( HIXAIUnK. 



CHINCHII.Un.K. 



vat 



CHINA HARK, a name given to the bark of *e*a Au-oM/ro, a 

 plant belonging to the natural order CimcAonartfr. It is used a* 

 a febrifuge, but is leu powerful than the barks obtained from the 

 specie* of tWAoiui. [('IM.-HONAI-UL] 



i HIM III I.I.ID.E, a family of animal* belonging to the order 

 Kotlmlio. 



This family is denned by Mr. Bennett, to whom we are principally 

 indebted for our knowledge of the specie*, a* follow* : 



Upper incisors simple ; molars, j-^, consisting of two or three 



Uenial or riband-like bony lamella? or plates, parallel with each other, 

 entirely surrounded with a vitreous substance ; the crowns exactly 

 opposite to each other and flattened by attrition. The posterior 

 limbs nearly twice as long as the anterior. The tail produced, with 

 long and somewhat bristly hairs above and at the tip. The Ckinckil- 

 lidit are gregarious and subterranean in their habits, and mild in 

 disposition. Mr. Waterhouae, in his ' Natural History of Mammalia,' 

 make* the Ckinrhillina a sub-family of the family llyilrir-idit of the 

 Jlodattia. It embraces the following genera, Lagidium, Latjvttvmiu, 

 and t'AwrAi'Ho. 



2 4 4 



Lagidttim (Lagolii, Bennett). Incisors, ; molars, - - = 20. 



The incisors are sharpened, and each molar consists of three complete 

 oblique plates. Skull arched posteriorly and above; the superior 

 cellules of the tympanum inconspicuous. All the feet 4-toed, the 

 great toe being entirely absent ; nails long and subfalcular. Ears very 

 Tow. Tail long. Fur soft, but caducous. 



L. Ctueitri, Wagner (Lagolii Cnritri, Bennett). Size and much of 

 the general form of the rabbit. Posterior limbs twice the length of 

 the anterior : tail about equal in length to the body, excluding the 

 head. Whiskers very numerous, closely set, jet black, ten or twelve 

 of the longest on each side being exceedingly thick and rigid, and 

 even inches long. Ears nearly like a long parallelogram, rounded at 

 the tip, three inches long and one inch broad, with the margins 

 rolled in below, so sparingly furnished with short scattered hairs as to 

 appear almost naked. Fore feet like the hinder, with four toes only, 

 there being no vestige of a thumb ; claws small, slightly sharpened, 

 and entirely concealed by long and somewhat bristly hairs ; those of 

 the hinder feet similar in shape and rather larger, but that of the 

 inner toe flattened, curved inwards, and exposed, the immediately 

 adjoining hairs giving place to a tuft of about eight rows of short 

 stiff homy curved bristles, approaching nearly in rigidity to the 

 comb-like appendage found in almost the same situation in the 

 Ctenomy* Mtutonii of Gray. A similar structure occurs in the Chin- 

 chilla. The fur is beautifully soft, downy, and of considerable 

 length, but so loosely 

 attached to the skin 

 that it readily falls 

 off, unless handled 



with care. It is 



dusky at the base 

 and to within a short 

 distance of the tip, 

 where, for an extent 

 of from one to three 

 lines, it is dirty- 

 white, more or less 

 tinged with yel- 

 lowwh-brown. A 

 few long black hairs, 

 most numerous pos- 

 teriorly, protrude 

 through it. The 

 general tone of 

 colour is a mottled 

 grayish-ash. On the 

 aide* of the neck and 

 body, where the tips 

 of the fur merge 

 more into yellowish- 

 brown than on the 

 back, and where they 

 are also of greater 

 length, as well a* on 

 the haunches and 

 beneath, the latter 

 tinge appears rather 

 more predominant. 

 There is little of the 

 dusky colour visible 



on the under surface. The hairs of the tail below are extremely 

 short, closely depressed, and of a brownish-black ; on its sides 

 they are of two kinds, black and white ; and this in also the 

 case with the very long rigid and erectile hairs which form a crest 

 along it* upper surface. The very long bristly hairs which project 

 in a tuft at the tip are wholly black. 



Mr. Bennett believe* this specie* to be the Viscacha of all the 



writers from Pedro de L'ieca downwards, including Acosta, QarctlaMO, 

 Peter de Laet, Nieremberg, FeuilhV, I'lloa, Viilan<, Molina, 

 Rchmidtmeyer, and Stevenson, who have stated tha' animal to be an 

 inhabitant of the western or Peruvian declivities of the Andes. 

 Messrs. Blainville, I tvsniarest, and Lesson are among the modern 

 ! zoologist* who have noticed the Viscacha; Lesson, in his ' >l 

 ' apparently confounding the eastern and western species, gives it as 

 the Ltjiut Fitcaecia of Omelin, places it am.-i.i: tin- hares, and 

 j Quotes Desmarest, as expressing his opinion in his ' Manimalogie,' 

 I that it ought to be the type of a new genus under which the 

 Chinchilla might bo perhaps arranged. 



L. pallipa (Lagotit palltpe*, Bennett). The fur of this species, he 

 ' observes, U perhaps even softer to the touch than that of L. Curirri ; 

 ' a feel which is probably owing to its being less dense, on account of 

 j the comparative shortness of the hairs composing it; the fur of 

 \ L. Cvrieri imparting to the hand the sensation of fulness and conse- 

 quent firmness, while that of L. pailipet is yielding with its softness. 

 The hairs in both species, especially those which form the mass of 

 the fur, are wavy for the great part of their length, their tips only 

 being straight; those of the middle of the sides measure, when their 

 natural waves are not intefered with, three-quarters of an inch in 

 L. palliptt, and an inch and a quarter in /- Cmieri. In neither of 

 these species however is the quality of the fur at all comparable to 

 that of Chinchilla litniijrra. 



The following is the English version (1709) of the passage in Pedro 

 de Cieca's 'Chronica del Peru ' (1664), dc-criptive of tho habits of 

 these animals : " There is anot h. r c. >rt of creature they call viscacha, 

 about the bigness of and resembling a hare, but that it has a long tail 

 like a fox. These breed in stony places and among rock.-, and mnny 

 of them are shot with guns ami iroaabows, and taken by the Indians 

 in gins (with the hanging to 



tender; and of their hair IT wool the Indians make large mantles, 

 cloaks, or blankets, as soft as silk, and very valuable." Ulloa's 

 account ('Noticing Americana^,' 1772) is. in the opinion of Mr. 

 Bennett (whose trau.-lati"ii we adopt), the 1* st lii.-tory that has been 

 given of its habits and manners. "Taking the place of the rabbit, 

 which is wanting in Peru, there is another kind of animal called 

 viscacha, which is not found in Ijnito. In form, and in the colour of 

 its fur, it is similar to the rabbit, but differs from it in having a long 

 tail furnished with tufted hair (like that of the squirrel), which is 

 very thin towards the root, but thick and long as it approaches the 

 tip. It does not curry its tail turned over the head like the squirrel, 

 but stretched out, as it were, in a horizont.il direction; its joints are 

 slender and scaly. These animals conceal themselve.s in holes of the 

 rocks, in whieli they make their retreat*, not forming burrows in 

 the earth like rabbits. There they congregate- lerable 



numbers, and are 

 in a 



IHpg po .-ture, but 

 ii.-t eating ; they feed 

 on the nerbs and 

 shrul's that grow 

 aiii"iig the rocks, 

 aud are very active. 

 Their means of 

 escape do not con- 

 sist in the velocity of 

 then- flight, but in 

 the promptitude 

 with which they run 

 to the shelter of their 

 holes. This they 

 commonly do when 

 wounded ; for which 

 reason the mo<: 

 killing them in by 

 shooting them in the 

 head ; us, if they re- 

 ceive the char).- 

 any oilier part, al- 

 though much in- 

 jured, they do not 

 fail to go and <1 

 the interior of their 

 burrows. They have 

 this peculiarity, that 

 as soon OH they <lie 

 their hair falls off; 

 and on this account, 

 although it is softer 

 and somewhat longer 

 cannot be made use 



of for common purposes. The flesh is white but not well fla\ 

 being especially distasteful at certain Beacons, when it i- altogether 

 repugnant to tho palate." Molina speaks of the Employment 

 wool among the ancient Peruvians, adding that the Chilians of the 

 present day (his work was originally published in 1782, ami 

 reprinted with additions in 1810) use it in the manufacture of hats. 



Skeleton of Lafalit Otritri. 



a, Skull Mm from above ; *, the ume neen from below ; t, lower jaw een from above ; d, crowns of the two 

 anterior molar teeth of the lower jaw rnUrprd ; t, crownn of the two posterior molar teeth of the 



upper jaw enlarged. 



and finer than that of the rabbit, the skin 



