54 . CLASS MAMMALIA. 



considered by Baron de Humboldt as entirely domesticated , 

 the occasional wild animals being only strayed individuals. 

 From this circumstance he infers that their specific charac- 

 ters are not easily marked with precision ; because, in a 

 domestic state, several breeds are reared, among which the 

 original type is more or less disfigured. Among the indi- 

 viduals examined by us, the variations of size, colour, and 

 conformation, were certainly evident, especially if the ani- 

 mals designated as Guanacos be considered as a mere 

 variety of the true Lama. But as this question is subject 

 to doubt it will be preferable to describe them for the 

 present as a distinct species. 



A Lama of the largest breed is about four feet four 

 inches at the shoulder ; above five feet from the breast to 

 the tail, and from the ground to the top of the head nearly 

 six feet. There are, however, breeds far inferior in stature, 

 and the specimen described by M. F. Cuvier did not 

 reach three feet in height at the shoulder. This individual 

 was a male of a brown colour, the face white, with dark 

 spotted nose and mouth, a spot before and one behind the 

 eye extending to below the jaw. The throat was whitish 

 and the neck gray. The joints of the fore-feet white. 

 These animals, however, vary in colour and markings, but 

 the prevailing tones are brown, passing into vinous rusty 

 dark brown, black, and even white. The hair is long, soft, 

 elastic, and woolly on the neck, throat, body, rump, and 

 tail ; close and short on the head and limbs. The fine 

 specimens exhibited in London in 1816 and 1817, were 

 entirely white on the head, throat, neck, shoulders, and 

 fore-legs ; from the withers backwards of a deep purple 

 brown; from the chin, down the neck and throat, fine soft 

 hair, about nine inches long, hung down to below the 

 knees in the form of an apron, with a beautiful silvery 

 lustre. On the back, rump, sides, and tail, the fleece was 

 more packed and woolly. The hind-legs were earthy 



