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.
This animal is universally known by a very peculiar
noise which it makes when beneath the ground. A person,
the first time he hears it, is much surprised; for it is not
easy to tell whence it comes, nor is it possible to guess what
kind of creature utters it. The noise consists in a short, but
not rough, nasal grunt, which is monotonously repeated
about four times in quick succession: [6] the name Tucutuco is
given in imitation of the sound. Where this animal is
abundant, it may be heard at all times of the day, and sometimes
directly beneath one's feet. When kept in a room, the
tucutucos move both slowly and clumsily, which appears
owing to the outward action of their hind legs; and they are
quite incapable, from the socket of the thigh-bone not having
a certain ligament, of jumping even the smallest vertical
height. They are very stupid in making any attempt to
escape; when angry or frightened they utter the tucutuco.
Of those I kept alive several, even the first day, became
quite tame, not attempting to bite or to run away; others
were a little wilder.
The man who caught them asserted that very many are
invariably found blind. A specimen which I preserved in
spirits was in this state; Mr. Reid considers it to be the
effect of inflammation in the nictitating membrane. When the
animal was alive I placed my finger within half an inch of
its head, and not the slightest notice was taken: it made its
way, however, about the room nearly as well as the others.
Considering the strictly subterranean habits of the tucutuco,
the blindness, though so common, cannot be a very serious
evil; yet it appears strange that any animal should possess
an organ frequently subject to be injured. Lamarck would
have been delighted with this fact, had he known it, when
speculating [7] (probably with more truth than usual with him)
on the gradually _acquired_ blindness of the Asphalax, a
Gnawer living under ground, and of the Proteus, a reptile
living in dark caverns filled with water; in both of which
animals the eye is in an almost rudimentary state, and is
covered by a tendinous membrane and skin. In the common
mole the eye is extraordinarily small but perfect, though
many anatomists doubt whether it is connected with the true
optic nerve; its vision must certainly be imperfect, though
probably useful to the animal when it leaves its burrow. In
the tucutuco, which I believe never comes to the surface of
the ground, the eye is rather larger, but often rendered blind
and useless, though without apparently causing any inconvenience
to the animal; no doubt Lamarck would have said
that the tucutuco is now passing into the state of the
Asphalax and Proteus.
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