THE PICAS 



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THE PICAS 

 Family LAGOMTID^, 



Most travelers in the Himalayas, are familiar with the pretty little Rodents, 

 known as picas, tailless hares, or mouse-hares, which may be seen in the higher 

 regions, cautiously poking their noses out from between broken rocks, and again 

 disappearing with the rapidity of lightning directly they catch a glimpse of the in- 

 truder. These creatures constitute a family of the present group, of which there is 

 but the single genus Lagomys, and present the following characteristics. 



All the species are of comparatively-small size, being considerably inferior in 

 this respect to a rabbit, and are easily recognized by their small ears, and the ab- 



SIBERIAN PICA. 

 (One-third natural size.) 



sence of any external traces of a tail. The fore and hind-limbs are short and of 

 nearly equal length. In the skeleton the collar bones are complete, and the skull 

 has no descending (postorbital) processes defining the hinder border of the socket 

 of the eye. In the living species there are two pairs of premolar teeth, in addition 

 to three molars, in each jaw. The picas have the soles of the feet well covered with 

 hair, and the fur of the body is generally thick and soft. 



Picas, of which there are a considerable number of species, may be 

 considered as especially characteristic of Northern and Central Asia, 

 one species alone ranging into Eastern Europe, while another inhabits North 

 America. In Asia the genus extends into Eastern Persia, Afghanistan, the Hima- 

 layas, and Tibet. The best-known species is the Siberian pica (Lagomys alpinus), 

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Distribution 



