Viscacha

HELAMYS s. (gr. hêlos, marsh; mus, rat). Mamm. genus of rodent, close to the jerboa and of which we know two species, lagotis Cuvieri and lagotis pallipes, both the size and the color of the hare, to which this genus is a substitute in the fauna of Peru, Chile and Ecuador; it also takes the place of the rabbit, with which it was classified by some authors, particularly in the Lesson Handbook, which appears to confuse the lagotis with the lagottomus and gives the former as Gmelin’s lepus visaccia. The fur of the helamys, longer and softer than that of the rabbit, falls out as soon as the animal dies.

Extract from the Trousset encyclopedia, 1886 – 1891.