LÖNNBERG. NOTES ON GUANACOS. 7 



not at all or but slightly overlap i 2 . Evidently this enlarging 

 of the lower incisors of the Alpaca must be regarded as an 

 adaptation to its feeding on very coarse and resistent food, pro- 

 bably the paramograss (Calamagrostis), which needs a power- 

 ful cutting implement, and for the grinding of the same large 

 molars must be very useful as well. The incisors of the Gua- 

 nacos are not so strongly developed, and those of the Vicugna 

 still less. This stånds probably in connection with the wan- 

 derings of these animals which enable them to find less coarse 

 food at different seasons of the year. Tschudi 1 describes 

 (1. c. p. 230) this, and says that these animals during the dry 

 season go down in the valleys, »wo Quellen öder Sumpfe sind », 

 round which they find sufficient food. Further below (1. c. p. 

 233) he also speaks about the »feuchten Weiden, die die Vi- 

 cuna's besuchen» — — — .It appears thus that the latter 

 animals are especially fond of moist pastures where they may 

 find soft herbage; and this may explain why they ha ve the 

 smallest teeth. 



The differences between the small Peruvian Guanaco 

 and the Alpaca are so pronounced that the former cannot be 

 regarded as a possible direct progenitor of the latter. On the 

 whole the skull of the Alpaca is more similar to a skull of a 

 Patagonian Guanaco, but reduced in size, and with broadened 

 mandibular incisors. The fact that it exists in a certain part 

 of Peru a distinct local race of Guanaco proves that this species 

 is not so uniform as hitherto has been assumed, and it makes 

 more probable that in other places as well races may have 

 existed, or still exist, one of which may have formed the an- 

 cestry of the Alpaca. 



From the description above it may be concluded that 

 a small Guanaco, quite distinct from the large Patagonian 

 form, inhabits certain localities in Peru. As there has not 

 been made an}^ subdivision of geographic subspecies of Lama 

 huanachus Molin a before this, the first question to solve is 

 which of these two forms ought to be regarded as the type of 

 Molina's name. In his work »Saggio Sulla Storia Naturale 

 Del Chili» the author quoted gives the name »Camelus Hua- 

 nachus» on page 317. On the following page he writes: »Il 

 nome di Guanaco, con cui viene comunemente chiamato, de- 

 riva dalla lingua Peruviana: i Chilesi nel loro idioma lo chia- 



1 Unters. iiber die Fauna Peruana. 



