190 



RODENTS. 



The Picas. 

 Family Lago.myw.-e. 



Most travellers in the Himalaya are familiar with the pretty little Rodents, 

 known as picas, tailless hares, or mouse-hares, which may be seen in the higher 

 regions, cautiously poking their noses out from between broken rocks, and again 

 disappearing with the rapidity of lightning directly they catch a glimpse of the 

 intruder. These creatures constitute a family of the present group, of which there 

 is but the single genus Lagomys, and present the following characteristics. 



All the species are of comparatively small size, being considerably inferior in 



SIBERIAN PICA (J nat. size). 



this respect to a rabbit ; and are easily recognised by their small ears, and the 

 absence of any external traces of a tail. The fore and hind-limbs are short and 

 of nearly equal length. In the skeleton the collar bones are complete ; and the 

 skull has no descending (postorbital) processes defining the hinder border of the 

 socket of the eye. In the living species there are two pairs of premolar teeth, in 

 addition to three molars, in each jaw. The picas have the soles of the feet well 

 covered with hair ; and the fur of the body is generally thick and soft. 



Picas, of which there are a considerable number of species, may 

 be considered as especially characteristic of Northern and Central 

 Asia, one species alone ranging into Eastern Europe, while another inhabits North 

 America. In Asia the genus extends into Eastern Persia, Afghanistan, the 

 Himalaya, and Tibet. The best known species is the Siberian pica {Lagomys 

 tdpinux), inhabiting the steppes of Eastern Europe, Siberia, and Kamschatka. 

 This animal may be compared in size to a guinea-pig, its length being from 9 to 



Distribution. 



