152 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



young ones at a birth. The flesh of this animal is white, 

 but dry and insipid. The skin with the fur on is in 

 esteem, being used for rugs, and is beautiful from the 

 character of the hair, which is full and soft, and from 

 the tasteful arrangement of the marking. The colour of 

 the back is brown, grizzled with white, verging into 

 yellow on the sides of the body and on the limbs, but 

 becoming black as it approaches the haunch : this dark 

 hue is there abruptly interrupted by a white band pass- 

 ing transversely above the root of the tail, and spreading 

 on the back and sides of the thighs. The appearance of 

 this white mark is very striking. The chest, inside of 

 the limbs, and under part of the body are also white. 

 The ears are three inches and a half in length, erect and 

 pointed. Full-grown individuals weigh between twenty 

 and twenty-six pounds. The young, it is said, may be 

 easily domesticated. 



The Capybara 



(^Hydrochcerus Capyhara; Cabiai, Buff.). 



The capybara (the only known species of the genus 

 Hydrochcerus) is the largest of all the Rodentia ; and 

 its size, its massive heavy proportions, its thick head, 

 and the bristly character of its hair, give it a degree of 

 resemblance to some of the Pachydermata. Marcgrave 

 regards it as a sort of aquatic hog ; Fermins, in his 

 'History of Surinam,' 1775, terms it Porcus JiuviatiUs, 

 or river-hog ; while Pennant gives it the title of thick- 

 nosed tapir. It is also the cochon d'eau of Des- 

 marchais ; the Sus maximus palustris of Barrere ; and 

 the Sus hydrochcerus. Pig-like as the capybara may be 

 in its external aspect, it is nevertheless a genuine Rodent, 

 as much so as the hare or agouti. Its dentition consists 

 of the usual incisors, which are of prodigious size and 

 strength ; those in the upper jaw have a deep longi- 

 tudinal furrow on their outer surface. The molars are 

 four on each side, above and below ; and consist of a 

 series of obliquely transverse parallel laminae of enamel 

 (Fig. 97), presenting acute lateral projections in the 

 first three teeth : these projections are on the outer edge 



