PACA AND CUTIA 



137 



On this account the family is named by some authors 

 Subungulati ; the great division of mammahan animals 

 to which the Pachydermata belong being called, in the 

 classifications of the best authors, Ungulata, after the 

 hoofed feet, which are considered their leading character. 

 It is an interesting fact that the pachydermatous animal 

 most nearly allied to the Rodents is also American, al- 

 though found only in the fossil state, namely, the Toxodon, 

 whch Professor Owen states resembled the Rodentia in 

 its dentition. The Toxodon, on the other hand, was 

 nearly related to the Elephant, of which the same dis- 

 tinguished zoologist says, * Several particulars in its 

 organization indicate an affinity to the Rodentia'. These 

 facts impart a high degree of interest to these semi-hoofed 

 American Rodents, because they make it probable that 

 these animals are the living representatives, albeit some- 

 what modified, of a group which existed at a former 

 distant epoch in the world's history, and which possessed 

 a structure partaking of the characters of the two great 

 orders, Rodentia and Pachydermata, now so widely dis- 

 tinct in the majority of their forms. I believe that no 

 remains of the order Toxodontia, or of the Rodent family 

 Subungulati, have been found fossil in any other part of 

 the world besides America. In this sort of question it 

 is very unsafe to found generalizations on negative 

 evidence ; but does not this tend to show that the great 

 section of mammals to which the Pachydermata belong 

 had its origin on that part of the earth's surface where 

 South America now stands ? 



On the 1 6th of January the dry season came abruptly 

 to an end. The sea breezes, which had been increasing 

 in force for some days, suddenly ceased, and the atmo- 

 sphere became misty ; at length heavy clouds collected 

 where a uniform blue sky had for many weeks prevailed, 

 and down came a succession of heavy showers, the first 

 of which lasted a whole day and night. This seemed 

 to give a new stimulus to animal life. On the first night 

 there was a tremendous uproar — tree-frogs, crickets, 

 goat-suckers, and owls, all joining to perform a deafening 

 concert. One kind of goat-sucker kept repeating at 

 intervals throughout the night a phrase similar to the 

 Portuguese words, ' Joao corta pao ' (* John, cut wood 

 a phrase which forms the Brazilian name of the bird. 



