hatchets. The French pressed on over the dead until they | the series of that double race of kings, which reigned conwere piled up almost to the height of a man, and then the jointly. No certain dates can be assigned to these early English mounted on the heaps, and slaughtered their ene- times. The other kings bearing this name were of the race mies, whose heavy armour and crowded array rendered them of the Proclidæ. (See Pausanias, iii. 2.) almost incapable of resistance. The first and second lines of the French were routed, notwithstanding a brave attempt of the Duke of Alençon to rally his forces. That nobleman exchanged blows with the king himself, and was slain, as were a vast number of knights and noblemen. The third line fled, with the exception of their leaders and a few others, who were either killed or taken; and, after a contest of three hours, the victory remained with the English. During the battle the baggage of the victors was plundered by some peasants and a few men at arms; and upon a report of this, and of the rallying of the French rear, Henry ordered the prisoners taken to be slain. This cruel order was, except with respect to a few men of rank, complied with. The loss of the respective armies is variously stated that of the French was probably 10,000, including the Constable, three Dukes, five Counts, and ninety Barons. The victors lost probably 1200, including the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk, and one or two other persons of rank. Henry continued his march to Calais, which he reached on the 29th, and from thence proceeded to Dover and London, which last he entered, with great pomp, on the 23rd of November. The immediate consequences of the battle were by no means important. It was a useless display of valour, prompted by personal ambition. Upon such fearful scenes of carnage mankind will, one day, look with astonishment and shame, instead of admiration. [See Nicolas's History of the Battle of Agincourt, 1827.] AGIS II. the son of Archidamus, reigned from B.C. 427 or 426 to 397, and was actively engaged in the Peloponnesian war. In the fourteenth year of the Peloponnesian war, the Lacedæmonians endeavoured to recover their influence in Peloponnesus, and marched out with all their force under Agis. His generalship was so skilful, that the Argeian army, against which his operations were directed, was completely hemmed in, and exposed to great danger. Two Argeians went privately to Agis, and pledged themselves to effect a reconciliation between their country and Lacedæmon, if he would grant a truce of four months. To this he consented on his own authority. The order to retreat was heard with astonishment by the army of Agis, and the Argeians, on their part, were highly incensed against their countrymen for having defrauded them of an opportunity, as they thought, of destroying the enemy. The Lacedæmonians were loud in their displeasure against Agis for his retreat. He was called to account, and it was proposed to fine him, and demolish his house; but his humble demeanour and earnest entreaty prevailed, and he was allowed to resume the command, under the mortifying restriction of a superintending council. But he made amends, a short time after, by defeating the Argeians, and their allies the Athenians, in a great battle. [Thucydides, v.—Pausanias, iii. 8.] In B.C. 421, the Eleians had been involved in a dispute with Sparta, which afterwards led to their taking a part in the war just alluded to, as allies of the Argeians. Agis conducted AGIO, a term generally used to denote the per centage an army into Elis, which yielded him abundant spoil, since it difference existing between the values of the current and had usually been accounted sacred ground, as the scene of standard monies of any place. The metallic currency of the Olympic festival, and therefore exempted from the rawealthy states generally consists of its own coin exclu- vages of war. The resort of strangers to the games also sively, and it is in the power of the state to prevent the brought a great accession of wealth. The city of Elis, as degradation of that coin below the standard, so that no cal-neutral ground, was unfortified; and Xenophon says, that culations of agio, 'strictly so called, are rendered necessary. Agis was supposed rather to be unwilling than unable to In smaller states, the currency seldom entirely consists of capture it. At the siege and surrender of Athens, accomtheir own coin, but is made up of the clipt, worn, and dimi- panied with the mortifying demolition of the long walls, and nished coins of the neighbouring countries with which the the fortifications of Peiraeus, Pausanias and Agis, the two inhabitants have dealings. Under these circumstances, kings of Sparta, with the whole strength of the Peloponnebanks were, at different times, established by the govern- sian allies, conducted the operations by land, while Lysander ments of Venice, Hamburg, Genoa, Amsterdam, &c., which, blockaded the city with his fleet. Ágis was succeeded by under the guarantee of the state, should be at all times his brother Agesilaus. [See AGESILAUS.] bound to receive deposits and to make payments, according to some standard value. The money, or obligations of these banks being better than the fluctuating and deteriorated currency of the country, bears a premium equivalent to the deterioration, and this premium is called the agio of the bank. To facilitate his money dealings, every merchant trading in a place where the deterioration of the currency is thus remedied, must have an account with the bank for the purpose of paying the drafts of his foreign correspondents, which drafts are always stipulated to be paid in bank or standard money. The practice being thus universal, the commercial money payments of the place are usually managed without the employment of coin, by a simple transfer in the books of the bank from the account of one merchant to that of another. The practical convenience, which this plan of making their payments affords to merchants, who would otherwise be obliged, when discharging obligations incurred in standard money, to undergo troublesome and expensive examinations of the various coins in use, causes the money of the bank to bear a small premium above its intrinsic superiority over the money in circulation, so that the agio of the bank does not usually form an exact measure of that superiority. The term agio is also used to signify the rate of premium which is given, when a person having a claim which he can legally demand in only one metal, elects to be paid in another. Thus in France, silver is the only legal standard, and payments can be demanded only in silver coin, a circumstance which is found to be so practically inconvenient, that the receiver will frequently pay a small premium in order to obtain gold coin, which is more easily transportable; this premium is called the agio on gold. AGIS. Four kings of Sparta have borne this name. The first was the son of Eurysthenes, and grandson of Aristodemus, to whom Laconica was allotted after the Heracleid invasion. Aristodemus had two sons, Eurysthenes and Procles and this Agis was, therefore, the second in one of AGIS III., the son of another Archidamus, reigned from B.C. 338 to 331 or 330. At the time of the battle of Issus, (B.C. 333,) Agis was communicating with the Persian naval commanders in the Agean, to obtain supplies for the war against the Macedonians. While Alexander was engaged in his fourth campaign in Asia, (B.C. 331,) an action between Agis and Antipater, whom Alexander had left governor of Macedonia, took place in Peloponnesus. Authorities differ as to the precise date of the battle: Plutarch ascribes it to the year here mentioned; Diodorus places it one year later. The Lacedæmonians had formed the siege of Megalopolis, which however held out till the arrival of Antipater to its relief. A bloody battle was fought, in which the Lacedæmonians behaved with their accustomed gallantry, but were overpowered by superior numbers. Agis, their king, fell after this phalanx was broken, and with him more than five thousand three hundred of the Lacedæmonians and their allies. After this defeat they sued for peace, and obtained it: giving hostages that they would submit to Alexander's decision on their fate. (Pausan. iii. 10. Arrian, ii. 13.) AGIS IV., son of Eudamidas II. (B.c. 244). On his accession to the throne, at the age of twenty, at a period when the public manners had degenerated from their ancient severity, Agis undertook the task of restoring the institutions of Lycurgus. His system carried with it its best recommendation, and the sure pledge of its sincerity, in his own personal example. But unfortunately, both for himself and his country, his colleague, Leonidas, had formed his habits in the luxurious court of Seleucus, king of Syria. The manners of the mass of the people, as well as of the rich, had become tainted, and so wide as well as general had been the departure from the original pattern of conduct, that it seemed hopeless to attempt a general correction of abuses. The privileged class, to whom the name of Spartans was confined, was now reduced to seven hundred heads of families, of whom not more than one hundred enjoyed wealth; such was the effect of the inequality introduced by intercourse with strangers, and especially the Persians, and AGI The oligarchy by the gains attendant on success in war. was rich, haughty, and licentious; the poor were oppressed and burdened with debt. These considerations suggested the immediate adoption of measures, sanctioned by the venerable authority of Lycurgus; but the event proved the hopelessness of reform, when the evils of corrupt government had worked their way into the sentiments and habits of the people. The two great features of the proposed reformation were, the renewal of the partition of the lands, and the abolition of all debts; the latter measure, which must in all cases necessarily be one of injustice, throws suspicion on the character of Agis, who otherwise might pass for an honest reformer. But the rich and luxurious, as Plutarch has it, shuddered at the very name of Lycurgus, like runaway slaves about to be led back to their masters. Agis also proposed adopting as an act of the legislature, what Cinadon, in the reign of Agesilaus, (see AGESILAUS,) had attempted to effect by conspiracy; namely, to abolish the distinction between Spartans and Lacedæmonians, retaining that between the Lacedæmonians and the Pericci, or people of the smaller towns. These latter, however, were to be trained in the strict discipline of Lycurgus, and to succeed to the privileges of citizenship as vacancies occurred. In laying his proposals before the senate, Agis recommended them most strongly by the offer of the first personal sacrifice, in the contribution of his own lands and money to the common stock. His mother and his kindred followed his example. The multitude applauded: but Leonidas and the rich men opposed the plan, and persuaded the senate to reject it: the question was lost only by a majority of a single vote. To rid himself of Leonidas, Agis contrived to get Lysander appointed one of the ephori; who forthwith accused Leonidas of having violated the laws, by marrying a stranger, and residing for a time in a foreign land; two acts forbidden to the race of Hercules. Leonidas could not venture to make his appearance: he was therefore deposed, and his crown devolved to his son-in-law, Cleombrotus, who co-operated with Agis in his measures of reform. On the expiration of Lysander's office, a reaction took place. As the reformers now despaired of succeeding by mild means, Agis and Cleombrotus went to the place of assembly, plucked the ephori, now of the antireforming party, from their seats, and placed others in their room. This violence was not followed up by personal injury. The life of Leonidas, who had returned into the city during the short triumph of his faction, was threatened; but Agis himself protected him from assassination, meditated against him by Agesilaus, who was the uncle of Agis. The want of sincerity in this unworthy relation of the reforming king occasioned the failure of the scheme, when all its difficulties Agesilaus was seemed to have been nearly overcome. deeply involved in debt: he therefore persuaded the two kings to burn all deeds, registers, and securities in the first instance. When the division was proposed, he devised repeated pretexts for delay. Before the first measure, owing to these underhand practices, could be completed, the Achæans, who were allies of Sparta, applied for assistance against the Etolians, who threatened to lay waste the country of Peloponnesus. Agis was, therefore, unavoidably sent to command the army, and exhibited the same republican virtues in his military office, as in his civil administration. His popularity was deservedly great; and it enabled him, notwithstanding the licentious spirit of the times, to preserve the strictness of ancient discipline. He now joined his forces to those of Aratus, whose over-caution left no room for enhancing the glory of the Lacedæmonian soldiery: but the conduct of the troops, and the rigid performance of every duty on the part of their commander, impressed both the allies and the enemy with respect for the commonwealth. On the return of Agis, he found that a change had taken place in the condition of his country. The poor had been disgusted by finding, that although Agesilaus was again one of the ephori, the lands were not divided according to promise. Their anger was natural enough, but they directed it unjustly and unwisely. They threw themselves into the party of their own enemies, and suffered them to dethrone Cleombrotus and restore Leonidas to power. The tide of popular favour had turned against Agis, and he was compelled to fly to sanctuary. Some treacherous friends entrapped him, got possession of his person, and dragged him to prison. Being questioned by the ephori, whether he did not repent of having introduced innovations into the state? he replied, that in the face of death, he would not repent of so worthy an enterprise. He was condemned, and executed with in decent haste; the plea for this was, the danger of a rescue. AGISTMENT. This word is taken from an old French AGNA'NO, a remarkable lake near Naples, not far from the road leading to Pozzuoli and Bajæ. Its bed is supposed to have been formerly the crater of a volcano; it is about two miles round, and entirely surrounded by hills rising in the form of an amphitheatre. Some antiquaries have started the supposition, that this lake was originally the fish pond of Lucullus' villa, that wealthy Roman having had a magnificent residence in this neighbourhood. The banks of Agnano present a striking scene of solitude; hardly any habitation is to be seen on the slope of the hills; the country is very unwholesome in summer, and the malaria is increased by the practice of the country people steeping large quantities of flax in the water of the lake. The pestilent effluvia reach high up the hills, even to the convent at the summit of Mount Camaldoli, from which there is perhaps the finest view in all the neighbourhood of Naples. Tradition says, there was formerly a town on the site of Agnano, which was swallowed up in some earthquake, the epoch of which is unknown. Near the banks of the lake are the natural vapour-baths of San Germano, which are beneficial in cases of rheumatism and gout. On the opposite side is the famous Grotta del Cane, a small cave in the rock from the ground of which a mephitic vapour issues, which has the power of depriving a dog or other animal of all sensation in a few minutes. There is no mention in the ancient writers, either of Agnano or of the Grotta, only Pliny the Elder says in his Natural History, that in the Traces of ruins of mosaic country about Puteoli there were vents in the ground from which deadly vapours arose. pavements, and stoves for baths, are found scattered in the neighbourhood. On the western side of the lake rises the volcanic hill of Astroni, the extinct crater of which, nearly three miles in circumference, has been converted into a royal park and preserve, planted with large trees, and abounding in game of every description. AGNESI (Maria Gaetana) was born at Milan in 1718. When very young, she distinguished herself by the acquisition of various languages; she is said to have understood Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, German, and Spanish. She then turned her attention to mathematics and philosophy, and at the age of 19, wrote in defence of 191 theses which were published in 1738, under the title of Propositiones Philosophica. In 1748, she published her celebrated work, Instituzioni Analitiche ad uso della Gioventù Italiana, in two volumes, 4to. The first volume contains the elements of Algebra, with the application of Algebra to Geometry; the second contains an excellent treatise on the Differential and Integral Calculus. In 1750, her father, who was then a professor of the university of Bologna, being ill, she obtained permission from the Pope Benedict XIV. to supply his place. She ended her career, but in what year we cannot ascertain, by retiring into a convent, and taking the veil. She died in January, 1799, aged 81. The second volume of the Analytical Institutions was translated into French by D'Antelmy, with additions by Bossut, and published at Paris in 1775. The whole was translated into English, and published at the expense of Baron Maseres in 1801. There is an éloge of Agnesi by Frisi, translated into French by M. Boulard, which we have not been able to obtain. 2 E 2 AGNOLO, BACCIO d', a Florentine, was at first a wood-engraver, and afterwards an architect. He was born in 1460, and had already acquired considerable reputation in the practice of his earlier profession at Florence, when he was attracted to the study of architecture, and went to Rome to pursue it among the remains of antiquity there. He appears, nevertheless, during his residence in Rome, to have continued to employ himself in his art and business as a wood-engraver, probably for the means of subsistence, and his study or shop was frequented by the most eminent men of taste and learning then in Rome. Among these were Raffaelle, Michael Angelo, Sansovino, and the brothers Sangallo. On settling himself as an architect in Florence, Baccio was engaged in several works of importance there, and acquired notoriety of a disagreeable nature through deviations from the ordinary practice of the time. He adorned the windows of a mansion or palazzo, (as the Italians term the large town-house of a distinguished person,) in the Piazza di Santa Trinità, with frontispieces, and put a frontispiece, consisting of columns with a regular entablature, to the portal, in the manner, indeed, which has been so commonly practised ever since, and is at the present time in vogue, but which had been restricted to churches up to this time. All the wits in Florence set upon poor Baccio, who was lampooned and ridiculed in every possible way, for making, as it was said, a palace into a church; indeed, he was almost induced to retrace his steps, but being conscious that he had done well, he took heart and stood firmly.' It was a novelty, and as the biographer of all the architects says, 'like almost all other novelties, it was at the first scorned and afterwards worshipped. But the same writer is somewhat severe on him for making, perhaps, too bold a crowning cornice to the front of this identical edifice, saying, that it looked like a boy with a huge hat on his head! Baccio had been engaged to complete the architectural arrangements about the tholobate or drum of the cupola of the metropolitan church of Santa Maria del Fiore, which were left incomplete by Brunelleschi, and whose design for that part was lost. Baccio was about to supply what was wanting after his own invention, and had begun to cut away the toothings left by Brunelleschi in the work because they did not suit what he proposed to do. At this juncture Michael Angelo happened to come to Florence from Rome, and attacked him so violently on the unfitness of his design, that Baccio was stopped, and in consequence of subsequent disputes on the subject, the edifice, in that particular, still remains incomplete. Baccio d'Agnolo died in 1543, being eighty-three years of age, and left a son Giuliano, an engraver and architect, who succeeded to the direction of his father's works. The most esteemed of Baccio's productions are the villa Borghesini, near Florence, and the campanile or bell-tower of the church di Santo Spirito (a production of Brunelleschi's), in Florence. By some writers, the great palazzo Salviati, in the Transtiberine portion of Rome, is attributed to this architect, but it is more commonly referred to Nanni di Baccio Bigio, a man of far inferior merit and reputation to Baccio d'Agnolo. A'GONUS, in Ichthyology, a genus of Acanthopterygious fishes, first separated from the Cotti by Block, and afterwards adopted, by Lacepede and Pallas, under the different names of Aspidophorus and Phalangistes. The greater number of the species belonging to the genus Agonus are found in the northern Pacific ocean, particularly along the coast of Japan, and northwards as far as Behring's Straits. They are all of diminutive size, never exceeding nine or ten inches in length, and are no where used as an article of human food. One species only, the [Agonus Accipenserinus.] Pogge, (A. Europaeus,) inhabits our own coast, as well as the coasts of France, Holland, Iceland, and even Greenland; it is also found in the Baltic, but according to Baron Cuvier, never in the Mediterranean, though Brunnich expressly affirms the contrary. The reader who desires a detailed description of the characters of this genus is referred to Schneider's edition of Block's Systema; the Spicilegia Zoologica of Pallas; an excellent monograph of the genus by Tilesius, in the fourth volume of the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences of Petersburg, and more particularly, the Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, of the late Baron Cuvier and M. Volenciennes. AGOSTA, OR AUGUSTA, is a sea-port town on the south-east coast of Sicily in the Val di Noto. The town was built in the 13th century, by the Emperor Frederick the Second, on a low peninsula. On its north side the peninsula is connected with Sicily by a long narrow causeway, having considerable salt ponds on each side. The harbour formed by this projection is one of the safest and most sheltered in the island of Sicily. This town suffered from an earthquake in the year 1693, by which it was nearly reduced to ruins; during the shock, the powder magazine in the citadel exploded, and the light-house was thrown into the sea. Various accounts agree in stating, that one-third part of the inhabitants were crushed to death by the falling buildings. The town has since been rebuilt on a regular plan, and in order to mitigate the evils of any similar visitation in future, the houses are all made very low. The place is slightly fortified on the land side, and is protected towards the sea by three forts, built on as many small islands at the entrance of the port. Agosta has never recovered the degree of importance which it enjoyed previous to the earthquake. The knights of Malta, during the time of their prosperity, had a considerable establishment and extensive magazines at this port. The trade of Agosta is in wine, flax, olive-oil, salt, and sardines. The remarkable caves of Timpa are in its vicinity. The town is situated eighteen miles north of Syracuse in 37° 8' N. lat., and 15° 8′ E. long. Population said to be about 15,000. in AGOUTI, (Dasyprocta, Illiger; Chloromys, F. Cuvier,) Zoology, a genus of animals belonging to the class Mammalia and order Rodentia. The peculiar and appropriate character of the Rodentia consists in having two long incisors, or front teeth, in each jaw, with which they not only mince and triturate the hard substances which serve them for food, but which they likewise apply to a great variety of other purposes, such as the formation of subterraneous burrows, hollowing out artificial habitations in the trunks or among the roots of trees, sometimes even cutting down very large timber, as in the instance of the beaver, and generally in gnawing and destroying whatever they happen to encounter. To enable them to perform these operations, the incisor teeth, which, with these animals, are also the most important organs of mastication, are shaped something like a chisel. They are extremely sharp on the external edge, and slope abruptly towards the internal, so that the plane of the outer surface makes with the crown of the tooth a very acute angle. Neither is the enamel or hard flinty principle of the teeth dispersed through the body of these organs in waving irregular lines, as in the molar teeth of all animals which feed upon vegetable substances, but it is here accumulated in a particular part, covering the external surface of the tooth like a thin crust, so that the heart and inner edge, being composed of softer substances, (viz., common bone or ivory,) wears much more rapidly than the external surface, and thus continually preserves the sharp-edged, chisel-shape of the tooth, so essential to the economy of the animals. Leading as they do a peaceful, harmless life, and feeding principally upon vegetable substances, the rodentia are destitute of canine teeth; but in the number, form, and composition of their molar teeth, as well as in the number, separation, and moveableness of their toes, they present an almost infinite variety, and it is upon these differences that their generic characters are principally founded. Though zoologists have not succeeded in subdividing the rodentia into natural families, distinguished by the same definite and logical characters as have been developed in some of the other orders of mammals, they admit of being distributed into small natural groups, the component parts of which are very intimately allied among themselves. Among these groups, certainly one of the most naturai is that which composes the genus Cavia of Linnæus, at present divided into five natural genera, differing equally in the conformation of their organs of mastication and of locomotion. These are the capybara, (Hydrocharus, Brisson,) the pacas, (Coelogenys, F. Cuvier,) the moco, (Kerodou, F. Cuv.) the common cavies or guinea-pigs, (Cavia, Cuv.) and the agoutis, (Dasyprocta and Chloromys of Naturalists.) Besides the large incisor or rodent teeth, the genera of this group have universally four molars in each side of each jaw, destitute of real roots, and penetrated by laminæ of enamel, which assume various forms, and appear marking the crowns of the teeth with divers irregular figures. This character, indeed, is not peculiar to the caviform rodentia, but is equally apparent in the porcupines, couendous, and other genera of the same order, but the number and form of the toes is, as far as we are aware, altogether peculiar to the present group. These are, four on the fore feet, and three on the hind, a combination only found in one other mammal, the tapir; and so invariable and essential does this character appear to be among the cavies, that the only instance in which the general rule admits of exception, is the case of the pacas, which have two small additional toes before and one behind: the supernumerary toes are mere rudiments, of no use in the functions of locomotion and prehension. Even in the qualities of their hair, these animals agree with one another, and differ from the generality of other rodentia; and their habits and economy are in most respects alike: the hair is universally of a coarse, bristly quality; they inhabit the hotter parts of South America and the West Indian Islands, and are most especially fond of low, marshy situations, and the banks of inland lakes, and rivers. The most prominent zoological characters of the Agoutis are found in the nature and conformation of the feet and toes. The toes are provided with large powerful claws, and yet the animals make no use of them in digging or burrowing; they are pretty long and perfectly separate from one another, enabling them to hold their food between their fore-paws, and in this manner to convey it to their mouth. Like all other animals which are thus accustomed to use the fore-paws as hands, they have a habit of sitting upright upon their hind quarters to eat, and frequently also assume the same position when they would look around them, or are surprised by any unusual sound or occurrence. Their food is exclusively of a vegetable nature, and consists most commonly of wild yams, potatoes, and other tuberous roots: in the islands of the different West India groups, they are particularly destructive to the sugar-cane, of the roots of which they are extremely fond. The planters employ every artifice for destroying them, so that at present they have become comparatively rare in the sugar islands, though on the first settlement of the Antilles and Bahamas, they are said to have swarmed in such countless multitudes, as to have constituted the principal article of food for the Indians. They were the largest quadrupeds indigenous in these islands upon their first discovery. The same rule of geographical distribution holds good generally in other cases; viz., that where groups of islands are detached at some distance from the mainland of a particular continent, the smaller species of inhabitants are usually found spread over both, whilst the larger and more bulky are confined to the mainland alone, and are never found to be indigenous in the small insulated lands. Though the Agoutis use their fore-paws as hands to hold their food whilst they eat, yet their toes are nevertheless rigid and inflexible, and their claws large, blunt and nearly straight. They are consequently deprived of the power of ascending trees; and as they also do not construct burrows they wander at large among the woods, sheltering themselves beneath fallen timber, or in the hollow of some decayed tree. Here they produce and nurture their young, bringing forth, according to some accounts, three or four times in the year; according to others, never having more than a single litter in the same season, and even that consisting of not more than two or three individuals. It is probable, however, from the amazing numbers of these animals found in all the hotter parts of South America, notwithstanding the destruction made among them by small carnivorous animals, as well as by the Indians, and likewise from the close affinity which they bear to the hare and rabbit of our own country, that the Agoutis are tolerably prolific. The young are brought forth with the eyes closed, as in the case of most of the rodentia and the carnivora; but they are covered with hair, or rather small bristles, of the same colour as the mother: they soon acquire the use of their limbs and members, and learn to shift for themselves. The hind legs of the Agoutis are considerably longer than the fore, and their pace is tolerably rapid for a short distance. But they seldom trust to speed of foot for their safety, but sek for shelter and security in the first hollow tree, or under the first rock they meet with. Here they allow themselves to be captured, without any other complaint or resist ance, than the emission of a sharp plaintive note. The head of the Agouti is large, the forehead and face convex, the nose swollen and tuberous, the ears round, short, and nearly naked, and the eyes large and black. The hair is annulated in different degrees, with black, yellow, and green; it is generally coarse and bristly, like the weak spines of a hedgehog, though in one species it approaches in fineness to the fur of the rabbit; the tail is most commonly a mere naked stump or tubercle, which in the acouchy alone attains any apparent length, and is covered with a few short scattered hairs. The teeth are twenty in all; namely, two incisors and eight molars, four on each side, in each jaw. The latter are all nearly of the same size, oval in figure, and with flat crowns, which exhibit the different convolutions of the enamel, as it penetrates the softer materials of which the body of the tooth is composed. It is impossible from mere description to convey an idea of the intricate figures which these convolutions assume; and we, therefore, refer to the annexed figure, where a and b represent respectively the upper and lower jaws, and the figures 1, 2, and 3, the appearances of the teeth at different ages, or after dif ferent degrees of trituration: No. 3, representing the teeth shortly after they begin to wear, No. 2, their intermediate state, and No. 1, when very much worn. This system, it [Teeth of the Agouti, from Cuvier's Dents des Mammifères.] will be observed, is exclusively adapted to a vegetable food; it is essentially formed for grinding and bruising, not for cutting and tearing: the stomach and intestines, therefore, which are always in harmony with the organs of mastication, are fitted only for the digestion of vegetable substances. The flesh of these animals is white and tender; it is a very common and favourite article of food in South America, and is dressed like hare or rabbit. There are four species distinctly known, and one alluded to by M. F. Cuvier in his treatise Des Dents des Mammifères, but of which we have no further knowledge nor description. 1. The common Agouti, (Dasyprocta Acuti,) sometimes called the olive cavy, from the prevalent colour of its back and shoulders, is the size of a middling hare, being one foot eight inches in length, and about eleven or twelve inches high at the croup. The head resembles that of the rabbit, the nose is thick and swollen, the face arched, the upper lip divided, the ears round and naked, the eyes large, the upper jaw considerably longer than the lower, and the tail a naked flesh-coloured stump. The hairs of the upper and fore parts of the body are annulated with brown, yellow, and black, which give the animal a speckled yellow and green appearance on the neck, head, back, and sides; on the croup, however, they are of a uniform golden yellow, much longer than on any other part of the body, and directed backwards; the breast, belly, and inner face of the forearms and thighs are light straw colour, and the moustaches and feet black. The general length of the hair on the upper | in Guyana it is more common, though less so than the and anterior parts of the body is about an inch, that of the Agouti, and according to the report of De la Borde is there croup is upwards of four inches long, and all, excepting the called a rabbit, whilst the Agouti is denominated the hare. short coarse fur of the legs and feet, and that on the breast It also inhabits the islands of St. Lucia and Grenada, lives and belly, is of a stiff, harsh nature, partaking more of the in the woods like the Agoutis, but its flesh is said to be inquality of bristles than of simple hair. sipid and dry. 2. The black Agouti, (Dasyprocta Cristata,) is rather improperly called the crested agouti, by M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, since the hairs of its head and neck do not exceed those of the shoulders and back in length. It is considerably smaller than the common agouti, being about the size of a rabbit, whilst that species approaches the dimensions of the hare. 4. The Mara or Patagonian Cavy (Dasyprocta Patachonica) is an animal as yet but imperfectly known to naturalists, and seems, from many details of its description, to form the connecting link between the present genus and the Chinchillas and Lagostomys. It is considerably larger than the Agoutis, measuring two feat six inches in length, and one foot seven or eight inches high at the croup. The ears also are essentially different, being three inches and a half in length, erect and pointed; and this circumstance, together with the length and elevation of the legs, gives the mara [Black Agouti, from F. Cuvier.] Its general proportions and form, however, are the same, but the hairs of the back and sides, instead of being annulated with various-coloured rings as in that species, are nearly uniform black, whilst the long hairs of the croup are perfectly so; the belly and legs are equally covered with short dark hair. There is not any appearance of crest, and the tail is still shorter than in the common agouti. M. Cuvier in the Règne Animal, considers this species to be the female of the former, and M. Desmarest has marked it with an asterisk, as considering the question doubtful. Males and females, however, of both species have lived in the gardens of the Zoological Society for the last three years, without undergoing any change in colour or appearance, thus proving beyond a doubt that they are distinct species. It appears also from the observations of MM. Desmarest and F. Cuvier, made upon two individuals which were formerly possessed by the menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes, that the black agouti has but six mammæ, whilst the other species (the common) is reported to have twelve. Both seem to inhabit the same climates, Surinam, Guyana, and Brazil; the common agouti, however, appearing to have a rather more extensive range, and to be likewise found in the West India islands, and even as far south as Paraguay. 3. The Acouchy (Dasyprocta Acuchi) is considerably smaller than either of the foregoing species, and is at once distinguished by the greater length of its tail, which is upwards of two inches in length, not much thicker than a crow's quill, and covered with short scattered hairs like those [The Acouchy, from Buffon.] [Patagonian Cavy, from Lesson.] more the appearance of a small stag or antelope, than of a rodent animal. The hair also is materially different from that of the Agoutis, and approaches in texture and quality to the fine rich furs of the Bischaco and Chinchilla. On the head, shoulders, and back, it is greyish-fawn colour mottled with white, darker on the loins and hips, and terminating in a well defined curve over the croup, within which the colour is almost a jet black. All the under parts of the body are white; and this colour is separated from the greyish-fawn of the back and sides by a yellowish band, which passes along the flanks as in certain antelopes and gazelles. Under the chin and on the throat the colour is white, and there is a band of the same colour, and of a semicircular form, situated between the back and the hinder part of the thigh, above the groin, and surrounding the dark colour of the croup. The male and female are in all respects alike: the latter has four mammæ, and is said to bring forth but two young ones at a litter, which she conceals in the warrens of the Bischaco, till they acquire strength to follow her abroad and learn to shift for themselves. This species inhabits the open plains and wilds of Patagonia, as far south as the Straits of Magellan, where, according to M. Lesson, it is called Mara by the natives. It is often mentioned as a hare in the voyages of Sir John Narborough, Commodore Byron, and other navigators, who found it in great plenty about Port Desire, on the eastern coast, and to whom its flesh was a welcome and wholesome substitute for the dried and salt provisions, which formerly composed the only food of the sailor. The maras are said to go in pairs, to keep entirely in the open pampas or plains, they never form burrows, but couch in a lair by the side of some plant or shrub, run with great velocity for a short distance, but are easily fatigued. In the pampas, south of Buenos Ayres, Azara informs us that they are pursued on horseback, and killed with two heavy iron balls connected by a long cord, which the natives are very expert in throwing, and seldom miss their aim. AGRA, CITY. The capital city of the province of Agra is situated on the south-west bank of the river on the tail of a rat. Jumna, 27° 12' N. lat. and 77° 56' E. long. It was oriIn other respects it is of the same form ginally an inconsiderable village, but in the beginning of as the Agoutis; has the same naked round ears, the same the sixteenth century was much enlarged by the Emperor large black eyes, and the same olive-green colour mixed Sekunder Lody, who bestowed on it the rank of an imperial with yellow and black. The hairs of the croup are not so long city and made it the capital of his dominions, under the as in the Agoutis, but are perfectly black, and all the under name of Badulghur. parts of the body, the breast, belly, and interior of the arms further enlarged by the Emperor Akbar, who built here an Half a century later, the city was and thighs, straw-coloured with a tinge of red. The hair of extensive palace, and again changed its name to Akthe legs and feet is short and black, and that of the body barabad. This city continued to be the seat of the Mogul much finer in quality than the hair of the Agoutis. Sted-government until the year 1647, when Delhi was declared man informs us that this species is very rare in Surinam : the capital by the Emperor Shah Jehan, froin which pe |