468 
MAMMALIA. 
Guinea-Pigs (Fig. 200) may very easily be fed, for they will 
eat bread, roots, vegetables, and grasses. It has been com- 
monly thought that they never drink ; but this is a mistake. 
When their nutriment is of a dry nature, and they have water 
within reach, they use it. 
Almost worthless, it is not easy to see the reason which has 
induced Man, for so many ages, to rear them in a state of 
domesticity. Their diminutiveness and the unsavouriness of 
Fig. 200.— Guinea-Pigs (Cavm aperca). 
their flesh place them very low among animals which are fit 
for food. It must be, therefore, from curiosity, rather than 
with any real views of profit, that the Guinea-Pig has been 
naturalized in Europe, and that a place is sometimes assigned 
it among our domestic animals. 
The Guinea-Pig is found wild in South America, princi- 
pally in Guiana, Peru, and Brazil. They lead a nocturnal 
life, and, according to the species, either dig out burrows for 
themselves or find a retreat among the herbage. Their fruitful- 
