| 释义 |
agouti, agouty|əˈguːtɪ|
Also aguti.
[a. Fr. agouti, Sp. aguti, a. aguti, acuti, native Indian name.]
1. A genus of rodents, belonging to the Cavy or Guinea-pig family; the common species (Dasyprocta agouti) is an animal of the size and appearance of a hare, common in the W. Indies and adjacent parts of S. America.
1731Bailey, Agouty (in America) a little Beast of the shape and size of a rabbit. 1830E. Bennett Zool. Gard. Del. I. 295 The Long-nosed Agouti..is now almost confined to St. Lucia. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho (1861) 281 Smoking agoutis out of the hollow trees.
2. The brindled appearance exhibited by the agouti as a result of individual hairs of its fur being banded in their pigmentation; such a banded condition of a hair or fur; any animal with such fur. Also attrib. or as adj.
1903Proc. Zool. Soc. II. 73 The pigments in wild M[us] musculus or sylvaticus are..of three kinds..black..brown..yellow... The different colour-types of fancy mice... 1. Ordinary Cinnamon (or Agouti)... This is doubtless the ‘grey’ of most writers... 2. Golden Agouti. Like (1) but yellower. Contains brown and yellow, without black. 1905Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. XL. 62 Its color [sc. that of the house mouse] is usually spoken of as gray, the ‘agouti’ of fanciers. 1911R. C. Punnett Mendelism (ed. 3) v. 46 The F2 generation from such a cross consists of agoutis and albinos in the ratio 3:1. 1912C. J. Davies Fancy Mice (ed. 5) v. 39 Fancy mice may be roughly classified as follows:..1. Agouti (wild colour), carries three pigments, black, chocolate, and yellow. 1977Sci. Amer. Nov. 104 (caption) Agouti, named for the South American rodent that exemplifies the condition, is a salt-and-pepper appearance caused by the fact that each hair of the fur has a band of reduced pigmentation below the tip. Ibid. 106/3 Most mammals are agouti, but most domesticated mammals are nonagouti. 1985J. Auel Mammoth Hunters xxiii. 369 Only later would the hair develop the dark and light bars of the typical agouti colouration of an adult wolf. |