Biography of the Vizcacha. 305 
article is lost by night — whip, pistol, or knife — the 
loser next morning visits the vizcacheras in the 
vicinity, quite sure of finding it there. People 
also visit the vizcacheras to pick up sticks for 
firewood. 
The vizcachas are cleanly in their habits ; and the 
iLir, though it has a strong earthy smell, is kept ex- 
ceedingly neat. The hind leg and foot afford a 
very beautiful instance of adaptation. Propped by 
the hard curved tail, they sit up erect, and as firmly 
on the long horny disks on the undersides of the 
hind legs as a man stands on his feet; ; Most to be 
admired, on the middle toe the skin thickens into a 
round cushion, in which the curved teeth-like bristles 
are set ; nicely graduated in length, so that each 
particular hair ” may come into contact with the 
skin when the animal scratches or combs itself. As 
to the uses of this appendage there can be no dif- 
ference of opinion, as there is about the serrated 
claw in birds. It is quite obvious that the animal 
cannot scratch himself with his hind paw (as all 
mammals do) without making use of this natural 
comb. Then the entire foot is modified, so that 
this comb shall be well protected, and yet not be 
hindered from performing its office : thus the inner 
toe is pressed close to the middle one, and so de- 
pressed that it comes under the cushion of skin, and 
cannot possibly get before the bristles, or interfere 
with their coming against the skin in scratching, as 
v\^ould certainly be the case if this toe were free as 
the outer one. 
Again, the vizcachas appear to form the deep 
trenches before the burrows by scratching the earth 
X 
