66 GUINEA-PIG. 



fruit, and vegetables. They are natives of various parts 

 of India Jand Africa, and are occasionally found in Italy 

 and Sicily. They live in dens or burrows in the ground, 

 and run abroad only during the night. The number of 

 young ones which they produce is seldom more than one 

 or two at a birth. In their general habits and manners 

 they are so harmless and inoffensive, as never to be the 

 aggressors. In confinement, although they will eat 

 bread or roots out of the hand of their keeper, they 

 never appear to exhibit any particular attachment for 

 him. Their teeth are so powerful, that one of them has 

 been known, in the course of a single night, to gnaw 

 through the staves of a strong tub, in which he was 

 kept. 



The Porcupine is about two feet in length. The top 

 of his head is furnished with a crest of spines, which 

 curve backward. The spines on the upper part of his 

 body are each variegated with black and white rings. 

 The head, belly, and legs, are covered with strong dusky 

 bristles, intermingled with hair. 



24. CAVY TRIBE. 



In their general manners, these animals resemble, in 

 some measure, both the rabbit and the mouse. They 

 burrow under the ground, and subsist entirely on vege- 

 table food. 



Guinea-Pig, or Restless Cavy. The Guinea-pig is 

 found, in a wild state, in Brazil and other parts of 

 South America. Few animals are more cleanly or 

 harmless than these. They subsist on fruit, grain, and 

 plants; and are so prolific, that they produce three or 

 four young ones at a litter, and this five or six times in 

 the year. They are easily tamed. In this state it is 



