16 



CAVIA. CAVY. 



Generic Character. 



Denies Primores duo cuneati. 



Mo/ares octo. 

 Digiti plantarum 3 — 5. 

 palm arum 4 — 5. 



Cauda abbreviata aut nulla. 

 Clavicula nuUse. 



FronUteeth two, wedge-shap- 

 ed. 



Grinders eight. 



Toes on the fore feet from 

 four to five : on the hind 

 feet from three to five. 



^ail very short, or none. 



Clavicles^ or Collar Bones,^ 

 none. 



JL HE animals of this, as well as of some other 

 lately instituted genera, in the present order 

 Glires, were by Linnseus comprised under the ge- 

 nus Mus ; but since many animals of a very dif- 

 ferent habit, or general aspect, were thus crowded 

 into one extensive genus, it was at length thought 

 advisable, and even necessary, to divide them 

 into distinct genera ; instituted from the struc- 

 ture of the feet, the proportion of the limbs, &c. 

 the teeth being nearly the same in all. The ani- 

 mals of the genus Cavia have generally a slow, and 

 sometimes a leaping pace : they live, like the rest 

 of the Glires, on vegetable substances, and in 

 their natural state inhabit excavations under 

 ground, or beneath the roots of trees ; or other 



