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tic Rats. The animals which Buffon delineates, 
and calls, La petite Fouine de la Guyane^; le 
Grison de Surinam f ; la Grande Marte de la Guy- 
ane J ; and le Touan§, might have been so mistaken : 
especially the first and last, which have tails for half 
their length naked and scaly, like those of rats. I 
would venture to add to these, also, that strange 
equivocal animal, known in Cayenne as the Crab- 
dog II , the tail of which is altogether naked and scaly. 
This animal M. de la Borde mentions as being in 
his time domesticated in the houses of the colonists, 
with the dog and the cat, and living on the same 
food with them, and doubtless performing common 
service with them in ridding the dwelling of vermin. 
This is the best history I can give of Sir Charles 
Price’s connexion with the large species of Rat, 
which is said to be common here, and to bear his 
name. If we have any of these Rodents more than 
usually remarkable for size and ferocity, we [pro- 
bably] owe them to the vessels of war, that, coming 
hither from distant cruises when the West Indies 
were the scenes of so many maritime conflicts, un- 
loaded their stores at the naval magazines near 
Kingston, and round on the north side at Port 
Antonio, and so spread through the island the Rats 
of Asia and Africa, as well as those of Europe and 
America.” 
Browne and Long both speak of a Rat in the 
island bearing Sir Charles Price’s name, but do not 
* Mustela Guayanensis, Lac. ; perhaps a young Coati. 
4 Viverra vittata, Linn. | Mustela harhata, Linn. 
§ Didelphys hrachyura^ Pall. j| Didelphys cancrivora, Linn. 
