206 Zoological Society, 



would eat it, some small pieces of fresh beef were placed before it ; 

 to our greatest astonishment it ate the meat with avidity, and has 

 since been chiefly fed on fresh beef and fish. 



" By kind treatment it soon became domesticated, and fed out of 

 our hands. When not asleep, (in which state it used the same 

 position as already related,) it rested entirely on its haunches, and 

 stretching its long snout through the palings of its pen, it surveyed 

 the surrounding objects, and snuiFed the air. 



" It even raised itself frequently, and without difficulty, to nearly 

 an erect posture, and remained thus for some minutes ; sometimes 

 it sat with its fore feet crossed. In feeding, it kneeled as sheep 

 and goats do. It attempted frequently to take up objects with its 

 paws ; in this manoeuvre its long claws assisted wonderfully. In 

 rising from its resting posture it used first to get upon its knees. 



" When some meat was thrown before it, it expanded the lateral 

 apertures of the nostrils, and seemed, by moving its flexible upper 

 lip, as if it intended to seek out the most delicate morsels. 



*' I have already remarked how fond the young one was of climb- 

 ing, and have no doubt that, if circumstances should require it, they 

 climb trees in their wild state with the same agility. 



" It secretes a liquid substance, transparent like water, which 

 drops down almost constantly out of its nostrils and mouth ; this is 

 the more remarkable, as it used very little water. The Llama, with- 

 out using much water, possesses likewise a superabundant quantity 

 of saliva. I recollect, before the pen was finished, when lying in the 

 sun, it perspired so profusely that its hair could not have been more 

 wet had the animal been in the water. It is remarkable that the 

 four individuals, and the young one which we secured at Fort San 

 Joaquim, were all females ; in no instance have we observed a male. 

 What, then, is the natural question, becomes of the males ? I can 

 give no other answer than that the males are unproportioned to the 

 number of females, and are, no doubt, much more shy. Those which 

 we secured were caught during day ; it issues, perhaps, from the dense 

 forests only by night. A similar instance off^ers itself in the genus 

 Auchenia, of which the males do not quit their pastures in quest of 

 the females, and herds exclusively of females and males are met 

 with ; it is only during the rutting season that they mix, when the 

 males combat for the females. 



" If it could be substantiated that the number of males is consi- 

 derably smaller than that of the females, in that circumstance would 

 rest an additional ground for supposing that the extinction of its 

 species, like those of the Edentata in general, is determined upon. 



