214 RODENTIA. 



[Family DASYPROCTIDjE.] 



[The Paca, or Spotted Cavy (Coelogenys fulvus, F. Cuv.) 1 .] 



The La Paca of Buffon, vol. x. p. 269, from the Musquito shore, 

 called ' Guibenet ' by the natives, a very large Guinea-pig. 



It is larger than a hare, and so much like the guinea-pig, as, with all 

 the appearance of justice, to be called a large one. Its voice is very 

 different ; instead of a squeak it is a rough growl. The eye is large, 

 the cornea prominent, which gives the general shape of the eye that of 

 a flattened acorn. The tunica sclerotica is mottled black and white, 

 especially behind the cornea and at the posterior part. The cornea 

 being very large, more than one third of the eye-ball, there is, of 

 course, a considerable motion in the iris, which is large in proportion. 

 There is a pigmentum album lining tbat part of the eye behind the 

 processus ciliares, more than half of which is covered by a pigmentum 

 nigrum. Whether this dark part be the upper or lower, I do not know. 

 The optic nerve is small ; the retina thin. 



The hair is straight and strong, not very long, nor very short, and all 

 of one kind, there being no fur-hair ; it is very thin ; at every root 

 there is a small rising which appears to be a gland. The skin is the 

 softest and of the most pliable texture I ever met with : it will stretch 

 in all directions. There are two sets of mustachios ; one on the lateral 

 part of the nose and upper lip, the other on the side of the head just 

 behind and in a line with the long axis of the eye ; the hairs of the 

 first are strong and long. 



By the fore-feet the animal treads nearly upon the whole carpus and 

 toes, having several eminences : there are four toes with a very small 

 thumb, which is hardly anything but a nail. By the hind-feet it 

 treads upon the whole tarsus, as far back as the os calcis ; but I should 

 suppose not in walking, only in sitting, as in the guinea-pig : there 

 are five toes, three of which are long, and may be called principal ; the 

 other two are short, and placed on each side of the foot, farther back : 

 the innermost is by much the smallest. 



The colour of the animal is exactly that of a spotted deer, a brown 

 with a mixture of a lighter colour, and two or three rows of white 

 spots along the sides ; not so regular on the neck, shoulders, and hips, 

 as on the chest and belly. The hair is strong, of the hog kind, but 

 thin, and not long. The tail is short. It has four nipples; two 



1 [The skeleton of this animal is No. 2011, Osteol. Series.] 



