3S 



The camels look so thoroughly unlike a wild animal 

 that it is inconceivable that their ancestors were not very 

 diiferent looking beasts ; it is a remarkable fact that all the^ 

 members of the genus Camelus are domestic, and it would 

 seem that unless they had been preserved by man that the 

 genus would have been known only to the palaeontologist. 



Of the Llamas there are either two or four species, 

 the Llama may be descended from the wild Guanaco, and 

 the Alpaca from the wild Vicugna, but whether these may be 

 specifically identical or not, it is certain that members of the 

 genus are not extinct in the wild state, but if on the other 

 hand the two wild species are not the ancestors of the 

 domestic, then the ancestors of the latter are like the 

 camels, extinct in the wild state. 



The two domestic species conform to all the conditions 

 of domesticity, being useful in the highest degree, naturally 

 gregarious, and therefore easily kept in flocks, perfectly 

 fertile, and though perhaps not quite so tame as sheep, yet 

 thoroughly subdued to man's use. 



Their value as beasts of burden in South America, and 

 still more as wool producers, is well-known, and they possess 

 a plasticity of constitution sufficient for their successful in- 

 troduction into Australia and other countries. 



The Suine animals do not form a large family, there 

 are five genera known, and about twenty-two species, there 

 seems good reason to believe that the domestic pig is 

 descended from more than one wild ancestor, indeed in my 

 own time the English pig, doubtless a descendant of the 

 wild boar, has been crossed with Chinese pigs, Sus Indicus, 

 so that a true Sus scrofa scarcelj' exists in England, but it 

 was not so in my younger days, the Sussex pigs were at 

 that time long-legged and long snouted, and I may add the 

 flesh was of a very superior flavour. 



The pig was domesticated in pre-historic times, its 



'remains have been discovered with those of neolithic man, 



Riitimeyer is of opinion that even in those early days, there 



were two races or species domestic, one the true Siis scrofa, 



