ON A QUADKUl'ED. 341 



(jJmelin as a variety of the pilorides. It was obscure- 

 ly mentioned or described under the several names 

 of musk rat of the Antilles, wood rat, musk cavy, 

 pilosi and castor, by Du Tertre, Brown, Bufion, Pen- 

 nant and others, who inform us that it is of a black or 

 tan colour above, and white beneath, and that it dif- 

 fuses a strong odour of musk ; the former author states 

 that their form is similar to that of the European rats, 

 and that the weight of four rats is not equal to one 

 of these. The pilorides is also described as having 

 large naked ears, the anterior feet 4 toed with a tu- 

 bercle instead of a thumb, posterior feet 5-toed, tail 

 4 inches long, and as being in size equal to a rabbit. 

 These concise and insufficient characters agree 

 tolerably well with the specimen under consideration, 

 excepting the attributes of large ears and short tail. 

 But another author,* quoted by Buffon, assures us 

 that the form of the pilorides is very unlike that of 

 "large rats of other countries;" an observation ap- 

 parently at variance with the above mentioned re- 

 mark respecting their form by Du Tertre. 



In this state of uncertainty, and in order to avoid 

 the danger of accumulating still more the already re- 

 dundant synonyma, I have thought proper to apply 

 the name of pilorides to the " Long-tailed Cavy," of 

 the Philadelphia museum. 



* Histoire Naturelle des Antilles, Rotterdam, 1658, p. 124. 



