POSITION OP THE TEATS. 
477 
nipples to the right and left of the body, two on 
each side. This is altogether without analogy in the 
kindred Agouti. In that animal BufFon says, “ II 
m’a paru que cet animal avoit douze mamelons, sept 
sur la poitrine, trois a droite et quatre a gauche, et 
cinq sur le ventre, trois a droite et deux a gauche ; 
mais je n’ai pas pu m’assurer que tous les tubercules 
que j’ai pris pour des mamelons, fussent en effet de 
vrais mamelons, ou qu’il n’y en eut encore d’autres 
que je n’aie pu distinguer de tubercules qui se 
trouvoient a la racine de chaque poll. II resulte de 
la position de douze mamelons dont je viens de faire 
mention, qu’il devroit y en avoir deux de plus, I’un 
sur le cote droit de la poitrine, et I’autre sur le cote 
gauche du ventre.” — (1st edition, 1760, vol. viii. 
page 386.) This is certainly a curious arrangement 
of the teats in the Agouti, not, however, as to place, 
but as to the numerical distribution of the nipples 
along the belly and the breast. Yet it makes no 
approach to the anomalous position of those of our 
Cony. I wonder whether there be anything of this 
in the Utia of St. Domingo {Plagiodontia) or in that 
of Cuba {Capromys). Rudimentary tubercles in the 
male, the representatives of teats, are found in the 
same situation. 
To conceive the animal in the act of suckling, we 
must picture it seated in the posture of a Hare in a 
form, pressing the body to the earth and filling the 
udder with milk, while the young ones draw the 
nipple on both sides at once. We must conclude 
from this organisation that the cavities in rocks and 
trees in which it lives and breeds, are not narrow 
