In. 



Lines. 





27 



e 



Length of ear 



5 



9 



Height of body at shoulders 



14 



G 





a. 



Lines 



8 



2 



■1 







MAMMALIA. 15 



hairs are of an uniform buff colour. The hairs of the moustaches are long and 

 stiff, and of a black colour. The hairs of the back, which are very long, are 

 brown at the base, very pale towards the skin, and of a deep brown in the 

 opposite direction ; each hair is then white, and at the apex black. The tail 

 is whitish, mottled with black ; the apical portion is black, and there is a 

 patch of the same colour towards the base on the upper side. 



Length from nose to root of tail . 

 to base of ear . 

 of tail (hair included) 



Habitat, La Plata, Patagonia, and Chile. 



The black and white portions of the hairs on the back produce in that part a 

 mottled appearance, and in the specimen from which the above description is 

 taken, these two colours are about equal in proportion. In another specimen now 

 before me, the black colour predominates on the back. The fur in the younger 

 animals of this species is not so long nor so harsh, and the upper parts are grizzled 

 with black and white ; that is to say, these two colours do not form patches of 

 considerable extent as in the adults ; the general colouring is also somewhat paler. 

 The chin is brown-black or brown, instead of black, and the upper band, or that, 

 which in the adult extends across the upper part of the neck, is interrupted in the 

 middle ; in fact, is only traceable on the sides of the neck. 



Azara, in his description of the Agouarachay, says, the muzzle, as far back 

 as the eyes, is blackish ; whereas, in all the specimens examined by me, the 

 muzzle is of the same colour as the other parts of the head, or very nearly so. In 

 other respects his description agrees with the animal described by me, and not 

 with the Canis cinereo-argentatus, which Desmarest and Lesson suppose to be the 

 Agouarachay of Azara. In Fischer's "Synopsis Mammalium" the Canis Azarce is 

 described as having the tip of the tail white \ whereas it is black, not only in the 

 five specimens which have come under my notice, but also in those in the collec- 

 tion of Prince Maximilian* (who was the original describer) and in the Paris 

 Museum. 



" This animal has a wide range ; Prince Maximilian brought specimens from 

 Brazil ; and it is common in La Plata, Chile, the whole of Patagonia, even to the 

 shores of the Strait of Magellan ; and a fox, which lives on the small islands not 

 far from Cape Horn, probably belongs to this species. This animal generally 

 frequents desert places ; I saw many in the valley of the Despoblado, a branch of 



* I am indebted to Mr. Ogilby, who visited the Prince's collection, for a description from the specimens 

 of C. Azarce therein preserved. In this description the tip of the tail is said to be black. 



