526 The Hiflory ^‘ANIMALS, 
white. Many of them, during the fummer months, are very beautifully variegated 
with oblique and tranfverfe ffreaks of black and grey. 
It is a native of Rufiia and Tartary, and the fur, which is very fine and long, is 
much valued. Some few of the naturalifts have defcribed it: they have called it Cu~ 
niculus Sibericus. J 
Lepus cauda nulla. 
The Lepus, without any tail 
%\)t Xapetf. 
This is fomewhat fmalier than our rabbit, but it perfe&ly refembles it in fhape : the 
head is fmall and rounded ; the eyes are large, black, and very prominent; the mouth 
is fmall, and the teeth fhort; the ears are very long: the hinder pair of legs are great¬ 
ly longer than the fore ones, and there is no tail, not fo much as the rudiments of 
one ; the want of this gives a great fingularity to the appearance of the creature : the 
back is of a deep tawny colour; the belly is white: the head is of a paler colour than 
the reft, and there is a rednefs in the front of it j the throat is white : there is fome- 
times more, fometimes lefs, of the whitenefs in this part $ and even when the belly is 
not white, as is fometimes the cafe, this part ftill is fo. 
It is a native of South America. Marcgrave calls it Taped; Ray, Cuniculus Bra- 
filienfis Taped didtus. 
Lepus auribus brevioribus obtujis . 
The Lepus, with Jhort and obtufe ears . 
Xt)e 2fpetm 
This is a very fingular fpecies; it feems to be of a middle kind, between the hare 
and the rat, but this is only in appearance: it’s legs, eyes, &c. are of the true form of 
thofe of the hare, and the ears have the appearance of thofe of the rat; but, though 
fhort and obtufe, they are not rounded nor naked, as in that genus. It is fmalier than 
our rabbit, and the body is flenderer; the head is oval; the eyes are large, black, 
and prominent; the lip is divided, and the mouth is fmall: the fore-legs are fmall and 
fhort, the hinder pair very long and robuft. * 
The back is of a dufky tawny colour, with an admixture of a ferrugineous brown ; 
the tides are paler : the belly is white ; there is no appearance of a tail, not even the 
left rudiments of fuch a part; the rump is paler than the reft of the body. 
This is a native of the Brafils. Marcgrave has defcribed it, and from him others. 
The natives call it Aperea; Ray, and the reft of the zoologies, Cuniculus Brafilienfis 
Aperea didhis. It lives in the manner of the rabbit, and burrows holes in the ground 
for it’s retreat. 
CAS TOR. 
* s 
T H E upper fore-teeth of the Caftor are excavated at right angles; there are no 
canine teeth : the grinders are complicated 5 the feet are palmated, and formed 
for fwimming. 
Cafior cauda ovata plana. 
The Cajlor, with a flat oval tail. 
%\)t 25eat>er. 
This is a very large animal; the length of a full-grown one, meafuring from the 
end of the fnout to the tip of the tail, is near four feet; and it’s breadth, in the low¬ 
er part of the body, a foot: it’s weight is between thirty and forty pounds. 
The head is large, and, from the very extremity of the nofe to the hinder part, it is 
compreffed, and is nearly as broad as it is long: the eyes are fmall and black j the 
ears are alfo fmall, fhort, obtufe, and in fome degree rounded, and they are hairy on 
the outfide, and fmooth on the inner: the fore-t^eth are only two in each jaw ; they 
are large, prominent, broad, and obliquely cut off, as it were: they are white on the 
infi-de. 
