300 mr. o. t. aplin on the [ Mar. 20, 



the ears were apart (these sloping outwards and heing less upright, 

 when pricked, than in the fox), Mas very marked. It was so 

 unruly and savage that I gave up all hopes of bringing it home, 

 as I was leaving the camp very shortly. The first nighr it 

 managed to gnaw its way out of a new hutch just completed for 

 the transport of my tame Zorros, but it was captured in one of 

 the buildings early in the morning, being encumbered with a strip 

 of raw hide tether. 



The name Aguara has given rise to great confusion, and the 

 identity of the species (probably more than one) is not yet settled. 



I am aware that the Aguara has been described by some writers 

 as a large reddish beast, but here I only describe the; animal (easily 

 distinguished from the Zorro) well-known as the Aguara by the 

 residents in the camp where I was living. 



Admiral Kennedy (Sporting Sketches in South Amei-ica, p. 37) 

 applies this name to the Maned AVolf, Cams jubatus, " a fine 

 animal, with a bright ruddy coat, black mane and pads." saying 

 that it was found in the Chaco (Northern Argentina). But this 

 is not my animal. Mr. Hudson (' Naturalist in La Plata ') dis- 

 tinguishes between the Aguara-guazu (0. jubatus) and the Aguara, 

 writing that the former is the nearesl ally of the latter, but that 

 the latter is smaller and has no mane ; that it is like the Dingo 

 in size, but slimmer, and with a sharper nose, and has a much 

 brighter red colour. This description does not agree with my 

 animal, however. Dr. Burmeister identifies the Aguara-guazu of 

 Azara with 0. jubatus. 



Sefior Don Luis Cincinato Bollo, in a little book published at 

 Montevideo in 1891, on Mammals, containing "la descripcion de 

 los animales indigenas de las Republicas Oriental y Argentina,'' 

 distinguishes between the " Aguard-ehav'' (which he says lives in 

 nearly the whole of South America, especially in the north of 

 Argentina and in Paraguay and the Chaco) and the u Aguard-guazu'," 

 intermediate between a wolf and a fox (and doubtless Cants jubatus), 

 which lives in "el alto Uruguay," on the banks of the lagunas of 

 Corrientes, and also in the Chaco, Paraguay, Mendoza, and San 

 Juan. But he does not describe either, merely saying that the 

 former commits ravages among the sugar-plantations and fowl- 

 houses, and that the latter feeds on eggs and small animals. 

 Neither does this Aguara-chay seem to be my animal. Burmeister 

 makes the Aguara-chay of Azara a synonym of C. azarce, 



PviVER Plate Otter (Lutra platensis). 



This Otter was fairly numerous in the rivers. The Otter in 

 South America is not the shy animal that we are accustomed to 

 here. It is indeed reported as " muy bravo," and even as apt to 

 resent an intrusion on its haunts when it has young. A friend, 

 long resident in the country, and a great fisherman, told me that 

 once when he had hooked and was playing a big fish, an Otter 

 suddenly came at the fish before his face ; I forget whether it 

 broke the line or wrenched the fish awav. but it was one or the 



