213 



in a house, and the trifling expense attending its 

 keeping will be amply repaid by its beautiful wool. 

 The ancient Peruvians employed this wool in the 

 manufacture of several kinds of cloth, to which they 

 attached great value. 



The great wood-mouse (mus Maulinus) is an ani- 

 mal of more than twice the size of a marmot, and 

 was first discovered in 1764 in a wood in the pro- 

 vince of Maule, and so vigorous was the defence 

 that it made, that the dogs who attacked it had much 

 difficulty in overcoming it. Its hair is of the same 

 colour as that of the marmot, but its ears are more 

 pointed, the nose is longer, the whiskers are dispo- 

 sed in four rows, it has four toes on each foot, and 

 it has a longer tail, and closer covered with hair. 

 The number and order of the teeth are the same as 

 those of the common mouse. 



The degu (sciurus degus) is a species of dor- 

 mouse, a little larger than the house-rat. Its colour 

 is a dirty white, except a blackish line upon the 

 shoulders which reaches to the first joint of the leg ; 

 the tail is terminated by a little tuft of hair of the 

 same colour as the body. The head is short, the 

 ears round, the nose sharp and furnished with whis-^ 

 kers ; of the upper jaw the two incisors are cunei- 

 form, those of the lower flat ; the fore feet have four 

 toes, the hinder five. The degu is a social animal, 

 and is found in the vicinity of St. Jago in numerous 

 companies near the hedges or bushes, where they 

 dig burrows that have a communication with each 

 other, and feed upon roots and fruit, of which they 

 lay in an ample store for the winter. It does not, 



