The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle [vol. 2 of 5] : $b MammaliaWaterhouse, G. R. (George Robert)
Science
The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle [vol. 2 of 5] : $b Mammalia
Waterhouse, G. R. (George Robert)
Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Mammals; Zoology
I must refer the reader to my journal for some account of the habits
of the jaguar and puma, which being well known animals, and the facts
that I mention having little scientific interest, I have not thought
it worth while to repeat them here.
Footnote 13:
D’Orbigny says, (vol. ii. p. 69,) that all the species of the genus
have this habit.
Footnote 14:
Figures 47 and 48 of M. Cuvier’s work represent horns so unlike either
of those brought over by Mr. Darwin, that I cannot help suspecting
they belong to some other species of stag.
Footnote 15:
The MS. name of _M. decumanoïdes_, which I had applied to this animal,
has been changed, in consequence of my having seen a different
species, with the same name attached, in the museum of the India
House.
Footnote 16:
The great Bandicoot rat of India, (_Mus giganteus_, of Hardwicke,)
ought, perhaps, to be added to the species above enumerated; and I
strongly suspect several catalogued species will prove but varieties
of this animal.
Footnote 17:
See Proceedings of the Zoological Society for February 14th, 1837, p.
19.
Footnote 18:
As I shall have occasion to use the terms _moderate_, _long_, _short_,
_large_, &c. it may be well to state that I take the common mouse,
(_Mus Musculus_,) as my standard of comparison. The ears, feet, tail,
length of the fur, general proportions, &c. are in that animal what I
term moderate.
Footnote 19:
A long tarsus is generally accompanied by a proportionately long tail.
I presume that those Mice which have long tarsi are in the habit of
making great leaps, and that in these leaps, the tail serves to steady
and balance the body.
Footnote 20:
In _Mus leucopus_ of North America the tarsus is hairy beneath, and in
the character of the teeth this animal also agrees with the species
above mentioned.
Footnote 21:
The dimensions given in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society were
taken from a younger specimen than those here described, and there is
an error in the length of the tail there given, which should be 1–10
instead of 2—10.
Footnote 22:
In _Mus longipilis_ and _M. brachiotis_ may be perceived an approach
to this elongated form of the muzzle.
Footnote 23:
I am sorry to say the artist has not drawn this skull with his usual
fidelity, a circumstance which I did not perceive until it was too
late to make any alteration: it is too large, and the incisors are
represented as projecting forwards too much; they are in the original
so nearly at right angles with the upper surface of the skull that but
a very small portion of them is seen, when it is viewed, as
represented at fig. 3, _a_.
Footnote 24:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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