After diving a short distance they came again to the surface, but
only just showed the upper part of their heads. When the female is
swimming in the water, and has young ones, they are said to sit on
her back. These animals are easily killed in numbers; but their
skins are of trifling value, and 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.
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