ON A QUADRUPED. 331 



received its regular food : and when the door keeper, 

 Mr. Wilson, was observed by the animal to be eat- 

 ing any vegetable food, it would leap upon his lap 

 and partake with him ; on these occasions and when 

 food was laid upon the floor, it displayed its prowess 

 by appropriating it to itself to the exclusion of a large 

 Cavy (Cavia magellanica,* Turton. C. })ataclwnica 9 

 Shaw) whose freedom was commensurate with its 

 own. 



When eating it sat erect, and couveyed food to its 

 mouth like a squirrel, or other animal whose organi- 

 zation is distinguished by clavicles : and when close- 

 ly observed was sometimes seen to devour its own al- 

 vine secretions, recently excluded, even when furnish- 

 ed with a superabundance of food. 



I shall in the first place state the characters of a 

 new genus, which I have constructed for this animal, 

 and afterwards note its difference from and corres- 

 pondence with other genera to which it seems to be 

 allied. 



*Genus. Dolichotis of Desmarest. This animal had the sin- 

 gular habit of resenting the obtrusive caresses of strangers, by 

 rearing upon its hind legs, and discharging a sudden and co- 

 pious j^t of urine upon them ; females and children were more 

 generally the objects of this disagreeable salutation. 



This specimen does not at all agree with either of the Ca- 

 vy's mentioned by Buffon, Gmelin, D'Azzara or Cuvier, but 

 it agrees tolerably well with the description of the Patagonian 

 Cavy, by Pennant. 



