CA VIES. 



179 



would wander about the house, uttering a grunting noise, and consuming such food 

 as was placed for it. In the course of a few months its shyness and ferocity gradu- 

 ally disappeared, and it learned to distinguish between its master and strangers, 

 although it never exhibited friendliness to anyone. It would eat almost any kind 

 of human food, except flesh ; and was remarkably cleanly in its habits, frequently 

 dressing its fur with its claws. Bright sunlight seemed to blind the creature; 

 while in the dark its large eyes gleamed like those of a cat. 



The skin of the paca is so thin, and its hair so coarse and harsh, that its 

 pelage is of no commercial value. Its flesh is, however, white and well-flavoured ; 

 and on this account the animal is much sought after by the natives of the countries 

 it inhabits. During the months of February and March pacas become most 

 extraordinarily fat, and it is at this season that their flesh is most esteemed. In 

 the woods of Brazil pacas and agutis, together with certain edentates, are the 

 only mammals whose flesh is eatable; and they are accordingly most accept- 

 able to the traveller, who is often compelled for long periods to subsist on a 

 vegetable diet. 



This animal is interesting as apparently forming a connecting 

 link between the true pacas and the other families of the present 

 group, and on these grounds it has been made the type of a family by itself. In 

 size and general form of the head and body, as well as in coloration, this animal 

 closely resembles the paca ; from which it is distinguished externally by its rather 

 long and thickly-haired tail, by each foot having four toes, and by the vertical 

 cleft on the upper-lip. Internally it differs by the complete clavicles, and by the 

 molar teeth being divided into transverse plates of enamel, as in the chinchillas 

 and cavies. The only known example (Dinomys branicki) was discovered one 

 morning at daybreak, rather more that twenty years ago, wandering about the 

 courtyard of a building in Peru ; and from that day to this nothing more has ever 

 been heard of the species. 



THE CAVIES. 

 Family CAYIID^. 



The cavies, familiar to us all from childhood in the form of the domestic 

 guinea-pig, form a well-marked family distinguished by the following characters. 

 The limbs are generally similar to those of the agutis, and are furnished with four 

 toes in front and three behind. The collar-bones are imperfect; and the molar 

 teeth are divided by continuous folds of enamel into transverse plates. As 

 indicated by the well-known proverb concerning the guinea-pig, the tail is 

 small or rudimentary. The incisor teeth are short; and the lower jaw differs 

 from that of the agutis in having a strongly -marked ridge on each external 

 surface. The majority of the members of the family are terrestrial, but one 

 genus is aquatic. 



The true cavies, as represented by the guinea-pig, are comparatively small 

 Rodents, characterised by their stout build, short and subequal limbs, small ears, 

 and the total absence of a tail. All the wild species are uniformly coloured, and 

 their range comprises the whole of South America. 



