396 
VERTEBRATA. 
AGOUTIS, 
upon their first discovery. Tlie same rule of geograpliical distribution holds good generally in 
other cases, namely, that where groups of islands are detached at some distance from the main- 
land of a particular continent, the smaller species of inhabitants are usually found spread over 
both, while the larger and more bulky are confined to the main-land alone, and are never found 
to be indigenous in the small insulated lands. 
Though the Agoutis use their fore-paws as hands to hold their food while they eat, yet their 
toes are nevertheless rigid and inflexible, and their claws large, blunt, and nearly straight. They 
are consequently deprived of the power of ascending trees ; and as they also do not construct bur- 
rows, they wander at large among the woods, sheltering themselves beneath fallen timber, or in 
the hollow of some decayed tree. Here they produce and nurture their young, bringing forth, 
according to some accounts, three or four times in the year ; according to others, never having 
more than a single litter in the same season, and even that consisting of not more than two or 
three individuals. It is probable, however, from the amazing number of these animals found in 
all the hotter parts of South America, notwithstanding the destruction made among them by 
small carnivorous animals, as well as by the Indians, and likewise from the close afiinity which 
they bear to the hare and rabbit, that the Agoutis are tolerably prolific. The young are brought 
forth with their eyes closed, as in the case of most of the Roclentia and Carnivora ; but they are 
covered with hair, or rather small bristles, of the same color as the mother ; they soon acquire the 
use of their limbs, and learn to shift for themselves. 
The hind-legs of the Agoutis are considerably longer than the fore, and their pace is tolerably 
rapid for a short distance. But they seldom trust to speed of foot for their safety, but seek for 
shelter and security in the first hollow tree, or under the first rock they meet with. Here they 
allow themselves to be captured, without any other complaint or resistance than the emission of 
a sharp, plaintive note. The bead of the Agouti is large, the forehead and face convex, the nose 
swollen and tuberous, the ears round, short, and nearly naked, and the eyes large and black. The 
hair is annulated in difi"erent degrees with black, yellow, and green ; it is generally coarse and 
bristly, like the weak spines of a hedge-hog, though in one species it approaches in fineness to the 
fur of the rabbit; the tail is most commonly a mere naked stump or tubercle, which in the Acou- 
chy alone attains any apparent length, and is covered with a few short, scattered hairs. The teeth 
are twenty in all, namely, two incisors and eight molars, four on each side, in each jaCw. Of this 
genus there are several species. 
