CAVIES. 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 eat. 
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. 
Branick’s Paca. 
THE CAVIES. 
Family CAVIID. 
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. 
