RUMTNAXTIA. 1ST 



SECTION XXIII. 



Auchenia. (Gr. 'v/r^, auchen, a neck.) 

 THE LLAMA. 



We have in this genus the Camels of the Western Continent, 

 inhabiting the Cordilleras of the Andes below the line of perpetual 

 snow. They are found principally in Peru and Chili, though 

 in much fewer numbers than formerly. Sometimes they have 

 been taken into Mexico, but rather as curiosities than for any 

 other purpose. The Llamas were first noticed at Rio Bamba, 

 about ninety miles south-west of Quito, and not far from the 

 snow-capped mountain of Chimborazo; and at this very spot, 

 they are now seen in considerable numbers. Rio Bamba is 

 11,670 feet above the sea-level, and the temperature of the air 

 corresponds to this elevation. But these animals, as many as 

 five hundred in a herd, are found at elevations still higher, say 

 from 13 to 16,000 feet above the level of the sea, and where the 

 mercury falls every night below the freezing point. They do 

 not, however, advance so high as the line of perpetual snow, 

 preferring rather a middle region affording congenial tempera- 

 ture and food. As a protection against the cold of their elevated 

 abodes, they are clothed with a long and woolly fur. The name 

 Auchenia refers to the long slender neck of these animals, in 

 which they resemble the Camels proper. They are also like 

 them in the great cellular development of the second stomach ; 

 the cellular apparatus of the paunch ; the absence of the third 

 or plicated stomach, and the concomitant power of enduring 

 thirst, or rather abstaining from water altogether; in the large, 

 full, over-hung eye ; the division and mobility of the upper lip ; 

 and the fissured form of the nostrils, and the meagre limbs. Con- 

 trasting the location of these animals with that of the Camels, we 

 naturally look for a deviation in the structure of the foot. The 

 pad which connects the toes of the Camel beneath, would have 

 afforded no very sure footing for an animal destined to climb the 

 precipices of the Andes. We accordingly find in the Llamas toes 

 which are armed with strong nail-like hoofs, (Plate VI. fig. 3,) 

 completely separated from each other, and each defended with its 

 own pad or cushion, thus admirably adapted to firm progression 

 either in ascent or descent ; while there is nothing in the structure 

 to hinder great rapidity upon comparatively smooth and level 

 ground. The humps of the true Camels are not found on the 

 backs of the Llamas, yet there is said to be in the latter a con- 



