RODENTIA. 



119 



inferior value totliat of the preceding, and which occasionally turns white in winter* ; the Variable Hare {L. varia' 

 bil/s), a mountain sjjecies, larger than either of the foreg'oing', with still shorter ears and limbs than the Irish Hare, 

 and brown fur in summer, which always changes to white at the approach of winter ; and the Rabbit (L. cunic//h/.-i), 

 rcmai-kiiblc ti.ir its burrowin;;^ habits, and for bringing- forth its young blind and naked, while the Leverets of the 

 tlircu others see and run from birth. Kot less than sixteen species of Lt'jjus are already known in Nortli 

 Aiuei'ica ; and many others exist iii Asia and Africa.] 



The Pik.\s {Layomys, Cuv.) — ■ 

 Have ears of moderate length, the limbs nearly equal, the aiitorbital foramen simple, almost perfect 

 clavicles, and no tail whatever. They often utter a very sharp ery. They have hitherto been found 

 only in Siberia [since, however, at a considerable altitude on the llimmalayas, and in North America], 

 and Pallas was the first to make them known. 



[The largest of them] Lcpus afpbiusy Pallas, is the size of a Guinea-pig, and yellowish-red. It inhabits the most 



elevated mountain summits, ^vhel■e it passes the summer in selecting and drying the herbage for its winter pro- 

 vision. Us hay-stacks, which are sumetimes six or seven feet high, arc a valuable resource for the Horses of the 

 Sable-hunters. 



Some fossil remains have been discovered of an unknown species of I'ika, in the accumulations of osseous 

 breccia in the island of Corsica. 



After the two genera of Porcupines ami Ilarcs, come the rodents which Linnaeus and Palliis 

 brought to;i;ethei' under the name of Cavia, but for which it is impossible to assign any other 

 constant and positive character than the imperfection of their clavicles, though the various 

 species are not without analogy in the as})ect of their body and manners. They are all from 

 the New Continent. 



The Capvbara {fli/drocharus, Erxlebcn) — 

 Has four toes before, and only three behind, all of them armed with stout claws, and connected 

 together by membranes ; four grinding teeth above and below, the last of wiiich [especially in the 

 lower jaw] are the longest, all composed of numerous simple and paraUel laminai ; the anterior of 

 these lamina; forl<ed towards the outer edge in the upper, and towards the inner one in the lower 

 teeth. Only one species is known. 



Tlic Capvbara (Cavia capi/hara, Lin.), as large 

 as a Siamese Pig, with very thick muzzle, short 

 legs, coarse yellowish-brown hair, and no tail. 

 Inhabits the rivers of Guiana and the Amazons, 

 where it lives in troops: is a good swimmer, and 

 the largest [existing] species of the Rodentia. 

 The Beaver alone approaches it in size. 



The Cavies, popularly termed Guinea-piffS, 



{Jncenia, F. Cuv. ; Cavia, lllig.), — 

 Are miniatures of the Capvbara, except that 

 their toes are separated, and their molars 

 have each only a simple lamina, together 

 with a forked one externally in those above, 

 and on the inside in the h)wer. 



The species best known is the common domestic Cavy, or Guawa-pi'/ (Cavia co'>aia, Pallas ; Mus porccUas, 

 lin) extremely common now in Europe, where it is bred in houses, under the [mistaken] supposition that its 

 odour drives away Rats. It varies in colour like other domestic animals. [Six or seven spec.es are now known, 

 ore of which, the Patagonian Cavy(a patachonica, Pen.), is much larger than the re.t, with remarkably long 

 limbs: the author suspected it to be an Agouti. Some separate it by the appcUation Dohchotis.-] 



The ]\Iocos {Kcrodon, F. Cuv.) — 

 I'ave grinders rather more simple than those of the Cavies, each being formed of two triangulai 

 pri'^ms. 



The only known species is also from Brazil, somewhat surpassing the Guinea-pig in size, and of an ohve-grey 

 coli:iur 



<• Tlie Irish Hare h 

 hiih 



rL-crruly been distinL>-ni,slud, riiitl Ikl: 

 bcL-n met with only In tli^a isl^ud, wlierc, uiitil Litcly, Liu 



icd luusc thci 



.1 numbers of the hitter, however, 

 the laat t\\L-lvemoiitlj. 



