castle] SOMETHING ABOUT GUINEA-PIGS 207 



little larger than a rat which was easily tamed and bred freely in 

 confinement. This practice still continues among their descen- 

 dants. The Spaniards, who overran South America soon after 

 its discovery, took the domesticated cavy of the Indians back to 

 Europe with them. What they called it, I do not know, but we 

 find that the French very appropriately have named it the Indian 

 pig (cochon d'lnde). The Germans call it simply the sea-pig 

 (Meerschzveinschen) to indicate, I suppose, its over-sea or 

 foreign origin. The same idea perhaps underlies our name the 

 guinea-pig, though the "guinea" here is by some thought to be a 

 corruption of Guiana, the South American country from which 

 the domesticated cavy may possible have been taken to Europe. 



Under domestication the guinea-pig has varied greatly so 

 that at the present time very many varieties are recognized. It 

 is not unusual at exhibitions of pet stock to see as many as fifty 

 or sixty distinct varieties listed. When w T e examine these va- 

 rieties critically, however, it is seen that although no two are 

 alike many of them have certain points in common so that it is 

 possible to divide them into larger groups of varieties alike in 

 particular points. The so called English varieties are those which 

 have short, smooth coats similar to that of the wild animal. 

 The color, however, of the English varieties varies greatly. 

 Abyssinian varieties differ from English in having a rough coat, 

 one in which the hair instead of lying smoothly backward all 

 over the body, as in an ordinary mammal, radiates outward in 

 all directions from certain centers producing thus cow-licks or 

 rosettes. A fuller description of the Abyssinian will be made 

 unnecessary by a glance at Fig. 5. 



• Angora varieties are those which have a smooth coat like 

 that of the English, but possess long soft hair not unlike that of 

 the angora goat, hence the name. Angora animals, as well as 

 Abyssinians, occur in all known color varieties and color patterns, 

 the distinctive feature of the angora being its long soft fur, while 

 the distinctive feature of the Abyssinian is its rough short coat. 



Peruvian varieties are those which combine the long soft fur 

 of the angora with the rough or rosetted condition of the 

 Abyssinian. They too may occur in all color variations. 



There are no other features which distinguish these four 

 groups of varieties than the two which I have mentioned, namely, 

 differences in the length of the coat and in its roughness. And it 

 is probable that these four groups of varieties have arisen 

 from two simple but independent variations (or sports) which 

 have subsequently been combined in all possible ways in the four 



