166 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



off Maldonado, where the water is nearly as salt as in the 

 sea. 



On the banks of the Apure Humboldt saw the capybara, 

 which he calls Chiguira, in troops of fifty or sixty. He 

 notices the ease of the capybara in the water ; and states 

 that he saw with surprise the animals, affrighted by the 

 approach of a boat, dive and remain from eight to ten 

 minutes under water. On the Apure, Arauco, &c., and 

 in the vast savannahs of the Llanos, the animal is said to 

 be often seen in droves of a hundred. They there browse 

 upon a sort of grass called chiguirirero. 



The common posture of the capybara when at rest is 

 sitting upon the haunches, the soles of the hind-feet 

 being applied flat to the ground, like the agouti, the 

 viscacha, and many others of the Rodents. The female 

 breeds once in a year, and brings forth from four to six 

 or seven at a birth, having prepared a snug bed of dried 

 herbs and grasses. 



Family— LEPORID^. 



The family Leporidm contains the hares and rabbits 

 (Lepus), and the pikas (Lagoinys). This family is well 

 marked in its characters, comprehending only two genera, 

 of which one, the genus Lepus, is widely distributed, 

 though it has the most representatives in North America, 

 where the number of species already discovered is equal 

 to that of all the rest found in the other portions of the 

 globe taken together. 



The Common Hare (Lepus timidus). 



Aay^s (Lagos) of the Greeks ; Lepus of the Latins ; 

 Lepre and Lievora of the modern Italians ; Liebre and 

 Lebratello of the Spaniards ; Lebre and Lebrimho of 

 the Portuguese ; Lievre, French ; Has, Haas, and Hase 

 of the Germans ; Haas and Haze of the Danes ; Hara of 

 the Swedes; Hara of the Anglo-Saxons; Ysgyfarnog 

 Ceinach of the Ancient British. 



Ill the genus Lepus, behind the ordinary incisors of 

 the upper jaw are two more of a much smaller size : the 



