nd the meat is very indifferent. On
the islands in the Rio Parana they are exceedingly abundant, and
afford the ordinary prey to the Jaguar.

The Tucutuco (Ctenomys Brasiliensis) is a curious small animal,
which may be briefly described as a Gnawer, with the habits of a
mole. It is extremely numerous in some parts of the country, but it
is difficult to be procured, and never, I believe, comes out of the
ground. It throws up at the mouth of its burrows hillocks of earth
like those of the mole, but smaller. Considerable tracts of country
are so completely undermined by these animals that horses, in
passing over, sink above their fetlocks. The tucutucos appear, to a
certain degree, to be gregarious: the man who procured the
specimens for me had caught six together, and he said this was a
common occurrence. They are nocturnal in their habits; and their
principal food is the roots of plants, which are the object of
their extensive and superficial burrows. This animal is universally
known by a very peculiar noise which it makes when beneath the
ground. A person, the first time he hears it, is much surprised;
for it is not easy to tell whence it comes, nor is it possible to
guess what kind of creature utters it. The noise consists in a
short, but not rough, nasal grunt, which is monotonously repeated
about four times in quick succession (3/6. At the R. Negro, in
Northern Patagonia, there is an animal of the same habits, and
probably a closely allied species, but which I never saw. Its noise
is different from that of the Maldonado kind; it is repeated only
twice instead of three or four times, and is more distinct and
sonorous: when heard from a distance it so closely resembles the
sound made in cutting down a small tree with an axe, that I have
sometimes remained in doubt concerning it.): the name Tucutuco is
given in imitation of the sound. Where this animal is abundant, it
may be heard at all times of the day, and sometimes directly
beneath one's feet. When kept in a room, the tucutucos move both
slowly and clumsily, which appears owing to the outward action of
their hind legs; and they are quite incapable, from the socket of
the thigh-bone not having a certain ligament, of jumping even the
smallest vertical height. They are very stupid in making any
attempt to escape; when angry or frightened they utter the
tucu-tuco. Of those I kept alive, several, even the first day,
became quite tame, not attempting to bite or to run a