296 
ZOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
and in captivity is readily brought to eat both fish and 
flesh. It always eats seated upon its haunches, con- 
veying the food to its mouth by means of its fore-paws. 
The abundance in which it is met with proves that 
it is extremely prolific ; otherwise it must long ere this 
have been rendered scarce by the wholesale destruc- 
tion to which it is exposed. 
So readily do the Agoutis become habituated to a 
state of domestication, that we cannot but join with 
M. Sonnini in regretting that no attempts have hitherto 
been made to place them as completely under the con- 
trol of man as the Rabbits, to which they bear so 
remarkable an analogy, not only in their manners, but 
even in the taste of their flesh, which is described as 
delicately white and of exquisite flavour. It is indeed 
surprising that the inhabitants of the countries in which 
they abound, who derive from them so large a portion 
of their subsistence, should never have been induced, 
by these considerations, to breed them for their tables, 
and thus to insure a constant supply, instead of trusting 
to the uncertain produce of the chase. They are said 
to be no less useful in another point of view, their skins 
being converted into very strong leather. 
