File:Image from page 166 of "The animal kingdom - arranged after its organization; forming a natural history of animals, and an introduction to comparative anatomy" (1863).jpg

English: Title: The animal kingdom : arranged after its organization; forming a natural history of animals, and an introduction to comparative anatomy

Identifier: animalkingdomarr00cuviuoft Year: 1863 (1860s) Authors: Cuvier, Georges, baron, 1769-1832; Carpenter, William Benjamin, 1813-1885; Westwood, J. O. (John Obadiah), 1805-1893 Subjects: Zoology Publisher: London H. G. Bohn Contributing Library: Gerstein - University of Toronto Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Text Appearing Before Image: Order 5. EODENTIA. 10- inferior value to that of the preceding-, and which occasionally turns white in winter *; the Variable Hare (L. varia- bilis), a mountain species, larger than either of the foregoing, with still shorter ears and limbs than the Irish Ilare, and brown fur in summer, which always changes to white at the approach of wiriter; and the Rabbit (L. ciniiciiliis), remarkable for its btirrowing habits, and for bringing forth its young blind and naked, while the Leverets of the three others see and run from birth. Not less than sixteen species of Lcpiis are already known in North America; and many others exist in Asia and Africa.] The Pxkas {Lagomys, Cuv.)— Have ears of moderate length, the limbs nearly equal, the antorbital foramen simple, almost perfect clavicles, and no tail whatever. They often utter a very sharp cry. They have hitherto been found only in Siberia [since, however, at a considerable altitude on the Hiramalayas, and in North America], and Pallas was the first to make them known. [The largest of them] Lcpits alpinus, Pallas, is the size of a Guinea-pig, and yellowish-red. It inhabits the most elevated mountain summits, where it passes the summer in selecting and drying the herbage for its winter pro- vision. Its hay-stacks, which are sometimes six or seven feet high, are a valuable resource for the Horses of the Sable-hunters. Some fossil remains have been discovered of an unknown species of Pika, in the accumulations of osseous breccia in the island of Corsica. After the two genera of Porcupines and Hares, come the rodents which Linnaiis and Pallas brought together under the name of Cavia, but for which it is impossible to assign any other constant and positive character than the imperfection of their clavicles, though the various species are not without analogy in the aspect of their body and manners. They are all from the New Continent. The Capybara {Hydrochcerus, Erxleben)— Has four toes before, and only three behind, all of them armed with stout claws, and connected together by membranes; four grinding teeth above and below, the last of which [especially in the lower jaw] are the longest, all composed of numerous simple and parallel laminae; the anterior of these lamina; forked towards the outer edge in the upper, and towards the inner one in the lower teeth. Ouly one species is known. The Capybara {Cavia capyhara, Lin.), as large as a Siamese Pig, with very thick muzzle, short legs, coarse yellowish-brown hair, and no tail. Inhabits the rivers of Guiana and the Amazons, where it lives in troops: is a good swimmer, and the largest [existing] species of the Rodentia. The Beaver alone approaches it in size. The Cavies, popularly termed Guinea-pigs, {Anwma, F. Cuv.; Cavia, Illig.),— M Are miniatures of the Capybara, except that their toes are separated, and their molars have each only a simple lamina, together with a forked one externally in those above, 4; - II"- <;-'pvh;.ni. g^^^ QQ tljg inside in the lower. The species best known is the common domestic Cavy, or Guinea-pip (Cavia cohaia, Pallas ; M^ts porcelliis, Lin.), extremely common now in Europe, where it is bred in houses, under the [mistaken] supposition that its odour drives away Rats. It varies in colour like other domestic animals. [Six or seven species are now known, one of which, the Patagonian Cavy (C. patachonica. Pen.), is much larger than the rest, with remarkably long limbs: the author suspected it to be an Agouti. Some separate it by the appellation DolichoUs.] The Mocos {Kerodon, F. Cuv.)— Have grinders rather more simple than those of the Cavies, each being formed of two triangulai prisms. The only known species is-nlso from Brazil, somewhat surpassing the Gviinea-pig in size, and of an olive-prey colour. • The Irish Hare has only recently been distinguished, nn'I hnj i Cornnion Hare w«s unknown. Grent numbers of the latter, however, hithertu been met with only in that island, where, until lately, the | have been turned loose there during the last twelvemonth.

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