8 



largest is Capromys foumieri Desmarest. It lives upon 

 the trees, between the branches, or upon parasitic plants, or 

 in holes between the rocks, when trees are lacking. They 

 go up the trees, climbing the vines growing on them, or by 

 going up the aerial roots of the Iaguey (Fiats), Copey 

 (Clusia), etc. It is named all over the western part of the 

 island " Hutia Congo," and in the mountain of Guantanamo 

 it is known by the name of " Hutia de ramas " (Hutia of the 

 branches). It received the name Congo because individuals 

 caged can be easily tamed, like the Congo Negroes. In the 

 islets near Cardenas I procured a black variety, called there 

 Hutia Mandinga, because the Mandinga Negroes are very 

 black. I suppose that the eating of the leaves of the 

 Mangrove (Rhizophora), which contains much tannin, is the 

 cause of its black color. Some perfect albinos, or spotted 

 with white, are occasionally found. Its food is vegeta- 

 ble, and I doubt, as la Sagra states, that it eats lizards also. 



Its tail is short, straight, and covered with short hairs. 



The second species is the Capromys prehensilis Poeppig 

 = Capr. poeyi Gervais, called in the western part of Cuba 

 " Hutia Carabali," and in the mountains of Trinidad " Hutia 

 Mona " (Monkey Hutia). The name Carabali is given be- 

 cause caged individuals are not easily domesticated, and 

 will not eat when captured, resembling in this the Carabali 

 Negroes ; the name Hutia Mona is given because the end 

 of the tail has a prehensile character. It lives generally in 

 hollow trees, and where these are wanting, it lives on the 

 branches. I have never seen it in stony holes or caves. 



Mr. Poeppig called it prehensilis on account of its long 

 tail, which it can twist and hang by it in some way, but 

 not as the American monkeys do with their tail. Mr. 

 Gu^rin-Menneville called the species Capromys poeyi, 

 probably because he did not know that it had already been 

 named, and Poey would not accept the name prehensilis, 

 because the peculiar character of Poeppig's description con- 

 sisted in the statement that the end of the tail undermost 

 was hairless, when the truth is that the end had been worn 



