GUINEA-PIGS. 95 



guinea-pig, as is well known, are white, black, and yellow, and in 

 this respect it differs a good deal from the "restless cavy." 



It is hardly correct to include the guinea-pig among the wild 

 animals of New Zealand, as, although it has been frequently 

 liberated, it has never succeeded in establishing itself. At one 

 time I had a number of guinea-pigs running wild in my garden 

 in Maori Hill, and noticed that violets growing among the grass 

 increased remarkably all the time they were about. The guinea- 

 pigs kept the grass very closely nibbled, but would not touch the 

 violets. These animals had a well-sheltered run under a thick 

 mass of periwinkle which grew along a raised bank. They throve 

 remarkably till a host of little ones, not much bigger than the 

 end of one's thumb, began to appear. This was too much for the 

 cats in the neighbourhood. These creatures began to haunt the 

 garden day and night. They soon ate all the little ones, and, 

 having acquired a taste for this kind of game, they never stopped 

 till they had destroyed all the stock but a few old bucks. There 

 is no reason why guinea-pigs should not become wild in this country, 

 except for the prevalence of cats. 



The only record I find of the introduction of these animals into 

 this country is by the Auckland Acclimatization Society in 1869; 

 but they have been repeatedly brought in by dealers for the last 

 fifty or sixty years. I believe that guinea-pigs are very good for 

 food, for they are very dainty feeders. But there is a considerable 

 prejudice against them on the part of most people. I had a bachelor 

 acquaintance in London who used to give very recherche, dinners 

 to his male friends. On one occasion they got a dish of a new and 

 very palatable kind, whicli they all enjoyed, until they learned 

 that they had been eating guinea-pig, when some of them highly 

 resented their host's experimenting upon them. But it was only 

 prejudice from whicli they suffered. They reminded me of the 

 lady who enjoyed stewed eel until she learned what she had been 

 eating, when she promptly retired from the table and managed 

 to get sick. 



The family of the cavies, to which the guinea-pig belongs, is 

 chiefly characterized by the form of the teeth. The fore feet have 

 four and the hind feet three toes, all armed with hoof-like nails. 

 The tail is rudimentary or wanting; hence the common warning 

 to children that if one lifts a guinea-pig by the tail the eyes will 

 drop out. 



