Part 9

Molossus nasutus Spix, Simiarum et Vespertilionum. Braziliensium species novæ. Nyctinomus Braziliensis.—Geoffroy, Annales des Sciences Naturelles, tom. i. p. 337. pl. 22.

Of this species I find three specimens in Mr. Darwin’s collection—“It is remarkable,” says Mr. Darwin, “for its wide geographical range. I obtained specimens at Maldonado, on the northern bank of the Plata, where it was exceedingly numerous in the attics of old houses, and likewise at Valparaiso in Chile. Molina (vol. i. p. 301.) says another species is found in Chile, of the same size and figure, but of a more orange (naranjado) colour.”

Upon comparing the dimensions of several specimens of this species with those given by Temminck in his “Monographie sur le Genre Molosse,” I find that they vary very considerably; I shall therefore be adding some little to the history of the species, by giving the dimensions of those now before me, together with the sexes of the specimens measured, and their localities. In all these specimens there is a series of pointed tubercles along the upper margin of the ears, a character which M. Temminck has omitted to notice. They vary slightly in the intensity of their colouring, but among those brought from Chile I do not perceive any agreeing with that species, or variety, mentioned by Molina as approaching to an orange colour. All the specimens whose dimensions are here given, are preserved in spirit. Two of them are from Maldonado brought by Mr. Darwin; three were collected in Hayti by Mr. J. Hearne, and one is from Chile, whence it was brought by Mr. H. Cuming.

From Chile. Hayti. Hayti. ♀ ♀ ♂ In. Lines. In. Lines. In. Lines. Length of head and body 2 3 1 11 2 0 of tail 1 1½ 1 2 1 2 of free portion of ditto 0 6½ 0 5 0 6½ Expanse of wings 10 3 9 3 9 8 Length of antibrachium 1 7 1 6 1 6½ of ears 0 5 0 4½ 0 4¾ Width of ditto 0 7 0 6 0 6 Length from nose to eye 0 3½ 0 3 0 3¾

Hayti. Maldonado. Maldonado. ♂ ♀ ♀ In. Lines. In. Lines. In. Lines. Length of head and body 2 0½ 2 6 2 6 of tail 1 1½ 1 1 1 2 of free portion of ditto 0 5⅓ 0 8¾ 0 8½ Expanse of wings 9 0 10 6 10 2 Length of antibrachium 1 6 1 8 1 9 of ears 0 4½ 0 5⅛ 0 5½ Width of ditto 0 6 0 7 0 7 Length from nose to eye 0 3 0 3½ 0 3½

In all the specimens examined by me, there are two incisors in the upper jaw, and four in the lower, they would therefore, according to M. Temminck, be adult.

FAMILY—CARNIVORA.

1. CANIS ANTARCTICUS. PLATE IV.

Antarctic Wolf, Pennant, History of Quadrupeds, vol. i. p. 257. sp. 165.

Canis Antarcticus, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. i. pt. 2. p. 331.

——, Desm. Mamm. p. 199.

C. suprà sordidè fulvescenti-brunneus, pilis ad apicem nigris; lateribus, corporeque subtùs, sordidè flavescenti-fuscis; capite, auribusque extùs, fusco nigroque adspersis; artubus flavescenti-fulvis; labiis, gulâ, abdomine imo, femoribusque intùs, sordidè albis; caudâ ad basin concolore cum corpore, deìn nigrâ, apice albo.

DESCRIPTION.—This animal is considerably larger than the common fox, (Canis Vulpes, Auct.) and stouter in its proportions, and, in fact, appears to be intermediate between the ordinary foxes and the wolves. The tail is much smaller and less bushy than in the former animals. The contour of the head is wolf-like; the legs, however, are shorter than in the true wolves; and the tail is white at the apex, a character common in the foxes.

The fur of the Antarctic Fox is moderately long, and the under fur is not very abundant, especially as compared with that of the C. magellanicus. This under fur is of a pale brown colour; the apical portion of each hair is yellowish; the longer hairs are black at the apex, brown at the base, and annulated with white towards the apex. In many of these hairs the subapical pale ring is wanting. On the chest and belly the hairs are of a pale dirty yellow colour, gray-white at the base, and black at the apex. On the hinder part of the belly the hairs are almost of an uniform dirty white. The space around the angle of the mouth, the upper lip, and the whole of the throat, are white. The chin is brown-white, or brownish. The basal half of the tail is of the same colour as the body, and the hairs are of the same texture; on the apical half of the tail they are of a harsher or less woolly nature, of a black colour at the apex, and brownish at the base; those at the extreme point are totally white. The legs are almost of an uniform fulvous colour; the feet are of a somewhat paler hue; the hairs on the under side of the hinder feet are brownish, and the external and posterior parts of the tibiæ are suffused with the same tint. The hairs on the head are grizzled with black and fulvous; the former of these colours is somewhat conspicuous, excepting in the region of the eyes, where the fulvous or yellowish tint prevails. The muzzle is scarcely of so dark a hue as the crown of the head. The ears are furnished internally with long white hairs, externally the hairs are yellowish, with their apices black; the latter colour is more conspicuous towards the tip of the ear. The sides of the neck near the ear are of a rich fulvous hue.

In. Lines. Length from nose to root of tail 36 0 from tip of nose to ear 7 3 of tail (hair included) 13 0 of ear 2 9 Height of body at shoulders 15 0

Habitat, Falkland Islands.

Three specimens of this animal were brought to England by Capt. FitzRoy; from one of which, the above drawing and description has been made. The earliest notice I can find of this animal is by Pernety, during Bougainville’s voyage, which was undertaken in 1764, for the purpose of colonizing these islands. The strange familiarity of its manner seems to have excited the fears of some of the seamen in Commodore Byron’s voyage (in 1765) in rather a ludicrous manner. Byron says that seals were not the only dangerous animals that they found, “for the master having been sent out one day to sound the coast upon the south shore, reported at his return that four creatures of great fierceness, resembling wolves, ran up to their bellies in the water to attack the people in his boat, and that as they happened to have no fire-arms with them, they had immediately put the boat off in deep water.” Byron adds that, “When any of these creatures got sight of our people, though at ever so great a distance, they ran directly at them; and no less than five of them were killed this day. They were always called wolves by the ship’s company, but, except in their size, and the shape of the tail, I think they bore a greater resemblance to a fox. They are as big as a middle-sized mastiff, and their fangs are remarkably long and sharp. There are great numbers of them upon this coast, though it is not perhaps easy to guess how they first came hither; for these islands are at least one hundred leagues distant from the main. They burrow in the ground like a fox, and we have frequently seen pieces of seals which they have mangled, and the skins of penguins lie scattered about the mouths of their holes. To get rid of these creatures, our people set fire to the grass, so that the country was in a blaze as far as the eye could reach, for several days, and we could see them running in great numbers to seek other quarters.”

“The habits of these animals remain nearly the same to the present day, although their numbers have been greatly decreased by the singular facility with which they are destroyed. I was assured by several of the Spanish countrymen, who are employed in hunting the cattle which have run wild on these islands, that they have repeatedly killed them by means of a knife held in one hand, and a piece of meat to tempt them to approach, in the other. They range over the whole island, but perhaps are most numerous near the coast; in the inland parts they must subsist almost exclusively on the upland geese, (Anser leucopterus,) which, from fear of them, like the eider-ducks of Iceland, build only on the small outlying islets. These wolves do not go in packs; they wander about by day, but more commonly in the evening; they burrow holes; are generally very silent, excepting during the breeding season, when they utter cries, which were described to me as resembling those of the Canis Azaræ. Spaniards and half-caste Indians, from several districts of the southern portions of South America, have visited these islands, and they all declare that the wolf is not found on the mainland; the sealers likewise say it does not occur on Georgia, Sandwich Land, or the other islands in the Antarctic ocean. I entertain, therefore, no doubt, that the Canis antarcticus is peculiar to this archipelago. It is found both on East and West Falkland, as might have been inferred from the accounts given by Bougainville and Byron, who visited different islands;—I state this particularly, because the contrary has been asserted. I was assured by Mr. Low, an intelligent sealer, who has long frequented these islands, that the wolves of West Falkland are invariably smaller and of a redder colour than those from the Eastern island; and this account was corroborated by the officers of the Adventure, employed in surveying the archipelago. Mr. Gray, of the British Museum, had the kindness to compare in my presence the specimens deposited there by Captain Fitzroy, but he could not detect any essential difference between them. The number of these animals during the last fifty years must have been greatly reduced; already they are entirely banished from that half of East Falkland which lies East of the head of St. Salvador Bay and Berkeley Sound; and it cannot, I think, be doubted, that as these islands are now becoming colonized, before the paper is decayed on which this animal has been figured, it will be ranked amongst those species which have perished from the face of the earth.”—D.

2. CANIS MAGELLANICUS. PLATE V.

Canis Magellanicus, Gray, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, part iv. 1836, p. 88. Vulpes Magellanica, Gray, Magazine of Natural History, New Series, 1837, vol. i. p. 578.

C. suprà albo nigroque variegatus; lateribus fulvescente fuscoque lavatis; capite fusco-flavo et albescente adsperso; rostro supernè obscuriore; auribus, artubusque extùs flavescenti-rufis; corpore subtùs sordidè flavescenti-albo; pectore fulvo lavato; mento fuscescente; caudâ fulvescenti-fuscâ, pilis ad apicem nigris, subtùs pallidiore; plagâ supernè prope basin caudæ, hujusque apice nigris.

DESCRIPTION.—This species is considerably larger than the European fox; its form is more bulky, the limbs are shorter and stouter in proportion, the ears are smaller and the tail is more bushy. The fur is long, thick, and loose. The under fur is very long, abundant, and of a woolly texture. The back is mottled with black and white, the former of these colours being predominant; the hairs on this part are gray at the base, there is then a considerable space of a pale, or whitish brown colour; next follows a broad white ring, beyond which the hairs are black. On the sides of the body the hairs are coloured in the same way, excepting that the white portion is more extended, and is followed by a rich yellow-brown, shaded into black as it approaches the apex of each hair. Hence the general hue of the sides of the body is paler than that of the back, the brown and white tints being the more conspicuous. The hairs of the head are annulated with white, and fulvous, and are black at the tip; the two former colours are most conspicuous. The chin is brownish. The lower part of the cheeks, the throat, and the under parts of the body, are of a dirty yellowish white colour, inclining to buff in certain parts, especially on the lower part of the neck and chest. The limbs are of a rich deep fulvous, or yellowish rust colour externally; the feet and inner sides of the legs are of a paler hue. On the hinder legs externally, above the heel, is a patch of bright rust colour; such is also the colour of the ears externally, and likewise of that portion of the neck behind the ears. Internally the ears are furnished with long yellowish white hairs. The tail is long and very bushy; at its base the hairs are rusty white, towards the middle they are of a paleish rust colour, and at the apex they are black; there is also a black patch on the upper part towards the base. The hairs of the tail beneath are almost entirely of an uniform rusty white colour, those on the upper side are all tipped with black.

In. Lines. Length from nose to root of tail 31 0 to base of ear 6 9 of tail (hair included) 17 0 of ear 2 0 Height of body at the shoulders 14 6

Habitat, Chile. (June.)

“This animal was first brought to Europe by Captain Philip P. King, who obtained it at Port Famine in Tierra del Fuego, where it is common. My specimen was obtained in the valley of Copiapó in the northern part of Chile. The Magellanic fox, therefore, has a range on the western coast of at least 1600 miles, from the humid and entangled forests of Tierra del Fuego, to the almost absolutely desert country of northern Chile. In La Plata, on the Atlantic side of the continent, I believe it is not found. It is mentioned by Molina in his account of the animals of Chile, under the name of Culpeu, which he supposes to be derived from the Indian word “culpem,” signifying madness; for this animal, when it sees a man, runs towards him, and standing at the distance of a few yards, looks at him attentively. He adds, although great numbers are killed, they do not leave off this habit. Molina states that he has repeatedly been a witness of this, and I received nearly similar accounts from several of the inhabitants of Chile: yet I must observe, that the people of the farm-house, where my specimen was killed (after it, together with its female, had destroyed nearly two hundred fowls) bitterly complained of its craftiness. From this bold curiosity in the disposition of the Culpeu, Molina thought that it was the same animal as that described by Byron at the Falkland Islands, but we now know that they are different. The Culpeu burrows holes under ground, often wanders about by day, is very strong and fleet. When riding one day in the valley of Copiapó, accompanied by a half-bred greyhound, I happened to come across one of these foxes; and although the ground was, in the first part of the chase, level, it soon entirely distanced its pursuer. Whilst running, it barked so like a dog, that until it had run some way a-head of the greyhound, I could not tell from which animal the noise proceeded. After the Culpeu had reached the mountains, it made a sudden bend from its course, and returned in a nearly parallel line, but at the base of a steep cliff of rock; it then quietly seated itself on its haunches, and seemed to listen with much satisfaction to the dog, which was running the scent on the mountain side, above its head.”—D.

3. CANIS FULVIPES. PLATE VI.

Canis fulvipes, Martin, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1837, p. 11.

C. suprà niger, albo adspersus, capite lateribusque fuscis, sordidè albo nigroque adspersis; rostro superiore, mentoque fusco-nigricantibus; gulâ, labiis superioribus, femoribusque ad partem anteriorem, sordidè albis; pectore abdomineque fuscescentibus; auribus externè rufo-castaneis; brachiis internè, tarsis, digitisque fuscescenti-fulvis; artubus posticis extùs supra calcem fusco-nigrescentibus; caudæ colore ad basin ut in corpore, apice nigro.