gentle treatment nor rough, not even the stick that strikes 

 them. 



The specific characters of the other species, being almost 

 all that is known of them, will be found in the Table. 



The Agouti des Patagons, or Patagonian Cavy of Shaw, 

 is described at considerable length by M. D'Azara, in his 

 valuable Essay on the Natural History of Paraguay. We 

 shall lay before our readers the substance of his account of 

 this animal. 



M. D'Azara informs us that this Agouti is not precisely 

 known among the natives of Paraguay, but that he has seen 

 and caught many of them between the thirty-fourth and 

 thirty-fifth degrees of South latitude in the territory of the 

 Pampas, to the South of Buenos Ayres. The domicile of 



