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.