392 
VERTEBRATA. 
INDIAN CATCHING A WILD GUINEA-PIG. 
reply, it may be said tliat some doubt rests upon tlie facts as to the breeding of the Aperea, and 
even if its habits vary from those of the Cobaya^ it may be that a change of life has produced 
this alteration. The change of color is analogous to the changes in various other domestic animals. 
Before we proceed to describe this animal, we may note the inaccuracy of its popular title, 
Guinea-Pig ; it is not from Guinea, neither is it a pig. Perhaps Guinea was mistaken for Gui- 
ana, from which country it is possible the creature was first introduced into Europe ; the name of 
pig may be forgiven, as the creature certainly somewhat resembles a very small denizen of the sty. 
Among the domestic Guinea-pigs, some are almost entirely white, others spotted with black 
and fawn-color, with yellow, tawny, (fee. The body is short and thick; the neck is not distin- 
guishable from the head and trunk; the ears, which are large, naked, and transparent, are in a 
great measure concealed by the hairs on the upper part of the head; the eyes are round, large, 
and prominent; the head and nose resemble those of the hare and rabbit; the teeth are similar 
to those of the rat, but they are placed obliquely outward in the upper, and obliquely inward in 
the lower jaw; and the hair is loug, hard and smooth. 
Among the most remarkable of the characters of this animal may be recorded its precocity and 
fertility; for though it attains not its full growth till eight or nine months, it is capable of propa- 
gating in five or six weeks after birth. The female goes only three weeks with young; her first 
litter consists of two, which corresponds with the habit of the wild species ; her second of four or 
five, and her subsequent ones of seven or eight, or even sometimes of ten or eleven. It is curious 
that the mother has but two mammag. She gives suck only for twelve or fifteen days, and chases 
away her young if they remain longer by her, or, if they prove refractory, she permits the male 
to abuse and kill them. Her parental attachment, indeed, seems to be much weaker than in 
most other species; for she will often suffer her young to be taken from her, and even devoured 
