SOLIDUSGULA.- 



-MAMMALIA.- 



-Equid.b. 



177 



this reckoning gives us at least one too many. Tliese 

 animals are natives of Pera and Chili, and represent, 

 in the western hemisphere, the camels of the East. 

 They have no humps on the back, are a much smaller 

 species, and have a dense woolly fur, which, in the 

 wild state, exhibits a pale chestnut-brown colour. The 

 fur of the domesticated Llama is variously tinted. The 

 sole-pads, instead of being broad as in the camel, are 

 double and narrow, each division being limited to one 

 side of tlie cloven foot, whilst the nails, in lieu of 

 being weak, are powerfidly developed and strongly 

 curved. The Llamas frequent rocky places ; and in 

 consequence, therefore, of the easy separation of the 

 toes, combmcd with the modifications of the pad and 

 hoof here referred to, it becomes at once evident tliat 

 such a condition of the foot is peculiarly adapted to an 

 animal whose life is destined to be spent — unlike that 

 of his desert-ti'aversing congener — on the rugged slopes 

 and precipices of the Andes. As a beast of bidden, 



the Llama is not capable of sustaining a load of more 

 than two hundred pounds weight, half tliat amount 

 being ordinarily considered sufficiently oppressive. 

 Attempts have recently been made to introduce the 

 Alpaca — the Llama Pacos, of some authors — into Aus- 

 tralia, and the e.xperiment has already Ixicn attended 

 with sufficient success to warrant the belief Uiat ere 

 long they wUl become extremely useful and abundant 

 in the colony. The alpaca may, after all that has been 

 urged to the contrary, only constitute a well-marked 

 variety of the Guanaco. Though not emjiloyed as a 

 beast of burden, it is a much more valuable animal 

 than the Llama, the hair of the fur being much longer, 

 and of a soft, silky texture. Respecling the Vicugna 

 {Llama Vicugna), which is by all authorities regarded 

 as a distinct species, we have only room to remark 

 that it possesses a fine fulvous woolly fur, which is 

 extensively employed in manufactm-e by the natives 

 of Peru. 



Order X.— SOLIDUNGULA. 



In the arrangement of Cuvier, the solidimgiilate quad- 

 rupeds form the third family of the order Pachyder- 

 mata ; but, by general consent, it is admitted tliat the 

 present group is worthy of being separately treated in 

 the manner here proposed. In Professor Owen's sys- 

 tem, the solidungulates constitute a subdivision of his 

 odd-toed ungulates or Perissodactyla. The members 

 of this order are at once characterized by the circum- 

 stance of tlieir possessmg, or rather appearing to 

 possess, only a single toe, which is incased in a solid 

 box-like hoof; there are, however, on eitlier side of 

 tliis large central toe, rudimentary digits, in the con- 

 dition of two splint-like bones, corresponding to the 

 second and fourth metacarpal and metatarsal bones of 

 tlie human extremities. Another distinguishing feature 

 is seen in the dentition, which is made up of forty 

 teeth; twelve of these are incisors, equally divided 

 above and below ; four are canines, the upper being 

 almost invariably absent in tlie female ; the remaining 

 twenty-four being molars, whose crowns are flat and 



SkuU of the Horse. 



square-shaped, and marked by four crescentic folds of 

 enamel — those of the upper jaw having a small addi- 

 tional fold at the inside. If the accompanjong figure 

 be examined it wUl be noticed that a considerable inter- 

 space exists between tlie incisors and the anterior 

 grinders (fig. 66) ; it is through tliis vacuity that the 



bit is introduced for the purpose of controlling and 

 Vol. I 



directing the horse's speed. The stomach of tlie soli- 

 dungulates is simple and undivided ; the coecum and 

 large intestines being extremely capacious, and the gall- 

 bladder entirely wanting. Finally, it may be remarked 

 tliat fossil solidungulate remains have been foimd in 

 the tertiary deposits of various parts of the world, but 

 it is impossible to determine how many species of tlia 

 order may have roamed over the uncultivated plains, of 

 geologic time. 



Family— EQUID^. 



All the members of the order may be associated toge- 

 ther under a single famil}' title, as above, or they may 

 be considered as belonging to a single genus. The 

 family characters are the same as those of the order. 

 All existing species were originally inhabitants of the 

 eastern hemisphere — the mountain plains and wastes of 

 Asia and Africa constituting their native abode. In 

 the wild state they are gregarious ; their speed is swift, 

 and grass forms the principal element af their food. 



THE HORSE [Equus CniaHus)— Plate 24, fig. 77 

 — is of all animals the most highly esteemed, and 

 deservedly so. Although it does not prove such a 

 valuable source of food as certain of the ruminants ; 

 nevertheless, in an indirect manner, it supplies us 

 with the means of procraing sustenance from various 

 sources, proving absolutely indispensable to the agri- 

 culturist. To enter into a history of the uses to which 

 this matchless quadruped has been put, or to enumerate 

 the countless varieties of breed into which it has passed, 

 would lead us far beyond the limits assigned to our 

 description of the present family ; suffice it to say, that 

 all the well-known domesticated forms are only varieties 

 of an original wild stock, and that it is doulitful if this 

 original type exists in the condition of its native pro- 

 genitors. It is true that thoroughly wild breeds roam 

 at large over the wild steppes of Asia and the spacious 

 plains of South America; but all these are believed 



