THE EUMINANT ORDER. 239 



wider. Its eyes are large, intelligent, and mild ; its throat is of a 

 yellowish colour ; its breast, the lower part of its helly, and the 

 inside of its thighs are white, while the remainder of its body is 

 brown. 



The rich fleece of this animal surpasses in fineness and softness 

 any other wool with which we are acquainted. In order to obtain 

 possession of its skin the American hunters pursue it even over the 

 steepest summits of the Andes, when, by driving, they force them 

 into pens, composed of tightly stretched cords, covered with rags 

 of various colours, which frighten and prevent the prey attempt- 

 ing to escape. One of these battues sometimes produces from five 

 hundred to a thousand skins. Instead of destroying the Vicunas, 

 the proper course would be to make them submit to the yoke of 

 Man ; for great profit might be derived from their fleece. 



A great many attempts have been made to acclimatise the two 

 last-mentioned species in France. If the French were to succeed 

 in introducing Llamas on the Pyrenees, the Alps, the mountains 

 of Vosges, and the Cevennes, &c., they would become an impor- 

 tant source of wealth. "With this view, the Jardin des Plantes 

 and the Jardin Zoologique d' Acclimation, at Paris, have reared a 

 large number. 



Family of Common Ruminants. — This natural group compre- 

 hends the greatest number of Ruminants. The feature which dis- 

 tinguishes the animals composing it, not only from the Camel 

 family, but also from aU the other Ruminants, is the existence of 

 two horns on the forehead of the male, and sometimes of the female. 



The structure of these appendages presents various characteristic 

 difierences, and has caused the division of this large and important 

 family into three tribes, namely. Ruminants with hairy and per- 

 manent horns, hollow-horned Ruminants, and Ruminants which 

 shed their horns. 



It has been thought necessary to form a fourth division in the 

 same family, comprehending Common Ruminants without horns. 

 This division only contains the genus Musk-Deer (Mosckus, Linn.) 



Ruminants tdth hairy and jjermanent horns. — This tribe consists 

 of a single genus, that of the Girafle, which has also but one 



species.^ 



The heio-ht of the Girafl'e (Cervus camelopardalis, Linn.), the 



