1564 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



and the adjoining regions of South America. The 

 lynx and the wolf belong to the colder tracts of North 

 America. 



The opossums are numerous in South America, 

 and one species is met with in the United States 

 (Virginia) ; this family (Marsupialia) is altogether 

 absent from the eastern continent, but is fully de- 

 veloped in the Australian division of the globe. 

 The beaver abounds in the colder latitudes of North 

 America, together with a vast number of other fur- 

 bearing animals; as raccoons, martens, squirrels, sea- 

 otters, minks, muskrats, ermines, foxes, wolverines, 

 and hares. 



The llama tribe (comprehending, besides the 

 llama, the alpaca, vicuna, and others), is peculiar 

 to South America. Its members are found through- 

 out the prolonged Cordilleras of the western side of 

 that continent, from Chili to New Granada, dwell- 

 ing always at considerable heights above the level of 

 the sea. The llama belongs to the same order (Ru- 

 minantia) as the camel of the OldWorld,and supplies 

 some of the uses of that animal as a beast of burden. 

 Prior to the Spanish conquest, the llama was, indeed, 

 the only beast of burden which the natives of South 

 America possessed. The tapir of the same continent 

 (an animal about the size of a small cow, and readily 

 distinguished by the downward bend of its snout) 

 belongs to the order of pachyderms. Two species of 

 tapir, both of them peculiar to that region, inhabit 

 South America: a third species is native to the island 

 of Sumatra, and the adjacent Malay peninsula, in 

 Southeastern Asia. 



