LECTURE III. 99 



very different in habit or general appearance, it 

 was at length thought better to distribute them 

 into several distinct genera, leaving the Mouse or 

 Rat tribe, strictly so called, to form the genus 

 Mus, 



Among the genera thus formed out of the old 

 Linnaean genus Mus, one of the chief is that 

 called Cavia, or, as it may be otherwise pro- 

 nounced, 9avia, in English Cavi/. 



As the characters of the teeth in almost all 

 the Glires are very nearly similar, it is often un- 

 necessary to particularize them. I shall therefore 

 only observe, that the genus Cavia is in general of 

 a thick and short form, and of various size. As 

 the most familiar example, we may mention the 

 well-known species improperly called the Guinea- 

 Pig, which is now the Cavia Cobaya, or variegated 

 Cavy, and was the Mus Porcellus of the earlier 

 editions of the Systema Naturae of Linnaeus. It 

 is a native of the hotter parts of South- America, 

 and is now well know^n in most parts of Europe. 



The South American animal called the Aguti 

 or Java-Hare, belongs also to this genus, and is 

 of the size of a Rabbet or larger. 



The largest kind of Cavy yet known, is a spe- 



