NOTES FROM THE WEST INDIES. 843 



the open squealed like a rabbit sometimes does under similar 

 circumstances. In the forest they make regular tracks or paths 

 by constantly taking the same line of country. They are very 

 smart and up to every wrinkle, often escaping from some bolt- 

 hole which has been overlooked, whilst they are being dug out, 

 after having been run to earth. The native hunters frequently 

 remark that " an old Agouti always knows where he is going 

 when he once starts to run" — and admit that he often fools them! 



Ccelogenys paca. The Lapp. — This, the largest rodent of 

 Trinidad, is such good eating that the Catholics have thought 

 it worth while to obtain special permission from the Pope 

 to sanction its flesh as a Lenten comestible ! They say it is 

 amphibious and ranks with fish. Certainly it dives and swims 

 well when it is hunted, and it is perhaps convenient for them 

 that the See has such a slender zoological knowledge. Its earth 

 is always a hole in a bank, often amongst the tangled roots of 

 some large tree, and is generally near water. It is rapidly be- 

 coming rare in the neighbourhood of the most elementary 

 civilization. It is not found in Tobago. 



Tatusia novemcincta. The Tattu. — Some of the commonest 

 signs of wild life in the high woods are the scratchings which 

 this Armadillo makes amongst the dead leaves, &c, in the 

 damper spots. I have eaten this animal, and even prefer it to 

 the "Lapp." One female which I examined had four foetuses 

 in utero in the middle of February. Its habits are nocturnal, 

 and its home is invariably some hole in a bank. 



Sciurns cestuans. Squirrel. — In both Tobago and Trinidad 

 the cocoa-planters employ a man to shoot these little animals, as 

 they raid the trees and destroy an immense amount of cocoa- 

 pods. Though they may in some cases destroy only the outer 

 covering of the pods, they do the Woodpeckers and other birds 

 a service in many cases, by making their work of destruction the 

 more easy. They are sometimes kept in the ordinary Squirrel's 

 cage, and I have seen them thriving in captivity in more than 

 one instance. 



Rhipidomys couesii. Tree Cocoa Rat. — This species I 

 found very rare and difficult to secure. Traps have to be set 

 for them in the cocoa trees, and at a considerable height from 

 the ground , 



2 b 2 



