On the Anatomy of the Crested Agouti (Dasyprocta Cristata, Desm) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1866 edition. Excerpt: ... 4 A. Sole of left foro foot, aud C of left hind foot, of Crested Agouti. JB. Sole of left fore foot, and D of left hind foot, of Guinea-pig. Natural size. In the Hare there are five toes visible, which are much longer and hairy; and there are no pads perceptible, even when the hairs are removed. In the hind foot of the Crested Agouti, which has but three toes, the tarsus is long, narrow, and bare. On the sole are two small oblong pads, situated at the base of the innermost toes, the smaller one being internal, having at a distance of less than half an inch behind it a trace of a third pad. Beneath the metatarsals there is a good deal of transverse wrinkling, and underneath the digits the same scaly appearance as in the digits of the fore foot (fig. 1, (7). The Guinea-pig has a hind foot in some respects very like this; but the pads are comparatively larger, and the external one much the larger of the two; the three toes also are of nearly equal length (fig.l.D). The Hare has four toes, with fur on the sole; and when the fur is removed neither pads nor wrinkles are to be distinguished. In the length and shape of the sole and toes the Hare's foot approaches that of the Agouti's; but the number of digits, with the other differences, are marks of the separation between Lepus and the two genera of the Hyttricidae. Morbid Appearances. Those exhibited on opening the visceral cavities were the following: --Congestion of the lungs, more particularly the lobes of the right one. In both lungs, moreover, were innumerable specks of melanotic deposit, each spot not above the size of a pin's head, but the whole giving to the pulmonary tissue the characteristic appearance of incipient melanosis. All the other viscera, as well as the brain, seemed healthy; but...