Lagostomus trichodactylus.
Lagostomus trichodactylus, Brooks, Transactions of the Linnean Society, vol. xvi. p. 95, Pl. 9.
La Vizcache, Azara, Essais sur l’Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupedes de la Province du Paraguay, vol. ii. p. 41. Trad. Franc.
Vischacha, Moyen, Acta Academiæ, c. l. c. Naturæ Curiosorum, Tom. xvi. pars 2, p. 584.
Habitat, La Plata.
“I will not repeat what I have said about the habits of this animal in my Journal, as it is merely a corroboration of Azara’s account. According to that author, the Bizcacha is not found north of 30°; and its southern limit occurs in the neighbourhood of the Rio Negro in 41°. Where the plains are gravelly, it is not abundant, but (differently from the Cavia Patagonica,) it prefers an argillaceous and sandy formation, such as that near Buenos Ayres. The Bizcacha abounds over the whole Pampas, even to the neighbourhood of Mendoza, and there it is replaced in the Cordillera by an Alpine species. Of the latter animal, I saw one seated on a pinnacle at a great height, but I could not obtain a specimen of it. Azara[[42]] has remarked that the Bizcacha, fortunately for the inhabitants of Banda Oriental, is not found to the eastward of the Rio Uruguay; and what makes the case more remarkable is, that although thus bounded by one river, it has crossed the broader barrier of the Parana, and is numerous in the province of Entre Rios. I was assured by a man, whose veracity I can perfectly trust, that these animals, quasi canes, post coitum adnexi sunt.”—D.