Part 33

G.R. Waterhouse J. Swaine ]

Mammalia Pl. 35.

Drawn by C. H. Curtis. ]

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Footnote 1:

The palatine foramina are accidentally omitted—see description.

Footnote 2:

Voy. Amer. Merid. t. 8.

Footnote 3:

See his memoir “Sur quelques anomalies du système dentaire dans les mammifères,” published in the “Annales Françaises et Etrangères d’Anatomie et de Physiologie,” No. 6, pl. IX. fig. 2.

Footnote 4:

Magazine of Zoology and Botany, No. 12.

Footnote 5:

“Annales des Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle,” tom. xv. p. 176.

Footnote 6:

Journal Historique d’un Voyage fait aux Iles Malouines, tom. ii. p. 459.

Footnote 7:

Azara has not described this animal, which circumstance alone would render it probable that it is not an inhabitant of Paraguay or La Plata. The two Foxes mentioned by him are the Aguará-guaza, (Canis jubatus, Auct.) a very large kind of fox (a strangely exaggerated description of this animal is given by Falkner) of which I could not obtain a specimen; and the Aguará-chay, or Canis Azaræ.

Footnote 8:

Molina, Compendio de la Historia del Reyno de Chile, vol. i. p. 330 and 332.

Footnote 9:

I am indebted to Mr. Ogilby, who visited the Prince’s collection, for a description from the specimens of C. Azaræ therein preserved. In this description the tip of the tail is said to be black.

Footnote 10:

Considering the great difference of climate and other conditions between the hot and wooded country of Paraguay, and the desolate plains of Patagonia, one is led to suspect that the Canis Azaræ of La Plata and Patagonia, which wanders about by day, and inhabits burrows instead of heaps of straw, may turn out to be a different species from the Agouará-chay of Azara, which is nocturnal in its habits, and lives in thick coverts.

Footnote 11:

In measuring the species of Mammalia, I almost invariably, when wishing to give the length, measure from the tip of the nose along the curve of the back to the root of the tail. In the Ruminantia of course this plan is not desirable, but in other Mammals I have found it most convenient. If we take a Cat, for instance, and curve the body in whatever way we please, we find the length (taken in the way just mentioned) always the same. Whereas, if we take a straight line (as many naturalists do) the length will vary according to the position of the animal.

Footnote 12:

I must refer the reader to my journal for some account of the habits of the jaguar and puma, which being well known animals, and the facts that I mention having little scientific interest, I have not thought it worth while to repeat them here.