•3 02 j/f A THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS [CLASS MAMMALIA]. HK niS H Wl I.D CATTLFi. ( B03 pniavgemxts.) CMILLINGMAM PARK Fpontis. Vol II »¥V% Zi.\\tL THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS (CLASS MAMMALIA— ANIMALS WHICH SUCKLE THEIR YOUNG), IN WORD AND PICTURE. BY CARL VOGT, — and — FRIEDRICH SPECHT, PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GENEVA, OF STUTTGART, THE DISTINGUISHED DILINBATOS OF ANIMAL LIFE. TRANSLATED AND EDITED WITH ADDITIONS BY GEORGE G. CHISHOLM, m.a., b.sc, f.r.g.s. AUTHOR OF "the WORLD AS IT IS;'* TRANSLATOR OF "SWITZERLAND: ITS SCENERY AND ITS PEOPLE;" ETC. VOL. n. «^ I70S-76 n-H a LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, 49 & 5o OLD BAILEY, E.C. GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH. 1889. 01 , r GLABOOW : W. O. BLACKIE AND CO., PEINTKRB, VILLAKIELD. THE CONTENTS. WHALES AND DOLPHINS (CETACEA) Introduction, The Toothed Whales (Denticete), The Dolphins {JDelphinidd), .... Fresh-water Dolphin (Platanista gangctica), Inia or Amazon Dolphin (Inia amazonica), Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis), Bottle-nosed Dolphin (Delphinus tursio), . Porpoise (Phocaena communis), . Killer-whale (Orca gladiator), Pilot or Caaing Whale (Globicephalus melas), Beluga or White Whale (Beluga leucas), . Narwhal (Monodon monoceros). The Sperm-whale Family {Physeterida), Bottlehead or Common Beaked whale (Hyper oodon rostratus), PAGE 1 4 4 4 4 5 6 7 lo ID Sperm-whale or Cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus), 13 The Whalebone Whales (Mysticete), ... 14 Fin-backed Whales {Balcenopterida), . , .16 Rorqual (Balasnoptera boops), . . . .16 The Right Whales {Balcenida), .... 16 Greenland or Right Whale (Batena mysticetus), 16 Cape Whale (Balaena australis), . . . .16 Geographical Distribution and Descent of the Whales and Dolphins, 17 THE SEA-COWS (SIRENIA). Introduction, 20 Rhytina of the Behring Sea, . . . .21 Dugong (Halicore Dugong), .... 21 Manatee of West Africa (Manatus senegalensis), 22 Manatee of the Amazon (Manatus australis), . 22 Geographical Distribution and Descent of the Sea-cows, 24 THE ELEPHANTS (PROBOSCIDEA). Introduction, 26 African Elephant (Elephas africanus), . . 30 Indian Elephant (Elephas indicus), . . .31 Mammoth (Elephas primigenius), . . .31 Geographical Distribution and Descent of the Probos- cideans, 35 Vol. IL ODD-TOED UNGULATES (PERISSODACTYLA). rAGB Introduction jg The Rock-badger or Cony Ka.milv (Hyracida), 39 Cape Daman (Hyrax capensis), .... 41 Syrian Hyrax (Hyrax syriacus), .... 41 Abyssinian Hyrax or Ashkok (Hyrax habessinicus),4i The Tapir Family (Tapirida), .... 41 Brazilian Tapir or Anta (Tapirus americanus), . 43 Malayan or Shabrack Tapir (Tapirus indicus), . 44 Andes or Hairy Tapir (Tapirus Roulinii or viilosus), 44 Baird's Tapir (Elasmognathus Bairdii), . . 44 The Rhinoceros Family (Nasicomia), Quaternary Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros tichorhinus). Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros indicus) Javan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros javanicus), . Sumatran Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sumatrensis)- Malaccan Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros lasiotis), Two-horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros bicornis), Rhinoceros simus 44 45 47 47 47 47 47 49 The Horse Family (Equida), .... 49 African or Tiger Horses {Hippotigres), . . -52 Zebra (Hippotigris Zebra), 53 Dauw (Hippotigris Burchellii), .... 53 Quagga (Hippotigris quagga), .... 53 Asiatic Horses, 54 African Wild Ass (Equus tasniopus), ... 54 Onager or Gurkur (Equus onager), ... 54 Tibetan Wild Ass (Equus hcmionus), . . 54 Domesticated Horse (Equus caballus), . . 55 The Ass (Equus asinus), 55 Horse of Quaternary Period (Equus curvidens), 56 Tarpan (Equus Tarpan), 57 Kertag or Statur (Equus Przevalskii),. . . 57 Geographical Distribution and Descent of the Odd-toed Ungulates, 58 EVEN-TOED UNGULATES (ARTIODACTYLA). Introduction, 61 Group of the Non-ruminant or Many-toed Artiodac- tyla (Polydactyla) 64 The Hippopotamus or River-horse Family (Obesa) 64 River-horse of Liberia (Hippopotamus liberiensis), 64 6 VI THE CONTENTS. Common Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphi- biusX 64 The Pic. Family (Suida), 66 Wild-boar (Sus scrofa), 67 Red River-hog (Potamochoerus porcus), . . 69 Emgalo or Ethiopian Wart-hog (Phacochoerus asthiopicus), 69 Emgalo of Inner Africa (Phacochoerus africanus), 69 Babirussa (Porcus babirussa), . . . -7' Pigmy Hogs (Porcula), 72 Collared Peccar)' (Dicotyles torquatus), . 72 White-lipped Peccary- (Dicotyles labiatus), . 72 Group of the Two-toed Artiodactyla or Ruminants (Didactyla or Runiinnntia), .... The Chevrotain Family (Tragulida), . Kanchil (Tragulus pygmasus), Water Chevrotain (Hya>nioschus aquaticus), Musk-deer (Moschus moschiferus), The Deer Family (Cervida), Muntjac or Kidang (Cervulus muntjac), Red Brocket (Subulo rufus), Common Roe (Capreolus vulgaris), Pampas Deer or Guazui (Blastoceros campestris Axis or Spotted Deer (Axis maculata), Sambur Deer (Cervus Aristotelis), Common Stag or Red-deer (Cervus elaphus), Wapiti or Canadian Stag (Cervus canadensis), Cariacou (Cervus virginianus), . Fallow-deer (Dama vulgaris), Reindeer (Tarandus rangifer), . . Elk (Alces palmatus), Canadian Elk, Moose-deer, or Orignal, The Hollow-horned Ruminants (Cavicornia), 73 76 76 76 76 n 78 79 79 ), 79 80 80 82 82 83 84 84 86 86 87 The Antelopes {Antilopida), .... Pronghorn Antelope (Antilocapra americana). Chamois (Capella rupicapra), .... 89 Gazelle (Gazella dorcas), 93 Sassa Antelope (Oreotragus saltator), . . 93 Bleekbok or Urebi (Calotragus scoparius), . 93 Duyker-bok or Madocqua (Cephalophus mergens), 94 Chikara or Four-horned Antelope (Tetraceros quadricornis), 94 Rietbok or Umseke (Reduncus eleotragus), . 94 Harnessed Antelope or Guib (Tragelaphus scriptus), 95 Saiga (Colus tartaricus), 96 Nylgau (Portax pictus), 97 Sing-Sing or Waterbok (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), 98 Sable Antelope or Swarte-bok (Hippotragus niger), 98 Blauw-bok (Hippotragus leucophsea), . . . 99 Leucoryx or Sabre Antelope (Oryx leucoryx), 99 Canna, Elen, or Eland fBuselaphus orcas), . 100 Mcndes Antelope fAddax nasomaciilatus), . . 100 Koodoo (.Strcpsiccros kudu), . . . .101 Caania or Hartebecst (Bubalis Caama). . . lor Indian Antelope or Sassi (Antilope cervicapra), 102 Wildebeest or White-tailed Gnu (Catoblepas gnu), 103 The Goats (Caprida), 103 Rocky Mountain Goat (Haploceros americanus), 104 Markhor I'Capra falconeri), 106 Grecian Ibex or Bezoar Goat (Capra segagrus), Domestic Goat (Capra hircus), . Angora Goat (Capra hircus, var. angorensis). The Ibex {Ibex), Bouquetins, Steinbocks, Alpine Ibex (Ibex alpinus), The Sheep (Ovis), Barbary Wild Sheep (Ovis tragelaphus), . Rocky Mountain Sheep or Big-horn (Ovis nion taiia), Mouflon of Kamchatka (Ovis nivalis), Kashkar of the Kirghiz (Ovis Polii), . Argali (Ovis Argali), Musimon or European Mouflon (Ovis musimon Domesticated Sheep (Ovis aries), The Ox Group {Bovidd), .... Anoa of the Malays (Probubalus depressicornis), Musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), The Buffaloes {Bubali36 141 144 145 145 '45 146 ), 146 147 147 147 148 THE CONTENTS. vu fACB 148 The Dormouse Family (Myoxida), Loir (Myoxus glis), 14.0 Common Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), 149 The Heaver Family (Castorida), . Beaver (Castor fiber), .... The Mouse Family (Murida), The Mole-rats, Common European Mole-rat (Spalax typhlus), The Hamsters {Cricetiis), Hamster Proper (Cricetus frumentarius), Rats and Mice (Muriiui), Black Rat (Mus rattus), Brown Rat (Mus decumanus), . Common Domestic Mouse (Mus musculus), Field-mouse (Mus agrarius), Long-tailed Field-mouse (Mus sylvaticus), Harvest-mouse (Mus minutus), . Striped or Barbary Mouse (Mus striatus), The Voles {ArvicoUnd), .... Common Field-vole (Arvicola arvalis), Water-rat or Water-vole (Arvicola amphibius), Lemming (Myodes lemmus), Musk-rat or Musquash (Fiber zibethicus), '49 149 '53 '53 '53 ■54 '54 '55 '55 156 156 156 156 156 156 157 158 158 158 '59 The genera Hydromys, Meriones, Gerbillus, 159-160 . 160 The Jerboa Family (Dipodida), . Egyptian Jerboa (Dipus mauritanicus), Jumping-rabbit of Siberia (Alactaga jaculus), Cape Jumping-hare (Pedetes caffer), . Phillips's Pocket-mouse (Dipodomys Phillipsii). Gopher (Geomys bursaria), 161 162 162 162 162 '63 The Porcupine Family (Hystricida), . Common European Porcupine (Hystrix cristata), 163 African Brush-tailed Porcupine (Atheruraafricana), 164 Tri-coloured Tree-porcupine (Cercolabes villosus), 164 The Spiny Rat Family (Echimyida), . Coypu (Myopotamus coypu), The Degu Family (Octodontida), . Degu of the Chileans (Octodon Cummingii), The Chinchilla Fa.mily (Chinchillida), Larger Chinchilla (Eriomys chinchilla), Smaller Chinchilla (Eriomys laniger), Cuvier's Lagidium (Lagidium Cuvieri), Vizcacha (Lagostomus trichodactylus). The Agouti Family (Subungulata), Agouti Proper or Golden Agouti (Dasyprocta Aguti), Paca (Coelogenys paca), .... Patagonian Cavy or Mara (Dolichotis patagonica), 171 Restless Cavy or Apcrca (Cavia aperea), . Capybara (Hydrochoerus capybara), . The Rabbit Family (Leporida), . Alpine Pika (Lagomys alpinus), . Common Hare (Lepus timidus), .- 165 165 166 166 166 167 167 168 168 169 169 170 171 172 174 Alpine, Mountain, or Northern Hare (Lepus alpinus) ,74 Rabbit (Lepus cuniculus), 175 Geographical Distribution and Descent of the Rodents, 175 THE EDENTATES (EDENTATA). Introduction, igo The Sloths (Bradypoda), 181 Ai or Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus tridactylus), . 182 Unau or Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus didactylus), 183 The Armadillos (Dasypoda), . . . . Giant Armadillo (Prionodon gigas), . Six-banded Armadillo (Dasypus sexcinctus), Pichiciago (Chlaniydophorus truncatus), . The Worm-tongued Edentates (Vermilinguia), Aard-vark or Cape Ant-bear (Orycteropus capcn sis), The True Ant-eaters {Myrmecophagida), Great Ant-eater or Ant-bear (Myrmecophaga Jubata), Tamandiia (Tamandua tetradactyla), . Little Ant-eater (Myrmidon didactylus), The Pangolins or Scaly Ant-eaters {Manis), . Long-tailed Pangolin (Manis longicaudata). Short-tailed Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). '83 185 185 185 186 186 187 187 188 188 188 189 189 Geographical Distribution and Descent of the Edentates, 189 THE MARSUPIALS OR POUCH-BEARING MAMMALS (MARSUPIALIA). Introduction, The Opossums (Didelphyida), Yapock (Cheironectes variegatus). Common Opposum (Didelphys virginiana). The Predaceous Marsupials (Rapaces), The Pouched Badgers (Peramelida), . Long-nosed Bandicoot (Perameles nasuta). Pig-footed Perameles (Chasropus castanotus). Banded Ant-eater (Myrmecobius fasciatus), The Dasyure Family (Dasyurida), Brush-tailed Phascogale or Tafa (Phascogal penicillata), Viverrine Dasyure (Dasyurus viverrinus), . Tasmanian Devil (Dasyurus ursinus), Tasmanian Wolf (Thylacinus cynocephalus), The Fruit-eating Marsupials (Carpophi^), . The Phalanger Family (Phalangistida), . Squirrel Flying-phalanger (Belideus or Petaurus sciureus), ...... Vulpine Phalanger (Phalangista vulpina), . Koala or Native (Australian) Bear (Phascolarctos cinereus), 192 195 196 196 «97 '97 198 '99 '99 200 201 201 202 203 203 203 204 204 VIU THE CONTENTS. PAGE The Herbivorous Marsupials (Toephaga), . . . 206 The Kaih^aroos, 206 Ursine Tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus ursinus), . 207 Tufted-tailed Rat-kangaroo (Hypsiprymnus peni- cillatus), 207 Yellow-footed Rock-kangaroo (Petrogale xantho- pus), 208 Great Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), . . 208 The Root-eating Marsupials (Rhizopliaga), . . 210 Broad-fronted Wombat (Phascolomys latifrons), 210 Geographical Distribution and Descent of the Marsu- pials, 211 THE MONOTREMES (MONOTREMATA). PAGE 216 Introduction, The Water-mole, Duck-mole, or Duck-billed Platy- pus 217 Water-mole or Duck-mole (Ornithorhynchus paradoxus), 217 The Echidnas, 219 Long-spined Echidna or Porcupine Ant-eater (Echidna hystrix), ..... 219 Short-spined Echidna (Echidna setosa), . . 219 Echidna of New Guinea (Acanthoglossus Bruynii),22o Geographical Distribution and Origin of the Monotremes, 220 GLOSSARY, explaining the Principal Scientific Terras employied in this Work, 223 (jENERAL INDEX, giving References to the Animals both by their Scientific and their Popular Names, 235 THE PICTURES. FULL-PAGE PICTURES. XVI. The Greenland or Right Whale (Bala;na mysticetus), i6 XVII. The African Elephant (Elephas africanus), 30 XVIII. The Indian Elephant (Elephas indicus), 32 XIX. The Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros indicus), 46 XX. The Two-horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros bicomis), 48 XXI. The Dauw or Burchell's Zebra (Hippotigris ISurchellii), 50 XXII. The Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), 64 XXIII. The Wild Boar (Susscrofa), 66 XXIV. The Roe-Deer (Capreolus vulgaris), 78 XXV. The Red-Deer or Stag (Cervus elaphus) 82 XXVI. The Fallow-Deer (Dama vulgaris), , 84 XXVII. The Elk (Alces palmatus), 86 XXVIII. The Chamois (Capellarupicapra) 88 XXIX. The Canna or Eland (Buselaphus canna), 98 XXX. The Koodoo (Strepsiceros kudu), -102 XXXI. The European Bison (Bison europasus) 118 XXXII. The American Bison or Buffalo (Bison amcricanus), 120 XXXIII. The Giraffe (Camelopardalisgiraffa), 128 XXXIV. The Dromedary or Common Camel (CameUis dromedarius), 130 XX.XV. The Alpine Marmot (Arctomys marmota), 148 XXXVI. The Beaver (Castor fiber), 152 XX.XVII. The Porcupine (Hystrix cristata), 164 XXXVIII. The Ai OR Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus tridactyhis), 182 XXXIX. The Ant-bear or Great Ant-eater (Myrmecophaga jubata), 188 XL. The Great Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), 208 PICTURES IN THE TEXT. FIG. 131. The Fresh-water Dolphin (Platanista gangetica), 132. The Inia or Amazon Dolphin (Inia amazonica), 133. The Common Dolphin (Delphinus del phis), . 134. The Bottle-nosed Dolphin (Delphinus tursio), 135. The Porpoise (Phoca;na communis), 1 36. The Killer-whale (Orca gladiator), 137. The Pilot-whale or Grind (Globicephalus melas), 138. The Beluga or White Whale (Beluga leucas), 139. The Narwhal (Monodon monoceros), . 140. The Bottlehead or Common Beaked Whale (Hyper- oodon rostratus), 141. The Sperm-whale (Physeter macrocephalus), 142. The Rorqual (Balaenoptera boops), PAGE FIG. 5 143 5 '44 6 .'45 7 146 7 '47 8 148. 9 '49 10 150 1 1 '5' 152 12 153 • 13 '54 • 15 PAGE The Dugong (Halicore Dugong), . . . .21 Manatee of the Amazon (Manatus australis), . 23 The Abyssinian Hyrax (Hyrax habessinicus), . 41 The Brazilian Tapir or Anta (Tapirus americanus), 42 The Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus), ... 44 The Zebra (Hippotigris Zebra), .... 52 The African Wild Ass (Equus taeniopus), . . S3 The Onager (Equus onager), 54 The Tibetan Wild Ass (Equus hemionus), . . 55 The Tarpan (Equus Tarpan) 56 The Red River-hog (Potamochoerus porcus), . 69 The Emgalo or Ethiopian Wart-hog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus), 7° X THIi PICTURES. nc "55 156. 157- 158. '59- 16a 161. 162. 163. 164. 165. 166. 167. 168. 169. 17a 171. 172. 174- '75- 176. 177- 178. >79- 180. 181. 182. 183. 184. 185. 186. PAGE 7' 72 75 77 78 79 188. 189. 190. 191. 192. '93- 194. •95- 196. 197- 198. 199. 200. 201. 202. 203. 204. The Babirussa (Porcus babirussa), The Collared Peccary (Uicotyles torquatus), The Kanchil (Tragulus pygma;us), The Musk-deer (Moschus moschiferus), The Muntjac (Cervulus muntjac), . The Ked Brocket (Subulo rufus), . The Pampas Deer or Guazui (Blastoceros campestris), 80 The Axis or Spotted Deer (Axis maculala), . .81 The Reindeer (Tarandus rangifer), ... 85 The Pronghorn Antelope (Antilocapra americana), 87 Gazelles (Gazella dorcas), 90 The Sassa Antelope (Oreotragus saltator), . -91 The Bleekbok or Urebi (Calotragus scoparius), . 91 TheDuyker-bokorMadocqua(Cephalophusmergens),92 The Four-horned Antelope (Tetraceros quadricornis), 93 The Rietbok (Reduncus eleotragus), ... 94 The Harnessed Antelope or Guib (Tragelaphus scriptus), 95 The Saiga Antelope (Colus tartaricus), ... 95 The Nylgau (Portax pictus) 96 The Sing-Sing or Waterbok (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), 97 The Sable Antelope or Swarte-bok (Hippotragus niger) 98 The Leucoryx or Sabre Antelope (Oryx leucoryx), 99 The Mendes Antelope (Addax nasomaculatus), . 100 The Caama or Hartebeest (Bubalis Caama), . loi The Indian Antelope (Antilope cervicapra), . 102 The Wildebeest or White-tailed Gnu (Catoblepas gnu), The Rocky Mountain Goat (Haploceros americanus), The Markhor (Capra falconeri), . The Grecian Ibex (Capra a;gagrus), The Angora Goat (Capra hircus), .... 107 The Alpine Ibex (Ibex alpinus), .... 108 The Barbary Wild Sheep or Ami (Ovis tragelaphus), 1 10 The Rocky Mountain Sheep or Big-horn (Ovis montana), 1 1 1 The Kashkar (Ovis Polii), 112 The Musimonor European Mouflon (Ovis musiinon), 1 13 The Anoa (Probubalus depressicornis), . .114 The Musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), . • "5 The Cape Buffalo (Bubalus cafifer), . . .117 The Kerabau Buffalo (Bubalus Kerabau), . .119 The Yak (Bos grunnicns), 123 The Gaur (Bos gaurus), .124 103 104 105 106 The Gayal (Bos frontalis), 125 The Burmese Wild Ox (Bos sondaicus), . .126 The Zebu (Bos indicus), 127 The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus), . 131 The Llama (Auchcnia Lama), . • '34 The Alpaca (Auchenia Paco) 135 The Taguan or Brown Flying-Squirrel (Pteromys pctaurista), 144 The Common Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), . . 145 The Chipping Squirrel (Tamias striatus), . .146 FIG. 205, 206. 207. 208. 209. 210. 211. 212. 2'3- 214. 215. 216. 217. 218. 219. 220. 221. 222. 223. 224. 225. 226. 227. 228. 229. 230. 23'- 232. 233- 234- 235- 236. 237- 238. 239- 240. 241. 242. 243- 244. 245. 246. 247. 248. 249. 250. 251. 252. The Souslik (Spermophilus citillus), . . .147 Prairie-dogs (Cynoniys ludovicianus), . . . 148 The Loir (Myoxus glis), 149 The Common Dormouse (Muscardinus avellan- arius), 150 The Common European Mole-rat (Spalax typhlus), 1 53 The Hamster (Cricetus frumentarius), . . . 1 54 A Brown Rat (Mus decumanus) attacking a Black Rat (Mus rattus), 155 The Common Domestic Mouse (Mus musculus), . 156 The Striped or Barbary Mouse (Mus striatus), . 157 The Common Field-volc (Arvicola arvalis), . -157 The Water-rat or Water-vole (Arvicola amphibius), 1 58 The Lemming (Myodes lemmus), . . . .158 The Musk-rat or Musquash (Fiber zibethicus), . 159 The Egyptian Jerboa (Dipus mauritanicus), . .160 The Jumping-rabbit of Siberia (Alactaga jaculus), 160 The Cape Jumping-hare (Pedetes caffer), . . 161 Phillips's Pocket-mouse (Dipodomys Phillipsii), . 162 The Gopher (Geomys bursaria), . . . .162 The African Brush-tailed Porcupine (Atherura africana), 163 The Tri-coloured Tree-porcupine or Cuy (Cerco- labcs villosus), 164 The Coypu (Myopotamus coypu), .... 165 The Degu (Octodon Cummingii), . . . .166 The Larger Chinchilla (Eriomys chinchilla), . 166 The Smaller Chinchilla (Eriomys laniger), . .167 Cuvier's Lagidium (Lagidium Cuvieri), . . . 167 The Vizcacha (Lagostomus trichodacty us), . . 168 The Golden Agouti (Dasyprocta Aguti), . .169 The Paca (Ca;Iogenys paca), . . . . .170 The Patagonian Cavy (Dolichotis patagonica), . 171 The Restless Cavy or Aperea (Cavia aperea), . 172 The Capybara (Hydrochoerus capybara), . . 173 The Alpine Pika (Lagomys alpinus), . . .174 The Common Hare (Lepus timidus), . . .175 The Alpine or Mountain Hare (Lepus alpinus), . 176 The Rabbit (Lepus cuniculus), . . . -177 The Unau or Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus didac- tylus), 183 The Giant Armadillo (Prionodon gigas), . .184 The Six-banded Armadillo or Poyou (Dasypus sexcinctus), 185 The Pichiciago (Chlamydophorus truncatus), . 186 The Aard-vark or Cape Ant-bear (Orycteropus capensis), 187 The Little Ant-eater (Myrmidon, didactylus), . 188 The Long-tailed Pangolin (Manis longicaudata), . 189 The Short-tailed Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), . 189 The Yapock (Cheironectes variegatus), . . 196 The Common Opossum (Didelphys virginiana), . 197 The Long-nosed Bandicoot (Perameles nasuta), . 198 The Pig-footed Perameles (Cha;ropus castanotus), 198 The Banded Ant-eater (Myrmecobius fasciatus), . 199 THE PICTURES. XI 253. The Brush-tailed Phascogale or Tafa (Phascogale penicillata), 200 254. The Viverrine Dasyure (Dasyuru* viverrinus), . 201 255. The Tasmanian Devil (Dasyurus ursinus), . . 201 256. The Tasmanian Wolf (Thylacinus cynocephalus), 202 257. The Squirrel Flying-phalangcr (Belideus sciiireus), 204 258. The Vulpine Phalanger (Phalangista vulpina), . 205 259. The Koala or Native (Australian) Bear (Phasco- larctos cinereus), 205 260. The Ursine Tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus ursinus), 207 261. The Tufted-tailed Kat-kangaroo (Hypsiprymnus penicillatus), 208 262. The Yellow -footed Kock- kangaroo (Pctrogalc xanthopus), 209 263. The Broad-fronted Wombat (Phascolomys latl- frons), 210 264. The Water-mole or Duck-mole (Ornithorhynchus paradoxus) 217 265. The Long-spined Echidna or Porcupine Ant-eater (Echidna hystrix) 219 WHALES AND DOLPHINS (CETACEA). Fish-likc carnivores waliuut hind-limbs, and having the fore-limbs converted into flippers, the tail in the form of a horizontal fin. 'I'lie nostrils (blow -holes) are situated on the summit of the forehead, the ill-developed lips arc without moustache hairs, the skin is naked, the placenta diffuse, and the teats situated far back in the abdominal region. ■<^3 Sailors and the common people call these giants of our present fauna simply " fishes," and the form of the body is, in fact, exactly that of a spindle-shaped fish, with a head, often of enormous size, joined directly on to the body without any apparent neck. Behind, the body ends in a horizontal tail, which is composed of a felt-work of horny fibres; while that of the true fishes stands vertically, and is supported by bony or cartilaginous rays. Even the first superficial examination of a living whale enables us to discover im- mediately that the gills are altogether want- ing; that these animals, although living in the water, yet breathe atmospheric air; that they have warm blood, and teats by means of which they suckle their young. The skin, which is very thick, but composed of a very loose or open tissue, has its meshes filled with large quantities of fat, which also collects between the skin and the muscles. This skin is quite naked, the epidermis or scarf-skin mostly thick and often like a rind. Hair there is none. Only in the embryos do we sometimes see traces of tactile hairs on the upper lip, but these never cievelop. The head may attain a third of the entire length of the body; the brain-case is round, but the jaws are drawn out in front into a ^ Vol. II. sometimes broad, sometimes beak-like muzzle. In the skeleton the prolongation of the jaws forms a flat section, above which the back part of the skull often rises in the form of a crest, but in the living animal the space between the brain-case and the snout is often filled with large accumulations of fat or oil, which gives the head a form quite different from that of the skull. The structure of the respiratory passages, the complete absence of external ears, and the position of the very small eyes, so far back and so low down, strike us immediately on making a sufficiently close examination of the form of the head. The nose is no longer a smelling organ ; the whales are entirely destitute of this sense. The olfactory nerve is reduced to a thin thread. The nose is now nothing more than a respiratory canal. The nostrils open at the top of the skull, sometimes through a single blow-hole in the form of a half-moon, sometimes through two contiguous slits. The cavity of the nose goes vertically downwards, and its communication with the windpipe is effected in a manner quite peculiar. The larynx or anterior portion of the windpipe, with the glottis or slit open- ing into it, crosses the back part of the mouth, and fits into the lower end of the nasal passage ss WHALES AND DOLPHINS. so accurately as to close it completely. The animal can thus breathe merely by raising the top of its head to the surface of the water, and can swallow its food in the water without a drop of liquid penetrating into the wind- pijxi and lungs, since the fragments in their way down the gullet pass round the larynx where it is inserted into the posterior part of the nasal passage. The external passage of the ear (external auditory meatus) opens on the surface of the skin by a very narrow aperture; even in a large whale it is scarcely possible to introduce a goose-quill into the ojxining. The eyes are often placed so far behind and at the side that they lie im- mediately behind the corners of the mouth. They are not inclosed in a bony orbit, but only by a very thick white skin. The pupil itself is not larger than in an ox. The lower jaw forms a more or less ex- panded pointed arch, or even a longish beak. There is scarcely any joint behind, and the coronoid process, or ascending part of the lower jaw to which the muscles of mastication are attached in other mammals, is almost entirely wanting. We will afterwards return to the dentition. All these modifications lead to very peculiar arrangements in the structure of the skull, but these we will not enter upon in detail at present. Let it suffice to say that the petrous bone, or bone containing the inner ear, is separate from the other bones of the skull, and the skull itself is not symmetrical, one of the halves, usually the right, being always larger. This want of symmetry is often more marked in one individual than in another of the same species, but always exists. The neck is indistinguishable in the living animal, the head, which is very broad behind, being attached to the trunk without the slightest appearance of constriction. In the skeleton the usual number of neck-vertebrae, seven, are indeed present, but they soon be- come fused with one another, wholly or par- tially. The vertebra; of the trunk have the processes but slightly developed, and very liable to become detached; those of the tail have no processes. There is never any sacrum, since the pelvis is wanting. The fore-limb forms a fin, connected with the trunk by a triangular shoulder-blade. The short and usually llattened upper-arm or humerus is entirely buried in the flesh of the body. The bones of the fore-arm, wrist, and hand are firmly connected together by strong sinewy tissues or ligaments without any joints, and are enveloped by a tough firm skin. The whole limb accordingly is movable only at the shoulder- and elbow-joints. The digits are indicated by rows of small rounded bones, often very numerous, and the terminal bones or phalanges are without nails. The hind- limbs are altogether wanting. But in some whales there are found some bones buried in the flesh which are rudiments of a pelvis repre- senting the thigh- and shin-bones, but which never become developed, being found only in the embryo. In most whales there are also to be seen vertical dorsal fins, formed, like the tail-fin, of a skin supported by a fibrous and horny tissue. The brain is relatively small, but covered with numerous convolutions. In a whale 20 feet in length and weighing 12,000 lbs. the brain did not weigh as much as 4^^ lbs. In the small species, like the dolphins, however, it is relatively much larger and in particular much broader. Salivary glands are absent. Numerous enlargements of the arteries and veins allow of the animal remaining a considerable time under water without the necessity for purify- ing the blood by breathing. The teats lie in deep folds of the skin on both sides of the anus. The placenta is diffuse, composed, as in the pachyderms, of lobes or cotyledons distributed over the whole surface of the ovum. The dentition presents very remarkable differences. The teeth are never specialized, always simple, and have only a single root. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. In the embryonic condition all the whales have very numerous rudiments of teeth, simi- lar in form and structure to those of reptiles, inclosed in a groove extending along the whole length of the margin of the jaw, but completely covered by the gum. But the further development of these teeth is very different in different cases. In some forms, the true dolphins, they all cut the gum and persist throughout life in very considerable number. There are dolphins with more than a hundred teeth in all. Others, such as the killer-whales [Orca gladiator), have a com- paratively small number, 44 in all, and in the beluga or white whale the teeth in the upper jaw disappear with age. In others, as in the sperm-whales, the teeth cut the gum only in the lower jaw, while the upper jaw remains without teeth. In the bottle-nosed whales iyHyperoodoii) only one tooth is developed in each half of the lower jaw. In the narwhal a single straight spirally-twisted canine attains an extraordinary length, especially in males, usually on the left side of the upper jaw. Lastly, in the true or whalebone whales the embryonic rudiments of teeth persist only for a short time, but soon afterwards disappear in order to permit of the development in the palate of peculiar horny plates, known as whalebone, of which we shall speak when treating of that family. We thus find among the whales both a re- duction in the number of the originally very numerous but uniform teeth, and a disappear- ance of the hind-limbs in consequence of special adaptations. Manifestly all whales had originally a considerable number of teeth; manifestly they had all originally four limbs, the hinder pair of which, however, has got reduced to insignificant traces. The whales are not exclusively marine forms. Some genera and species inhabit the large rivers of South America and India. But they are all so dependent on an aquatic life that they pretty soon die if cast on the shore. They are remarkably social, always found in numerous shoals or " schools," and if several of the larger species are nowadays to be met with only singly or in pairs, this fact is traceable to the persecutions to which these animals have been exposed. Except in those cases the whales swim behind one another in long rows, and since they always come to the surface to breathe, and make a great noise in doing so, these shoals can be perceived both by the eye and ear at great distances. Ungraceful and clumsy as these animals appear when withdrawn from the water, they are yet remarkably entertaining by the agility and flexibility of their move- ments in their own element. Incomparable is the swiftness with which they dart like arrows through the water without any great exertion. No fish can be compared with them in respect of the ease with which they assume all possible positions, turn head over tail, and scorn all obstacles to their progress. One must have seen a shoal of large dolphins with black backs and white bellies, as they are often seen in the northern seas, playing round the ship in heavy storms, diving under the keel, showing sometimes the upper, sometimes the under side, to form any idea of the enor- mous muscular strength which these animals have at their command. They migrate through wide expanses of the ocean, and during these rapid journeys the movements of the animals as they follow one another are quite rhythmical. The top of the head emerges for an instant above the water, and at that moment the animal exhales and inhales with a great noise. In the large species the act of expiration produces a column of vapour visible at a great distance, which thus betrays to the fishers the presence of the whales. I have seen large rorquals swimming round our ship at the distance of a rifle-shot, and have been able to satisfy myself that the blow-holes rise entirely out of the water in breathing, and that the appearance of a jet shot up by a fountain begins only at some litde distance above the head. This appear- WHALES AND DOLPHINS. ance is accordingly produced only by the con- densation in the colder air of the vapour ex- pelled from the lungs through the blow-holes. A large whale, which 1 saw pass my window at Nice daily for three weeks, only shot ,up an insignificant jet, which often was not visible at all. The air was warmer. Only when the animals are pursued, and begin to breathe while the blow-hole is still beneath the surface, is there any water carried up into the air along with the vapour. This process of breathing lasts only a few seconds. The head is then again submerged, the back and dorsal fin appear for an instant describing a curve above the surface, and at last the tail fin momentarily appears, but is again immediately submerged while the head is raised anew. A shoal of dolphins swim- ming close behind one another in a row pro- duces, in a wonderfully deceptive manner, the appearance of a large serpent swimming on the surface of the water by means of vertical undulations. All whales are exclusively carnivorous and ver)' voracious. Some feed on fish, others on calamaries and cuttle-fishes, others again on crustaceans and molluscs. The kind of food is not always in proportion to the size of the ravager; numbers must make up for deficiency in size. The Greenland or right whale swallows pteropods, a small kind of naked mollusc, in tons, and the rorqual pur- sues shoals of herrings into bays or the shores, and commits frightful ravages amongst them. The small species are much dreaded by fisher- men on account of the injury they do to their nets, the large ones are energetically pursued for the oil which they yield. It appears that the whales propagate their kind at all seasons, for embryos have been found in the mothers at different seasons in the same stage of development. But nothing is known either about the congress of the sexes or the birth of the young. After birth the young follow the mother about for a little, and on the appearance of danger are taken by the latter, who is ready to sacrifice her life for her offspring, under her fin, as shown in Plate XVI. We divide the order of the Cetacea into two groups, the Toothed Whales (Denticete), which have teeth in the adult forms, and Whale-bone Whales (Mysticete), in which the teeth are replaced by whalebone. THE TOOTHED WHALES (nFNTICETE). The Dolphins (DdJeak. The body is thickset, spindle-shaped, the dorsal fin sickle-shaped and pretty high, the tail fin scarcely lobed, the fore-limbs short and pointed. The very tough skin has an olive-brown shimmer on the back, and is white below. There are at least loo, some- times 200, small, conical, and very sharp teeth. This dolphin is the animal celebrated by fabulists and depicted by artists, the friend of man, who carries the singer Arion to the shore, renders aid to the shipwrecked, draws the chariot of Galatea, and carries the Tritons and nymphs of the court of Amphi- trite. Unfortunately all these virtues have Fig. 133. — The Common Dolphin (Dclfhittiis delphis). page 5. disappeared under the critical eye of modern observers, who no doubt recognize in the dolphin an agreeable travelling-companion, who shortens the idle hours of a long sea- voyage by his graceful sporting round the ship, but who, at the same time, is a terribly voracious ravager, who pursues with fury the fastest swimmers among fishes, herrings, mackerel, water-snakes (Pelamides), and flying-fish, darting about after them with the most rapid and abrupt changes in his course, and hastening up to a mortally wounded comrade, not to render him succour, as the ancients said, but to devour him. With this species is often confounded another much larger one, which attains a length of from 12 to 16 feet. This is the Bottle-nosed Dolphin [Dclphtniis tursio), fig. 134, which has a shorter and more rounded snout, and longer and narrower fore-limbs, and which is of a bluish-black colour above, white underneath. The less numerous teeth are stronger, and get -worn away horizontally ; a proof that these dolphins, which advance almost exclusively by constantly turning' somersaults, add numerous crustaceans to their mostly fish diet. Other dolphins are characterized by their rounded muzzle, ^hich is not drawn out into a snout, and is not longer than the cranial region of the skull. They are distinguished from the former by having fewer teeth, and these thick and conical, and by having the fore-limbs situated pretty high on the sides, while in the former species they are very low. THE DOLPHINS. The best- known representative of this genus is the Porpoise [P/wcccna commtmis), fig. 135, very abundant in the northern seas, in the ocean generally, in the Ulack Sea and the Sea of Azof, not so common, however, in the Mediterranean proper. The teeth, ^: ■\ Fig. 134. — riie Bottle-nosed Dolphin (Delphiiius tunio). which are flattened at the sides, sharp, and somewhat expanded at the end, may be as many as 100 in number, 25 in each half of each jaw. It attains a length of 6 feet. Fig. 135. — The Porpoise {Phoccena communis). is black with a violet-blue shimmer on the back, white on the belly; the fins are black. Its food consists of fish, which it pursues pretty far up rivers, and it is often caught in nets in which it has got entangled in the eagerness of its chase. On certain coasts a considerable number of these are caught for the sake of the oil. Its flesh was for- WHALES AND DOLPHINS. inerly highly esteemed in I'Vance, and was a food allowed by the church in periods of fasting. Belon relates that he saw porpoises sold in Paris on Friday. Porpoise Hesh has a very decided taste of train-oil, and at the present day its use as an article of food is confined to the high north. The number of the teeth is much smaller in the terrible Killer- whale [Orca gladiator), fig. 136, the hyiena of the northern seas. This formidable dolphin may attain the length of 26 feet. It has a round head, a short fiattened and rounded muzzle, and broad fore-limbs rounded at the end. The dorsal fin is very high and pointed, in the form of a bent sabre; the tail fin large, halfmoon- Kg. 136.— Tl shaped; the body slender, black above, white below, often marked with white patches above the eyes and behind the dorsal fin. The jaws have only 1 1 very strong conical and slightly recurved teeth in each half, 44 accordingly in all, and these are all situated in front The killer- whales swim in a line, one behind the other, with a speed that really makes one dizzy to look at them. I have often seen them on the coasts of Norway; they came only in Weavy storms to sport round our ship. They are the absolute tyrants of the seas, and work fearful slaughter among the seals and among other cetaceans. Eschricht, a Danish anatomist, who has occupied himself with the Cetacea in a very thorough manner, found a seal sticking in the throat of a killer-whale of about 16 feet in length, which had owed its death to its voracity, since it was prevented from swallow- ci -w lialc [Orca gladiator). ing this seal by having thirteen porpoises and /C fourteen seals already engulfed in its stomach! The shoals of killer-whales attack the largest cetaceans, and vanquish them. They are said to be ^seculiarly fond of the fat fleshy tongues of the whalebone whales. Whale-fishers de- test them because the whales soon leave the parts where the killer- whales show them- selves, and the whalers cailnot harpoon the latter because of their rapidity. They are frequently killed with explosive bullets fired from weapons of wide range. Frequently in the eagerness of their pursuit they are carried too far in their chase after fishes and seals, and thus find their way into rivers or get stranded on the shores. The Pilot-whale, the Caaing Whale of the Scotch {Globiccphalus niclas),^^. 137, although a near ally of the killer-whale, is nevertheless widely distinguished from it by its pacific THE DOLPHINS. character, and by the quiet submissiveness with which it often gives itself up to man. An accumulation of fat fills the whole space between the end of the upper jaw and the back of the head, so that the head appears almost round but blunted in front. The body, 19 to 22 feet in length, is spindle-shaped, very thick in the region of the pectoral fins, thin towards the tail, and flattened on the sides, the back thus forming a sort of blunt keel. The fore-limbs are long and pointed, and attain the length of nearly 5 feet. The dorsal fin is short but pointed, the tail fin deeply lobed. The body is quite black, with the exception of a white stripe along the belly. There is the same number of teeth as in the killer-whale, and they all lie ob- liquely in the gums so that the small conical crown alone projects. The teeth are very apt to disappear. Fig. 137.— The Pilot-whale or Grind [GlobUephahis melas). The pilot-wh'ale or grind, as the inhabitants of the Faroe Islands call it, always lives in numerous shoals, frequently numbering several hundreds of individuals, and it feeds chiefly on squids, calamaries, and cuttle-fishes, but also on small fish like the herring. It swims slowly, showing the whole length of its back above the water, and it is seldom seen in- dulging in the violent exercises in which the dolphins and killer-whales take so much delight. The shoal follows almost blindly the movements of an old male who acts as leader. When any of their number are wounded the others collect round them, and do not leave them even though their own life is threatened. The fishermen endeavour to drive the leader ashore, and if they succeed in this they regard the whole shoal as captured. It appears to be the lot of the pilot-whales Vol. II. to be stranded on the shores. On the Orkney, Shetland, and Faroe Islands this is a common spectacle, and the inhabitants of the last- mentioned islands would be un- fortunate if there were not at least one shoal of pilot-whales stranded during the year. Old laws regulate the capture of this animal. On a signal being given from a fishing-boat that the pilot-whales are approaching, boats are sent out to surround them and drive them towards a bay so as to strand them, and the crews begin the slaughter as soon as they are certain that the animals cannot escape. From two to three hundred are often killed at once. It is calculated that each animal yields a tun of train-oil. The flesh is eaten both fresh and salted and cured like bacon. The fresh meat is compared to coarse beef. The pilot- whale fishery is an important resource for the lO WHALES AND DOLPHINS. inhabitants of the Faroe Islands. On the 7th of January, 181 2, a shoal of these animals was stranded at Paimpol in Brittany, after the fishermen had driven the leader ashore, where he bellowed like a bull. The shoal consisted of 7 males, 5 1 females, and 1 2 suck- lings. One of these animals lived five days in a bay, which he could not leave on account of the shallowness of the water at the mouth. The Beluga or White Whale {^Beluga leticas), fig. 138, is very like the previous species as regards the form of the head and body, but the flippers are much shorter and the dorsal fin is altogether wanting. With reference to this character the name Delphin- apterus (" finless dolphin") has been chosen by some as the name of the genus. The dentition is likewise similar to that of the Fig. 138. — The Beluga or Wliite Whale [Beluga leiicas). pilot-whale, only the teeth are not so numerous, and they are very apt to be lost with the advance of age, especially in the upper jaw. The whole body is of a brilliant whitish- yellow colour. This beautiful dolphin, which may attain a length of 20 feet, and always lives in shoals, is the ornament of the western parts of the Arctic Ocean from Behring's Strait to Green- land. It seldom comes south, and yet in the year 181 3 one was observed making itself quite at home in the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh, traversing the estuary at every tide, till at last it was killed by a bullet. Like the pilot-whale the beluga feeds on cephalopods and small fishes. Europeans do not attack it, and even hail its approach to the ships with joy, in the conviction that whales are to be found near. The Eskimo and Aleutians, on the other hand, esteem the flesh of the beluga very highly, both when fresh and when cured, and they therefore try to catch the animal in nets. According to them the beluga is accompanied by shoals of herring, cod, and flat-fish, which serve it as food. The Narwhal {^Monodon monoceros), fig. 139, resembles the beluga in the form of its head and body, as well as in the absence of the dorsal fin. The flipper is short and pointed, the tail pretty long, the tail fin very large and deeply lobed. The body is yellowish- THE DOLPHINS. II white, mottled with numerous brown spots. The animal attains at most a length of 20 feet, frequents the same parts of the Arctic Seas as form the home of the beluga, and feeds on cephalopods, holothurians, and fishes. The mouth is very small. What distinguishes the narwhal from all other cetaceans is its peculiar dentition. It has no teeth in the lower jaw, and in the upper jaw only two straight canines are formed in deep sockets of the maxillce. In the female these teeth remain through life in the sockets, so that it seems to be tooth- less, but in the male one of these canines grows straight out to an extraordinary length. There have indeed been found rare examples 1' ig. 139. —The Narwhal (Monodon monoceros). of narwhals with two tusks, but in this case they were always unequally developed, and usually it is the left canine which grows out in this manner, while the right remains embedded in its socket. In consequence of this peculiar dentition the want of symmetry which characterizes the skull of cetaceans generally reaches its acme in the narwhal. In the embryos two small incisors and an upper molar are also to be seen, but these are soon lost. The socket of the canine which forms the tusk is so wide that the premaxilla (the bone which holds the upper incisors when present) comes to form part of its wall. The tusk is straight, and composed so to speak of spirally twisted strands, and may attain a length of 10 feet. On these tusks, for which high prices were formerly paid, has been founded the fable of the unicorn, which still figures in the English national coat of arms. Manifestly the tusk of the narwhal is a for- midable weapon, but it is apparently used only in battles between males, and not as a means of defence against enemies or for other pur- poses. Broken or injured teeth are often met with, but the narwhal has never been seen to use its tusk against the killer-whale, which commits fearful ravages among them. All observers are agreed in depicting the nar- whals as peaceable creatures and excellent 12 WHALES AND DOLPHINS. swimmers, which migrate in numerous shoals when driven on by the ice-masses, by which they often get forced into bays and there hemmed in and suffocated. The Europeans do not often pursue them, but the Eskimo are very eager in the chase of this animal, prizing its flesh very highly. The Sperm-whale Family {Physeterida). This family consists of those forms which have fully developed teeth only in the lower jaw. As representative of a group of pretty numerous but little -known cetaceans with only two permanent teeth in the lower jaw, Fig. 140. — The Bottlehead or Common 1 « we have selected the Bottlehead or Common Beaked Whale [Hyperoodon rostratus), fig. 140. This whale, which attains the length of about 26 feet, usually inhabits the Arctic Seas round Greenland, but some individuals have been stranded on our coasts. The first good description of this species was given by John Hunter, to whom it owes its English name, and whose description was based on a specimen caught in the Thames. In winter this whale migrates pretty regularly as far as the waters of Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The back part of the head is swollen, and this swelling is still further increased by a remarkable accumulation of fat in front of the nostrils between two vertical plates which a wi rostratus). stand up like walls on the outer edges of the jaw-bones (maxillae). The flattened snout is continued in front of this swelling. The Ice- landers compare its head to that of a duck. The opening of the mouth is small. In adult animals there are only two large conical teeth in each half of the lower jaw near the front. But in young animals, in each half of the jaw both above and below, a dozen small teeth begin to be formed, but they never cut the gum and are soon re-absorbed. The flij^pers are very small, the dorsal fin pointed and also small, the tail fin not divided into lobes. The colour is gray, inclining to black, darker on the back than on the under side. The animals feed on cephalopods. In the northern waters they are very eagerly hunted for their THE SPERM-WHALE FAMILY. fat, which is of excellent quality, and is largely used for mixing with spermaceti. The Sperm-whale or Cachalot {Physeter macrocephalns), fig. 141, owes its Latin specific name (derived from two Greek words meaning '3 long-headed) to the monstrous size of its head, which makes up about a third of the whole length of the body, in old males ac- cordingly upwards of 30 feet in length. Along with the right whales and rorquals the sperm- Fig. 141.— The Sperm-whale [Physeiermacrocephalus). whales are the most gigantic members of the fauna of the present world. The weight of an adult animal is estimated at about 200 tons. In a male of only 66 feet in length the short, broad, thick flipper was found to measure only 5 feet 3 inches, while the two- lobed tail fin had a breadth of nearly 20 feet. The form of this inhabitant of the deep in temperate and warm seas is in the highest degree remarkable. The enormous quad- rangular head, so abrupt in front, carries on the upper edge of the anterior surface the S-shaped blow-holes, the canal from which leads obliquely backwards to the bony nasal cavities, which, as usual, are situated on the crown of the skull. The opening of the mouth is very long, but narrow like a furrow, and the two halves of the beak-like lower jaw are united in front for half their length. The eye is situated behind the angle of the mouth, and immediately behind it again comes the flipper. The top of the back is con- tinued almost in a straight line from the upper part of the head. A long thick fold of the skin of little height forms a rudimen- tary dorsal fin. The belly is enormous, the body becomes very much thinner towards the large tail. If we examine the skeleton we have at first some trouble in bringing it into correspond- ence with the form of the living animal. The skull in fact rises up behind like a wall some- what as in other cetaceans, and more especially in the bottle-nosed whale. The jaws are 14 THE WHALEBONE WHALES. flattened, and the crest on the back part of the head is continued forwards on the edges of the upper jaw so as to form a wide basin. There is no resemblance at all between this skull and the head of the living animal. The enormous cylinder which forms the latter is in fact composed of sinewy tissues forming large cells filled with a fat, which at the tem- perature of the animal is fluid, but which in the solid form is known as spermaceti or c€tm. It is chiefly for the sake of this fat that the sperm-whale is pursued. A large male may yield as much as twelve tons of spermaceti, for the valuable substance is contained not only in the cells in the head, but in a long cellular tube which runs along the back. The dentition is peculiar. The upper jaw has only rudiments of teeth during embryonic life, but the lower jaw is armed with large, strong, conical teeth, which are at first sharp- pointed but afterwards get blunted, and which are received into corresponding pits in the upper jaw when the creature shuts its mouth. The sperm-whales, of which there are pro- bably two species, one living in the southern seas the other in those of the northern hemi- sphere, appear to feed exclusively on cuttle- fishes. Now that we know that enormous cuttle-fishes, gigantic specimens of which are occasionally, though rarely, cast on our shores, are found in almost all seas, this kind of food does not appear so incompatible with the size of the creature as it once did. Though it is chiefly for the spermaceti, as has already been stated, that the sperm-whale is pursued, that is not the sole product of commercial value that it yields. Besides the blubber, which is not very abundant and yields only a mediocre oil, this whale supplies us also with the am- bergris which is so highly esteemed in the East as an article to burn as incense and for use in perfumery, and which is not only obtained directly from the animal itself, but is likewise found floating on the waves in clumps about the size of one's fist. It is probable that these fatty masses are formed either in the bladder or the genital glands of the male. The teeth are also used for the same purposes as ivory. The chase of the sperm-whale is difficult and dangerous: difficult, because the animal avoids man more carefully than any other cetacean, and remains, on diving, much longer under the water; dangerous, because, when wounded, the creature defends itself with courage, attacks the boats and even the ships, endeavouring to capsize them or to pierce their sides. Numerous cases have been known in which ships have had their sides shattered by sperm-whales which dashed against them with the utmost rapidity, giving a shock with their heads like that inflicted by the ram of an ironclad. THE WHALEBONE WHALES (MYSTICETE). The members of this group are much less numerous than the toothed whales. The head, which is always massive, relatively very large and broad, has a weak lower jaw of elliptical outline, a mouth with an enormous cavity, from the roof of which hang down the horny plates which yield the whalebone, while the lower part of the cavity is filled with an enormous tongue composed almost entirely of fat. The halves of the lower jaw are separate, connected only by a rather loose ligament. In those countries in which the whale-fishery is carried on these bones of the lower jaw are used as gate-posts at field-gates. In the rest of their organization the whale- bone whales do not differ very much from the toothed-whales. They all have double blow- holes, the halves of which are separated by a narrow partition. We have already said that in the embryo numerous teeth which never cut the gum are concealed in a continuous groove running round the jaw. These little teeth, similar in form to those of the sperm-whale, become absorbed as the animal grows. THE SPERM-WHALE FAMILY. 15 . The roof of the mouth, eV'en in the embry- onic condition, is marked with numerous transverse folds, such as are found also in many other cetaceans, and in general in most mammals. Only in the group with which we are now dealing these folds are very numer- ous and covered with a thick horny epithelium. During the growth of the young animal this horny epithelium goes on developing. It grows down on both sides in the form of a fringe, and at last forms triangular transverse plates, which are attached to the roof of the ^ Fig. 142. —The Rorqual (Balcenoptcra boops). page 16. mouth by the small grooved edge, while they present to the exterior a firm, slightly curved edge, and on the interior are broken up into a number of cylindrical fibres, the ends of which form the third side of the triangle which slopes away from the middle line of the palate towards the outer edge of the mouth. Into the above-mentioned groove on the upper edge of each of these plates there sinks a fold of the mucous membrane, which is richly charged with blood-vessels and secretes the horny substance. These closely- packed whalebone plates, the number of which may amount to 200 on each side, the middle ones with a length of about 15 feet, while the edge attached to the roof of the mouth is only about i foot in length, form by their union an arched sieve, in the cavity of which lies the tongue. The water runs through the free fibres on the inner edges of the whalebone, while all the small molluscs, crabs, and fishes are retained. These enormous animals feed, in fact, chiefly on small swimming creatures, shell-less pteropods, crustaceans, &c., which swarm in the northern seas, and are swallowed by them in tons. The throat of the whalebone whales is pretty narrow; but its narrowness has sometimes been exaggerated, since fish of the size of a herring can be swallowed quite easily. It is known that the herring-fishers are very glad to see the rorquals approach their coasts. i6 THE WHALEBONE WHALES. because they know that these whales drive shoals of fishes before them. Two chief groups are distinguished: the Fin -backed Whales {Balanopteridd), with longitudinal parallel folds extending from the throat to the belly, and a dorsal fin ; and the Right Whales i^Balcrnidd), which have neither folds nor dorsal fin. Fin-backed Whales {Balanopterida). As representative of this family an illus- tration is given of the Rorqual {^Balcenoptera boops, Physalus antiquorum), fig. 142, which may even attain the length of 1 1 5 feet, and is pretty frequently met with on the coasts of England and Norway. Its true home appears, however, to be further north. It is the longest, most slender, and most affile of all whalebone whales. The head is relatively short; the body spindle-shaped; the flippers flat, short, and curved; the dorsal fin small, sickle-shaped, placed very far back; the tail broad and half-moon shaped. The rorqual is black above, white below. The ventral folds are bluish-black at the base. The whalebone plates are small, and of little value. The animal has little blubber, and since it is courageous and rapid in its move- ments, and when in danger attacks instead of fleeing, it is seldom pursued. The rorqual feeds chiefly on fishes. It is fond of remaining for a considerable time at one place when it finds that the place suits it. At Nice I saw one of this species swim daily backwards and forwards in front of my windows between Antibes and Monaco for weeks together, and sometimes it came so near the shore as to alarm the promenaders on the beach. It had a group of dolphins playing round it, and appeared like a sovereign surrounded by his court. It was afterwards stranded at St. Tropez (French department of Var). In the course of our voyage along the Norwegian coast we were accompanied for several days in the Great Altenfjord by a rorqual of about the length of a two-master, which approached so near us that we could fire a bullet into its back, which appeared scarcely to tickle it. Without any apparent exertion this monstrous animal could traverse the waters with a rapidity which rendered it difficult for the gulls that swarmed around to follow it. Agile and powerful as it is, the rorqual loves to tumble about after the manner of dolphins. On one occasion when in the latitude of the Lofoden Isles we re- peatedly heard thundering noises at a distance as if proceeding from heavy artillery. When we approached we saw a large rorqual, which jumped out of the water, then plunged its head underneath the waves, turned itself vertically downwards, made two or three rapid vibrations with its enormous tail, which we guessed to be at least 20 feet in breadth, and then brought it down with a mighty stroke on the surface, producing a noise which resounded far and wide. It continued this exercise for hours together. The Right Whales {Balcenida). The Greenland or Right Whale {Balcena mysticetus), of which there is a full -page illustration (Plate XVI.) showing a mother with her young one, forms the type of the whalebone whales without a dorsal fin and without ventral folds. In contrast with the rorqual it is very clumsy, thickset, and un- gainly. It may attain a length of upwards of 80 feet and a weight of nearly 150 tons. The head is one-third of the whole length. The body is short and round, and decreases in thickness towards the tail very rapidly. The flippers are heavy and thick; the tail only slightly lobed. The right whale is not very agile, and not much given to sports, yet it swims pretty quickly. It repels an assail- ant with little vigour, except in those cases in which a mother tries to defend her suck- ling. This species, to which a very similar but smaller one known as the Cape Whale i^B. australis) corresponds in the Antarctic Ocean, To /ace past rjo. Platk XVI. -^ THE GREENLAND or RIGHT WHALE (Balana mysticdus). GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT. has been driven back by the ceaseless pursuit to which it has been exposed since the middle ages to the remotest parts of the Polar seas. The chase is in itself not very dangerous. It sometimes, though rarely, happens that one of these w^hales capsizes a boat with a stroke of its tail, or carries the boat down with it in diving when the sailors have not succeeded in cutting at the right moment the rope to which the harpoon is attached. The dangers which threaten whalers are those to which all navigators in the icy regions round the poles are exposed, and every year a certain number of ships are lost through being caught and crushed in the ice. In spite of these dangers the pursuit is actively carried on in both the Polar seas for the sake of the train- oil and the whalebone. A Greenland whale 60 feet in length yields 24 tons of oil, and about 32 cwt. of whalebone. While the Greenland whale formerly advanced as far as the Bay of Biscay it now seldom crosses the 65th parallel of north latitude. The southern whale till about fifteen years ago used to come pretty regularly as far north as the Gulf of Mexico; but now, probably in consequence of the pursuit carried on uninterruptedly in the Pacific Ocean (the Sandwich Islands forming the headquarters of this business), the fisheries already men- tioned as carried on in the channel between the island of Trinidad and the mainland of South America have come to an end. Perhaps these whales have also been scared away by the increasing steamship traffic. The Green- land whale also speeds away on hearing any noise. The utmost possible quietness is an essential condition of a successful chase. [Some peculiarities in the mode of whale-fishing in the Antarctic Ocean at Kerguelen's Land are mentioned by Moseley in his Notes of a Naturalist on the Challenger (chap, viii.) : — "A difficulty would arise from a whale when struck running through the thici< beds of kelp {Macrocystis) which every- where form tangled barriers at a certain distance from shore. This is got over by having large very Vol. II. '7 sharp knives ready, which are held close beside the line as the boat scuds through the water, dragged by the whale, and cut a clear pa.ssagc in the weed. " The whales are killed by means of a bomb, a cylindrical iron tube full of powder provided with a fuse and pointed at one end ; at the other, pro- vided with feathers like an arrow. The whole is not unlike a large cross-bow bolt. The feathers are made of vulcanized india-rubber, and when the bolt is rammed into the gun from which it is fired are wrapped round the end of the shaft. As soon as the bolt leaves the muzzle they expand, and prevent the bombs wobbling or capsizing. "The invention is extremely ingenious. The bomb is fired from a heavy gun from the shoulder, and is good up to about fifteen paces. It is fired into the whale just behind the flipper. " It goes in, and after a while makes a loud explosion, often killing the beast almost at once. Four kinds of whales are common about Kerguelen's Island, but only one, the southern whalebone whale, is regularly hunted. . . . Similar bombs are now regularly used in the North."] GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT OF THE WHALES AND DOLPHINS. It is difficult, if not impossible, to say any- thing definite regarding the geographical dis- tribution of the whales. The facility with which these animals traverse enormous ex- panses of the ocean, and the readiness with which they undertake distant migrations, the difficulty in procuring the necessary material for the distinction of species and genera, the rarity of many types which inhabit the high seas, the numerous accidents by which these animals get carried away out of their usual domain and stranded on shores without one being able to learn whence they have come, and lastly, the persecutions of man, which have driven them away from their original homes, all these circumstances combine to hinder us from arriving at definite conclu- sions on this subject. The two great groups of the toothed whales and whalebone whales are distributed over all seas, and if the latter are found 36 l8 WHALES AND DOLPHINS. chiefly in the cold Polar seas, we cannot say that they are wholly excluded from the temperate and warm parts of the ocean. The Basques formerly fished the Greenland whale off their own coasts, and till about i860 there was a whale-fishing station in the channel separating the island of Trinidad from the coast of South America. Only a few individuals, to be sure, were captured every year, but there were always some caught sooner or later in passing through this strait. We can thus assign a restricted domain only to certain species, such as the fresh-water dolphins, the beluga, the narwhal, and the true porpoises, which are confined to the northern seas; but as regards all the other more or less abundant types, we must say that they are found in all seas, and that their presence in large numbers in this or that sea appears rather to depend on secondary causes, such as abundance of food, safety from pursuit, and so forth. Similar difficulties are presented in in- vestigating the origin of the cetaceans. In the Cambridge Museum there are preserved a few fossil vertebra; belonging to a whale different from all other known species. They were discovered in the diluvial loam of the neighbourhood, but Professor, now Sir Richard, Owen found the appearance of these vertebrae to agree so closely with that pre- sented by the fossil remains of the Kimmeridge Clay of the locality, that he came to the conclusion, a conclusion, however, only very doubtfully expressed, that these vertebrae may have been washed out of Jurassic strata into the diluvial loam in which they were found. If this surmise should be confirmed, then these vertebr^e would be the oldest known remains of placental mammals, and the cetaceans would, therefore, have to be regarded as having preceded all other Mono- delphia. In that case, accordingly, one might not find the roots of this stock in other orders from which it has been attempted to derive it. This is still an open question. But with the exception of this still doubtful case the earliest fossil remains of cetaceans that have yet been found belong to the Miocene. Europe has yielded a great num- ber of such remains from Pliocene strata. In the Pliocene period the mouth of the Scheldt appears to have formed a bay in which numerous shoals of whales were stranded from time to time. America has likewise yielded many of the same kind of remains dating from Miocene times. But these remains teach us nothing whatever concerning the derivation of this order, for the large groups of the toothed whales and whalebone whales are already represented in the Miocene, and even the secondary sub- divisions are not wanting there. It may accordingly be said that from a paleeontological point of view the Cetacea present themselves on their first appearance with all the characters which now distinguish the various groups. Embryological studies, again, are too in- complete and fragmentary to allow of any well-grounded conclusions on this matter. Anatomy reveals to us a number of points which indicate a low organization related to that of the reptiles. The absence of marrow cavities in the long bones; the spongy nature of the bony tissue generally; the structure of their vertebrae, only imperfectly fused with their apophyses ; the arrangement of the bones of the skull, which often exhibits gaps and breaches of continuity; the uniform character of the dentition, which is composed of un- specialized teeth often set in a continuous groove without distinct sockets, the absence of fleshy movable lips, the smallness of the brain compared with the size of the body — all these characters appear to be derived from the reptiles. The fore-limbs, although re- maining in a certain measure in the embryonic condition, yet show by their organization, and especially by the large number of the phalanges, or small bones of the fingers, a tolerably close resemblance to those of the large extinct sea-reptiles, the Enaliosaurii, GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT. «9 whose best-known representatives are the Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus. On the other hand, we can point to char- acters which are plainly the result of a retro- grade development. The small bones found in the pelvic region in many cetaceans mani- festly show that the ancestors of the whales had hind-limbs, which became degraded through a process of special adaptation, and finally disappeared. In all the series of extinct and living mammals and reptiles yet known we cannot point to any type to which the whales could be attached without violence. The Zeuglodonts, large marine forms, with hind-limbs, belonging to the upper Miocene and the Pliocene, unite cer- tain characters of the whales with a den- tition similar to that of the seals, but it is impossible to regard them as representing the primitive type of the whales, which are contemporary with them or even precede them. The diffuse placenta connects the cetaceans with the ungulates. If it is possible to connect the other placental mammals in more or less direct lines of succession with the old dv/arf mammalian types, whether marsupial or otherwise, which have been discovered in Triassic and Jurassic strata, such an attempt would be altogether impos- sible with the whales. How could animals with a reptilian dentition be derived from old stems which already possessed a speci- alized dentition and molars with double roots! All these questions are insoluble in the present state of our knowledge. The balance inclines at present, perhaps, in favour of a direct connection of the whales with the extinct sea-lizards, the Enaliosaurs, on the one hand, and the Mosasaurs and Clidastes of the Chalk, on the other, although all these have only a single joint-surface at the back of the head (a single occipital condyle), while the whales, like all mammals, have two. If this surmise should be confirmed, it would furnish a beautiful proof of the evolution of the class of the Mammalia from various stocks. But for the present these are only doubtful surmises, which, nevertheless, are better supported than those which would derive the whales either from the seals or from the ungulates. THE SEA-COWS (SIRENIA). Fish-like herbivora without dorsal or ventral fins, with a small head and distinct neck, thick lips set with tactile hairs, molars with broad crowns, nostrils at the end of the muzzle, and pectoral teats. At the first glance we perceive that the body of these inoffensive herbivorous animals resembles that of the whales in its general form, in the possession of a horizontal tail and of flippers, and in the absence of external ears and hind-limbs. As in some whales, one or two small bones are indeed found buried in the flesh in the pelvic region, repre- senting an undeveloped pelvis; but externally no trace of a hind-limb can be seen. Jn the skeleton some other characters can be pointed out which these creatures have in common with the whales, such, for example, as the fact of the bone inclosing the inner ear being distinct^ from the other bones of the skull, with which it is connected only by sutures; the simplification of the vertebral column, the absence of a sacrum, and so forth. But there the resemblances end, and with respect to all the rest of their organization these animals are quite different from the whales. The head is small, round, well marked off from the neck, the vertebrae of which are not fused together; the eyes are on the upper surface, not low down at the sides; the muzzle is comparatively small, and sur- rounded by swollen fleshy lips, on which are • In most mammals, as in man, that bone is fused with the temporal bone, forming what is called the petrous portion of the temporal Ixjne. — Tr. set thick and often very long tactile hairs. The nostrils are situated at the end of the muzzle, and lead into nasal cavities of the same structure as in other mammals. The flippers have indeed the form of oars of uniform width, but are longer than in the whales; the digits have only three phalanges each, and all the bones of the flippers are movable on each other by joints, while in the whales, as we have seen, they are firmly united together by fibrous masses. The teeth are differentiated. In the milk-dentition we can distinguish incisors, no canines, but premolars, to which molars of diverse form are afterwards added, these latter being formed in different genera on the type of those of the ungulates. The form of the skull is altogether different from that of the whales, and the same may be said regarding the structure of the brain and the respiratory and circulatory organs. The teats are situated in the pectoral region. Short stiff hairs are scattered over the thick tough skin. The sea-cows are often included in one and the same order with the true whales. But when we consider that all the characters which these orders have in common with one another proceed solely from the adaptation to an aquatic mode of life, while the other characters, to be explained by inheritance. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 21 are different, we must confess that this asso- ciation is not in harmony with the principles that must be followed in a natural classifica- tion. The sea-cows are large, peace-loving animals which inhabit the gulfs and bays on the sea- coast, and advance up the mouths of rivers far into the interior of the land in order to seek their food, which consists solely of vegetable substances — various alga; in the sea, leaves, roots, and fleshy fruits in the rivers. Only two living genera are now known. A third, the Rhytina, which formerly inhabited the shores of the Behring Sea and other coasts of Eastern Siberia, has been extinct since 1 768. Steller has left us a very Fig. 143. — Tlie Dugong (Halicore Dugong). valuable and complete description of this animal, but that description unfortunately was not accompanied by a drawing. Since the year mentioned no living example of this remarkable species has been seen, although, indeed, in certain districts regular graveyards of bones belonging to it have been dis- covered. The Dugong [Halicore Dtigong), fig. 143, inhabits the Indian Ocean and its bays, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, &c., and extends even to Australia. It is a large massive animal, attaining the length of 16 or 17 feet. The pretty thick body becomes rapidly thinner towards the broad halfmoon- shaped tail. The flippers are short and broad, and without nails. The small head ends m a very thick upper lip, which is very blunt below and behind, and incloses the swollen ball-shaped lower lip. The skin, dark gray on the back but lighter on the under surface, is sparsely covered with short hair. The eyes are pretty small, provided with a large third eyelid or nictitating membrane, and protected by a semicircle of stiff eyelashes above. The hairs of the whiskers are strong and short, almost spiny. The form of the jaws and the arrangement of the teeth are very remarkable. The very large premaxilla is bent downwards in an adult animal at an angle of 60 degrees, and in the male each half of it carries at its end a strong straight tusk which gets worn away obliquely and thus kept sharp by use. This 22 THE SEA-COWS. incisor is the only tooth in the whole set which takes the place of a milk-tooth. In the female it is not developed. On the inner side of this curved premaxilla the palate forms a sort of narrow groove, which is continued backwards to the posterior nares. Near these openings there are in each half of the jaw large teeth with quite smooth, round or oval grinding surfaces. The lower jaw is very high, but short, and is cut away in front in correspondence with the curve of the upper jaw; and this abrupt and narrow portion, which fits into the above-described groove of the upper jaw, is covered by a rough, thick horny plate, below which there are in the bone four empty sockets from which the teeth have disappeared. In the posterior horizontal part of the jaw there is a varying number of molars similar to those of the upper jaw. In the milk-dentition there are five molars in each half of the jaw, both above and below, but these gradually get reduced to two. It is still doubtful whether the specimens obtained in the Red Sea and those on the coast of Australia belong to different species or not. In any case these animals have the same habits. They keep to the coasts, seldom ascend the rivers, swim slowly, and allow themselves to sink to the bottom like a lump after coming to the surface to breathe, during which process they show the upper part of their body. Only in moments of danger do they make use of their strength, which is sufficient to enable them to deal vigorous blows with their tail. The mothers keep their young one pressed to their breast under their flipper, defend it to the last, and allow themselves to be killed rather than desert it. The dugongs prefer bays that are not very deep, where they find abundance of sea-weed. They assemble in flocks where they find themselves secure, migrate to fresh parts when they have fully cropped a submarine pasture, but always keep to the coasts during these migrations. They are hunted for their fat, for their hide, and for their tolerably palatable but rather sweet flesh. They are either harpooned, as in the Red Sea, or are caught in nets and being thus prevented from breathing are actually drowned. The Manatees (^Matiatus) are distinguished from the previous genus by their straight head, thicker body, by having smooth nails on the last phalanx of the four outer digits of the flipper, and by having the tail rounded off to the form of a thick disc. The jaws ex- hibit only a faint indication of that very pro- nounced curvature by which those of the dugong are characterized. The incisors and canines are both wanting in adults, but in new-born animals some representatives of these teeth are found, but these soon drop out in the lower jaw, while a single pair of incisors persist in the young animal, but after- wards get lost. The sockets of these teeth are covered, as in the dugong, by a callous horny skin. The molars are never shed, but are gradually developed one after the other as the old ones get worn away by use. In this way a dozen molars may be formed in each half of the jaw, but there are never more than seven or eight in use at one time. These molars are similar in form to those of the tapirs. They all have two or more roots, and the almost cubical crown has on the chewing surface two transverse ridges separated by a deep groove. Two species of manatees are distinguished, the smaller of which i^Manatus senegalensis) inhabits the coasts of West Africa and ascends the Senegal and other rivers, while the other larger species {M. australis), fig. 144, which attains as much as 10 feet in length, is confined to the east coast of America. This latter species has two geo- graphical varieties, one in the north found all round the Gulf of Mexico, the other further towards the south The manatee of the Amazon ascends very high into the interior of the mainland, as high as the rapids. It is eagerly pursued in the large rivers of Brazil and Guiana and GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 23 their affluents as well as in the lakes com- municating with them. The upper lip is in the form of a rounded knob, and covered with a delicate skin ; it probably serves as an organ of touch. The colour of the skin is a dark bluish-gray on the back, but lighter underneath. The few bristles which are scattered over it, and which form a sort of brush on the lips, are of a bright yellow. The thick but not very dense skin is easily permeated by water, and is used for making cords and whips. The very abundant fat has a good flavour, and is used both for food and as a material for illumination. The tasty flesh is not unlike pork. The animal is easily harpooned when confined beyond the power of escape in the temporary lakes left behind after Fig. 144. — The Manatee of the .Amazon [Matiatus australis). inundations. It has been found possible to tame a few of these gentle and inoffensive animals. They were kept in closed tanks. They came when called to receive their food, and even carried people on their back to the other side of the tank. A German named Kappler, settled in Surinam, who in the course of twenty years had sent forty manatees to various museums in Europe, had a suckling which he reared first with milk and afterwards with bananas. To the training of this little animal, only about three feet in length, he devoted a good deal of attention, and succeeded so well that at last it would even leave the water to cling to the knees of its benefactor. It died during the voyage to England. The following account is given by Dumpier of the method employed in his day (seventeenth century) by the inhabitants of the Mosquito Coast, Central America, in killing and capturing the mana- tee:— "The Mosquito-men have always a small canoe for their use to strike fish, tortoise, or manatee, which they keep usually to themselves and very neat and clean. They use no oars, but paddles, the broad part of which does not go tapering towards the staff", pole, or handle of it, as in the oar; nor do they use it in the same manner, by laying it on the side of the vessel, but hold it perpendicularly, griping the staff" hard with both hands, and putting back the water by main strength and very quick strokes. One of the Mosquitos (for there go but two in a canoe) sits in the stern, the other kneels down in the head, and both paddle till they come to the place where they expect their game. Then they lie still or paddle very softly, looking well 24 THE SEA-COWS. about them, and he that is in the head of the canoe lays down his paddle, and stands up with his striking staff in his hand. This staff is about 8 feet long, almost as big as a man's arm at the great end, in which there is a hole to place his harpoon in. At the other end of his staff there is a piece of light wood called lobwood, with a hole in it, through which the small end of the staff comes, and in this piece of lobwood there is a line of lo or !2 fathoms wound neatly about, and the end of the line made fast to it. The other end of the line is made fast to the harpoon, which is at the great end of the staff, and the Mosquito-man keeps about a fathom of it loose in his hand. When he strikes, the harpoon presently comes out of the staff, and as the manatee swims away the line runs off from the bob; and although at first both staff and bob may be carried under water, yet as the line runs off it will rise again. Then the Mosquito-men paddle with all their might to get hold of the bob again, and spend usually a quarter of an hour before they get it. When the manatee begins to be tired it lies still, and then the Mos- quito-men paddle to the bob and take it up, and begin to haul in the line. When the manatee feels them he swims away again with the canoe after him; then he that steers must be nimble to turn the head of tlie canoe that way that his consort points, who, being in the head of the canoe and holding the line, both sees and feels which way the manatee is swimming. Thus the canoe is towed with a violent motion till the manatee's strength decays. Then they gather in the line, which they are often forced to let all go to the very end. At length, when the creature's strength is spent, they haul it up to the canoe's side, and knock it on the head and tow it to the nearest shore, where they make it fast and seek for another; which having taken, they go on shore with it to put it into their canoe, for it is so heavy that they cannot lift it in, but they haul it up in shoal water as near the shore as they can, and then overset the canoe, lying on one side close to the manatee, and roll it in, which brings the canoe upright again, and when they have heaved out the water they fasten a line to the other manatee that lies afloat, and tow it after them. I have known two Mosquito-men for a week every day bring on board two manatees in this manner, the least of which hath not weighed less than 600 pounds, and that in a very small canoe, that three Englishmen would scarce adven- ture to go in. When they strike a cow that hath a young one, they seldom miss the calf, for she commonly takes the young one under one of her fins." — The Voyages and Adventures of Williavi Davtpier. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT OF THE SEA-COWS. The geographical distribution of the sea- cows plainly shows that the type must formerly have been more vi^ide-spread than it is novi^. The two sjDecies of manatees, which are both in a great measure fresh-water forms, are separated by the whole breadth of the Atlantic, and it is scarcely conceivable that these animals, living only on plants, should at any time have been able to cross this wide expanse of water. The dugong frequents the shores of the Indian Ocean throughout all its vast extent from Mozambique to the north coasts of Australia, and it has only had to cross arms of the sea of no great width in order to extend its domain in this manner. The third genus, the Rhytina, as we have already stated, still swarmed in and near Behring's Strait in the first half of last century, the flocks of this harmless creature feeding on the pastures of sea-weed on the coasts of Kamchatka, Northern Siberia, and Western North America, as cows graze on the pastures of the mainland. Thanks to the ferocity of man this species is now com- pletely extirpated. The sea-cows appear in both hemispheres with the Miocene, and their remains are found in all the deposits which were formed along the coasts during this and the following periods. There are genera very closely allied to the manatees (Prorastomus in Jamaica), others which can scarcely be distinguished from the dugong (Felsinotherium in Italy), others again which appear to occupy an intermediate position (Halianassa, Metaxy- therium) and which during the Miocene were distributed from the west of France through Germany as far as Vienna. The GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT. 25 type was accordingly well established from the time of the Miocene epoch, and the local isolation of the present species is no doubt to be explained by this wider distribution in former times. The sea-cows approach the whales in the characters due to special adaptation, and if we take into account only these characters, to which, as already mentioned, belong the form of the body, the presence of a horizontal tail fin, and the absence of visible hind-limbs, we may rank them as a sub-order of the Cetacea. But all the rest of their organiza- tion proves clearly enough that the sea-cows are derived from a different stock from the whales, and that by their thick fleshy lips set with tactile hairs, their dentition, their small distinct head capable of being moved at the neck, the position of their nostrils, the structure of their skull, their brain, and their organs of reproduction, and by a number of other characters which we cannot fully explain here, they are associated with the ungulates. Since the ungulates are already met with in the oldest Eocene strata, while the sea-cows first appear in the Miocene, there is nothing to prevent us from regarding them as a retrograde branch of the former, as repre- sentatives of a type which, by a process similar to that which we have demonstrated in the case of the seals and the carnivores, has adapted itself to an aquatic life. Vol. II. THE ELEPHANTS (PROBOSCIDEA). l^irge animals whose nose is prolonged into a proboscis, which serves as a prehensile and tactile organ, with column-like legs, and feet with five toes united into a mass and covered with flattened hoofs; the upper incisors mostly in the form of tusks, no canines, compound molars ; placenta zonary. This order, much more abundantly de- veloped in former geological periods, is re- presented at the present day only by the elephants inhabiting the tropics of the Old World. There are now, in fact, only two species, one of which is confined to Africa, and the other to Southern Asia and the Sunda Islands. They are sufficiently different from one another for us to be able to regard them, along with the fossil species, as types of different sub-genera. The elephants are the most gigantic of land animals, and as such are held in becom- ing respect by all other creatures except man. These peaceable colossi, which live in bands, often very numerous, and tenderly protect their young up to the age at which they are able to defend themselves, would be able to pass their life unmolested even in the com- pany of tigers and lions if it were not that man attacks them, and even succeeds in taming them. The external characters are easily seized. The head seems enormous, high and short; the neck short; the huge body raised very high on the massive, straight, columnar legs. The skin is very thick, and has clumsy- looking folds, and is sparsely covered with hairs. These form a tuft at the end of the tail, which scarcely reaches to the " heel," that is, it must be remembered, to the joint of the hind-legs. The head is striking on account of the unusual development of the brow, the relatively small size of the eyes situated at the sides, the large size of the fan -shaped external ears, and lastly, on account of the trunk, which is always long enough to touch the ground when the animal stands erect. This trunk is formed through- out its whole length of two tubes separated by a middle partition, and consisting of a fibrous continuation of the cartilaginous nose, surrounded by very thick masses of muscle, the fibrous bundles in which intercross in various directions and thus impart an extra- ordinary degree of mobility to this organ. At the end of the trunk the partition forms a finger-like process, which, like the entrance to the nasal cavities, is covered with a delicate skin. This fleshy, very mobile finger serves chiefly as an organ of touch and prehension, and the elephant makes use of it with wonder- ful dexterity to pick up even the smallest objects.^ Under the trunk is seen the trian- ' This dexterity, nevertheless, seems often to have been ex- aggerated. Mr. R. A. Sterndale, author of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon, speaks of the difiiculty with which an elephant "scrapes up" a coin; and l)oth he and Mr. G. P. Sanderson are incredulous as to the stories of elephants picking up needles. — Tr. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 27 gular opening of the mouth, from which emerge two huge tusks embracing the root of the trunk. These tusks are much longer and stronger in the male than in the female. The root of the trunk represents, so to speak, the upper lip, the side parts of which alone are present. The lower lip is triangular, and is drawn out in front into a pendent point. If the trunk is mainly an organ of touch and prehension it serves at the same time as a means of procuring food and as a weapon of defence. The elephant takes hold of its food and carries it to its mouth with its trunk ; when it wishes to drink it fills the trunk with water, which it then squirts into its mouth. A good blow with the trunk is enough to break the back-bone of a tiger which might have the audacity to attack this colossus. Lastly, the different sounds which the animal emits by driving air through this wonderful organ express its feelings of joy and pain. Behind the short neck with its broad folds of skin comes the huge and thick but com- paratively short body supported by the four clumsy and unshapely columns formed by its legs, which appear to have only one joint in the middle, since the upper arms and the thighs are concealed in the flesh. All the bones of the limbs are present in the skeleton in their full number; but the short and plump bones of the toes and the wrist and ankle are so completely surrounded by sinewy and fibrous masses that the foot has the appear- ance of an enormous pavior's beetle, with a broad, flat, undivided sole. On the front edge of the foot-plate of this beetle, and partly on the upper surface, are found short, rounded, somewhat arched hoofs, which only cover the ends of the toes and are very apt to be lost. With these clod-crushers the elephant tramples to death an antagonist which he has laid low with a blow of his trunk. Altogether the elephant creates the impres- sion of a huge clumsy creature imposing by its size, but yet not fitted to inspire the same terror as a large well-armed carnivore. One would at once say that with a little adroitness it would be easy to elude this awkward booby. One might find one's self mistaken, however. The internal organization of the elephant proves, indeed, the necessity for having a separate order for these creatures, but at the same time reveals many affinities with other orders, and especially with those forms of which the large group of the pachyderms was formerly composed. The skull is very high behind, and thus presents a certain resemblance to that of the whales, a resemblance which would be still more marked if the bones of the forehead were not greatly enlarged by enormous cavities separated by leaf-like bony partitions, and communicating with the cavities of the nose. These frontal cavities are so large that they far exceed in size the cavity of the brain-case, and in an adult elephant the external plate of the frontal bone is about half a yard or more distant from the internal plate adjacent to the brain. The hunters know very well that a bullet shot at the forehead never penetrates to the brain, but remains sticking in these cavities, which are lined with a mucous membrane such as that which lines the cavities of the nose. The dentition consists of a single incisor in each of the premaxillae and of a huge and very complex molar in each half of each jaw. The premaxilize are, in fact, drawn out into huge tubes whose cavities extend very far back, even to the region beneath the eyes. In these sockets there arises and grows on a conical papilla one incisor on each side, which is at first straight and conical. This incisor is present even in the milk-dentition, and at the shedding of the teeth gives place to a permanent tusk, which on emerging from the socket curves outwards and upwards, goes on growing during the whole of life, and often becomes remarkably large in the males, while in the females it is straighter and less massive. It is from these tusks that ivory is derived. The short, high, deeply grooved lower jaw, thick behind and pointed in front. 88 THE ELEPHANTS. somewhat similar to that of the dugong, carries no incisors. The molars deserve special attention. These teeth, the grinding surface of which may attain a length of more than 15 inches and a breadth of 4 inches, may be considered as composed of a number of very close-set transversely -placed tooth- fragments, each of which has its own root, pulp-cavity, dentine, and enamel-layer, while all the crowns are united together by a bony cement. These compressed tooth-fragments are clearly seen to be separate at the roots. At first they form separate transverse ridges; afterwards the cement brings these ridges to a uniform level, and when the tooth has emerged from the socket and is brought Into operation it gets worn away horizontally so as to present an almost level surface, on which the folds of enamel are not, indeed, very prominent, but yet form very distinct lamellae. In different species these lamellae exhibit a characteristic arrangement, and in the fossil genera and species of the Probos- cidea we can trace all the transitions from molars with transverse ridges (Dinotherium), or with series of tubercles (Mastodon), to the more complicated forms of the elephants proper. This structure has as its consequence the gradual replacement of the molars as they get worn away by use, and this renewal takes place from behind forwards. A second molar, larger and having more numerous plates, is formed in a closed cavity behind the active or functional molar, and this second molar, by a rotatory movement which goes on in the pro- cess of growth, pushes out the older one, when it is used up, and takes its place. The elephant thus has in most cases only a single active molar in each half of the jaw, but there may be as many as three: one in front just ready to drop out and worn down to an insig- nificant stump, a second in full operation, and a third behind just beginning to emerge from the socket. So far as our observations yet go this renewal may be repeated five times in the Asiatic elephant. The first milk-molar, which cuts the gum at the age of three months and is replaced in the second year, consists of only four plates or lamellae, while the sixth has as many as twenty-seven. In the fossil proboscideans we can jarove a more or less decided tendency to this successive replace- ment of the molars carried on almost through- out life, in place of the single shedding and renewal which is the prevalent process in other animals. Among the features of the internal organ- ization we mention first of all the form and size of the brain. The elephant has the largest brain of all living and fossil animals. This brain, besides being larger than that of the whales, exhibits very numerous and complex convolutions. These are two notable facts, which, however, should not be exagger- ated. The point of importance lies not in the absolute size of the brain, but in the pro- portion of its mass to that of the whole body. Now, in proportion to the size of the body the elephant has not a very large brain. To show this it is enough, without making any accurate measurements, to compare the contents of the brain-case of the skull of an elephant and that of a man after both have been sawn through. The development of the convolutions of the brain likewise stands in close relation with the size of the animal. Large animals always exhibit more complex convolutions than small ones of the same family. The brain of the elephant even exhibits some characters which point to a lowly organization. The hemi- spheres of the large brain (the cerebrum) do not cover the small brain or cerebellum. The stomach is simple, the coecum enormous, the uterus bicornuate. The elephants are distin- guished from the other ungulate animals, except the Hyracida or rock-badger family, by their zonary placenta, which is not indeed contracted like that of the Carnivora, but nevertheless admits of the development of a deciduous membrane in the uterus. In the moist primeval forests of their native GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 29 regions the elephants roam about, often in numerous bands. The more abundant is the supply of water the rnore agreeable is it to the proboscis-bearers, and they often venture up into pretty high and cold mountains, pro- vided they can find there ponds and marshes in which to bathe and cool themselves during the heat of the day. They are fond of a moist heat, but they do not dread the cold if they can only get plenty of food and water. During the day the elephants seek the densest parts of the thickets, or plunge into pools up to their heads in order to pro- tect themselves against the flies and all sorts of parasitic insects which frequently make their abode on their skin. An elephant living in a state of freedom is seldom seen without having its back occupied by African beef- eaters i^Biiphaga africana) and other birds, which render it the service of seeking out these parasites and the larvae which bore into its skin. Without being entirely nocturnal in their habits a herd of elephants yet rest mostly by day, and set out on the march only at sunset. The elephant is exclusively herbivorous. All that he can reach with his trunk comes right to him. Still he has his favourite plants. He eagerly plunders certain trees by breaking off thick branches, from which he not only eats the leaves and the buds, but also strips off and swallows the bark, and even eats the wood. The ravages which a herd can com- mit in the woods, and in sedge and bamboo thickets, as well as in the plantations of the natives, are extraordinary. Not only are the branches broken all along the route selected by such a troop, but even tolerably thick trees are overthrown, and everything is trampled into the ground. The interior of many woods on the island of Ceylon, on the Sunda Islands, and in the interior of Africa is acces- sible only by the paths which the elephants have made in traversing them. The herds frequently number as many as a thousand in- dividuals, and formerly, before man had com- menced his disastrous raids, they were, with- out doubt, much more numerous. It will readily be understood that such numerous companies of these huge animals must lay waste the region in which they have settled for a time. Moreover, the elephant is essentially a vagabond which continually changes its quarters and even undertakes great migrations, in the course of which it is stopped neither by rivers nor mountains, nor even by sandy plains if they are not of too great size. The elephant swims easily and long without getting tired, merely keeping the end of his trunk above the surface of the water. It climbs among rocks with no little skill, man- ages to find out the lowest passes in crossing mountains, and knows how to overcome the worst difficulties of the ground. But this dexterity is often prejudiced by an excessive caution. The movements of the animal are in themselves neither graceful nor expert. It is always a very ponderous clumsy creature, greatly impeded by its own massiveness. The trunk alone is worthy of admiration on account of its flexibility, the certainty with which its movements can be executed, and the strength which it can put forth. But otherwise the elephant is not very adroit. Its gait is pretty slow, though the colossus can run very fast when once in full career, but this pace never lasts very long and is always maintained in a straight line. The animal turns only with difficulty, and a leap to the side is usually enough to get men and beasts when pursued out of the reach of its fury. The elephant is very shy and mistrustful. The slightest noise alarms him, and any kind of artificial hindrance, however insignificant, stops his progress. It is manifestly acquaint- ance with man that has developed this timidity. The powerful animal, which easily uproots a moderately large tree, allows itself to be kept in by a wretched stake stuck in the earth by man. The disposition of these giants is very pacific. Observers have never been able to 30 THE ELEPHANTS. witness quarrels or serious battles among the herds. Live and let live seems to be the highest law of these troops. Every individual drinks, eats, bathes, and rests according to its own pleasure, while keeping on good terms with its neighbour. The young are guarded and tended in common, are fondled and caressed by all, and are suckled by the females in milk. Only at the breeding season do serious battles take place between the males; and the rejected males, which live as hermits, the so-called "rogue" elephants, alone exhibit a fierce disposition, and are dangerous even to man. The female remains pregnant for 20 or 2 1 months. The new-born elephant is about three feet or more in height. It sucks with the mouth, bending back its trunk, and is able to follow the herd at the end of a few hours. The young continue growing till they are about 25 years old, and examples are known of elephants which have lived to be more than a hundred. The mental qualities which the elephant exhibits in a wild state scarcely surpass those of other social animals, and are certainly inferior to those of the apes and monkeys, while, on the other hand, they far excel those of the generally stupid ruminants. An old male leads the herd with infinite care and caution. It is he who scrutinizes susjaicious places, leads the marches, selects the halting- places, and stations the sentinels to ensure the safety of the herd while resting, bathing, or feeding. The herd follows him with a blind confidence, and all the members of it give themselves up to their sports without fear when the leader shows himself satisfied. It may justly be said that the higher mental qualities of the elephant, which cannot be called in question, have been developed only after he came into contact with man, his sole enemy. It is for that reason that he has an unbounded fear of man, and it is on account of this fear that he allows himself to be easily tamed and employed as a domestic animal, which still has its value in certain parts, but wherever civilization advances must yield to the ox and horse, whose services in the way of labour are much greater in proportion to the food consumed. The African Elephant [Elcphas africanus, Plate XVII.) may attain the height of 16 feet. It is easily distinguished by its short, thickset body, supported by long and rather thin legs, by its steep brow, and its enor- mous flat ears in the form of nearly half- moon shaped discs, which cover the neck and shoulders and touch the nape of the neck as well as the under surface of the throat with their extremities. These enormous fans are almost always in motion, and impart to the animal a quite peculiar appearance according to the position in which it holds them. The brow appears to be less arched than that of the Indian elephant, not in consequence of the lower development of the brain, as some recent writers assert, but because the hollow spaces which we have described in the frontal bone are not so much puffed up. The trunk is pretty slender, somewhat compressed, and has numerous folds which stand out on the edges like flattened scales. The tusks of the males are enormous, and may attain a length of several yards and a weight of no lbs. each.^ The skin is roughly folded, of a dirty slate-blue colour, and almost destitute of hair, which is found in small quantity only on the neck, the breast, and the belly. At the present day the African elephant, which far excels the Indian in size and strength, and also in wildness, is only the object of unceasing and destructive pursuit, carried on for the sake of the ivory, the tusks. The yield of ivory and the size of the tusks brought to market are gradually ' Isolated instances of much heavier tusks are recorded. Officers belonging to the Niger expedition of 1837 reported that a negro chief had shown them two tusks each measuring lyi feet in circum- ference at the socket and weighing more than 330 lbs., and Broderip states in his Zoological Recreations that a tusk of that weight was sold at Amsterdam. See Von Scherzer, Das ■wirthschaftliche Leben der V'olker, p. 366, «. — Tr. Tf/ai*/a£tjo. Plate XVII. — THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT (Eltf/ms a/ruanus). THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 31 diminishing with the steady diminution in the number of the animals. While in 18 10 the tusks exported from Africa weighed on an average about 29 lbs., this average has decreased since then by about one-third. Though the tusks in both species are pretty much alike, this is not the case with the molars. Those of the African elephant ex- hibit on the grinding surface at most twelve lozenge-shaped bands of enamel, the middle angles of which almost touch one another. In early years these teeth with their tubercled lamellae of enamel still unworn resemble in a certain measure those of the mastodons, and it may be said in general that, as regards the dentition, the inferior development of the frontal spaces, and a number of other char- acters belonging to the skeleton, the African elephant has preserved many archaic forms. The ancients used to tame this species and employed a large number in their circus games as well as in war. In the time of the Cccsars thousands of elephants were caught every year and sent to Rome to be trained to all the arts for which Asiatic elephants are now used. In our time hunters have begun to send over young specimens to our zoo- logical gardens. The chase of the wild elephant is not in- deed without danger, but cannot be compared in this respect with that of other large ani- mals. The elephant is essentially timid; it flees when it can, and though when wounded it darts with fury on its pursuer, it is not very adroit in its defence, and usually spends its strength in vain. The hunters of various tribes of Inner Africa pursue it on horseback or on foot armed only with a two-handed sword. While one of the hunters keeps the elephant engaged, the others seek to approach him in order to cut through at a stroke the sinews of the foot, or even to cut the trunk itself in two. In other regions the elephants are inclosed in a ring of fire by setting fire to the tall grasses of the steppes, and in other places again they are entrapped in carefully concealed pits. But all these earlier modes of elephant hunting are gradually giv- ing place to the method introduced by Euro- peans, that of shooting them with heavy bullets shot from rifles specially made for the purpose. The hunter adopting this method usually follows the elephant on horseback. The ball is fatal only when it strikes behind the ear, the only part of the head at which it can penetrate to the brain, or behind the shoulder-blade so as to reach the heart. The thick, tough hide is often used to cover shields or to make into straps, but in most cases the hunter contents himself with hew- ing out the tusks, leaving the carcass to the hyaenas and vultures. The Indian Elephant {Elepkas indicus), Plate XVIII., is not so large and has not such long slim legs as that of Africa. The fore- head is somewhat depressed in the middle and highly arched at the sides. The ears are much smaller and have the form of paper- cornets with the points hanging down and the upper edge rolled in. The tusks of the male are straighter and not so large. The molars are specially characteristic. The grinding surface exhibits a great number of transverse enamel plates, which form a series of closely adjoining very narrow ellipses, so that one may say that the whole tooth is transversely striped with narrow plates of enamel which are united in pairs at the edges of the tooth. As fossil species are found similar to the African elephant in respect of its dentition, so also are there fossil species the molars of which resembled in structure those of the Indian elephant. Of these the best known is the mammoth {E . primigenius), a gigantic species with enormous highly-re- curved tusks, which lived along with man in great numbers on the whole of the European continent during the Quaternary period, and at the end of this period perished in heaps in the Polar regions. As has been proved by the discovery of well-preserved carcasses of this species in the frozen diluvium on the 33 THE ELEPHANTS. banks of the Lena, these mammoths were covered with a thick fleece, and had long fluttering manes depending from the back and breast. The Indian elephant is scarcely hunted at all now like the African one for the sake of its ivory, but it is often captured to be tamed and used for the transport of heavy material over marshy and difficult ground where there are no roads. For such work the elephant is admirably adapted by its patience, caution, and skill, and its remarkable strength enables it to overcome the greatest obstacles. In general they are obedient and attached to their masters. But at the time of heat, which occurs at irregular periods, they can- not be trusted, since they are then subject to sudden accesses of fury. Their keepers know very well that the increased excretion of a strongly-smelling oily fluid from a super- ficial gland behind the eye bodes no good. It has been said that elephants do not propagate in captivity. That is entirely false. In the countries in which elephants are still frequently used, in which they are attached to the royal train, and even enjoy a kind of worship, as, for example, in Siam, there are breeding-studs of elephants, as we have breeding-studs of horses, and not very long ago a young elephant was born in New York of a female that had been kept for twenty years in a menagerie. But the pro- pagation in this way takes place extremely slowly, so that it is necessary to have constant resort to wild animals to make up deficiencies. In .some countries, especially in Ceylon, there are certain castes, in which the business of elephant -hunter is handed down from father to son. Mostly these hunters go out in pairs armed only with a very strong lasso or noose made of buffalo hide. They know how to slink up to an animal unobserved, but instead of severing the sinew at the knee, like the African hunters, one of them throws the noose round one of its feet while his companion fastens the other end to a thick tree. The captured elephant becomes furious, makes all possible efforts to get free, but is at last subdued by hunger, thirst, and pain; and at the end of a few months the elephant- catchers return in triumph with the tamed elephant, which is often accompanied by a female and her young one. Sometimes also great elephant battues are organized for the purpose of capturing whole troops. The following notices regarding the elephant, and account of the mode of capturing it in large bands, by G. P. Sanderson, superintendent of government elephant-catching operations in Bengal, will be read with interest: — "The opinion is generally held by those who have had the best opportunities of observing the elephant, that the popular estimate of its intelligence is a greatly exaggerated one; that, instead of being an exceptionally wise animal, its sagacity is of a very mediocre description. The truth of this opinion no one who has lived amongst elephants can doubt. It is a significant fact that the natives of India never speak of the elephant as a peculiarly intelligent animal, and it does not figure in their ancient litera- ture for its wisdom, as do the fox, the crow, and the monkey. "One of the strongest features in the domesticated elephant's character is its obedience. It may also be readily taught, as it has a large share of the ordinary cultivable intelligence common, in a greater or less degree, to all animals. But its reasoning faculties are undoubtedly far below those of the dog, and possibly of other animals; and in matters beyond the range of its daily experience it evinces no special discernment. Whilst fairly quick at comprehending anything sought to be taught to it, the elephant is decidedly wanting in originality. To begin with, the elephant displays less intelligence in its natural state than most wild animals. Whole herds are driven into ill-concealed enclosures, which no other forest creatures could be got to enter; and though these enclosures are made immensely strong, and are generally capable of resisting the efforts of any single elephant, they would not for a moment withstand the combined attack of even two or three, much less of a whole herd. But elephants never thus combine to free themselves. I have frequently seen fifty or sixty crowded into a stockade only thirty yards in diameter, the palisades of which would have been of no more account than corn- Ta/actfa^t 32. Plate XVIII. - THE INDIAN ELEPHANT (EUphas indicus). THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 33 stalks before the rush of three or four of them, but no such rush has been made. More significant still, I have, on several occasions, seen a single elephant in a herd, by a bold dash, burst through the palisade and effect its escape, but I never yet saw any other elephant follow, and the hunters have at once re- paired the breach. "When a herd of wild elephants is secured within a stockade, or kheddah, the mahouts ride trained elephants amongst the wild ones without fear, though any one of the wild ones might, by a move- ment of his trunk, dislodge the men. This they never do. Single elephants are caught by being bound to trees by men under cover of a couple of tame elephants, the wild one being ignorant of what is going on until he finds himself secured. Escaped elephants are retaken without trouble; even experience does not bring them wisdom. Almost yearly, one or two tame elephants of the hunting establishment at Dacca are lost in the jungles by straying, or other accident, whilst en- gaged in the capture of their fellows. As an ex- ample, in December, 1878, an elephant which had been captured three years, and partially trained to hunting, took fright at the fires and guns used in driving a herd, and ran away. Her mahout fell off, and nothing more was seen of her until March last, when we recaptured her after four and a half years' absence, in a herd of twenty-one elephants, 100 miles from where she was lost. She had a calf at heel. When pricked with a spear, and ordered to kneel, she did so promptly, and in three days she, and another reclaimed runaway, were employed in the capture of their fellows. Whilst such facts testify to the docility of the elephant, they tell heavily against its intelligence. . . . . " The government kheddah plan is the most cer- tain and economical method of taking wild elephants. As many as 1 18 have been secured in one drive by this means. ... A kheddah party of 370 men having been collected, it marches to the hunting grounds, sometimes 200 miles distant, where a base camp is ready, and where the establishment of tame elephants, generally from 100 to 150, has been col- lected, together with the stores, tools, and ropes required for the operations. Muskets and rations having been delivered to the men, and religious ceremonies for success having been performed, the hunters enter the jungle. The trackers of the party have probably already marked down a herd, where- upon the hunters approach to within a mile, and then divide under two experienced leaders, one half filing Vol. II. off to the right, and the other to the left, their object being to enclose the herd in a large circle by meeting beyond it. A man is left at every 30 yards or so along the lines, according to the nature of the ground. The skill with which this move- ment is effected is very remarkable, as the ground is usually quite unknown to the hunters, and the difficulty of crossing streams and hills, of forcing their way through dense jungle where no path exists, and of gaining the point they are making for without a compass, is considerable. "The circle, when completed, is often five or six miles in circumference. A large one, with men posted fifty yards apart or so, is more efficient in keeping in a herd than a smaller one with men much closer. Unless plenty of room be allowed to the elephants, they are liable to break through the cordon of guards; but it is a maxim in elephant catching that, the circle having once been formed, a herd can only escape through accident or great carelessness. It usually takes three or four hours to surround elephants. In a couple of hours the hunters run up a thin fence of split bamboos round the enclosure, and clear a path for communication between each others' posts. Their chief duty then is to see that the elephants do not break out of the circle. The animals seldom give trouble during the day; at night large fires are kept up, and shouts and shots are used to drive them back should they approach. The bamboo fencing serves to show the chief hunters, who patrol the circle at intervals, where the elephants have broken out should they escape, so that the particular men who are to blame can be detected. This investment of the elephants may have to be maintained for a week, sometimes for a month, if the elephants cannot be secured in the first attempts. "The elephants usually give some little trouble for the first two nights, but their conservative nature then seems to lead them to believe that there are set bounds to their wanderings ; and unless fodder or water becomes scarce, they seldom try to force the guards. A small herd always gives more trouble than a large one. The former may only be a wandering party from some large body of elephants not far away; it then shows a strong desire to break through to join its companions. A small herd, too, probably has no calves with it, which is a great dis- advantage, as it is then restless and quick in its movements. And a herd of a dozen elephants or so may be well in command of one courageous leader; whereas, in a large gathering, timid animals 37 34 THE ELEPHANTS. preponderate so greatly that a panic is easily esta- blished, and elephants that might otherwise behave boldly become infected with the general fear. . . . "On the day following the investment of the herd, the construction of the kheddah, or small enclosure into which the elephants are to be driven, is com- menced. It is situated on one of their chief paths (within the circle) and is constructed with the trunks of young trees, about 6 inches in diameter, and 12 feet high, arranged in a circle of from 20 to 50 yards across. Inside, round the foot of the pali- sades, a trench 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep is dug, the earth from this being thrown up into a bank on the inner side. The trench and bank of loose earth usually deter elephants from attacking the stockade, or should they do so, prevent their employing their full force against it The palisades are lashed to- gether with canes, and are strongly supported by cross beams and forked supports behind, the whole structure being designed to support outward pres- sure only. Were elephants to pull the palisades inwards, they would yield at once, but they never use their trunks for this purpose. An entrance of 4 yards in width is left for the ingress of the herd, and a gate, studded inside with sharp spikes, is either slung from the trees overhead, or is made in two leaves, and is pushed to upon the entrance of the herd, by men stationed behind it. "Astockadeof40 yards in diameteraccommodates 100 elephants easily. To guide the elephants into it, two lines of strong palisades are run out from the gate along each side of the path by which the herd is to approach. These guiding wings diverge to perhaps 60 yards across at their commencement, which may be 100 yards or so from the gate. When the whole is completed, the new woodwork is hidden with leaves and branches. The stockade is usually completed in three or four days. The hunters consider Friday the most lucky day for driving, and they make extraordinary efforts to get the stockade ready by that day if possible. The work of the stockade is done by one half the hunters being taken from the large circle from morning till evening daily, as a weak cordon of guards suffices to keep the elephants in during the day. "All being in readiness for driving a number of men are taken from the original circle, and a smaller interior surround is formed by commencing at the guiding wings of the kheddah, and posting the men until the elephants are again closed. The original circle is, of course, still maintained, in case of the elephants breaking through the inner one. If the herd be in two or three detachments, as frequently happens, these are quietly driven together, and the whole are then moved forward towards the kheddah. Should they show an inclination to break to the right or left, the men deter them by striking their axes against the trees. When the elephants gain the funnel-shaped approach to the stockade, the men close in from behind, and from the sides, and urge them on with shots and shouts. If the herd suspects danger, and breaks back through the beaters, fatal accidents not uncommonly occur. Sometimes a herd declines altogether to go in the direction of the stockade, owing to their having the wind from thatquarter. In such a case a new stockade may have to be constructed, and if that does not succeed, others also. In this way elephants are sometimes kept in a surround for a month. . "When a herd has been driven into the stockade, the gate is closed and barricaded, and men with firebrands and spears repel any attacks upon it or the palisades. But the trench is usually sufficient to deter the elephants from crossing it. On the same, or following day, ten or twelve tame ele- phants are admitted with a mahout and rope-tier upon each. . . . The mahouts separate the wild elephants one by one from their companions, when their hind legs are tied by men who slip to the ground for the purpose. A rope is then secured round each captive's neck, and to its hind legs, and it is led out and picketed in the forest near. . . . "The number of wild elephants that can be taken care of is, at the most, 50 per cent more than the tame ones. As each capture is concluded, the wild elephants are marched out of the jungle into open country, for if kept in the forest they continue to be excited by jungle sights and sounds, and to struggle for liberty, whilst flies are much more troublesome to their wounds in the jungle than in the plains. Each batch of new elephants requires a number of tame ones to be detached in charge of it; thus the hunting operations are limited by the number of the latter. "When a sufficient number of elephants has been taken, the hunters are dismissed, and all elephants under 7 feet in height are sold to merchants who follow the kheddah parties for the purpose of pur- chasing such. Those above 7 feet are retained for government service, except some males and old females, which are also disposed of Not more than 30 per cent of the elephants captured are young and strong females, thoroughly suitable for government service." GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT. 35 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT OF THE PROBOSCIDEANS. The geographical distribution of the pro- boscideans of the present day may be summed up in a few words. They are entirely con- fined to the warmer parts of the Old World, and while the African elephant inhabits the whole of the mainland of that continent south of the Sahara, the Indian elephant is found everywhere to the south of the Himalayas as far as the frontiers of China, and on the large islands in the south from Ceylon to Borneo and Sumatra. It may be that the elephants from the last-mentioned island form a separate geographical variety, but, if so, this variety is only slightly different from the elephant belonging to the mainland. The problem becomes much more com- plicated when we take into account the fossil proboscideans, of which we know with cer- tainty besides the elephants two different genera now quite extinct : the Mastodons with a few tubercled molars, and the Dino- theria with numerous smaller molars, whose crowns have transverse ridges (Zygodonts). To enter more thoroughly into the problem we must study the origin of the Proboscidea, and the relations in which the individual genera stand to each other. The true elephants have come down to us from the Miocene period, and in particular the Upper Miocene of India. They are accordingly of comparatively recent date, and are not even known in the contemporaneous strata of other countries. In Europe it is not till the time of the Lower Pliocene that we meet with species which approach the African form in the structure of their molars. The Miocene Indian elephants from the Sewalik Hills, from Ava and Perim, belong to a pretty considerable number of species, whose molars form transitions to the masto- dons through having their enamel folds notched into the form of tubercles. This approximation is so close, indeed, that certain species {Elephas Cliftii, E. insignis), forming the sub-genus Stenodon, are considered by some naturalists to be true mastodons. Only in the Pleistocene of the "forest bed" of Cromer, near Norwich, and in the contem- poraneous strata on the mainland of Europe and in North America, are there found elephants whose dentition approaches more nearly to that of the Indian species, and since the African type still continues we find the two still living forms almost everywhere together at that time. But in Quaternary times the species of the African type are for the most part restricted to the regions lying round the Mediterranean Sea, while those of the Indian type, and especially the mammoth {E. primigenius), are spread over the whole of the European mainland and the whole of Asia north of the Altai as far as the Polar Regions. The elephants of the African type {E.priscus, nieridionalis, &c.) died out earlier than the others. The mammoth, as already intimated, survived to be a contemporary of man, and an allied species (E. Columbi) lived in Georgia and Mexico into the Ice Age. The molars present so many transitional forms not easy to distinguish that we may fairly infer a progressive development of the species from one another. Since the elephants undertake extensive migrations, we are driven to assume that they gradually extended their domain westwards and northwards from India, becoming meanwhile slightly modified in their forms, and that these migrations re- quired a long interval of time, so that the elephants did not reach the centre and south of Europe till Pliocene, nor the north till Quaternary times. The Miocene deposits of India have yielded species from which the types now living can be derived without difficulty. The African elephant still lived beyond a doubt in Malta, Sicily, and Southern Italy during the Quaternary period. Be that as it may, the astounding fact still remains that enormous accumulations of the 36 THE ELEPHANTS. remains of the mammoth, and even whole carcasses with the flesh and skin, have been found even in the most remote islands of the Arctic Seas, and that this extinct species, which furnishes us at the present day from Siberia with much of the ivory of commerce, was adapted, as is shown by its maned woolly fleece, to much colder climates than those of our temperate zone, while our still living almost naked elephants are not met with far outside the tropics. The presence of Quater- nary elephants in the United States and in Mexico perhaps finds its explanation in this, that migrations of these animals took place across Behring's Strait, a view supported by the fact that on the islands and coasts of this strait enormous accumulations of remains have been found partly buried under very old glaciers. The genus Mastodon is distinguished from the elephants especially by its tuberculated molars, by having more or less deciduous tusks (incisors) in the lower jaw, and by the absence of air-spaces in the frontal bones. This remarkable genus appeared, in Europe at least, at the time of the Middle Miocene at Simorre and in Orleanais, and prevailed chiefly during the time of the Upper Miocene, when Europe rivalled India in the wealth of species. The Pliocene witnessed a diminu- tion in the number of species. At this stage the genus died out in Europe and the whole of the Old World, while it appears again with the Pleistocene both in North and South America, and evens exhibits several species in the Quaternary strata of that hemisphere. The great mastodon of the Ohio {^Mastodon giganteum) played a similiar role during the Quaternary period in North America to that played by the mammoth in the Old World. The elephants have, without doubt, developed from mastodons, for in spite of all the dis- tinctions which we have mentioned, there are yet transitional forms so closely related to one another that we cannot but agree with Gaudry in saying, " In reality it is impossible to say at what moment a tooth can no longer be ascribed to a mastodon or must be ascribed to an elephant." But while we remain confined to the region of well -distinguished species, we must con- clude from the fact above enumerated, that the mastodons, having first appeared on the mainland of the Old World, migrated to America towards the close of the Pliocene, and there continued to exist till the beginning of the present period. The extinct genus Dinotherium deviates most widely from the rest of the Proboscidea. The skull so closely resembles that of the sea-cows that many naturalists included the animal in this order before the limbs were discovered. The molars were ascribed by Cuvier to a gigantic tapir, and lastly, the enormous sabre-like tusks set in the down- wardly curved lower jaw impart to the animal a quite peculiar aspect. The bones of the limbs discovered at Pikermi and in Bohemia leave no doubt as to the true relationships of the Dinotheria; they exhibit very close affinities to those of the Mastodons. The form of the molars with transverse ridges, the so-called zygodont molars, can throw little light on the affinities of the Dinotheria, for this form is found also in the kangaroos, manatees, and tapirs, as well as in our elephants. The presence of large incisors in the form of tusks in the lower jaw is remarkable. The Mastodons, the oldest proboscideans, have incisors in both jaws; the elephants, their successors, have them only in the upper jaw, and the Dinotheria only in the lower jaw. The Dinotheria be- came extinct at the close of the Tertiary period. If we can trace back the ancestral stock of our present elephants to the Miocene mastodon of Simorre with narrow teeth, it is impossible for us to pursue it to a more remote antiquity. The mastodons, no doubt, exhibit distant relationships to the ungulates generally, and especially to the even-toed GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT. . 37 ungulates (Artiodactyla), but these relations do not suffice to represent any special stock. All the affinities that have hitherto been suggested break down in face of one slight objection, namely this, that the supposed ancestors belong to more recent strata than their assumed descendants. There is only one exception. The members of the genus Dinoceras, gigantic animals from the Middle Eocene of Wyoming and Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, are older than the mastodons. But does that suffice to entitle us to regard these forms as constituting the primitive stock of our proboscideans? I do not believe it. It appears to me difficult to bring these animals, furnished with horn- like bony excrescences, numerous very small molars, and enormous canines and no incisors, into connection with the pro- boscideans, in which the incisors play so important a r6le and the canines are always absent. To sum up, the Proboscidea form a separate order, which has some affinities to the Un- gulata, which was formerly spread over the. whole breadth of the mainlands of both hemi- spheres, but which is now in process of rapid decay, since its members are all extinct with the exception of two species living in the tropics of the Old World. ODD-TOED UNGULATES (PERISSODACTYLA). Hoofed animal mostly of large size, usually with an odd number of toes on both pairs of feet, the middle toe being the one that continues the axis of tlie leg. The thigh-bone has a third trochanter; dentition complete; stomach simple; teats abdominal or inguinal; placenta usually diffuse and composed of separate cotyledons distributed over the whole surface of the ovum. The animals belonging to this order formed the greater part of the division of the Pachy- derms with an odd number of toes of Cuvier, the group of herbivorous Pachyderms of other authors, who do not ascribe so much importance to the structure of the feet as has been done in recent times especially with respect to the fossil series. The genera now living are, in fact, only the greatly thinned and isolated relics of the fossil types, and in order to acquire a proper understanding of the relations of the living Perissodactyla among one another, it is necessary to have recourse to the fossil forms from which they are derived. We comprise in this order the Rock-badger or cony family [Hyracida), Rhinoceroses, Tapirs, and Horses, but willingly confess that the rhinoceroses and the tapirs alone have near relations of affinity to one another in the fauna of the present day, while the horses, and in a still greater degree the rock-badgers, appear to be much more divergent types. The leading character of this order consists in the structure of the feet, which serve for no other use than standing or running, and in which the distal or lower end is dominated by an axis running through the middle toe, to which all the others are from the first sub- ordinate. We have at the present day not a single five-toed perissodactyle surviving, but the original number of the toes was five, and if we trace the series back to the oldest Eocene strata, we can demonstrate the existence of certain five-toed perissodactyles in these strata, and arrange the forms in stages, showing how by a gradual reduction in the number of toes we arrive at the apparently single-toed foot of the horse. The law according to which these reductions take place is easy to understand. First of all the toes destined to disappear do not develop sufficiently to touch the ground, they become steadily shorter and more rudimentary, while the middle toe gains in importance, and is brought into the same line with the bones belonging to it of the carpus and metacarpus in the fore-limbs, or tarsus and metatarsus in the hind limbs (that is, the bones corresponding in the one case to those of the wrist and palm of the hand, in the other to the ankle and sole of the foot). This process of reduction first affects the first or innermost digit, which disappears before all the others. The fore-feet of the tapirs and rock-badgers still have four toes ; the first digit is altogether wanting, but it is at once felt that the fifth digit is already condemned to impotence and tends to vanish. This loss THE ROCK-BADGER OR CONY FAMILY. 39 is completed on all the four feet of the rhin- oceroses and on the hind-feet of the Hyracida and tapirs, so that these feet are composed only of the dominant middle toe together with the second and fourth digits. The gradual loss of the latter two digits can be traced in the series of fossil horses. In the fossil genus Hipparion they no longer touch the ground, and carry so-called false hoofs, and in our present-day horses they are reduced to two little style-like splint-bones, as they are called, attached to the two sides of the enormously enlarged metacarpal (or metatarsal) bone. This reduction, which converts the limb into a column, leads, as may easily be imagined, to the loss of the ulna in the fore-limb and to that of the fibula in the hind-leg, so that the lower arm and lower leg, each originally composed of two distinct bones, come at last to consist only of the radius (chief bone of the fore-arm) and tibia (shin-bone) respectively. The limbs themselves are sometimes shorter and more massive, as in the rhino- ceroses and the tapirs, sometimes longer, as in the horses; but whatever their special organization may be, one characteristic is always present: the thigh-bone always has below the great trochanter a separate bony process, known as the third trochanter, for the attachment of the muscles. This process often becomes remarkably large, as in the rhinoceros, and since it is never absent it affords an excellent distinguishing character. What still further distinguishes the Peris- sodactyla is the large number of vertebrae between the neck and the pelvis — of rib- bearing dorsal vertebree and of lumbar vertebrae. The number of these vertebrae is never less than 22, it may rise even to 29 or 30. In a rock-badger belonging to the Cape I have counted as many as 21 rib-bearing and 8 lumbar vertebrae. The dentition presents highly archaic characters in the cheek - teeth along with pretty considerable modifications in the front teeth. We always find, in fact, in the first instance seven cheek-teeth in each half of the jaw, both above and below, and these re- semble each other so closely that it is scarcely possible to distinguish premolars from true molars by the form. All these teeth are compound and exhibit on the grinding surface of the crown varied forms of enamel folds, which become more and more prominent as the teeth get worn away by use, and which, at least in the horse series, increase in com- plexity from ancient to more recent times. The close-set series of cheek-teeth are separ- ated from the front teeth by a larger or smaller interval or diastema. In this front set of teeth there prevails great diversity. The incisors, originally present in considerable number, may become specialized as in the Hyracida, or become deciduous as in the rhinoceroses; the canines, always weak, may become quite rudimentary. The brain of all perissodactyles is not very large, and the hemispheres of the cerebrum always leave the cerebellum uncovered. The brain of the rock-badger shows some very simjDle convolutions; the hemispheres of the large genera, as is always the case with larger animals, have more complex convolutions. The intelligence of these animals, even of the most perfect, such as the horse, is always very limited. The stomach is simple and relatively small, and shows no tendency to a further subdivision. The intestines, and especially the caecum, are very long, as in many entirely herbivorous animals. THE ROCK-BADGER OR CONY FAMILY (HYRACIDA). This family contains animals of the size of a rabbit, which are so very different from the other Perissodactyla in respect of various characters that they may very well be taken to form a sub-order.'^ Formerly these little ' By many naturalists they are regarded as constituting a separate order. — Tr. 40 THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. inhabitants of the stony deserts of Africa and Syria were regarded as rodents, and the older zoologists were not a little astonished when Cuvier declared that they had a great resem- blance to the rhinoceroses. Their possession of a zonary placenta induced many more recent naturalists to rank them with the ele- phants. Now that we are acquainted with a considerable number of fossil ungulates of small size, both odd-toed and even-toed, the persistence of a genus, which is about equal in size to such old genera as Tapirulus, has nothing so very remarkable about it as ap- peared to be the case when only the large Per- issodactyla of the present day were known. In their external appearance the Hyracida resemble small marmots, the bobaks of the Russian steppes, and the prairie dogs of North America (Cynomys). The short fat body ending with a thick head, pointed in front and supported by two pairs of short slender limbs, while at the other end there is only a short stump representing a tail, is clothed with a fine thick silky fur of a yellowish-gray colour, which is darker on the back than underneath, and is somewhat shaded round the eyes and mouth. The muzzle is that of a rodent, the upper lip is cleft in the middle, the eyes are small and prominent, the ears rounded, almost concealed under the hair. The weak and short feet have four toes in front and three behind, and these toes are united down to their extremities by skin and are covered with small slightly arched hoofs, with the exception of the inner toe of the hind-foot, which carries a small claw. The sole of the foot is covered with a firm, rough naked skin divided into several lobes by means of deep furrows. The Hyracida can make use of these little cushions and furrows for the production of vacuums which act as suckers. In this manner they cling to the smooth surfaces of the rocks, in the clefts of which they have their retreats. They climb just as easily as geckos, and attach them- selves like tree-frogs to smooth surfaces. What is most striking in the skeleton of these little animals is the very large number of dorsal and lumbar vertebrae, the fused tail vertebrae, the structure of the feet, which resemble those of tapirs on a small scale, the remarkable width of the skull between the eyes, and the great height and breadth of the posterior half of the lower jaw. The dentition is distinguished by an ap- proximation to that of the rodents, indicated mainly, indeed, in the incisors, but made still more marked by the entire absence of canines in both jaws. The development of a large rootless curved incisor in each half of the premaxilla reminds us of the rodents. But these incisors present, not one, but two external surfaces covered with white enamel, while the internal surface is merely formed of dentine. A transverse section of one of these continuously growing incisors exhibits the form of an equilateral triangle, and as the tooth gets worn away by use it always shows two cutting edges, which unite in the middle in a point corresponding to the angle at which the enamel surfaces meet one another. In the milk dentition there is a second pair of quite small incisors, which are soon shed and are never replaced. The lower incisors are four in number, and are very closely set at the fused symphysis of the halves of the lower jaw. They have the form of long compressed blades lying obliquely and worn away transversely. Behind the incisors there follows a diastema in place of the canine, and after- wards there follow seven, or even eight, cheek-teeth in each half of the jaw, and these, while all very similar in form, increase in size from before backwards. There are, in fact, four premolars and three or four true molars. The upper cheek-teeth are larger than the lower; both above and below each tooth seems to consist of two halves. In the upper jaw each half has an internal heel surrounded by a strip of enamel, and both heels are united by a strong external serrated enamel THE TAPIR FAMILY. 41 plate. In the lower jaw each cheek-tooth is formed by the union of two half- moon shaped parts with the convexity to the out- side. These molars resemble those of the fossil Pateotheria. Uental formula: — '■ „ 2.0.7-8 = 34-38 teeth. The largest species of the genus Hyrax, the Cape Daman (//. cape7isis), which the Dutch settlers call Klippdass, that is, rock- badger, attains a length of 15 or 16 inches. Like the Syrian Hyrax {^H. syria- c?(s), which is known in the He- brew Scriptures by the name of Saphan (in the authorised version Cony), and the Abyssinian hyrax, the Ashkok of the natives (//. habes- sinicus), which is shown in fig. 145, this animal is found in large companies in- habiting stony deserts, where it can easily find retreats amongst fragments of rock, and has abundance of savoury plants for its food. These companies behave very much as marmots do. They come out of their holes and corners only after they have cautiously examined all round to see that there is no danger. They sit upright on the watch, never go very far from their holes, and give warning of danger by means of a sharp whistling sound. They bring forth only two young ones at a time, but these soon become independent of their mother, and would soon swarm all round if it were not that many of them, in spite of all their caution, become the prey of carnivores. They are delightful little creatures, always good-humoured, agile in their sports, but rather lazy where food is abundant, and, according to the reports of travellers, live Vol. 11. Fig. 145. — The Abyssinian Hyrax {Hyrax haiessinicus). notwithstanding their timidity on good terms with ichneumons and large lizards. The flesh is similar to that of the rabbit, and here and there is much liked and eaten. Although in most species there is a com- plete adaptation to a life among the rocks, it is not to be inferred that this is universally true of the group. There are, in fact, in Mozambique and in the interior of Africa certain species out of which the genus Den- drohyrax has been formed, a genus scarcely distinguishable in- deed by any es- sential characters in the dentition or in the struc- ture of the limbs, but one of which the species pass their life on trees, pairs building nests for themselves in holes in the trunks, and, in short, be- having altogether as climbing animals. The structure of the extremities already described facilitates in these species the climbing even of straight stems. It is a remarkable example of adaptation to a tolerably diverse mode of life, but one which is rendered intelligible by the relations that may have subsisted between the essentially arboreal Prosimii and their supposed ungulate ancestors. THE TAPIR FAMILY (TAPIRIDA). The family of the tapirs has originated from one of the oldest mammalian stocks, one that was distributed in Eocene times over the whole earth. The Tapirs (Tapirus) are clumsy, massive, short-legged animals of about the height of an ass, but with the general appearance of a pig, from which, however, they are at once 38 42 THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. distinguished by the structure of the feet, these having four hoofed toes in front, three behind. The longish head with pretty high brow has a certain resemblance to that of a pig in the development of a short proboscis which hangs down over the muzzle. This proboscis is almost naked, with a round extremity pierced by the nostrils, and serves mainly as an organ of touch. It is constantly in motion. The tapir sniffs and feels objects with it, and even employs it to press things into its mouth; but it cannot use this pro- boscis as the elephant does his, and in particular it drinks directly through the I'ig. 146. — The liraziliuH Tapir mouth instead of squirting into its mouth water which it had previously sucked up into this proboscis. In some species the partition between the nostrils terminates in a small finger-like process as in the elephants. The ears are always straight, in the form of pointed paper-cornets. The neck is short, the belly round and large, the tail rudi- mentary. The last phalanges of the toes are inclosed in flat rounded hoofs, which all touch the earth. The pollex or first (inner- most) toe is wanting in the fore-feet, and of the other four toes the fifth or outermost is the shortest, while the middle toe exceeds in length and size the second and fourth on each side. The hind-feet have only three toes. or AiUa (Tapiriis americaiius). namely, the second, third, and fourth digits. The hallux or innermost digit and the fifth digit are wanting. In the skeleton we observe the massive form of the bones, the large number of rib- bearing vertebne (eighteen), the third tro- chanter on the thigh-bone, and the peculiar form of the astragalus (the ankle- or sling- bone) — all characters common to the Perisso- dactyla generally. The skull is elongated, and has its height increased behind by a well- marked ridge or crest running along the middle line longitudinally (sagittal crest). In the ordinary tapirs the nasal bones, which are sometimes very short, form an incomplete roof triangular in form extending horizontally THE TAPIR FAMILY. 43 over the cavity of the nose. They are very unequal in size, and are attached at a rather open angle to the very narrow forehead. In the genus Elasmognathus, which has been separated from the true tapirs, the structure of the nasals approaches that seen in the rhinoceroses. The nasal roof in this case is much larger, is arched, and supported by a long partition. The dentition is very characteristic. In both jaws there are six incisors, three on each side; but while in the lower jaw these incisors are chisel-shaped and diminish in size outwards, those of the upper jaw, on the contrary, are conical, massive, pointed, and assume altogether the appearance of strong sharp canines. The true canines are very small in the upper jaw ; in the lower jaw, on the other hand, furnished with a short, strong, sharp crown. In both jaws these teeth are separated by a wide interval from the cheek-teeth, of which there are seven above, six below, in each half of the jaw, all indistinguishable in form and structure. They have almost quadrangular crowns, which are often so deeply divided by a transverse fissure that they seem to be composed of two blades set behind one another. In the lower jaw this so-called zygodont structure of tooth is most marked, since the ridges are very straight and appear to be completely separate, while in the upper cheek-teeth they are connected externally by a strip running length-ways. These creatures are inoffensive vegetable- feeders, which live in families, seldom forming small troops, and roam about especially in morasses and in moist forests abounding in streams and pools. They are somewhat nocturnal in their habits, sleeping by day, while by night they go out in search of tasty plants, roots containing plenty of starch, and fruits; they are very timid, and when danger threatens at once seek refuge in the water, where they swim and dive with great facility. They are fond of diving to the bottom like hippopotamuses. They bring forth one or two young ones at a time, and these have a striped skin similar to that of porkers. The females are larger than the males. Two genera can be distinguished. The Brazilian Tapir, the Anta of the natives ( Tapir Its atnericanus), fig. 1 46, belongs to the genus of the true tapirs, with a cartila- ginous nasal septum. The proboscis is cylin- drical at the end, the finger-like process but slightly developed, the colour of the skin brownish-gray, rather darker along the middle line of the back. On the neck there is a sort of mane, composed of short stiff hair. In other respects the covering of hair is similar to that of a pig, being composed of thinly- scattered adpressed bristles. The animal lives in the low marshy forests of South America, hides by day, forms paths by which it regularly passes and repasses in the thickets, wallows in the marshes and the mud, is remarkably timid, and endeavours to make its escape at the least sound, either plunging into the water or rushing blindly through the underwood. Only in defending their young do the mothers become furious, and dart violently against the hunters and dogs that attack them. In their own country tapirs feed solely on vegetable matters, and are just as eager as ruminants in searching out salt pools and ponds. The large felines, jaguars and cougars (pumas), pursue the tapir with not less eagerness than man, who finds his flesh, which is somewhat like beef, very much to his taste, and in addition makes an excellent thick leather out of his hide. The anta is often kept in zoological gardens, where he thrives pretty well if only supplied with plenty of water and mud in which to bathe and wallow, and with a good warm crib for winter. Altogether the tapirs are harmless creatures, which love rest and quiet, show little attach- ment to their keepers, are as fond as pigs are of being scratched, and live on good terms with their fellows, but do not inspire visitors with any great interest. # 44 THE odd-toi<:d ungulates. The Malayan or Shabrack Tapir, the Maiba of thenatives( Tapirusindicus{malayanus)), fig. 147, is distinguished from the Brazilian only by its rather shorter proboscis flattened under- neath, by the less abrupt profile of the head, by the absence of the mane, and by the colour and markings of the skin. The whole body is very dark with the exception of the hinder part, which is of a dirty-white colour, and makes it appear as if the whole of the body from the shoulders to the root of the tail and the top of their thighs were covered with a shabrack or horse-cloth fastened under the belly. This rare species, found chiefly on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, was first made known to science in 1820. A few specimens have been brought to Europe, but they have not lived long. An American species, the Andes or Hairy Tapir {T. Roulinii ox vil/osus), has a still more sloping forehead than the previous one, very thick and dense hair, quite black, with an indistinct whitish patch on the lips. By this development of a woolly covering the species has adapted itself to a life in the high valleys of the Cordilleras at a height of 10,000 feet and more, where severe winters prevail. Finally Baird's Tapir {E lasmognathus ( Tapiriis) Bairdii), of a uniform dark brown, with white lips and without a mane, has only recently been discovered in Guatemala and on the isthmus of Panama. This tapir is distinguished in a very marked manner from Tapir {Tapir us iiiJicus). the others by the very level brow like that of a boar, by the bony septum of the nose, and by the more delicate and narrower hoofs. The structure of the nose causes the skull to resemble that of the following family. THE RHINOCEROS FAMILY (NASICORNIA). At the present day this family consists of only a single genus, Rhinoceros, within which subordinate groups have been formed in accordance with the degree of persistence in the incisors, the presence or absence of a second horn, or even the greater or less thick- ness of the hide. All rhinoceroses are huge, heavy, clumsy THE RHINOCEROS FAMH^Y. 45 animals, with bent legs so short that the belly seems almost to drag on the ground, extremely ugly in appearance, with a rather surly temper generally, and during accesses of fury ter- rible. They are confined at the present day to the tropics of Africa and India, and present specific differences in different localities. The head is of moderate size, we may even say small in comparison with the huge body; it is greatly elevated behind. Above, at the back of the head, there are long ears in the form of pointed paper-cornets with a narrow thickened rim. The small eyes are placed at the side, the long projecting snout is arched above, and on this arch stands a horn of vari- able size, or sometimes there are ■ two horns one behind the other. These horns, which are borne on very strong upwardly-curved nasal bones, are composed solely of fused horny fibres, and their texture is exactly like that of the hoofs or the hollow horns of oxen. But they are distinguished from the latter in that they have no bony core, being quite solid and connected only with the .skin. The nasal bones are only wrinkled and spongy at the parts where these horns are attached not very firmly. The horns readily come off a few days after the death of the animal, through the destruction of the vessels and the horn-pulp. In certain districts these horns still have a considerable value. They are used to make cups, which have the reputation of destroying the efficacy of poisons poured into them. The jaws and opening of the mouth are enormous, the lips thick, and especially the upper lip, which is covered with a very thin skin, and is produced in the middle into a finger-like prolongation, which enables the animal to seize the twigs and stems of plants on which it feeds. The neck is usually thicker than the head and surrounded by broad folds of skin, the belly very thick, the tail short, and ending in a tuft. The legs cannot be better described than by comparing them to those of a badger-hound, so twisted and un- shapely are they. They terminate in three toes, which are placed very close together, covered with arched hoofs, and which all touch the ground. Behind these hoofs there is a broad callous sole. The very thick tough hide is highly valued for the making of shields, straps, cords, and whips. In living animals it presents two very remarkable modifications, which have even been employed for the grouping of species. In the Asiatic forms there are scattered over it broad shield- like plates composed of firmer parts, which are connected together by more flexible folds all running in the same direction. The animal appears to carry a coat of armour composed of several pieces, admitting of a certain amount of mobility at the neck, shoulders, and hips. In the African species, on the other hand, the hide, though far from thin, is yet more flexible, adapts itself better to the outline of the body, and presents a smooth surface, instead of ex- hibiting, like the armour-clad forms, as we might call them, a number of knobs and bosses, which have a distant resemblance to the inequalities in the shields of the armadillos. Usually this skin is quite naked; only a few hairs are found on the edges of the ears and at the end of the short tail, where they form a tuft which never reaches down to the hollow of the knee. The Quaternary rhinoceros, whose remains are found in such abundance along with those of the mammoth [R/i. (ichorhiii'its), had a woolly fleece interspersed with stronger bristles, manifestly as the result of adaptation to colder climates. The skeleton of these animals everywhere shows heavy clumsy forms, with very marked ridges for the insertion of the muscles. The skull is in some species short and compact, in others greatly lengthened in consequence of the enormous size of the jaws. The rough warty patches indicating the place of attach- ment of the horns (which, in some species, may grow to a length of more than 3 feet) are very conspicuous on the back of the nasals. The transverse ridges at the back of the head, the processes of the vertebrae, the 46 THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. ridges on the bones of the limbs, and especi- ally the third trochanter on the thigh, are enormous; even the ribs have oblique middle ridges throughout their entire length. The dentition is characterized by the want of constancy in the front teeth, and the peculiar form of the enamel folds in the cheek-teeth. The canines are always want- ing, so that a considerable interval separates the cheek-teeth from the incisors, which were originally {in fossil forms) four or even six in number both above and below. The rhinoceroses of the present day have at first two incisors in each half of the jaw, but their subsequent development varies greatly. In the upper jaw the incisors are very close-set ; the outer pair are the smaller and first dis- appear. In the lower jaw the incisors are conical, almost horizontal, and directed for- wards; the outer ones are often very strong, and in some fossil species developed almost in the form of tusks. They persist the longest; while the inner ones drop out early, although always subsequently to the shedding of the outer incisors of the upper jaw. At last all the incisors dis:ippear and are never replaced. We thus have species in which there are only two incisors above and four below; others in which only two incisors are found below in the adult ; and others again in which they are latterly altogether wanting, and in which the callous margins of the gum serve to root up plants. In the young animal the various stages of this gradual reduction can be observed. The cheek-teeth are .seven in number in each half of each jaw, in all twenty-eight, but they are very diverse in their nature. The upper ones are much larger than the lower. They have two irregular transverse prominences, which are separated on the inside by a deep winding fissure, but on the outside are con- nected by a longitudinal fold. When the tooth has been worn down to some extent these pro- minences seem to be surrounded by a con- tinuous curiou.sly-twisted strip of enamel. The lower cheek- teeth are longer than broad, and exhibit two sickle-shaped bodies surrounded by enamel, these bodies standing obliquely be- hind one another and having their convexity behind. Among the internal parts of the organization we may take note of the relatively small simple stomach, the enormous colon and caicum, the small brain, the two- horned uterus, the two inguinal teats, and the diffuse placenta. The female remains pregnant seventeen months, and brings forth a single young one, which is defended by the mother with fury. The horn begins to grow only when the young animal has advanced a little in age; the new-born animal has only a slight swelling on the nose, such as characterized the hornless ancestors of our present rhino- ceroses (Aceratherium) throughout life. The habits of these dull, stupid, and clumsy but powerful animals are almost everywhere the same. They are exclusively herbivorous ; but while most of them prefer marshy woods, the jungle, and the banks of rivers and ponds where they can wallow in the mud, we have African species {Rh. siimts) which show a preference for the steppes with dry stifif grasses. But in general rhinoceroses require water and mud if it is for nothing else than to defend themselves against the insects which torment them in spite of the thickness of their hide. These giants have no enemy to fear except man. Lions and tigers go out of their way, for their horns and feet are terrible weapons, and when once a rhino- ceros has broken out into fury nothing can withstand the violence of his onslaughts. With head down he darts upon his enemy, throws him to the ground, and tramples him under his feet. We have heard of battles between elephants and rhinoceroses, but no recent observer has ever witnessed one. But it appears that these two giants of the forest shun one another, although in Quaternary times the mammoth and the rhinoceros with bony nasal .septum manifestly lived together as peaceable neighbours. To face page ti. Plate XIX. - THE INDIAN RHINOCEROS (Rhinoceros induus). THE RHINOCEROS FAMILY. 47 The' rhinoceroses have an acute sense of hearing and a keen scent. They avoid man when they have come to know his power, and in hunting these animals it is necessary to observe carefully the direction of the wind and to proceed without noise. But when met unexpectedly or driven into a corner the rhinoceros becomes terrible, and woe to the sportsman who misses his aim! In the forests which they inhabit they make paths for them- selves through the densest underwood by treading down everything in their way, and although the hunters make use of these paths they nevertheless carefully avoid meeting with these stupid and passionate animals. In captivity the rhinoceroses are sluggish, unintelligent, and unsocial. They can scarcely be rendered attached to their keepers, who are obliged to behave with great caution towards them. They astonish but do not attract visitors. The rhinoceroses may be divided into two groups. The Asiatic Rhinoceroses have permanent incisors, and armour-plates on the hide sepa- rated by deep folds. They have sometimes one, sometimes two horns, In a full-page illustration (PI, XIX.) is shown a one-horned species known from time immemorial, the Indian Rhinoceros [R/i. indicus), which is distributed over the region from Bengal to Cochin-China. It attains a length of 13 and a height of 6^ feet. The horn, more than a foot and a half long, is curved backwards and is rather slender; the upper lip is very large. It has the most complete armour of all, One plate covers the back of the neck, another the shoulder, a third the belly, a fourth the rump, and a fifth the thigh. The hide is of a dirty-gray colour. Pompey caused the first specimen which was ever seen in Europe to be brought to Rome in the year 61 b.c. It is eagerly pursued on account of the tremendous ravages it commits in plantations. Among the other ea.stern species the Javan Rhinoceros i^Rh, javanicus ksondaicus) ) is one-horned like the preceding species; while that of Sumatra (AV/. sumat- rensis), and another from Malacca, with tufts of hair on the ears i^Rh. lasiotis^), have two horns and form the transition to the African species. The African Rhinoceroses have all two horns and a thinner hide forming folds with- out plates. Their incisors drop out. The Two-horned Rhinoceros i^Rli. bicornis), PI. XX., is quite as large as the Indian species, but the head is shorter and carries two horns, the foremost of which is the long- est. The hide has a dark-brown colour inclining to black. The animal formerly inhabited the whole of the mainland of Africa down to the Cape, but has been driven north- wards towards the interior by the colonists on account of the ravages it committed in their plantations. It is regarded as much more stupid and much wilder than the Indian species. The hide has only small folds. [The Hon. W. H. Drummond, author of The Large Game of South and South-east Africa, speaks on several occasions of the ferocity of Rh. bicornis, which he considers the most dangerous of all African game. This ferocity, however, is exhibited only towards man, and without doubt there is good reason for its manifestation. "Their cun- ning," he writes, " is only equalled by their vicious- ness. In most, if not in all cases, they will at once charge on getting the wind of a human being, and if they cross his track they will often follow it up like a dog, making none of the puffing sounds natural to them when angry, till they absolutely see him. When wounded, and occasionally when much disturbed, their spoor consists of parallel straight lines, so that it is next to impossible to overtake them without being discovered, and giving them an opportunity of charging you from one side. They will wait with the utmost patience concealed in thick jungle, until you almost touch them, and then rush out at you. When they do catch an unfortunate being, they knock him down and knead him with their feet, returning again and again until nothing but a shapeless mass remains, ' This is a very rare animal. Only two examples are said to be as yet known. See Nature, vol. xxix. p. 427.— Tr. 48 THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. uttering all the day their shrill squeal of rage. This I once saw myself. " Four of us, consisting of myself, three native hunters, and my gun-bearer, were on our way to join a native hunting-party some twelve miles off, and just after crossing a small stream about half- way we saw a flock of rhinoceros-birds hovering over an ukaku thicket, and evidently accompany- ing some game passing through it. The place was of no great size, so two of the hunters ran round to the further sides, while I and the remaining one went into it, and in a few seconds struck the spoor of an upctyanc.' I am thankful now to recollect that I at once suggested leaving the vicious brute alone, partly because it was such dangerous work and its death would do us no good, partly on account of the time it would waste and the distance we had yet to go. However, the hunter wanted to go after it, and to have said more would have implied fear on my part, a thing one has to guard against when, being the only white man among natives far in the interior, one's comfort, and not impossibly one's life, depends upon one's prestige; and so we went on, and in scarcely five minutes I saw it, having already heard it snorting like a steam-engine, trotting along, tossing its head, and looking like mischief personified, having evidently got the wind of some of us, and being quite as anxious to find us as we it. It was about fifteen yards off, and I instantly let drive with both barrels into its shoulder, spring- ing as I did so into the tree under which I was. "My unlucky companion, who was a little distance on one side, and had hitherto only heard it, came running towards the shots, and absolutely met it face to face; he at once fired and turned to run, but it was too late, and he was caught on the spot, thrown up with a single toss, which must probably have stunned him, and was then trampled out of all semblance to humanity by the bloodthirsty brute. Any description would be sickening. I could do nothing, for my gun-bearer had disap- peared, seeking safety in some other spot, and I found that I had not a single cartridge left in the little pouch I carried ; but after a minute I could stand the inaction no longer, and getting down from the tree unperceived I stole away, and as soon as I was out of reach began to shout to the others. Two of them soon came up, my gun- bearer and a hunter, one of them having hidden himself on finding the sort of animal we had to • Native (Kaffir) name of the RIt. bkornis. deal with ; and I having got a supply of cartridges, we went back to the spot until we got sight of the brute, still trampling and squealing, when, kneeling down, we fired at it together. " My nerves had been so much shaken that I was unsteady and missed clean, not twenty yards off, but the ball from my companion's great elephant- gun sped more truly, and the brute fell on its knees, where, by dint of repeated if not very well- aimed shots, I succeeded in keeping it mitil he had reloaded, M'hen we finished it off together." In illustration of the ferocious disposition of the animal one instance is related in which the con- sequences are little more than amusing to read, though disagreeable enough no doubt at the time of the occurrence. A small party of hunters, of which Mr. Drummond was one, were engaged in roasting an antelope, the sole resource after a hard day's work, for their evening meal. " In about an hour the first shoulder was done, and the boy brought it to me and stuck it up in front of me by means of the stick which had already been sup- porting it while roasting, and I, drawing my hunt- ing-knife, and sharpening a stick for a fork, was just in the act of breaking my fast for the first time that day, when I heard a sudden succession of puffs, like a train just starting, and could dis- tinguish the heavy footfall of some animal. In a second everybody was on his feet, and in another we were all scrambling up the tree, I, I am sorry to say, still holding on to my shoulder of antelope, and oblivious of the fact that I had left my gun down below. We were barely in time; indeed, if the rhinoceros had charged straight up to the tree it must have caught me; but it was not necessary to go very high, and I was soon able to watch its movements. Hardly ten seconds had elapsed since I had heard the first warning puff, and now our fire was scattered in every direction, and the vicious animal was stamping upon it and every- thing else it saw, and squealing with rage the whole time. The meat had disappeared, some of it trampled into the ground, and some thrown yards away by its feet; two great burning logs of wood were smoking on the top of my spread-out bed, and even from where I was I could smell the smouldering blankets; the remains of my water- calabash were lying in every direction, and every- thing in camp, save my gun, which the brute had not so far touched, was more or less destroyed. It was enough to try any one's temper, and I asked the man next me if his gun was loaded, and To face pace 43. Plate XX. - THE TWO-HORNED ^Yil'^OQ.Y.^O^ (Rhinoceros bkornU). THE HORSE FAMILY. 49 on getting an affirmative answer I told him to pass it over to me, and propping myself up against the trunk to prevent myself being knocked down, for it was an elephant-gun of six to the pound, I aimed at the shoulder of the trampling and squeal- ing beast and pulled the trigger. A stillness fol- lowed the report for a second, and then a heavy thud, and after that violent struggles on the ground. The other hunter had a double-barrel, and emptied both of them into the struggling mass below him; but despite the shots the brute regained its legs, and went away the moment after it did so, its vicious temper much sobered by the treatment it had received. Ours were not, however, improved by the incident, and it was all I could do to pre- vent one of the hunters, who was almost speechless with rage at losing his supper, from giving chase on the spot. ... A shoulder of antelope was not much among four famished men."] Another African species {^Rh. simus) is the largest of all. The head is very long, the snout rounded like that of an ox, the front horn very large, a yard and more in length, the hinder one very small. This species fre- quents the steppes covered with tall grass, amidst which it often grazes in very numer- ous herds, and in the dry seasons it under- takes great journeys in search of water. This species, notwithstanding its superior size, is regarded as the most good-natured of all. It is hunted chiefly for its flesh, which appears to be excellent. THE HORSE FAMILY (EQUID.^). In our present fauna this family forms a group so well characterized by the structure of the feet, and so natural, that if only the living types are taken into consideration one is perfectly justified in making a separate order out of them under the name of Solidun- gula, the single-hoofed. But the distinctions, seemingly so sharply defined, gradually dis- appear when we place the forms that have lived in earlier times side by side with the living ones. The feet provided with a single hoof are then seen to be the last stage in a Vol. n. process of evolution in course of which there first appeared forms which had feet like the rhinoceroses and tapirs, and in which the general characters of the Perissodactyla are revealed with so much clearness and distinct- ness that it is impossible to assign a greater value to the equine type than that of a family. The horse is the last member in a series of forms due to a process of specialization gov- erned by the tendency to transform many-toed and comparatively sluggish, heavily -built animals into runners, which do not yield in fleetness to any other forms. The feet are simplified by this process to the highest degree, and are modified so as to be adapted solely for running. If we adopt the stand- point which it has been our constant aim to maintain in this work with respect to the evolution theory, we must regard the Solid- ungula as the type of a highly-specialized family. We all know the general characters of the horses, zebras, and asses which make up this family. The greatly -elongated head with straight profile and sharp -pointed ears, the long neck, the relatively short body borne on long slender legs, the feet ending in rounded hoofs, the tail of moderate length bearing a long brush composed of coarse hair, the mane of bristly hair on the neck, the covering of finer short hair on the body lying very thick but so closely applied to the skin that the most minute details of the form are visible; all these characters are such as the reader does not need to be reminded of. The feet with only a single hoof enable us to recognize at the first glance the not very numerous species of this family which are now found wild only in the Old World. As domestic animals the horses have not only reconquered the domains which they formerly inhabited, but have spread over the entire surface of the earth save only the extreme Polar regions. The skull of the horses when seen from above strikes us by its narrow greatly-elon- 39 50 THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. gated rhomboidal form. The cranial region is relatively very small, forming only a little more than one-third of the whole length of the head, and it becomes greatly constricted near the foramen viagmim or opening by which the spinal column passes into the brain. The brow is flattened and is continued almost horizontally into the long nasal bones, which form a beak-like roof above the nostrils. In front of these projects the elongated portion of the upper jaw which carries the incisors and canines. The pretty large orbits are surrounded by a complete bony ring, but leave a wide opening behind into the temporal fossae. The halves of the lower jaw are com- pletely fused in the middle, as in the tapirs, whose jaws have a great resemblance in their general features to those of the Solidungula. The dentition of the horses also resembles that of the tapirs in the general arrangement. Both above and below we find a semicircle composed of six incisors in the form of some- what curved chisels with blunt edges. The canines, which are in all cases but slightly developed, and which in the females for the most part disappear entirely, although more prominent in the males, are larger in the lower jaw than in the upper, and in that jaw follow close after the incisors, while in the upper they are rather farther apart from these. As in all other Perissodactyla a long interval divides the cheek-teeth from these front ones. It is in this interval that the bit is placed. The cheek-teeth, seven in number in each half of each jaw, are much larger in the upper jaw, where they present a quad- rangular chewing surface, than in the lower, in which these teeth are more elongated and laterally compressed. The first of these cheek-teeth is always very poorly developed, reduced, in fact, to a mere stump; it is very readily and often very early lost. The other six cheek-teeth in the upper jaw appear as if composed of two halves, which are soldered together by a strong external vertical pillar. To this external pillar there corresponds on the inner side another less prominent broad pillar, which shows on the grinding surface in the form of a loop of enamel. On the surface of each tooth are to be seen four sickle-shaped enamel stripes with their con- cavity directed outwards; and these stripes are separated from each other and in the middle by deep fissures. In the lower cheek- teeth the pillars are wanting. Each tooth has on the outside and in the middle a deep vertical groove, which indicates the separa- tion into two halves, and the enamel stripes run back each into itself, as if there had been bosses or tubercles, the surface of which be- came planed away. This kind of dentition forms, as will be readily seen, an excellent masticatory mill. The structure of the limbs deserves special attention. The bones corresponding to the upper arm and thigh are short, thick, and buried in the flesh of the body. The third trochanter on the thigh-bone is placed pretty low down. The ulna and fibula are greatly reduced, and are recognizable only as un- shapely adjuncts at the upper part of the radius and tibia respectively. The bones of the wrist and ankle are greatly reduced both in number and size. These are followed below by a single bone, which is often errone- ously spoken of as the shin-bone, but which is nothing else than the excessively developed metacarpal (or metatarsal) bone of the middle toe, and has at its upper end two small pointed style-like bones (the splint-bones) attached to it on both sides, these being the remains of the metacarpal (or metatarsal) bones of the second and fourth digits, which are thereby only indicated. Finally, at the lower end of this elongated metacarpal or metatarsal there come the three phalanges of the middle digit, which form the fetlock and hoof, the bone of which latter has pretty much the same form as the horny hoof that covers it. By studying the development it may be shown that in the embryo three digits begin to be formed, but that the two outer ones To face page S<^' Plate XXI. — THE DAUW or BURCHELL'S ZEBRA (Hippoiisiis Bmc/iellii). THE HORSE FAMILY. 51 remain rudimentary; and the examination of the feet of the ancestors of the horse reveals to us the fact that there were actually five toes in the first representatives of this group. Examples of foals born with two or three more or less developed toes are not rare. We wish further to draw special attention to the smallness of the brain and its lowly organization, indicated by the fact that the hemispheres of the cerebrum do not cover the cerebellum. This lowly organization is, to be sure, in a certain measure compensated by the number of the convolutions, which in their disposition follow the same general plan as those of the tapirs, but are much more complicated. Between these two animals the relations in respect of brain-structure are somewhat similar to those which subsist be- tween man and the macaque. The general plan is the same, but in the lower type it is shown in its original simplicity, while in the higher it is complicated by a thousand secondary formations. We likewise mention the structure of the digestive organs, which is in accordance with the plan exhibited in all herbivorous perissodactyles : a simple and relatively small stomach, a very thick colon and caecum. The two teats are situated in the region of the groin. The wild horses — for it is only these with which we have to do — live in great herds in prairie and steppe regions. That is their true home. For this social life in lands with a wide horizon they are wonderfully organized. Mountains they shun, and they seek the woods only to enjoy the shade for a brief interval. It must be allowed that neither the keenness of their senses nor their powers of defence are sufficient to adapt them for a life in the thickets, where each individual is compelled to have his qualities developed in the highest degree. The range of vision in horses is not very great ; they can distinguish only near objects clearly. Their scent is dull. Only their hearing is very acute, and enables them to distinguish the least audible com- ponents in distant noises. Observations on the development of the senses have been made chiefly, though not exclusively, on domesticated horses that have run wild. It has been established that in the pampas the mustang does not scent the jaguar at more than thirty paces off, and that the lion is always sure of getting within the necessary distance for a spring when a zebra is the object of his pursuit. The herds live under the leadership of some old males, which have to watch over the well-being of their subjects. We cannot but admire the courage of these proud creatures, which, seeming to rejoice in battle, dart down upon an attacking carnivore, the whole herd arranging itself in a circle with the foals in the middle, and all ready to strike with the hoofs of their hind-legs. In fighting with wolves stallions try to seize their antagonist with their teeth by the nape of the neck, then to lift them up and dash them on the ground, after which they trample them underneath their feet. But these battles, from which perhaps the military art has derived the formation of squares, are only exceptions to the rule, and take place only in cases of sudden attack or when the herds are driven to straits. Usually the herd seeks its safety in rapid flight. Tearing along in furious gallop, with ears and mane erect, the herd dashes away with the speed of the wind, driving their young ones before them, the males galloping on the flanks and at the end of the column to protect the herd in its hurried flight. No carnivore can follow them long. The Cape hunting- dogs alone can keep up the pursuit for several hours, and even then they are compelled to content themselves with the stragglers who have got wounded in the flight; they are not able to follow the herd, which at last dis- appears beyond the horizon of the immense plain. The leading traits of wild horses are ac- cordingly these : dull senses, little intelligence, 52 THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. great sociability, and a courage amounting even to rashness. Except for the battles between the fiery stallions, and especially the younger ones, in their efforts to secure rights for themselves as regards the mares, the herds live together in harmony. The old males chase the young ones out of the herd when the latter begin to show an inclination for the mares, and these young ones, which are compelled to live as celibates, bring on serious battles with a view to acquire by conquest a few females with which to found a new family. The herds make great migrations in the steppes I'ijj. 148.— The Zebra [Hipfotigris Zebra). and deserts in order to seek out good pastures or water. Wild horses are keenly pursued for the sake of their skin and flesh, which is highly esteemed, and also in order to procure men- agerie specimens. They are caught in winter in snares; but usually advantage is taken of their excessive curiosity, and of the passion which the males betray even for domesticated mares. The arts resorted to differ according to the locality and the character of the people; but they all come to this, that the hunter en- deavours to introduce himself either on horse- back or on foot into a herd in order to kill the adults and capture the foals. The species are but slightly different from one another in internal structure. The skele- ton, the dentition, are so much alike, that apart from the size it is difficult to distinguish the species except when seen alive or stuffed, when the colour and markings of the coat, the length of the ears, &c., afford more or less well-defined characters. The horse family may be divided into two groups, distinguished by the markings of the coat, and almost completely separated from one another in geographical range. Most of the African Horses have a coat adorned with dark stripes on a light ground. They have been united into a subdivision under the name of Hippotigres, that is. Tiger- horses. They are in general well-proportioned. THE HORSE FAMILY. 53 have a small head, moderately large ears, and short straight mane. The middle line of the back is somewhat curved downwards as in the horse; the tail has little hair at the root, but ends in a long tuft; the hoofs are elegant, but exceptionally broad behind. A dark stripe always runs along the middle line of the back as far as the tail. The transverse dark stripes are differently distributed in the three known species, which all inhabit Africa south of the Sahara. It has been ob.served that the herds of these beautiful and fleet animals live on a. good understanding with certain antelopes, and still more with ostriches, and thus derive advantage from the watchfulness of these comrades. A few specimens have been tamed, but they mostly remain savage and intractable, much given to biting. The Zebra {Hippotigris Zebra {Equus Zebra)), figure 148, frequents chiefly hilly -? •>■ ■^■^a^^K^j^^fc^kv^'ASjaaifets''.."'' Fig. 149. — The African Wild Ass (Equus taniopus). page 54. regions. It is entirely marked with black stripes on an almost white or yellowish ground. The legs are ringed down to the hoofs, and the mane is composed of alter- nate black and white stripes. The tail is black. It is the rarest species in our men- ageries. The Jardin d 'Acclimatisation at Paris has a well-trained pair which draws a carriage. The Dauw {^Hippotigris {Equus) Burchellii), PI. XXL, is distinguished from the former species by having the legs and feet not ringed but of a uniform light colour like the ground colour of the body. The stripes on the body are broader, directed obliquely backwards, and forked at their lower ends. The head presents pretty much the same mingling of colours as in the zebra. A third species, the Quagga {Hippotigris {Equus) quagga) is brownish above, white underneath. The tail, which is completely covered with bushy hair, and the ears are white. The rather broad brown stripes attain a considerable length only on the neck and shoulders, gradually diminishing in length on the back. The whole of the hinder part of the body as well as the legs remain unstriped. It is these two latter species that are gener- ally seen in menageries. They are more easily tamed than the zebra, and it is said that in the South African colonies individuals caught young are associated with herds of 54 THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. sheep, which they defend vigorously against the attacks of wild animals and especially hyaenas. The Asiatic Horses approach more nearly to the ass in the greater length of their ears, in the nature of the dark stripe along the back, in the greater thickness of the head, and in the more delicately-formed feet. Like the ass they have only a terminal tuft on the tail, and frequently a dark vertical stripe on the shoulders, forming with the longitudinal stripe on the back the cross common on the domes- ticated ass. They are found on both sides of the Red Sea. The African Wild Ass [Eguus tceniopus), fig. 149, inhabits the districts east of the Nile to the shores of the Red Sea. It is probably one of the parent stocks of the domesticated .-■'^e^ ass, and in particular that of Egypt. It is large and slender, of a pale -brownish or grayish-yellow colour, with a very marked cross, and some inconspicuous circular mark- ings round the lower part of the legs imme- diately above the hoofs. The mane is long, the tail-tuft very long, the ears pretty long but elegantly formed and sharp. The do- mesticated ass of Abyssinia closely resembles this species, which, with its markings on the legs, forms the transition from the "tiger- horses" to the wild asses of Asia. Among the two known species belonging to Asia the Onager, the Gurkur of the natives (iE". onager), fig. 150, approaches most nearly to our domesticated ass. It inhabits the steppes of Asia Minor, Arabia, and Persia, and extends as far as the frontiers of India. The head is clumsy, thick and short, the ears long, the mane soft, the tail-tuft pretty long. The general colour is grayish-white, passing over to a pale isabel-yellow. The brown cross is bordered with white, but is sometimes wanting. The Tibetan Wild Ass i^E. hemiomis), fig. 151, stands midway between the horse and ass. The different names which the natives give to this species, distributed over the whole of the interior of Asia from the Kirghiz steppes to Tibet and China, have given rise to confusion. According to some of the more recent authorities, whose opinion we share, THE HORSE FAMILY. 55 the Kulan of the Kirghiz, the Jiggetai of the Mongols, and the Kiang of the Tibetans are one and the same species, comprising a few very slightly different geographical varieties. Besides the short and somewhat massive head the animal has the same very harmonious proportions, the same graceful outlines, slim legs, and thin hoofs. The ears are somewhat longer than those of the horse, but shorter than in the mule. The line of the back is straight, but slightly elevated at the croup; the tail is furnished with a long tuft; the mane is erect and pretty thick. The general colour is a light isabel-yellow. The belly -^^- „-!*>' Fig. 151. — The Tibetan Wild Ass [Eqiius hemionus). 'Si-tm- and inner sides of the legs are whitish yellow; the mane and tail dark brown. The dark line on the back sends no branches down the shoulders. Examples of this species are now to be seen in almost all menageries. Most of them come from the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, into which Dussumier introduced a few pairs, which propagate there. On several occasions some of these animals have been trained with pretty fair success. Numerous variations in colour have been observed. We have now to face the question of the origin of the domesticated horse {^E. caballus), which man has diffused over almost the whole surface of the earth. The problem is not less complicated than that relating to the origin of the domestic dogs, and all the more difficult of solution since we know very few wild species that could be brought into relation with the domestic races. With regard to the Ass [E. asinus) there are, perhaps, scarcely any differences of opinion. We may feel certain that the two species above-named, the onager and the African wild ass, have each contributed their contingent to the formation of the different races. But with reference to the domesticated horse we can take into consideration only the kiang or Tibetan wild ass among living 56 THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. species, together with the extinct species which have lived during Quaternary times. The tiger- horses of Africa cannot have contributed to the formation of the domestic breeds. Stripes and lines are too rare in these latter for us to be able to consider them as reversions to an original type of colouring. One fact dominates the whole problem, at least so far as Europe is concerned. Through- out the Quaternary period the whole of our continent was inhabited by a race of small wild horses which were eagerly hunted in the Stone Age. Whole graveyards of these ani- mals slaughtered for food have been found, lilt Tirpin (/ itius Imp in) lor example, at Solutre, near Macon (Saone- et- Loire). While previously an object of eager pursuit this small animal was probably domesticated at the time when polished stone implements were used (the Neolithic Age), when agriculture was introduced. It is accordingly highly probable that the small horses of Norway, the Shedand ponies, and those of Corsica and Sardinia, are the more or less modified descendants of this prehistoric small and rather thick-headed horse. But there were also horses of larger size during Quaternary times. As regards Amer- ica this is incontestable. The horse with curved incisors {/£. airvidens), which roamed over the whole of America during Quaternary times, was of about the size of a pretty tall domesticated horse. But this American species has left no descendants. At the time of the discovery of America there were no horses in the New World. The large domestic horse was probably in- troduced into Europe along with the use of metals. It came from some of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, perhaps from India, where it had long been domesticated. But we do not know with certainty any Quaternary predecessor. Can the domestic horse be derived from the Tibetan wild ass? That is very doubtful. If we turn our attention to the horses that have again become wild in the steppes of THE HORSE FAMILY. 57 Asia and America, we scarcely meet with any solution of the riddle. An illustration is furnished of the degener- ate horse of Asia, the Tarpan (£". Tarpan), fig. 152. These horses as well as the mus- tangs of America exhibit some common char- acters. The skin has acquired a uniform colour, dark -brown in summer, lighter in winter. The head is thick and short, the neck long and slim, the ears long and pointed, the hoofs delicately formed and narrow. The size has diminished, and the mane, which has become shorter, exhibits a decided tendency to become erect ; but the tail is bushy through- out its whole length. We thus see that these degenerate horses have made a few steps back- wards in the direction of the Tibetan wild ass; but yet the distance that separates the two appears to be still too great. It is possible that by careful selection, by giving an abun- dance of suitable food, and by constant atten- tion, the domestic breeds have gradually been reared out of the Tibetan wild ass; but it is also possible that Quaternary horses, the remains of which may some time be found in Asia, have contributed to the production of our domestic breeds.^ The domesticated horse has acquired its valuable qualities chiefly by association with man. Its courage must have been the quality ' A recent discovery of Przevalsky's has a great deal of interest in connection with the question of the origin of the domestic horse. That traveller has made the scientific world acquainted with a horse hitherto unknown inhabiting Central Asia, and possessing characters more closely approaching those of the domestic horse than any mem- ber of the genus hitherto discovered. The following paragraphs relating to it are taken from A\ilure, vol. xxx. p. 391 (where a cut of the new horse is given). " The horses, which constitute the genera Equus of Linnaeus, and are the sole recent representatives of the family Equidas, fall natur- ally into two sub-genera, as was first shown by Gray in 1825 {Zool. Jour. i. p. 241) — Equus and Asinus. "The typical horses (Equus) are distinguishable from the asses (Asiuiis) by the presence of warts upon the hind-legs as well as upon the fore-legs, by their broad rounded hoofs, and by their tails begin- ning to throw off long hairs from the base, instead of having these hairs confined, as a sort of pencil, to the extremity of the tail. Up to a recent period all the wild species of Equus known to science were referable to the second of these sections, that is, to the sub- genus Asiuus, known from Equus by the absence of warts or callos- ities on the hind-legs, by the contracted hoofs, and by the long hairs of the tail being restricted to the extremity of that organ. . . " Under the circumstances great interest was manifested when it was known that Przevalsky, on his return from his third great jour- ney into Central Asia, had brought back with him to St. Petersburg Vol. II. which man first learned to prize. Remote antiquity knew only how to employ the horse in war, in which it still shines. But whatever may be said, its intelligence is limited. What the horse is at the present day it owes to the training founded on its docility and curiosity. [The behaviour of wild horses in Patagonia is graphically described in more than one passage by Lady Florence Dixie in her account of her journey across that part of the South American continent. " After a time," she writes in one place, " we came to a region evidently much frequented by wild horses, and eventually we hit on a path worn by them right through the woods, and following this, we jogged along at a very fair pace. Soon our horses began to neigh and prick up their ears as we advanced towards a clearing. Their cries were answered from somewhere beyond us, and pushing forward into the open we came upon a herd of wild horses, who, hearing our advance, had stopped grazing, and now they stood collected in a knot together, snorting and stamping, and staring at us in evident amazement. One of their number came boldly trotting out to meet us, and evidently with no pacific intentions ; his wicked eye, and his white teeth, which he had bared fiercely, looked by no means reassuring. But suddenly he stopped short, looked at us for a moment, and then with a wild snort dashed madly away, followed by the whole herd. They disappeared like lightning over the brow of a deep ravine, to emerge again to our view after a couple of seconds, scampering like goats up an example of a new species of wild horse, which belonged, in some of its characters at least, to true Equus. . . . ' ' Przevalsky's wild horse has warts on its hind-legs as well as on its fore-legs, and has broad hoofs like the true horse. But the long hairs of the tail, instead of commencing at the base, do not begin until about half-way down the tail. In this respect Equus przevalskii is intermediate between the true horse and the asses. It also differs from typical Equus in having a short, erect mane, and in having no forelock, that is, no bunch of hairs in front of the mane falling down over the forehead. ... Its whole general colour is of a whitish-gray, paler and whiter beneath, and reddish on the head. The legs are reddish to the knees, and thence blackish down to the hoofs. It is of small stature, but the legs are very thick and strong, and the head is large and heavy. The ears are smaller than those of the asses. "Przevalsky's wild horse inhabits the great Dsungarian Desert between the Altai and Tianshan Mountains, where it is called by the Tartars ' Kertag,' and by the Mongols 'Statur.' It is met with in troops of from five to fifteen individuals, led by an old stallion. Apparently the rest of these troops consist of mares, which all belong to the single stallion. They are lively animals, very shy, and with highly-developed organs of sight, hearing, and smelling. " They keep to the wildest part of the desert, and are very hard to approach. They seem to prefer especially the saline districts, and to be able to do long without water." — Tr. 40 58 THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. its opposite side, which rose almost perpendicular to a height of six or seven hundred feet. They reached its crest at full gallop in the twinkling of an eye, and without pausing an instant disappeared again, leaving us wondering and amazed at their marvellous agility. I had often seen their paths leading up hill-sides which a man could scarcely climb; but till now that I had witnessed a specimen of their powers with my own eyes, I had scarcely believed them possessed of a nimbleness and clever- ness of foot that would not discredit a chamois." — Across Patagonia, chap, xvii.] GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT OF THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. The present Geographical Distribution of the Perissodactyla would be altogether unin- telligible if the relations to the extinct types did not shed some light upon the question, without, however, solving all difficulties. We must trace the stems of the different families back to their deepest roots, in order to obtain some fairly valid indications on the subject. The Rock-badger Family [Hyracida) is an essentially African type, which, however, has advanced further east and has spread into Syria, Palestine, and Stony Arabia, where suitable conditions of life offered. Hitherto no direct fossil predecessors of this family have been found. But we must here take into consideration the fact that the soil of Africa is precisely that which has as yet been least examined with reference to palseontology. On the other hand, we know a pretty large number of fossil Perissodactyla derived from the upper Eocene and Miocene strata (Lophio- therium, Tapirulus, Hyracodon, &c.), which approach the Hyracida in size, in the general character of their dentition, and in particular in the structure of their teeth, and which therefore might well be their remote ancestors. The type would accordingly be one that had been very little modified since Eocene times. In the ca.se of the Tapirs it is altogether different. They occupy at the present day two widely-distinct centres in the tropics, the larger in south America, the other in the Malay Peninsula and on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra; and what is very remarkable, the shabrack-tapir of the Sunda Islands is not so different from the Brazilian tapir as this is from the highly- interesting neighbouring mountain species of Colombia, out of which the genus Elasmognathus has been formed. We find the explanation of this striking phenomenon In the fact that during Eocene times the entire surface of the earth, with the exception of Australia, was inhabited by con- siderable numbers of tapir-like animals, which have indeed been continued down to present times, but have become steadily reduced in numbers while their domains have become more and more limited. These animals, which are distributed by palaeontologists among numerous genera, were represented by different genera on the two sides of the ocean. The genus Lophiodon in Europe, those of Hyrachyus and Helaletes in America, were the ancestors of genera which already, in the Miocene of Europe, approached very near to the true tapirs, while this approxima- tion in America did not become very marked till the close of the Tertiary period. On the other hand, their domain on the mainland of the Old World became contracted much earlier than on the New. Tapirs still existed in Quaternary times in North America, and it was only in the present geological period that they became confined to South America. I would insist especially on the great difference between the original American and Oriental stocks. These two stocks approach one another by a gradual process of development, each for itself and independently of the other, producing at last two species so closely re- sembling one another as the Malayan tapir and the Brazilian anta, which are so widely separated from each other in space. The other two families of Perissodactyla now living, the rhinoceroses and the horses, agree in being now entirely restricted to the Old World, while they are both represented, GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT. 59 and that in quite respectable numbers, among the fossil remains of the New. Let us speak first of the Rhinoceroses. At the present day we have about eight or nine species, half of which inhabit tropical Africa, while the other half are confined to India and the Sunda I slands. All the African rhinoceroses have two horns; in Asia there are both one- horned and two-horned species. All these species approach one another so closely that they can hardly be grouped with propriety into sub-genera. The distribution during the Quaternary period was quite different from the present. Rhinoceroses were then found everywhere; in the extreme north as well as in the tropics, on the highest mountains (16,000 feet above sea-level in Tibet) as well as on low-lying plains, in the Old as well as in the New World. We know about twenty species from Quaternary, Pliocene, and Miocene strata, and we can trace their descent backwards to the time of the Upper Eocene. Step by step we can demonstrate the gradual modifications by which the old rhinoceroses have arrived at their present forms. The old types (Acera- therium) had no horns, and the development of the horns, which have mostly got separated from the fossil skulls, can be traced on the nasal bones, which at last come to be streng- thened by a bony partition, to enable them to carry the enormous outgrowths by which they are surmounted. But in this case also we can follow out in the two hemispheres two different independent lines, derived from dif- ferent stocks, which gradually approach nearer to one another, and which in Europe pass from the Paljeotheria through the hornless forms (Aceratherium) to the true rhinoceroses; while in America the original genera are called Colonoceras, Diceratherium, and Amycodon, and are totally different from the European stem-forms. But in America there were only hornless forms, which die out with the Plio- cene; while in the Old World the type is continued down to the present time, though getting gradually more restricted in the area of its domain, which in Quaternary times was far more extensive. A rhinoceros with enormous horns and a bony nasal septum {Rh. tichorhinus) was the faithful companion of the mammoth, and, like this elephant, had a thick fleece as a protection against the severe cold of the Polar Regions. The Wild Horses finally have a pretty simple distribution in the present-day fauna. The "tiger-horses" are inhabitants of tropical and sub-tropical Africa. The asses with a coat of uniform colour hail from the steppes and deserts of Asia, and the wild ass distributed over the western shores of the Red Sea forms the connecting link. But in this family we see astonishing circumstances in relation to the origin. One of the most beautiful discoveries of the palaeontology of the present day is that of the two parallel lines in which the horse type has gradually developed in the Old and the New World. In the latter have been found small five-toed animals of the size of a fox [Eohippus Phenacodus) in strata belonging to the Lower Eocene, and from this all the different stages up to the Quaternary horse (^Equus curvidens) have been discovered with- out the omission of one. Every geological series of strata has revealed a separate genus different from that of the preceding group, and these successive genera approach the modern horse step by step through the in- crease in the size of the body, through the multiplication and increasing development and complexity of the enamel folds in the cheek-teeth, and through the gradual reduc- tion in the number and size of the toes. In the Lower Eocene genera the tendency to- wards a reduction in the five toes present is already manifest. The middle toe is the longest and strongest; the second and fourth digits are equal in length, and though some- what shorter than the middle one, still fur- nished with broad hoofs, which, without doubt, touched the ground. The fifth digit is much 6o THE ODD-TOED UNGULATES. smaller, has the last phalanx pointed, and, there can be no doubt, both it and the first digit, or pollex, which is quite rudimentary, bore a false claw, which could touch the earth only on sinking into soft or marshy ground. Henceforth the first digit disappears entirely. In Orohippus from the Middle and Upper Eocene the fifth still carries a false claw, but in Mesohippus from the Lower, and Miohip- pus from the Upper Miocene, is already re- duced to the metacarpal (or metatarsal) bone, having no phalanges, while the second and fourth digits have become smaller. In Pro- tohippus from the Lower Pliocene, as well as in the succeeding genera, the metacarpal bone of the fifth digit has also vanished, and the second and fourth digits no longer carry hoofs but claws. Then these two digits likewise get reduced to their metacarpal bones in Pliohippus belonging to the Upper Pliocene. The last member of this long series of genera forming successive links in an unbroken chain was a horse which was similar to the domes- ticated horse, but possessed rather differently formed incisors, and which, during the Qua- ternary period, roamed over the whole of America, both North and South, so that it has left remains in the deposits of the Pampas, as well as in the caves of Brazil and the alluvium of the United States. In the Old World we have a similar though a less complete series. Our horses appear to be traceable back to the Palaeotherium as their stem-form, this being an equivocal in- termediate type witt^four toes on the fore- feet, and apparently also the stem from which the rhinoceroses have been derived. But in the genus Anchitherium of the Upper Eocene and the Lower Miocene the equine characters are already expressed with the utmost dis- tinctness in the dentition as well as in the structure of the feet, and may be traced through the genus Hipparion, corresponding, we may say, to the American Protohippus, a genus which had three toes, and whose numerous remains, found in Upper Miocene deposits at Pikermi in Greece and Sansans at the foot of the Pyrenees, prove that these elegant animals then traversed southern Eu- rope in numerous herds. I cannot enter into details here, but will only state that none of the genera belonging to the series in the evolution of the American horses is identical with any one of those belonging to the succession on this side of the ocean, and that the initial differences are greater than those at the end of the two series. The difference between the Anchitherium of the Lower Miocene of Europe and the Mesohippus on the same horizon in America is considerable, while the differences between the Quaternary horses of the two hemispheres are but slight. The series have accordingly approached one another instead of presenting increasing divergencies. But in both series is seen the same tendency to form out of small, plump, plantigrade or semi-plantigrade animals, omnivorous in their diet, and pro- bably dwellers in marshy districts, larger, slimmer, light-footed herbivora inhabiting dry steppes. To sum up, we see in the Perissodactyla a great original and old order which has gradu- ally declined in the process of geological evolution. The stems to which we can now with greater or less probability refer the branches of our present fauna were much more varied, much richer in forms than they are now. There has been a gradual decay along with a one-sided development. By domestication the highly specialized type of the horses has reconquered the domain which it had lost at the beginning of the present geological epoch; the other types, not capable of domestication, seem to be surely advancing towards extinction, in which several pretty rare types have preceded them, types which have gradually died out in the course of evolution, and of which we do not need to speak here. EVEN-TOED UNGULATES (ARTIODACTYLA). Ungulates of very variable size, almost always with an even number of toes, which are arranged about two parallel axes running through the middle line of the second and fourth digits. The thigh-bone has no third trochanter. The stomach shows a tendency to subdivision. The originally complete dentition gets gradually specialized and reduced. The teats are abdominal and inguinal. Placenta diffuse. This order, now the most numerous after the Rodents, presents similar phenomena to those which we have observed in the previous one. In it, if we consider only the members now living, we in fact recognize two pretty different series of forms, which would neces- sitate a division into two orders, the rumi- nants on the one hand, and the pigs or many-toed ungulates on the other; but when we enter into the details of the organization, and especially also into those of fossil forms, then we must acknowledge that the lines of demarcation fall away one after the other, and that even among the living forms these limits are not so complete as those which separate the tapirs and rhinoceroses from the horses. Among the palccontological remains we find proofs of an evolution similar to that which we have traced in the perissodactyles. Out of the originally clumsy and heavy forms with a complete dentition and at least four toes touching the earth have at last arisen slender, shapely forms with elegant limbs, in which the toes are reduced to two and the dentition is no longer complete. The many- toed forms with complete dentition of our present fauna approach more closely to the ancestral stem-forms, from which have sprung, as palaeontology proves, the two-toed forms with incomplete dentition, those, namely, which have been called the Ruminants, on account of a special function, while the others may be called the Many-toed (Polydactyla). The predominant character of the Artio- dactyla is that which is presented by the structure of the feet, which always have the toes clothed with hoofs, and which are adapted only for locomotion. All these ani- mals "divide the hoof," as the Bible says; in other words, the toes are arranged in pairs, and there are two equivalent widely separate axes formed by the third and fourth digits. The first or innermost digit is wanting even in the ancestral forms, which have four almost equal toes, with the corresponding meta- carpal and metatarsal bones quite separate; while both bones of the lower fore-limb and hind-limb, that is, the radius and ulna in the one case, and the tibia and fibula in the other case, are likewise separate and attain an equal degree of development. This structure of the limbs has been preserved in the hippo- potamus. The two lateral digits, the second and the fourth, then get steadily reduced in size in the general evolution of the group. The two middle toes alone touch the ground; the two lateral ones are shorter, but still carry false or accessory hoofs ; the two middle toes 62 THE EVEN-TOED UNGULATES. have their metacarpal or metatarsal bones still separable; and the bones of the limbs, radius and ulna in the fore-limb, tibia and fibula in the hind-limb, still persist as distinct bones. This structure is that seen in the pigs. Everyone knows that a pig's foot may be split along its whole length to the wrist or ankle. The reduction in the toes ad\ances still further in the peccaries, that peculiar family of American pigs. In one species the inner toe of the hind-foot has vanished, so that this foot is only three-toed, and the metatarsal bones of the middle toes begin to get fused at their upper ends. Step by step we can follow in the same manner the reduc- tion of the radius and fibula, that of the two lateral toes, and the fusion of the principal metacarpal and metatarsal bones, in the fossil forms as well as in those now living. A genus of living musk-yielding animals, Hyae- moschus, which has also been found fossil, still presents astonishing similarities to the peccaries in the structure of Its limbs. The ulna, which in the other ruminants Is reduced to a rudiment, still exists entire and quite separate from the radius. The metacarpal bones are not fused, while In the hind-limbs the tibia and fibula are completely fused and the metatarsal bones united at their lower end. The fusion goes on In such a manner that In the other ruminants, as In the horses, there comes to be only a single metacarpal or metatarsal bone, which, however, Is dis- tinguished from that of the Solidungula by always having more or less well-marked lon- gitudinal grooves running down the middle line both before and behind, indicating the place of fusion of bones which are still sepa- rate in the embryo. This bone carries only the two middle toes, and at its lower end shows two rounded joint-surfaces correspond- ing to them. The two side toes gradually disappear, but are still represented externally by prominences and so-called false or acces- sory hoofs, and are recognizable In the skele- ton by small style-like bones. F"inally, in the giraffe the limbs have reached the last stage of simplification: there Is neither ulna nor fibula; the metacarpals and metatarsals are simple, without any visible groove or any trace of lateral toes. It will be seen that the process of simplification In this case is similar to that which we observed In the Perissodactyla, with only this difference, that In these there was only a single dominant toe, while in the Artiodactyla the changes all took place in relation to two toes of equal Importance. We do not Intend to enter Into details re- garding the modifications which the different bones of the limbs undergo, but must, never- theless, remark that the astragalus, the bone which is so characteristic In the ankle of the hind-foot, has a very different form from that which it presents in the Perissodactyla, so that we can say at the first glance whether this bone belongs to a member of the one order or the other. The dentition likewise presents remarkable transitional series. Originally all these ani- mals had forty-four teeth In all, three Incisors, one canine, and seven cheek-teeth In each half of the jaw, and this number has only got re- duced at a comparatively late period; for even in the ruminants, which have neither upper Incisors nor canines, there are found In the embryos the germs of these teeth, which never get developed. In an Eocene artlodactyle, the Anoplotherlum, we even find all the teeth In continuous close-set rows of equal height, as In man. The cheek-teeth are always com- plex In structure; composed of eminences or wrinkled and folded tubercles as in our pre- sent pigs, forming the type of the Bunodontia, or, as In our ruminants, of half-moon-shaped enamel folds, forming the type of the Seleno- dontla. Now the specialization of the teeth goes on hand In hand both with their reduction In number and with the change in the habits of the animals from an omnivorous to a purely vegetable diet, which change again Is con- nected with the conversion of sturdy thickset I forms into slender ones and with the loss or GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 63 transposition of the weapons of attack and defence. The incisors, which stand vertically in the upper jaw but are almost horizontal in the lower, gradually disappear altogether in the former. While the pigs have in all six incisors in the upper jaw, the hippopotamuses have only four, the camels only two, and in all other ruminants they are altogether absent. On the other hand, the lower incisors in the latter are increased by a pair, so that their total number is brought up to eight. It is probable indeed that the outermost pair con- sist of canines which have got displaced for- wards. The canines, which in the hippopo- tamuses, pigs, musk-deer, and chevrotains are formidable weapons, always more highly developed in the male than in the female, are reduced in size in the camels and most of the deer family, and disappear entirely in the other ruminants. It cannot, however, be said that the growth of horns is an equivalent for the loss of the canines, for the muntjac has both horns and large canines, which are used by it as weapons. The number of the cheek-teeth, which are separated by an interval from the front-teeth, and can often be distinguished by their external form as molars and premolars, diminishes through the loss of the latter. The last molar exhibits a manifest tendency to increase in size, and this tendency is so marked in the wart-hogs that the masticating surface in them belongs wholly to this single enormously enlarged molar. There is little to say regarding the internal organization. The brain and the skull are always very small in relation to the size of the body and the development of the elongated jaws. The brain itself exhibits a peculiar system of convolutions, which, in the smaller forms, are more simple, in the larger more complex. The cerebral hemispheres never cover the cerebellum, and they even leave a portion of the mid-brain exposed. More- over, the Artiodactyla in general stand upon a very low level of intelligence, which, how- ever, does not prevent them from having a certain keenness of sense. Among the anatomical features we would draw attention also to the tendency of the stomach to become subdivided, a tendency which goes hand in hand with the change from a miscellaneous to a purely vegetable diet. In the Perissodactyla this change of habits affected chiefly the colon and caecum. Most of the pigs still have a simple stomach. In the hippopotamuses and peccaries that portion of the stomach into which the oeso- phagus or gullet opens, the so-called cardiac end, is divided into two, making three parts in all. This threefold division is maintained likewise in the chevrotains; but in the other ruminants the other end of the stomach, the pyloric end, is also divided into two parts, so that the stomach now consists of four dif- ferent sacs, which have four distinct functions. Only in the pigs are the teats found ex- tending in pairs along the whole length of the abdomen. In the other Artiodactyla they are situated in the region of the groin (placed in- guinally). The placenta is always diffuse, spread over the whole surface of the ovum; but while in the pigs, camels, and chevrotains the placenta has still preserved a primitive character, being composed of delicate isolated tufts, these form in the other ruminants more compact masses, which have been called coty- ledons. Almost all Artiodactyla live socially, often in numberless herds, which, however, are without that more or less intelligent organ- ization observable in troops of horses or societies of monkeys. Some rely for their safety on their strength, others on their speed. Although these animals are mostly stupid and unintelligent, yet certain of their senses, as smelling and hearing, may be extraordinarily keen and delicate. They can scarcely be said to show any attachment to man, who, nevertheless, has domesticated a great number of them. In all, without ex- ception, even in the most peaceably disposed. 64 THE NON-RUMINANT OR MANY-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. we can observe a liability to sudden accesses of fury, the causes of which it is difficult to guess, though they may be so violent as to lead the animals affected thereby to dash blindly against everything that stands in their way. Yet among all the orders of the Mammalia this is probably the one that is most useful to man, who derives the greatest advantage from it in respect of clothing, food, and labour. If in civilized countries it is impossible to dispense with the hollow-horned animals, such as the ox, sheep, and goat, which yield us their wool, milk, and flesh, and are in part an important aid in field labour, the steppes and the deserts would be impassable without camels, and the existence of the Polynesian and Malayan races would be endangered if they were deprived of pigs, as that of the Polar races would be impossible without the reindeer. We adopt two subordinate groups or sub- orders: the Non-ruminant many-toed forms (Polydactyla), which comprise the hippopo- tamuses and the pigs, constituting one; and the Ruminants (Bidactyla), to which belong the musk-deer, the true deer, the hollow- horned animals, the giraffe, and camels con- stituting the other. GROUP OF THE NON-RUMINANT OR MANY-TOED ARTIODACTYLA (POLYDACTYLA). THE HIPPOPOTAMUS OR RIVER-HORSE FAMILY (OBESA). The River-horses (Hippopotamus) rival and even, if possible, surpass the rhinoceroses in ugliness. They form a specially African type, which consists of only two species, the smaller of which {//. /idertenszs), almost a dwarf form, hitherto found only in the repub- lic of Liberia, is but little known. This dwarf species, which has many affinities to a fossil form found in Europe (//. minor), attains only the size of a tapir, while the well-known species kept in our zoological gardens, the Common Hippopotamus [H. amphibius), which inhabits the whole of Cen- tral Africa, and even extends to the Cape, and which is figured in a full-page illustration (PI. XXII.), attains a length of about 15 feet and a weight of about 2^/^ tons. It is with good reason that the river-horses have been taken as the type of a separate family under the name of Obesa, the stout animals. Everything about them is heavy and large. The enormous belly almost drags on the ground; the feet are short, massive, somewhat twisted, and have four rounded hoofs on the short toes, which are connected together by an insignificant swimming mem- brane; the neck is short and thick, the head massive, long, and almost level on the surface, the tail short and furnished with a few thick bristles arranged in the form of a tuft. The hide, at least three-fourths of an inch in thickness, forms great folds on the shoulders and thighs, and is quite naked except for a few thinly scattered hairs in the folds. It is of a dirty copper colour. There is no other mammal which creates such an impression of a formless mass of revolting nakedness as the hippopotamus does. The enormous head has the form of an To/ace /a£t Cj, Plate XXII. — THE HIPPOPOTAMUS (Hippopotamus amphibius). THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 65 elongated rectangle, somewhat contracted below the eyes and rounded off in front with a thick snout, on which the nostrils open in the form of S-shaped slits. The eyes are small and surrounded by a projecting orbit. The ears stand at the angles of the back part of the head, where it sinks abruptly down towards the neck, and are small and in the form of pointed paper-cornets. When the animal is in the water, its true element, it so to speak drives this unshapely head along the surface in such a manner that only the ears, eyes, and nostrils are visible above the water, which forms a small pool on the depressed part between the eyes and nostrils. The latter open in breathing with a great noise and can be hermetically closed in diving. Only when the creature leaves the water can we see the muzzle, on which the upper lip is puffed up at the sides so as to conceal the tusks, and this gives a peculiar curved form to the opening of the mouth. The skull of the animal is elongated in consequence of the enormous size of the jaws, while the brain-case is very small. The dentition is terrible. In the upper jaw there are two incisors, one on each side, set in the two halves of the premaxilla, which are separated by a wide excavation in the middle. These incisors resemble short pegs, and are kept sharp by use. The canines which follow these incisors form two lateral projections, and, like the incisors, keep growing without interruption throughout life. Their crown is very short, but is kept sharp by use. In the lower jaws both incisors and canines like- wise keep constantly growing. The inner incisors are enormously long and straight, and directed obliquely forwards and upwards. In a young hippopotamus, whose last molars had not yet cut the gum, these teeth were more than a foot in length and about an inch and a half in thickness. The outer pair of lower incisors are smaller, but also of cylin- drical form. The lower canines are of enor- mous size, and curved upwards, grooved on Vol. U. their enamelled surface and worn away on their inner face so as to present a sharp cutting edge at the end. A pretty wide interval separates the cheek- and front-teeth in both jaws. In each half of each jaw there are seven cheek-teeth in all — four premolars with a conical elevation in the middle, and three true molars, which, before they are much worn, exhibit four folded conical tubercles separated by two deep fissures forming a cross. Through the effect of use the crowns come to present to view in place of the tubercles four figures like clover-leaves surrounded by stripes of enamel. This figure is characteristic of the teeth of adult hippo- potamuses. The "behemoth" of the Bible is an essen- tially herbivorous and aquatic animal. For- merly extending from the mouths of the Nile to the rivers of the Cape, it has now been pushed back into the interior by the advance of civilization, and in proportion as the rifle shooting heavy bullets with great power of penetration advances up the rivers and lakes of Central Africa will this huge animal gradually disappear. The natives hunt it successfully by hurling against it harpoons attached to floats, and then killing it with lances after terrible battles. But these are always only isolated encounters which cannot seriously diminish the numbers of the herds. The hippopotamus is on the whole a nocturnal animal, and where it has made acquaintance with firearms leaves the water only by night, or if by day, only to bask in the sun on sand-banks and islands out of range of bullets. In the rivers and lakes whose banks are occupied by tasty plants rich in starch, such as it can easily uproot by means of its incisors and canines, it remains constantly in the water while seeking its food ; but, on the other hand, where the banks are naked it quits the water in order to browse in the neighbouring woods and plantations, which it devastates in a piteous manner. Besides the fact of its having tolerably palatable flesh. 41 66 THE NON-RUMINANT OR MANY-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. a hide yielding a good thick leather, and tusks affording an ivory as highly esteemed as that derived from the elephant, it is chiefly these devastations that have always drawn down upon it the furious persecution of the colonists. It is a peaceable animal, a capital swimmer and diver, able to remain five minutes under the water without coming up to breathe, and fond of roaming about on dry land in the evening, when it will sport with other members of its own species, bellowing with joy in a voice which, according to the negroes, is equal to that of a hundred oxen. It spends the day in inactivity, and then affords an opportunity to insect-eating birds to wander about on its back hunting out the numerous parasites by which it is infested. It is said that these birds also serve as sentinels to the hippo- potamus, giving it warning by their cries of the approach of danger. The only danger to which the hippopotamus is exposed is that which is due to man; other animals take good care not to attack this Titan. The stories told of battles between hippopotamuses, lions, and crocodiles are mere fables. The females of the species are tenderly attached to their young, which follow them about in the water a few hours after birth, and often sit riding on their back, When wounded or pursued, or when from any cause it falls into a fury, the hippopotamus becomes terrible. It attacks boats, which it shatters between its formidable jaws, crushes men to death with its teeth, or tramples them with its paws, and sometimes it will dart upon its opponent from some place of con- cealment with the rapidity of lightning, over- turning every obstacle by its mere momentum. The mothers appear to take revenge for their slaughtered and captured young even a con- siderable time after these have been lost. The narratives of travellers and natives are full of exciting accounts of hunts after and battles with these terrible beasts, which are all the more dangerous since even the heaviest bullets can pierce their hide only at short distances, and the animal is remarkably tenacious of life. Even the ancient Romans brought hippo- potamuses to Europe for their games in the circus. In our time some specimens are to be seen in all zoological gardens, where they have even multiplied. Their intelligence is certainly very obtuse, and their keepers must always be on their guard; and so likewise must the spectators — for the hippopotamus has the habit of ejecting its semi-fluid excre- ment out of the water to a distance of perhaps twenty yards, this process being accompanied by jerking movements of the tail. THE PIG FAMILY (SUIDA). The pigs or hogs form a separate family, characterized for the most part by having the upper canines almost always directed upwards, while the lower canines are so closely applied to them that the two together on each side form only a single tusk. With the exception of the peccaries, which have the upper canines directed downwards in the normal manner, the pigs do not defend themselves by biting, but make thrusts to the right and left and from beneath upwards with these laterally projecting weapons. The muzzle is drawn out in the form of a proboscis, and spread out at the end into a disc in which the nostrils open. With this very tough instru- ment, which is supported internally by the cartilage of the nose, the animal digs up the earth. The incisors are three in number in each half of each jaw, but the upper ones are very apt to be lost, and not infrequently do not cut the gum at all. The cheek-teeth are composed of numerous tubercles arranged in folds. The eyes are small, the ears always erect, pointed, paper-cornet-shaped; only in the domestic forms do they become broad and pendent. The hide is covered with stiff bristles, which often become lengthened to To/ace ptt^eOO. Plate XXIII. — THE WILD BOAR (Sus scro/a). THE PIG FAMILY. 67 form a sort of mane. The legs are thin in the lower parts; only the two middle digits touch the ground, and these are completely encased by hoofs; the lateral digits are short and carry accessory hoofs. The tail is rather short, sometimes even quite unde- veloped; when present it carries a tuft of long bristles. The teats are numerous, and are situated on the abdomen. In most cases the young have a striped or spotted coat. All members of the family are social and nocturnal in their habits, omnivorous in their diet, given to frequenting waters and marshes, and fond of wallowing in mire. They live in more or less numerous troops, and feed on all that they find. Though they consume principally plants, roots, and tubers, they have no hesitation in devouring the living animals that fall in their way, and do not leave even carrion untouched. Notwith- standing their voracity, their frequently dis- gusting food, and their habits, it cannot be said that they are in themselves filthy animals. They dig with their snouts in the ground, wallow in mire, rub themselves against trees to coat their bristles with resin, but they always choose out a particular place far from their lair in which to deposit their dung. By day they remain inactive, and they go about in search of their food by night. ' The banks of rivers and pools, bogs and marshes are their favourite resorts. They run and gallop tolerably well, uttering loud grunts, are excel- lent swimmers, and are assisted in this mode of locomotion by a thick layer of fat developed between the skin and the muscles. Their sense of smell is very acute. They follow the track of a wounded animal like dogs, and manage to find out underground fungi and tubers by means of their nose. Their hear- ing is likewise very keen, but the other senses are obtuse. Usually peaceable, but by no means timid animals, the pigs know how to defend them- selves both against beasts of prey and against man, when they find that they cannot escape by flight. They support one another in their battles; the males, which are always better armed, defend the females and young with courage, and though not always victorious they are antagonists not to be despised. The genera which we distinguish in this family are distributed over both hemispheres; but the pigs of the Old World are altogether different from those of America. We will begin with the former. The true Pigs, forming the genus Sus, have preserved more of the original characters than the other members of the family, and if one will speak of antediluvian animals it is rather the pigs than the much more recent hippopotamuses, as is usually the case, that should be so designated. In PI. XXIII. is represented a family of wild boars iySus scrofa) belonging to our own division of the globe. This species has a very remarkable geographical distribution. It is found in all Asia and Europe, including the islands of the Mediterranean and the countries round, and extends even to the neighbourhood of the Arctic zone. A species so widely distributed could not fail to exhibit local varieties or races, which may present considerable differences among one another. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at when we find that each of the Sunda Islands has its own race, which has been described by many naturalists as a separate species, or that the wild pigs of the Atlas are a little different from those of Central Europe, which latter again can be very easily distinguished from their Indian kindred. The difficulties arising from this production of local varieties are multiplied by the facility with which all these races can be habituated to a certain kind of domestication, though just as ready to revert with equal rapidity to the wild condition when opportunity offers. Now, since the wild- boar has been domesticated from the earliest times in Egypt as well as in the East, there arises therefrom an extraordinarily intricate problem, since the naturalist always has to 68 THE NON-RUMINANT OR MANY-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. meet the question whether he has to do with a reversion to the wild state, or an adaptation to the conditions of more or less complete domestication. Be that as it may, our wild-boar has its head in the form of an elongated pyramid, with a flat brow and thick proboscis, behind which project the strong sharp tusks. The ears are small, erect, the legs pretty short but elegantly shaped, the tail curled and adorned with a long terminal tuft. The body is thinly covered with black bristles with yellow points, and these stand up as a mane on the back of the neck. The general colour is dark gray since the surface of the skin is black. The dentition shows in the upper jaw six sharp incisors, close set in a long curved line on the edge of the very narrow premaxilla, two massive canines grooved on the outside and directed outwards and upwards, and seven close-set cheek-teeth. The first pre- molar is very small and laterally compressed; the three next in order gradually increase in size till we come to the true molars, the last of which is as long as the two immediately in front taken together. The crowns of the cheek-teeth consist of tubercles with numerous folds and furrows, and those of the lower jaw also are similar in structure. In this jaw, however, the six sharp incisors are placed horizontally and directed forwards, while the strong and long canines, which are triangular in section, are curved like a bow, and exhibit behind a polished surface resulting from friction against the upper canine. The first very small but sharp premolar stands pretty close behind the canine, and is separated by a considerable interval from the other teeth, which form a continuous series. Fortunately for agriculture wild-boars are almost entirely extirpated in civilized coun- tries. Among us^ they are still kept in closed parks for the sake of the pleasures of the chase — a chase no longer dangerous. They still live in perfect freedom after the manner ' That is, in Germany. — Tr. of all pigs in a few large forests and in unculti- vated districts. Formerly they were hunted with packs of strong and well-knit dogs, against which they show an instinctive hatred. When after a bloody battle, in which several dogs were usually ripped open, the wild- boar was driven into a corner, it received its death-blow from a particular kind of lance or spear (whence this form of sport is known as "pig-sticking"), or from the hunting- knife, which the hunter rested against his knee. The wild-boar would charge the huntsman, who was then placed in great danger if he did not succeed in transfixing the animal with his weapon. At the present day plat- forms are erected on which the hunters can stand in safety while the game is driven past them. Boar- hunting has come to signify shooting for a wager at a rolling disc. The flesh of a wild-boar more than two years old is decidedly bad — tough and hard; that of sucklings and porkers, on the other hand, is excellent, and the head and snout are particu- larly esteemed. The domesticated races have arisen from numerous crosses between varieties origin- ally reared in the country to which they be- long. Our wild-boar, and another smaller variety with longer legs, the wild-boar of the lake-dwellings {Sus palustris), the wild-boars of India and the Sunda Islands, perhaps even the river-hogs of Africa have contributed to the production of these races, in which domestication and selection have given rise to remarkable characters — hanging ears, head truncated behind, face marked with folds and furrows, shortened snout, and other characters which are described in detail by Nathusius and Riitimeyer, but which we cannot enter upon here. The African Hogs are distinguished by bony excrescences on the sides of the face. In the River-hogs (Potamochcerus) these excrescences form two rounded and not very prominent swellings. In the illustration on the opposite page is represented the oldest THE PIG FAMILY. 69 known species, the Red River-hog of Guinea {P. porcus {penicillatus)), fig. 153, which attains the length of rather more than three feet exclusive of the tail. The river-hogs are distinguished from ordinary pigs by their more slender forms, longer legs, thinner bellies, and especially by the dentition, which always wants one premolar, so that they have only 40 teeth in all. The bristles are finer, and are greatly elongated on the middle line of the back, on the abdomen, and on the sides of the face where they form whiskers. The most striking external character consists in the form of the ears, which are long pointed The Red Ri\cr-hog [Potamoc/iariis pojxus). paper-cornet-like organs, the points of which are considerably prolonged by tufts of fine bristles. It is on account of this structure that a name meaning "tufted hogs"^ is applied to the members of this genus in German. The species shown in the illustration above is of a beautiful dark orange-brown colour; the brow, cheeks, ears, and slim legs are black ; the ear-tufts, whiskers, eyebrows, and mane white; the delicate long snout of a grayish colour. It is the most highly coloured of all pigs. Another species with a less variegated coat was discovered by Stanley near Lake Tanganyika. The very agile young ones of this species have a striped coat. They live in troops in marshy districts. In captivity ' Pinselschweine. they are comparatively gentle animals, yet liable to accesses of sudden fury. The Wart-hogs of Africa (Phacochoerus) certainly form one of the ugliest types known among animals. Two species are distin- guished, the Emgalo of the Cape {Ph. tethio- picus) and that of Inner Africa {Ph. africanus), which is spread over the whole of Africa from the shores of the Red Sea to the ocean. The distinctions between the two species are not very important. The fiirst has a shorter head, broader snout, more prominent cheek- swellings, and more readily loses the incisors with advancing years. The wart-hogs, fig. 154, are of the size of a wild -boar, with enormous head and long legs. The body is almost naked, of a dirty 70 THE NON-RUMINANT OR MANY-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. gray colour, and set with coarse bristles very sparsely scattered, except on the middle line of the back, where they form a pretty long mane which hangs down on both sides. The cheeks are surrounded by whiskers, and the short tail carries a tuft. The head forms the fourth part of the whole length of the body. Behind, it terminates abruptly in the form of a quadrangle, at the upper corners of which are situated the broad, short, sharp-pointed ears, while small prominent eyes are placed on the flat brow. Two warty protuberances Fig. 154. — The Emgalo or Ethiopian Wart-hog [Phacocharus athioficiis). page 69. as large as the ears rise beneath and in front of the eyes like two short, flattened, recurved horns. A second pair of small warts is found on the sides of the face near the enormous tusks, to form which the upper and lower canines are set close together so as to form terrible weapons curving upwards and back- wards. The snout is short, but very broad, and oval in section. The legs are pretty long, but strong, and on the joints of the wrist there are broad callosities or warty patches. In order to be able to turn up the soil with greater force the wart-hogs have acquired the habit of kneeling on these patches and advancing by pushing with the hind-feet. The dentition is very remarkable, unique in its kind. In the premaxilla there is only a single incisor on each side, and this is placed behind a bony eminence supporting the snout. This pair of incisors, which bend inwards towards each other, often disappear, especially in the Cape species. In the lower jaw there are six incisors arranged in a semi- circle, and these also in the Cape species often disappear in the adult. The upper canines are of enormous size, set in project- ing sockets, and have their anterior surface grooved and worn away at the base by friction against the slender and very sharp- pointed canines of the lower jaw. In each half of each jaw the last of the cheek-teeth is of enormous size, and takes up almost the whole length of the jaw, while in front of it THE PIG FAMILY. 71 there are a few small blunt rudimentary premolars, which gradually get squeezed out by this huge molar, or, so to speak, become included in it. Thus in the skull of a wart- hog which I now have before my eyes, there are three premolars above and below on the right side and only two on the left, where the large molar has undergone an elongation which enables it to replace both in form and size the absent premolar. The large molar is at least six times as long as it is broad, and its chewing surface, which is always getting worn away while in use, consists of a double series of oval tubercles surrounded Fig. 155. — The Babirussa (I'orcKS babirmsa). by enamel, eight to nine in each row, between which a number of smaller tubercles similarly isolated are arranged like squares on a chess- board. These large molars, it will be seen, are very similar in structure to those of the elephants. The wart-hogs live in troops in marshy regions, and have a certain reputation for savageness and untamableness. The natives of the Cape dread them more than they do the lion. The wart-hogs are fond of hiding in the holes of other digging animals, and some- times they dig pits for themselves. Speci- mens are now often to be seen in zoological gardens. They are not very sociable, and show no interest in anything, but are rather fond of having their unshapely head scratched. Nevertheless one must constantly be on one's guard against them. The first specimen brought to Europe killed its keeper in a moment of fury. The Babirussa [Porctis babirussa {Babirussa al/tirus)), fig. 155, is a not less remarkable type found on the island of Celebes and some of the neighbouring islands, such as the island of Bouro. It attains almost the size of an ass, having rather long slim legs. The hide, of a dirty grayish-black colour, forms numerous folds, and is set with only a few stiff brisdes. The tail is short, pendent, straight, without a terminal tuft; the back is arched. The relatively small head, with longish pointed proboscis, carries paper- cornet- shaped ears and small eyes. The 72 THE NON-RUMINANT OR MANY-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. upper canines have their roots set in sockets which open upwards, and appear as it were glued to the sides of the jaw. They pierce The fourth digit on all the feet remains much smaller than in all other Suida. Nothing is known of the mode of life of these animals, the skin, and in the course of growth get so , which obviously approach the ruminants in bent round that the compressed points come the characters mentioned. to lie on the middle line of the forehead. In j The American Peccaries (Dicotyles) like- profile these teeth have almost the form of wise form a separate group approaching the a chamois horn. The lower tusks are less ruminants in the division of the stomach into curved, more slender, pointed like triangular I three parts and the loss of the outermost daggers, and di- rected outwards. They are not closely applied to those of the upper jaw, but are placed fur- ther forwards, and form dan- gerous weapons. There are in all only four incisors in the upper jaw, six in the lower. Each half of each iavv h'lS two nre- Fig. 156. — The CoWared Peccary [Duotj//es /orfuafus) molars and three molars, the last of which is the largest. In the arrangement of the tubercles of these teeth, which are somewhat like those of tapirs, there is a remarkable tendency to the zygodont form. The mode of life of the babirussa is like that of the other members of the family. It runs and swims very well, and defends itself with courage when driven into a corner. Specimens have often been brought to Europe, but like other inhabitants of moist tropical climes they have not survived long. A suckling born in a zoological garden was not striped. Lastly, among the types belonging to the Old World we must mention the Pigmy Hogs (Porcula), discovered by Hodgson in the Himalayas. They are, in fact, the dwarfs of the group, attaining the length of scarcely two feet. The tail is only a stump. The incisors of these animals remain undeveloped. digit of the hind- feet. They have only two incisors in each half of the premaxilla, and often lose the outer pair. The canines are short, ,but very strong and sharp- edged; they do not project be- yond the lips. The upper ones are not directed upwards, but, as in the ruminants, downwards. Moreover the peccaries do not butt, but bite. They are pretty little animals, for the smaller species, the Collared Peccary (Z^. torquatiis), fig. 156, which inhabits the main- land of America as far north as Mexico, is only about three feet in length; while the larger species, the White-lipped Peccary (Z>. labiatus), grows to a length of little more than three feet and a half. The body is short and thickset, the neck very thick, the head thick behind, becoming finely pointed towards the snout, the tail rudimentary, the legs slim. The general colour is dark-gray; the stiff and not very thickly planted bristles are longer on the neck and along the middle line of the back. The northern species is marked with a yellowish stripe on the shoulders, forming a sort of collar. They have at most three pairs of teats. All peccaries have on the back a pretty GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 73 well developed superficial gland, which exudes an oily fluid with a disagreeable penetrating odour. When the animal is killed in hunting this gland must be at once removed with the adjoining part of the skin, otherwise the highly palatable flesh of the animal would become quite unfit for food. The peccaries are nomads which roam about in large troops in the forests both by night and by day. They are not so fond of marshes as other members of the family, are often found hiding in hollow trees, and support each other loyally in battles against beasts of prey, and especially against dogs. They are very zealously hunted, but the hunters always try to single out from the herd a few individuals, which can then be easily mastered. GROUP OF THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA OR RUMINANTS (DIDACTYLA OR RUMINANTIA). We have already drawn attention to the principal characters of this group, and these we will now only shortly summarize. The feet are always two-toed, the toes are encased in hoofs and mostly articulated to a single long metacarpal or metatarsal bone, which is only rarely divided longitudinally, but for the most part exhibits a trace of the fusion that has taken place in a longitudinal groove of greater or less depth. The two latent digits never touch the ground, and carry more or less well developed accessory hoofs. But if, on the one hand, the meta- carpal and metatarsal bones belonging to these digits remain for the most part more or less distinct, in other cases they are rudi- mentary, and in others again they vanish altogether with the toes themselves. There is thus a series of developments by which the two lateral digits get more and more reduced, and this series is the continuation of that which was presented by the preceding group. At the same time the limbs become more slender and longer, as the fleetness of the animal increases. Among the ruminants we meet with runners which surpass all other known mammals in point of speed. Vol. II. In many ruminants there are found on the hoof-bearing joints of the toes special sacs formed of folds of the skin lined with hair, at the bottom of which open numerous glands, from which an oily, often strongly smelling, fluid is exuded. The presence of these so-called interdigital glands often serves to distinguish genera and groups of genera. The dentition displays very characteristic evolutional series, but confined within pretty narrow limits. In the first place there is observed a tendency to dispense with the upper incisors, which often begin to appear in the embryo, but remain undeveloped except in the camels, in which a single incisor survives in each premaxilla. A callous pad covering the edge of the jaw takes on the function of the absent teeth. On the other hand, the number of incisors in the lower jaw is brought up to eight, which are united in a semicircle and placed almost horizontally. This increase perhaps arises in most cases from the fact that the lower canine assumes the form of an incisor and gets attached to the series of true incisors. The upper canines remain longer distinct, but in the hollow- horned ruminants and the giraffes they 42 74 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. disappear altogether. The true cheek-teeth are always formed of semi-cylinders, which, through the disposition of the enamel, exhibits on the chewing surface a half-moon, the con- vexity of which in the upper cheek-teeth is turned inwards and in those of the lower jaw outwards. The selenodont (moon -shaped) type of dentition is here accordingly developed in all its purity. The premolars readily fall into two groups. The first frequently stands near the incisors and canines, so that it is separated from the others by an interval or diastema, while the originally simple hinder premolars become associated with the true molars both in position and form. Since the function of the cheek-teeth consists specially in the bruising of the grass by a lateral grinding motion, the condyle, or joint-surface at the end of the lower jaw, has the form of a longish, transversely-placed cylinder. Even in some members of the hog family, those, namely, belonging to Africa, we may observe a tendency to the formation of bony outgrowths on the skull, these having the appearance of swellings. In the ruminants we can trace step by step the growth of such bony excrescences, which, according to their structure, are called horns or antlers. The original types of the ruminants had no horns, which are likewise entirely wanting in some still living families, as the camels and the musk-deer. Three different forms can be dis- tinguished in these weapons, which are often developed only in the males, and, in any case, are always stronger and larger in them than in the females. In the giraffe a bony knob rises in the middle of the brow a little behind the eyes, and two short horns are formed just at the back of the head between the ears. They have bony cores which are connected by sutures with the bones of the skull. All these protuberances are covered by the quite unmodified hairy skin. From this primitive structure of a simple bony peg, so to speak, covered with skin, have been developed, on the one hand, horns, on the other, antlers. In the former we have a solid or hollow bony core completely fused with the skull and traversed by numerous vessels, the canals through which these run giving a spongy or striped appearance to the internal struc- ture. This permanent core is covered by a hard sheath, which, like the nails and hoofs, is composed of horny fused fibres. These horny sheaths keep constantly growing by the addition of new layers internally. They can easily be separated from the bony core, with which they are connected only by vessels and the soft tissue out of which the horny substance is formed. Like the hoofs they persist throughout life, and at the lower part, where the bony core enters them, they are hollow. It is the family of the Hollow-horned Artiodactyla (Cavicornia) the members of which are furnished with horns of that sort. The antlers of the Deer are formed in a different way. From the hinder and upper angles of the frontal bones there rise processes or protuberances known as bassets, which belong to the bone itself, and like it are covered by the hairy skin. These processes, usually very short, may attain, as in the case of the muntjac, a considerable length, and are manifestly analogous to the horns of the giraffe. But in the deer they spread out at the end into a disk surrounded by a ring of bony knots forming the btirr. On the disk may be observed at certain times what is nothing else than an inflammation, which leads to the extraordinarily rapid growth of a true bone traversed by numerous vessels and covered by a thin layer of skin with short hair. During the growth of this bony pro- cess the number of blood-vessels is remarkable, and the circulation of the blood in the grow- ing bone is very active. But as soon as the bone has attained its full length the circulation gradually slackens, and ultimately it ceases altogether. The skin becomes dry, breaks off in fragments, and the whole antler dies. It still remains for a time attached to the burr, but finally it breaks off in order to give GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 75 place to a new antler. Except in the case of the reindeer only the male deer carry antlers, and their formation is intimately related to the sexual function. A castrated stag produces no new antlers after the shed- ding of those which it had at the time of the mutilation, or these latter may be permanently retained. Originally all antlers are simple spikes or snags, and it is only in course of the periodical renewals that we see the formation of the lateral shoots or lines, which are sometimes expanded and flattened. Notwithstanding the amount of difference between horns and antlers there is yet a connecting link in the American Prong-horned Antelope [Antilocapra americand), the tines of whose antlers are covered with horny sheaths as in the Cavicornia, sheaths formed of a thickened and hardened epidermis or outer skin, but which are shed and renewed several times in the process of growth, fresh ones budding off round the bony cores. The structure of the stomach in the pres- ent group is likewise remarkable. It is this which gives rise to the process of rumination. All the members of the group are exclusively herbivorous, and most of them can escape from their enemies only by their fleetness of foot. They accordingly consume great quantities of herbs and leaves with the utmost haste, filling therewith a capacious compart- ment in their stomach, which serves as a sort of storehouse, and then betake themselves to some retired spot where they can perform the second mastication at their leisure. Since the first mastication is very imperfect and does not suffice for the extraction of the nutritive matter contained in the herbs and leaves, such an arrangement is all the more advantageous, inasmuch as it permits of a more intimate mixture of the food with the saliva. The structure of the stomach is mani- festly due to the necessity for returning to the mouth the material stored up in the large compartment above mentioned in order that it should be finely ground by the action of the teeth. The stomach is first divided into two parts, one which serves as a storehouse, and the other which carries on the proper work of digestion. The first part is in direct con- nection with the gullet through the cardiac opening, the second part is continued by the pyloric opening into the intestine. Now each of these parts Is again divided into two \:\%, 157. — \\i'iV^A\vc\\\\{Tragulusfygmccus'), page 76. subordinate compartments, those of the car- diac portion being the paunch or rumen, which is always very capacious and often forms several secondary pouches, and the reticulum or honey-comb stomach. Into these two compartments the food is first admitted, and from the reticulum it can ascend again to the mouth through the gullet, which is widely expanded for the purpose. But the gullet has throughout its whole length a thick- lipped groove opening into the cavity of the pyloric section of the stomach, which pyloric section is subdivided into the liber, psalterium or manyplies, and the abomasum or rennet stomach. The remasticated food glides down the groove just mentioned, the lips of which shut so as to form a tube, and passes thence directly into the psalterium, and from there 76 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. into the abomasum, in which is secreted the acid gastric juice by which the work of digestion is performed. In young ruminants still sucking, the paunch and reticulum are only slightly developed; these organs attain their full size only as the animals pass over to a purely vegetable diet. There are numerous variations in the structure of these different parts of the stomach, but the most remarkable is that seen in the chevrotains (Tragulida), ' in which the psalterium is altogether absent, which brings about a close resemblance between their stomach and that of the peccaries. The teats are situated in the region of the groin. The young come into the world in a very advanced state, and are able to follow their mothers a few hours after birth. They are not numerous; one, or at most two, at a birth is the rule in the ruminants. THE CHEVROTAIN FAMILY (TRAGULIDA). This family stands nearest to that of the pigs, and especially, as just stated, to the peccaries, in virtue of the structure of the stomach, which has no psalterium; and also in virtue of the structure of the feet, in which the metacarpal and metatarsal bones are not yet completely fused; the structure of the brain, which is very simple, has few con- volutions, small cerebral hemispheres, and the cerebellum, often even a part of the mid- brain, uncovered; and lastly, in virtue of the structure of the placenta. They are the smallest of the ruminants, for the Kanchil {Tragulus pygmcsus), fig 157, does not exceed the size of a hare, and the Water Chevrotain i^Hycsmoschiis {Hyomoschus) aquaticus), the largest species, is of about the size of a roebuck a few months old. The family is represented only by the genera just mentioned. The true chevrotains, forming the genus Tragulus, in which several species are distinguished, are indigenous in India, the Eastern Peninsula, China, Ceylon, and the Sunda Islands; the water chevrotain is con- fined to the west coast of Africa — the Gaboon and Sierra Leone. The head of the Tragulida is finely shaped and pointed in front. In the males two sharp, slender, pointed canines curved downwards and out- wards project beyond the mouth from the upper jaw. The eyes are very large and sparkling, the ears small and but slightly covered with hair, the neck short, the body thick, the back arched, the legs slender and well formed, the tail short and bushy. The fur is short, very thick, usually of a yellowish- brown colour, almost white underneath, and often marked with white stripes and spots on the throat and sides. The lateral digits are well developed, and are carried by complete metacarpal (or metatarsal) bones; the lower incisors are set close together, and the middle pair has the crowns spread out like a spade. The lower canines are absent. The three premolars above and below are simple, with sharp triangular crowns. The three upper molars exhibit double crescents, while on those of the lower jaw there are only single crescents on the edges. There are no horns, and the males have no musk-pouch. These pretty little creatures live singly or in pairs in mountainous regions. They are very agile, leap and climb admirably, run well, but not long at a time; and among the Malays, who have a saying, "as cunning as a kanchil," enjoy a perhaps exaggerated reputation for craftiness. They feign death in order to escape pursuit. They are eagerly hunted for their flesh, and they have often been brought to Europe, where they thrive very well in the zoological gardens; they are graceful, but very shy and timid. The Musk-deer i^Moschus moschiferus), fig. 158, forms the connecting link between the chevrotains and the true deer. Like the former, it has no horns, has a pretty thick body highly arched behind, large accessory hoofs and strong canines, which in the males THE DEER FAMILY. 77 project beyond the mouth; but in respect of all the other characters of the dentition, the limbs, the whole skeleton, and the stomach and intestines, are in no way different from the true deer. On these grounds Alph. Milne Edwards has separated the musk-deer from the chevrotains, with which they were formerly united in the same group. 138. — The Musk-deer (Moschiis moschiferus). What distinguishes this species, which is distributed over an enormous range in all the mountainous parts of Central Asia, from Siberia to Cochin-China, and from Kamchatka to the Ural Mountains, is the pouch, which stands in close relation to the sexual organs of the male, and yields the musk, which was formerly highly esteemed in medicine, but at the present day is used almost exclusively in perfumery. The musk-pouch is a fold of the skin as large as the fist which opens in the middle line of the abdomen behind the navel, and contains numerous glands which excrete an oily substance of a yellowish-red colour, becoming brown on drying. The pouch of an adult male may contain as much as two ounces of the precious substance, or even more, and it is chiefly for the sake of this product that the very shy and agile animal is hunted. The musk-deer is of the size of a roebuck, and like this animal has a stiff coarse hair-covering, which is very variable in colour. Reddish-gray is, however, the prevailing hue, but white-spotted and even quite white varieties are found. The musk- deer hides itself by day and goes out in search of pasture at sunset. It jumps and climbs about on the mountains as cleverly as ;i chamois; but since it is much attached to its own retreats, and always returns thither after an excursion, it is easily caught in snares or shot with bullets. The Siberian musk is the least highly prized; nevertheless this country yields about 0000 pouches every year. THE DEER FAMILY (CERVIDA). By the exclusion of the musk-deer from the deer family this group is restricted to those ruminants which possess antlers, which are always developed in the males, but seldom in the females. The males almost always have canines also, which in some species even grow to a considerable size, but in most cases remain small and insignificant. The eight lower incisors form a close-set series, and are almost alike in form and size. The premolars are very litde different either in form or size from the true molars. Deer have large ears, prominent eyes, and always have - under the eye lachrymal glands or tear-pits exuding an oily fluid which in the breeding season acquires a peculiar smell. The tail is very short, the body usually long, and covered with coarse, stiff, thickset hair. The long slender legs carry small accessory hoofs at a considerable height above the ground. Between the hoofs of the hind-feet there is a brush of stiff hairs. Polygamy appears to be the rule in the deer family; they seldom live in pairs, almost always in 78 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. herds. They prefer the woods, are shy and sudden in their movements, but the males become quarrelsome and even ferocious in the rutting season, when they utter loud bellowings and carry on furious battles with one another. The family is distributed over the whole of the Old and New Worlds as far as the limit of forests, occasionally even beyond that limit,andevery- where they are the objects of keen pursuit, for the sake of their tender flesh, their hide, which furnishes pretty good lea- ther, and even their antlers, which are used in the making of instruments and works of art. The fe- males have four teats, but sel- t J • f J.U ^'S- ^59' — Ihe Muntjac (Co-vuliis munijac) more than one young one at a time. Hearing is the most highly developed of all the senses ; the intelligence is very slight. Beautiful, but stupid! is the motto for them. The very numerous family of the deer has been divided into genera and sub-genera, regard being had, in making these sub- divisions, chiefly to the form of the antlers, which are sometimes simple spikes, sometimes forked, branched, or .spatulate— expanded somewhat like a spade. The distinctions are, however, very slight, so that no great value can be attached to these subdivisions. From these groups we select a few characteristic or specially interesting species. Through the pos.session of large project- ing canines by the male and the absence of bunches of hair on the soles of the hind-feet the Muntjac (Ccrvtilus iminfjac), fig. 159, also called by the natives Kidang, approaches the musk-deer, while in all other characters it is a member of the true deer family. The muntjac lives on the Great Sunda Islands, Borneo, Java, and Sumatra; an allied but little-known species inhabits India. These pretty deer, of the size of our roe, are distin- guished by the structure of the antlers, the vel- vet-clad por- tions of which begin in the form of two strong lateral bony ridges on the nose, and rise free above the brow to a height equal to about half the length of the head. At a point a little way above the burr there rises a short brow- tine, while the stem or beam is continued in a form like that of a bow with the concavity inwards. The fawns are spotted; the adult animals have a brownish-yellow coat, with two white spots on the throat; the tear-pits are very large and surmounted by tufts of hair. The males live solitary in the woods, associating with the females only in the breeding season, are very courageous, and can defend themselves very well against dogs with their horns and teeth. In confinement they are subject to accesses of fury which may prove dangerous at times. South America nourishes several species of small deer about equal in size to our roe- deer, but even more slimly built. These are distinguished by the name of brockets (genus Subulo) on account of their small, somewhat To /ace page 7 S. Plate XXIV. — THE ROE-DEER [Capreohs vulgaris). THE DEER FAMILY. 79 curved, pointed antlers without tines. An illustration is given of the commonest species, the Red Brocket {Subulo {Cariacus) rufiis), fig. 1 60, which has a coat of a brilliant reddish- brown colour on the back and reddish-yellow underneath. This very timid animal lives in pairs in the densest parts of the forests of Brazil and Guiana. The tail is short, the tear-pits are slightly developed. Canines are present only in the young males. Our Common Roe {Capreolus vulgaris {caprcea) ), which is represented in PI. XXIV., is the type of a group charac- terized by having short strong antlers with a thick, round, straight beam, the end of which forks one or more times with increasing age. The tear-pits are scarcely indicated, the tail is only a Fig. 160.— The Red Brocket {Subulo ru/us). stump, the canines are present only in the young males. The roe-deer lives in small troops scattered over all Europe. A larger variety extends over Central Asia as far as China. The general colour is brownish-gray. The very stiff fur is shorter and redder in summer, longer and grayer in winter. There is a white patch on the hips behind known to hunters as the speculum. The males in the rutting season are very combative and challenge one another with a peculiar cry, which in hunting is sometimes imitated by means of a small instrument placed in the mouth. The roebuck imagines that he hears the voice of a rival and at once dashes to meet him. At other times the roe is a timid animal, hiding by day in the dense parts of the forest, but preferring the neighbourhood of open glades and fields. The troops go out only at night under the leadership of an old male. The roe yields us the most highly esteemed kind of game. The pregnancy of the female presents an exceptional condition like that which we have already observed in bats. The ovum is impregnated in July and August, but only in November does it begin to develop, and the young are born in May. Roes have often been tamed, but the instances have remained isol- ated, since the bucks become very ill-tem- pered as they grow old. The members of the genus Blasto- ceros (sometimes in- cluded in the genus Cariacus) take the place of our roe-deer in S. America. The commonest species, the Pampas Deer, or Guazui of the natives [Bl. {Cariacus) cam- pestris), is repre- sented in fig. 161. They are distinguished from the roes by their longer tail and larger and thinner antlers, which besides the terminal peak carry two or three long, thin, and sharp -pointed tines. The species represented is of the size of a small fallow-deer, with very long slender legs. The under parts are white, and the eyes are surrounded by white rings. This pretty creature prefers the pampas and treeless steppes, which, however, are covered with tall grasses in which it hides by day. It is easily tamed, and becomes very confiding, but the male in the rutting season has such a penetrating and clinging smell that it be- comes a very disagreeable guest, while its flesh is rendered quite unpalatable. In the East Indies there are numerous forms allied to those just described, forms in which the antlers attain the length, and 8o THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. exhibit in the beams the roundness and cur- vature characteristic of our common deer, but scarcely ever give off more than three tines, one of which, the brow-tine, is situated near the burr above the eyes. As type of this group an illustration is given of the Axis or Spotted Deer (Axis maculata {Cervus axis)), fig. 162, whose beautiful brownish-yellow fur is marked with a dark stripe on the back, and is dotted over with numerous white spots. The antlers are thin and almost smooth. This beautiful stag, which does not quite attain the size of the fallow-deer, inhabits the jungles of India. It is often hunted. It is propa- gated pretty easily in our zoological gar- 5^5%&.:^^-jUi^ iuiiat-uu^\. jjage 96. size of a fallow-deer, a native of Abyssinia and the whole of West Africa, is remarkable for the bright colours of its coat. The head, the neck, the breast, and the back are of a 96 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. brownish-gray colour: the sides and the thighs of a rusty red, and upon these parts there are white spots and stripes, of the arrange- ment of which the illustration will give a better idea than a long description. The horns of the male are thick, flattened, and provided with two keels or ridges, which meet at the extremity of the horn. The two horns have an elegant curve inwards. This beautiful animal lives in pairs in the forests; it is easily tamed, stands our climate pretty well, and on account of its gentleness Fig. 173. — The Nylgau (Portax pictus). and easiness of management has become one of the favourites as well as one of the most frequent ornaments of our zoological gardens. The Saiga (Colus tartaricus {Saiga tar- iarica)), fig. 172, is the only European an- telope besides the chamois. Its domain for- merly extended as far as the foot of the Pyrenees; but at the present day it is con- fined to the steppes of Russia, from the frontiers of Poland to the Altai Mountains. It is a rather abnormal type, with a sturdy massive body and short legs, and is spe- cially distinguished by the peculiar form of its nose and upper lip, which are swollen and wrinkled, the lip hanging down over the mouth like a short but very mobile proboscis. The horns of the male are short, curved slightly in the form of a lyre, almost trans- parent. The animal possesses a large num- ber of skin-glands, which exude fragrant oily fluids. Besides the very deep tear-pits there are glands in the region of the groin. The fur, gray on the back and the flanks, whitish on the abdomen and brow, is almost like the fleece of a sheep. The animal lives in troops, which are often very numerous, is very timid but easily tired out when pursued, and in THE ANTELOPES. 97 spite of its keen scent easily becomes the prey of the hunter. The flesh is made dis- agreeable by the smell of musk imparted to it by the superficial glands. The saiga is often seen in zoological gardens, where it frequently perishes through its own stupidity, breaking its neck or its legs by dashing against the bars of its cage. The Nylgau [Poriax pidus {Boselaplius iragocamehis) ), fig. 173, forms the transition to the powerful and clumsy species which are higher at the shoulders than behind, the reverse being the case with the slighter and more elegant forms of which we have just been treating. The nylgau, which inhabits principally the edge of the jungles in the Fig. 174. — The Sing-Sing or Waterbok (Koliits cllipsifiymnus). page 98. East Indies, is often imported into Europe, where one can make its acquaintance in the zoological gardens. It is of the size of a stag, is on the whole ill-proportioned and in- elegant, has a rather shaggy coat, and appears to be decidedly weak in the loins. The small longish head is often furnished in both sexes, most commonly, however, only in the male, with short, pointed, slightly curved horns. The ears are large, the eyes small and lively but malicious, the tear-pits deep. On the breast is a slight dewlap. The shoulders are very high and angular, the back slopes rapidly towards the hinder extremity, the tail is pretty Vol. II. long and bushy, the feet strong and provided with broad hoofs and flattened accessory hoofs. The hair is rough and coarse; it forms a sort of mane at the neck and shoul- ders, and there is a long tuft about the middle of the neck in front as well as at the end of the tail. The general colour is a grayish- brown with blue reflex colours, which have procured for the nylgau the name of the " blue ox." Besides a few white spots on the lips, the throat, and under the tail, the nylgau is specially distinguished by two white rings on the feet, one immediately below, the other above the accessory hoofs. The nylgau 4fi 98 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. is much hunted on account of its excellent flesh as well as on account of its hide, which makes a very flexible leather. When wounded it attacks the hunter, throwing itself upon its knees and creeping up to him. In captivity it is ill-tempered and often attacks its keepers. Since i860 the King of Italy has possessed a pretty large herd of nylgaus at San Ros- sore, near Pisa, where the animals appear to thrive. The Sing- Sing, the Waterbok of the Boers {Kobtis cllipsiprymnus), fig. 174, has the ap- pearance of a large fallow-deer and almost attains the size of our stag. The horns of 1- ig. 175. — 1 ho .Sable Antelope or Swarte-bok [Hifpotragus niger] the male are large, curved in the shape of a lyre, ringed for two -thirds of their length, the ears of moderate size, the eyes pretty large. The hair is rough but oily -looking and shining, somewhat longer at the neck than in other parts, and there is a tuft at the end of the tail. The legs are slender. The waterbok lives in small herds under the leadership of an old male, and inhabits the marshes of Central Africa and the Cape re- gion. It always remains in the vicinity of water, into which it plunges when danger threatens, in order to save itself by swimming. The flesh of adult animals smells strongly of musk ; that of the young alone is eatable. The Sable Antelope or Swarte-bok {^Hippo- tragus nigcr), fig. 175, is of about the size of a stout short stag. The male carries long horns curved backwards and ringed to the points like those of a goat. The horns of the female have the same form but are smaller. The head is small and short, the ears long like those of an ass, the tail of moderate length, very thin and with a large terminal tuft. A long loose mane runs from the nape of the neck to the middle of the back, and there is a shorter one on the under surface of the neck. The colour is a brilliant black; a broad white stripe extends from the eye to the lips and here unites with another ;K\^V%"^^^^^ To face page <)8. Plate XXIX. — THE CANNA OR ELAND [Buselaphus canna). THE ANTELOPES. 99 white chin -stripe. The under side of the breast and the belly, as well as the inner sides of the legs, are white. Formerly this animal was considered to be a blauw-bok (//". leucophced) in its summer dress, but it has now been ascertained to be an inde- pendent though rare species. Blauw-boks and swarte-boks live in troops under the leadership of an old male in the rocky and mountainous parts of Central Africa. In the Cape region they are almost extirpated. They are extremely shy and timid, darting off on F ig 176 — I he Lcucorv \ or Sibre Antelope {Oryx leiicoryx). the least hint of danger. The flesh has an abominable taste like that of a he-goat. The Spietboks (^Oryx) are large African antelopes, heavy-looking and clumsy in form. They are of about the size of a stag, and are distinguished by their enormous horns, which are usually as long as the body. They are straight or very slightly curved, thin, pointed, plainly ringed, and are developed in both sexes. The head and the tail resemble those of the cow, of which the short and massive neck also remind us, especially since it often carries a slight dewlap. The species repre- sented in fig. 176, the Leucoryx or Sabre Antelope [O. leucoryx), is found in the deserts of Central Africa, especially in Sennar, and it advances up to the Egyptian frontier. Formerly its domain extended further to the north, as is shown by the numerous figures seen on the ancient monuments. These beautiful animals wander about in small troops in the dry steppes, and in spite of their apparent clumsiness rival the best horses in running. Bold and defiant, they make a stand against both beasts of prey and hunters, endeavouring to transfix their assailants with their horns. Where they have made acquain- tance with fire-arms, however, they flee before the hunter, whom they scent at a great distance. The species represented is whitish-yellow lOO THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. above, white underneath, and marked with brown spots on the head. It is often seen in zoological gardens. The Canna of the Kaffirs, the Elen of the Boers {Busclap/uts areas), PI. XXIX., is the heaviest of all the antelopes, and that which has most resemblance to the oxen, and especially to the zebu. This resemblance is so great that at a distance, when the horns cannot be distinguished, one is in doubt whether a herd grazing in the steppes con- sists of cannas or zebus. The neck adorned Fig. 177. — The Mendes Antelope (Aitdax nasoiiiaculatus). with a large pendent dewlap, the short sturdy- limbs, the pretty long tail with a large terminal tuft, the absence of tear-pits, the presence of a hump on the shoulders, the brownish-yellow colour, with the white spots on the head and neck, the habits, the gait — everything reminds us of the humped oxen. The horns, however, are very different. They are straight, of moderate length, con- tinue the line of the brow, and have a large thick keel or ridge wound round them spirally to the extremity. A strong bull of this species may reach the weight of a ton. The canna is now found only in Inner Africa between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer, but its domain formerly extended to the Cape region, where, at the time when the settlers arrived, troops of several hundred head used to pasture. Mounted hunters endeavour to overtake the old bulls, which cannot hold out very long in running. Descendants of a pair of cannas which the Earl of Derby intro- duced in 1840 are now found in almost all zoological gardens, where they behave like cattle. The flesh is very savoury, that of the young animal tender, while that of the old bulls has a disagreeable odour like the flesh of a he-goat. The Mendes Antelope,^ the Abbu Addas of ' Supposed to be the pyg-ti'g of Deut. xiv. 5. — Tr. THE ANTELOPES. lOI the Arabs [Addax nasomaculatus), fig. 177, is found in the eastern Sahara and as far east as Nubia, usually in pretty large flocks. This antelope, which is more eagerly hunted than any other by the nomads with their slughis or Arabian greyhounds, is indeed less clumsy-looking than the canna, but yet resem- bles the oxen pretty closely in the plumpness of the body, the thickness of the legs, and the general appearance of the tail, which is long and has a large terminal tuft. The horns, which are found on both sexes, are straight from base to tip, but have a double .spiral twist round their axis, and for two-thirds of Fig. 178.— The Caani.-i or Hartebeest [Buhalis Caama). their length up are surrounded by numerous oblique rings. These horns served as an ornament for the head in many of the deities of the ancient Egyptians. The head, the neck, and the short mane are brown, the rest of the body whitish-yellow. A white trans- verse stripe is always to be seen on the nose. Regions of drought are the favourite abode of the addax. It is a swift runner, and defends itself with courage against dogs when wounded. In captivity it is ill-tempered and liable to accesses of fury. The Koodoo {Strepsiceros hidu), of which there is a full-page illustration (PI. XXX.), has long flattened horns, indistinctly ringed and with a marked spiral twist. The size, the appearance, and the habits of this beau- tiful antelope remind us of our stags. It frequents the forests and the bush of the whole of the interior of Africa from the Cape to the borders of Sahara, lives like our stag, and is used and hunted like it. The general colour is a reddish or brownish gray, but there are irregular white spots on the flanks. The mane and the tail-tuft are blackish, the long hair on the dewlap gray, the legs and the middle of the forehead white. The Caama of the Kaffirs, the Hartebeest of the Cape Colonists [Bubalis {A Icelaplms) Caajfta), fig. 178, which is also of about the lo: THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. size of a stag, is distinguished by its longish head and its short stout horns, which meet at the base, are markedly ringed and curved in the form of a lyre. Recently naturalists have distinguished several species which approach very close to the hartebeest, and are, perhaps, only local varieties. The species shown in fig. 1 78 is cinnamon-brown, the forehead, the front of the legs, and the bushy tail are black, narrow rings round the eyes, the inner side of the thighs and the speculum are white. The hartebeest was formerly very abundant near the Cape, but has been almost extirpated there by the ceaseless persecution to which it has been exposed on the part of hunters. It is still found in Inner Africa, in the land of the Bogos and the Niam-niam, and is generally to be seen on the banks of Fig. 179. — The Indian Antelope (Antilope cervicapm). rivers in herds of about twenty individuals. It is a rather quarrelsome animal, but may to a certain extent be tamed, though it some- times becomes dangerous. We have reserved till now a singular ante- lope belonging to India, and known as the Indian Antelope, though called by the Hindus themselves the Sassi [Ajitilope cervicapra), fig. 1 79. Its long, ringed and spirally twisted, but straight horns remind us of the addax, but in other respects it has rather the appear- ance of a gazelle. The animal is reverenced by the Hindus, who have placed it in the zodiac in place of the ibex (Capricorn), and regard it as sacred to Chandra, the goddess of the moon. The male, which alone is horned, is of a dark grayish-brown colour, the female lighter; the belly, the inner side of the legs, the speculum, the lips, the ears, and the rings round the eyes are white. The legs are thin, the tail short and provided with a terminal tuft, and tufts of hair adorn the knees. The tear-pits and inguinal glands are remarkably large, and filled with an oily ill-smelling secretion. The animal lives in open woods and groves in pretty numerous troops led by an old male. The great nobles of Bengal hunt it with falcons or grey- hounds. The Gnus (Catoblepas (Connochsetes) ) pre- sent a union of rather singular characters, which may always be observed in our mena- geries and zoological gardens. Two species are known, both natives of the Cape; of To/acepagt /siceros kudu). y THE GOATS. •03 these the one shown in fig. i8o, the Wilde- beest of the colonists (C. gmi), is the com- monest. The head resembles in a measure that of a small buffalo; the horns, which are placed near one another and are present in both sexes, are twisted first outwards and downwards and then upwards and forwards, and finally end in sharp points. The ears are of moderate size, there is a tuft of stiff hairs on the nose, another on the throat; a short stiff mane similar to that of the zebras runs along the neck from the nape to the shoulders. Tufts of hair also hang from the breast, and the tail, which is moderately long, I'ig. i8o. — The Wildebeest or While-tailed Gnu {Catoblepus gnu). is bushy. The body is pretty long, the legs ! strong and of moderate length, the hoofs | broad and high. The nostrils can be com- pletely closed ; the small eyes have an expres- sion of wild savagery. The general colour is a dark brownish-gray; the eyebrows and the hair on the lips are white. The animal is of about the size of an ass. Large flocks of it inhabit the plains of Africa south of the equator. From all other antelopes it is dis- tinguished by its alternately roguish and frolicsome, but frequently also sullen and savage disposition. The colonists were right when they bestowed upon it the name of "wild cattle." It is now often seen in our menageries, but its outbursts of fury always make it dangerous to its keepers. The Goats. The group of the goats (Caprida) is dis- tinguished by the structure of the horns. These have solid bony cores, and the horny sheath is bent backwards and laterally com- pressed, so as to form an edge, and has knobs or tubercles arranged transversely in the form of rings. Both sexes carry horns, but those of the female are always smaller than those of the male, and are like those of the young he-goats. The goats almost always have a beard at the chin. They have neither tear-pits nor inguinal or inter- digital glands. The short tail with two lines of hairs and naked on the under surface is usually carried erect. The large hard hoofs 104 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. are almost sharp on the outer edge, and when seen in profile have the form of a rhomboid. The hair is sometimes coarse, sometimes fine and silky, but it does not present the character of true wool. The straight nose distinguishes the goat from the ram's-nose of the sheep. But it must be confessed that there are tran- sitional forms between these two groups, as well as between antelopes and goats, the con- necting links being the chamois on the one side and the Rocky Mountain goat on the other. The goats inhabit high and steep un- wooded mountains, where they can climb about to their heart's content, scorning the dangers presented by the chasms and preci- pices. They are not fond of woods, but delight to graze among shrubs and dwarfed and creeping trees, where they find aromatic herbs in abundance. They run, climb, and spring with wonderful dexterity; the smallest point of support serves to enable them to make a leap or to take foothold. The ibex Fig. i8i.— The Rocky Mountain Go.ii i //,(/> A 'hvvj iniu-ricaiiHs). surpasses even the chamois in the certainty with which it estimates distances for extraor- dinary leaps. The senses, especially those of smell and sight, are extremely well devel- oped. The goats are very capricious in the choice of plants on which to feed; they are roguish and fond of teasing, cunning in case of need, bold in presence of danger, if they cannot escape from it by rapid flight. The old males become ill-tempered and even dangerous to man. The old females take charge of the herd in turn while it is grazing or resting. The young goats are delightful on account of their graceful movements and comical attitudes. They can follow their mothers a few hours after birth. All goats have that peculiar smell which is so well known, and which is present even in the flesh, which on that account is less highly esteemed than that of the sheep. The hunting of goats is always laborious and exhausting, and often likewise dangerous on account of the nature of the resorts where they are found. The American Rocky Mountain Goat {Hap- loceros amei'icanus), fig. i8i, inhabits the heights of the mountains from which it is THE GOATS. los named as far as the 65th parallel of northern latitude. It is a wonderfully beautiful animal, of the size of a goat, but with more thickset body, stronger legs, and this appearance is still further enhanced by the long thick white coat of hair by which it is completely covered. Only the borders of the nose and lips besides the hoofs are naked. This beautiful coat consists of a thick close-set down and of stiffer hairs, which become longer on the back so as to form a thick erect mane, extending from between the horns along the middle line of the back to the root of the tail. The pretty thick beard rather forms whiskers than a true goat's beard. The down is not wool composed of flattened and spirally twisted hair, but is, on the contrary, made up of very thin, long, and perfectly cylindrical hairs. The animal undoubtedly shows a Vol. II. jiilconcri). page lu' tendency to approach the antelopes in the character of its horns, which are round, with- out edges or tubercles, and feebly ringed at the base, yet the terminal hook is not so well marked as in the chamois. Besides, the tail is not that of a goat. It is covered with hair all round, and, instead of being carried erect, bends down between the legs. These goats may, therefore, be ranked as a separate genus, approaching more closely to the antelopes than others, but belonging to the goats in 46 io6 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. respect of the rest of their organization. The Rocky Mountain goat frequents the highest naked peaks of its home, between the limit of forests and the snow-line, and among the few hunters of those sparsely inhabited regions enjoys the same reputation as the chamois with us. Its flesh is very bad. The Markhor of the natives of the East \n6\&s {Capra falconeri {megaceros)), fig. 182, is a powerful animal, much stronger than the domestic goat. It is distinguished by the strongly keeled horns of the male, which are twisted like a cork-screw, and are very similar to those of the koodoo antelope; the horns I .g. 183. — ll.i. Crecia of the female are much smaller and less twisted. It also has the skin pretty uniformly covered with hair, while in the adult male the beard is prolonged into a kind of mane which envelops the neck and breast, and gets lengthened on the shoulders and back into a shaggy fur. This mane is a little lighter than the rest of the fur, which has a dark grayish-brown colour on the hinder parts and the front of the legs, while the under surface and the inner side of the legs are again somewhat lighter. The markhor lives on the high peaks of the Himalayas of Tibet, in Kashmir and Afghanistan, and the hunters maintain that it devours serpents. Speci- mens of this goat have been brought to Europe, where it has been tamed to a certain ..-H^-^ degree, but has always remained somewhat capricious. The Grecian Ibex or Bezoar goat, the Pasong of the Persians {Capra csgagrus), fig. 183, is manifestly the wild goat which Homer mentions when he speaks of the islands of the Cyclops and Crete. Even at the present day its domain extends from the islands of the Archipelago to Persia. The strongly curved horns of the male exhibit about a dozen knobs or tubercles in front, those of the female are simply compressed. The beard is very strong. The usual colour of the hair is reddish-brown; the under surface and the inner side of the legs are whitish ; the patch on the brow, the tail, and a longitudinal stripe on the back are black. On the shoulders THE GOATS. 107 also darker stripes can be distinguished, as well as on the under parts of the flanks and the legs. Formerly these goats were much hunted in Asia Minor, because peculiar medicinal virtues were ascribed to the round swellings which are formed in the stomach of these as well as many other ruminants, and which are known as bezoar balls. Here the question of the origin of the Domestic Goat {Capra hircus) is forced upon us, a question which, as in the case of all other animals domesticated at a remote period, is complicated by the number of varieties, the mingling of species, and the influence of man. In the first place it is incontestable that the wild goats already Fig. 184. — The Angora Goat (Capra hircus, var. angorensis). page 108. mentioned and figured, as well as many others, all originally belonging to Asia, which have not been figured in this work, are capable of producing fertile hybrids with our domestic goat. On the other hand, it is equally in- contestable that goats belong to the oldest of domestic animals, that their remains have been found in the neighbourhood of lake- dwellings, that among the ancient Egyptians at least two, if not more, easily recognizable races were represented, and that at the present day we know at least a dozen different races distributed over all countries of the world. Yet we are now acquainted with not a single wild goat either in Western or Central Europe, or in Africa, with the sole exception of the ibex, which is essentially different in the struc- ture of its horns from the domesticated breeds. 1 1 is accordingly probable that the goats were introduced into Egypt and the lake-dwellings. The two species represented in this work are so like certain domesticated races that we must allow that they have contributed to their formation, which does not exclude the possibility that other species also have co- operated with these towards the same end. But whatever the truth may be as regards this matter, it is at least certain that goats easily revert to the wild condition, just as wild goats are very easily tamed. But it is not our business to discuss the tame races which have been formed by the influence of man. We take, however, this opportunity of expressing our opinion of the io8 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. utility of these animals. If, on the one hand, it is unquestionable that the goat must be called on account of its milk the cow of the poor, that it yields, especially in countries where cattle and sheep do not thrive very well, an impor- tant element of food, that the skins are of the highest value, and that cer- tain races, such as the Kash- mir and the Angora Goat {Capra hircus, var. angoren- szs), fig. 184, have been brought, in certain moun- tainous coun- tries with a raw climate, by careful in-and- in breeding, to produce an in valuable kind of long wool, which envel- ops almost the entire body of the animal, and is Unsur Fig. iSs.-The Alpine ibex passed for delicacy and softness; yet it must be confessed, on the other hand, that the goat is the most destructive creature in the world in forests, and that the old seats of civilization, namely the countries round the Mediterranean, owe the destruction of their forests, the nakedness of their mountains, and the inevitable consequence of that con- dition, the dryness of their climate, to the devastations of these animals. Man destroys the forests when full-grown in order to pro- cure the timber, the goat prevents their being renewed. It devours the young plants as they spring up out of the ground and the young shoots on the trees ; wherever the goat comes it makes the work of re- afforestation an impossibili- ty. It is not without rea- son that a Ger- man legend ascribes the creation of the goat to the devil. The evil spirit is said to have bestowed upon it its horns, its eyes, and its beard, and to have bitten its tail short be- cause it got caught by it in the under- wood. Its influence in lands deprived of trees has been perni- cious enough to justify such a legend. The Ibex. The Bouquetins, the steinbocks of German Switzerland (Ibex), are distinguished from the goats proper by the enormous size of their horns. These are triangular in section; in front they are broad, and on that side there is on each horn a series of transverse ridges. In other respects they are goats. {/hx alpitiits]. page loy. THE SHEEP. 109 Every chain of lofty mountains in Europe and Western Asia has its own species of ibex. The Alps, the Sierra Nevada, the Caucasus, the Altai Mountains, Mount Sinai, and the mountains of Abyssinia have ibexes which are somewhat different from each other as regards their horns and skins, but are similar to one another in the rest of their structure and their mode of life. They are all animals which dwell in the highest regions and exhibit all the qualities of goats in the highest degree. We have not considered it necessary to repeat here what has already been said, and we only add a few words concerning the Alpine Ibex i^Ibex alpinus {Capra ibex) ), fig. 185, which has no beard, and simply curved, and slightly divergent horns with very prominent ridges or knobs. This majestic animal, formerly distributed over the whole Alps, had already in the middle ages become rare, thanks to the un- ceasing pursuit of which it was the object, in consequence of a fancy which ascribed all sorts of medicinal virtues to different parts of the animal. Even at the present day the fat and the dried blood of the ibex are sold in certain Alpine valleys at high prices. The horns, likewise, had a considerable value, and the labours, privations, and dangers connected with the chase of the ibex on the almost inaccessible peaks where it had to be followed, were among the highest enjoyments of sport. Now the ibex exists only in a few districts of the Alps, where it is protected in the strictest manner. From the Swiss Alps it has en- tirely disappeared, and in the western Alps it is still found only in the Val de Cogne and the ravines opening into it, which King Victor Emmanuel placed under strict super- vision. On the summit of the Col de Geant, between Chamounix and Courmayeur, there is to be seen at the height of ten thousand feet a board with the inscription, " Defense de chasser," and keepers are placed all round. There are perhaps in this district still about three hundred head in all, distributed in small troops of about a dozen each. Attempts have been made without success to re-intro- duce the ibex into the Austrian Alps. In the zoological gardens at Schonbrunn and a few others elsewhere are kept a number of ibexes, which excite general astonishment by their enormous leaps. They are capable of being tamed to a certain degree, but in old age they become ill-tempered. Hybrids between the ibex and the common goat have also been reared, but all of these became in advanced years so ill-tempered and unmanageable that they had to be killed. The descendants of these hybrids acquired in course of time the characters of common goats. The Sheep. The sheep are distinguished from the goats by their flat brow, the ram's nose, the absence of the beard, and the presence of tear-pits and interdigital glands, as well as by the character of their horns, which are twisted like the shell of a snail, and adorned with rings of knobs or tubercles. These rings are continued on the three or four sides of the horns. The legs are thinner and longer than those of the goats, the body more slender, and the tail shorter and covered with hair all round. This covering is made up of a thick wool mixed with longer fine hairs. But, as already mentioned, there are connect- ing links between the two groups, for ex- ample, goats without any beard and with interdigital glands and small tear-pits, and, on the other hand, sheep with a straight nose and without tear-pits. In the sheep both sexes are provided with horns, but those of the female are always smaller than those of the male, and also, for the most part, less twisted. The mode of life of wild sheep is absolutely the same as that of goats. But for us, who only know the tame animal, rendered stupid by slavery, the sheep is the type of dull sub- missiveness, of peace-loving indolence and blind obedience, without will, without vivacity, I lO THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. and without individuality. Further, we know sheep only as numbers of a herd which acts in a mass under the direction of a foreign will, blindly following the movements of whatever leader happens to be selected, whether a male of their own species, a dog, or a man. The wild sheep is quite different from this; it is intelligent, when young full of spirit and sportiveness, when full-grown courageous. It climbs and leaps well, and is an untiring runner; no mountain slope is too steep for it, no peak inaccessible. As in- Kig. i86. — The Barbary Wild Sheep or Ami (Ovis tragelaphus). habitants of the lofty naked parts of mountain chains, the sheep behave altogether like goats, except that in them the social tendencies are more highly developed, since they very readily collect into considerable troops, and are easily led by their watchful and careful leaders. They likewise become very easily attached to man ; yet, while other animals have advanced in the development of their capacities by association with man, the sheep, cattle, and to a certain extent also goats, have in that way lost their intellectual and in- dividual qualities, inasmuch as they have become in the hands of their master merely means for the production of flesh, milk, and wool. The Barbary Wild Sheep, the Arni of the Arabs {Ovis tragelaphus), fig. i86, is an essen- tially African type, characteristic of the high chains on the south of the Mediterranean. It approaches most nearly to the ibex in respect of its straight forehead, thick-set body, thick and simply curved horns, with numerous but only slightly prominent rings, and by the absence of tear-pits. It possesses, however, interdigital glands. It is a large animal, which is found only in the most desolate tracts of the Atlas and the Aures, where it is hunted with infinite labour and even danger, for the old males, which attain a height of upwards of three feet at the shoulders, will attack man without hesitation. The male is distinguished by the possession of very long hair in front, where it hangs down to the THE SHEEP. Ill ground. This appendage begins with the beard, and is particularly well developed on the breast and fore-feet, and it gives to the animal a peculiar appearance. In the female this hair is considerably shorter, and reaches only to the knee. The tail is pretty long, and carries a long tuft of hair at the end, the hairs being set very thick on both sides. The colour of the coarse and shaggy fleece is a bright reddish yellow, and admirably adapted to the rocks, in the midst of which it lives in small herds. The arni has been brought to Europe, where it propagates itself very readily in zoological gardens. The old Fig. 187.— The Rocky Mountain males, however, become very ill-tempered, and often attack with fury some part of their cage, which they try to break through by butting with their horns. The Rocky Mountain Sheep, the Big-horn of the Americans {Ovis montand), fig. 187, attains even a greater size than the arni. The body is more slender, the legs are longer and thicker, the profile of the forehead is likewise straight, as in the latter animal; but the horns of the male are thicker and very broad in front; they have more of a spiral twist than in the arni, and end in blunt points directed outwards. The rings on the horns are very close-.set. The horns of the female, however, resemble those of an ordinary goat. An adult male may attain the weight of nearly Sheep u: tour hundred pounds. The hair is short, erect, and soft; its usual colour a grayish- brown, darker on the back. The under sur- face, the inner side of the legs, and a patch on the hinder quarters are white; the tail is short, and ends in a blackish point or tuft of hair. The big-horn climbs and leaps in the most wonderful manner. It inhabits the desert tracts on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains between the 40th and 68th degrees of northern latitude. A living speci- men has never been obtained. A mouflon belonging to Kamchatka, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands {O. nivalis) has been de- .scribed, but it is probably only a slightly different variety of the big-horn. The Kashkar of the Kirghiz {Ovis Polii), 112 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. fig. 1 88, inhabits the high plateaux of the Pamir in the east of Bokhara, and probably extends to Tibet. This splendid animal has been figured as a representative of a pretty considerable number of sheep inhabiting Central Asia, among which the Argali {Ovis Argali) is the best known, and the largest, for it attains the size of a moderately large stag. The kashkar, which, according to Wood, is of about the size of a two-year old foal, and attains the weight of about five hundred pounds, has had its. Latin specific name bestowed upon it in honour of the celebrated traveller Poli, who was the first to describe it. The horns of the male are very large, bent round in a circle with the ends .1 tig i88 —The Kashkar (Oi /J /'»///) turned outwards, and very bj-oad in front; the two side faces form at their junction a sharp cutting edge. The ringed structure is very marked, and the rings themselves lie very close together. The female has horns resembling those of a goat, and also closely ringed. The profile of the head is slightly curved, the body rather long, the legs long and tolerably slim, and the tail quite short. The back and sides are usually of a brown colour with a shimmer of gray and red; the front, the neck, breast, under surface, the lower portion of the legs, the tail, and hind- quarters are white; a dark stripe extends along the back to the root of the tail. The fleece is composed of a very delicate, but not very dense wool, interspersed with strong coarse hairs, which become rather longer on the neck and hind- quarters. Wood designates the beard of the male expressly " a reverend beard." The animal frequents more particularly the elevated stony plateaux, and is generally found in troops of about thirty under the lead of an old male. At the season of heat the males are very combative. The chase is extremely difficult, especially on account of the extraordinary tenacity of life by which these animals are characterized. The Kirghiz build pyramids with their colossal horns in order to serve as land- marks in their vast solitudes. The Musimon or European Mouflon {Ovis musimon), fig. 189, is distinguished from the giants of Central Asia even by its size, being little larger than the common sheep. This native of the mountain chains in the countries THE SHEEP. "3 bordering on the Mediterranean (for it was formerly found in Greece, on the island of Sicily, and the Balearic Islands) is at the present day confined to Corsica and Sardinia, and chiefly met with on the latter, where it is still to be seen in the mountain chains of the east and centre in pretty nu- merous herds under the lead of an old male. The head has a curved profile, that of the male resem- bles the head of a ram. The horns describe a curve of three-fourths of a circle; at the base the\ are triangular in section, towards the end laterally compressed and marked with promi- nent rings. The female is Fig. 189. — The Musimon or European Mouflon [Ovis musimon). quarters are whitish. A whitish or yellowish spot is to be seen especially on the winter fleece on the flanks. Like all wild sheep the musimon is lively and agile, a good leaper and climber, and does not allow anyone to approach it easily. It is much hunted for the sake of its excellent flesh. It is now to be seen in all zoologi- cal gardens. It is easily ren- dered tame, but exhibits a peculiar stub- bornness in its attacks on the bars of its cage. There was once in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris a musi- mon which took it into its head to break through a cer- tain part of its inclosure. Every day it made fierce often entirely without horns ; when present at all they are small and straight. The animal possesses a sturdy thickset body, with long thick legs and a small tail, which is naked at the lower end and is bent between the legs. Tear-pits and interdigital glands are present. The fleece is short and thick, and is composed of coarse hairs rather longer on the throat and breast than elsewhere. The under sur- face, the inner sides of the legs, and the hind- VOL. 11. attacks for several hours together against this spot, part of which had been strengthened with thicker stakes. The blows which it gave in butting with its horns were heard to a great distance. 1 1 would easily have broken through any other part of its inclosure, but it did not think of that, and for at least a year I con- tinued to hear it from the workroom which M. Laurillard had given up to me, regularly repeating its onslaughts on the chosen spot. 47 114 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. At this point we must take up the question of the Domesticated Sheep {Ovis aries), and it may be observed at the outset that there are a few important facts that dominate the whole question. In the first place, it is manifest that the sheep became domesticated among the ancient Egyptians at least much later than the ox and the horse, since the old wall-paintings which represent these two animals never represent the sheep, while we have found drawings of the arni, from which Jupiter Ammon derived his horns. We come upon drawings of a later date, however, ex- hibiting sheep of various breeds, and in particular breeds with pendent ears, which is always a sign of lengthened domestication. The Egyptians of the later dynasties appear accordingly to have received this animal after it had first been domesticated elsewhere. In the second place, we must take into con- sideration the fact that there have been found representations of sheep with woolly fleece, which is likewise plainly a result of domesti- cation; for wild sheep, such as the kashkar and the argali, may indeed have a little fine wool under the hair of which the fleece consists, but never have a fleece entirely of wool. On the other hand, remains have been found round the Swiss lake-dwellings of a long-legged sheep, whose horns resemble those of a goat, and whose descendants, but slightly altered in form, appear to have been preserved to the present day in the mountains of the Grisons. In short, the sheep is, if I may so express myself, the animal which has been least remodelled in the hands of man. Every country, even those regions in which it is certain that there has never been any wild sheep, possesses its own peculiar race. In some cases the breeds have undoubtedly been produced according to the demand that had to be supplied — whether wool, flesh, or tail- fat, which last is the case in certain Oriental breeds, in which the tail is an enormous lump of fat, which the animal has to drag along on a small wheeled cart. Be- sides the wild sheep already indicated there are three or four others all belonging to Tibet, the Himalayas, or other parts of Central Asia, and all similar to the European sheep. It is accordingly probable that wild sheep have been domesticated on the spot, THE OX GROUP. "5 and that these different species have con- tributed to produce the various breeds of domesticated sheep, which can easily be crossed with one another or with the still existing species of wild sheep. The Ox Group. The members of this group (Bovida) are distinguished from the other hollow-horned ruminants by the massive forms of their bodies and skeletons, and their smooth round un- ringed horns, which have a decided curve and a hollow bony core. The forehead is broad, and so also is the moist and naked muffle. From the neck depends a dewlap; the long round tail ends in a tuft of hair; the hoofs are broad, and there are no accessory hoofs; the tear-pits are absent. On the cheek-teeth, Fig. 191. — The Musk-ox [Ovibos moschatus). page 116. at the point where the half- moon -shaped lamellae meet, there stands a small column, which in the upper cheek-teeth is situated on the inner surface, in the lower ones on the outer surface. Like most ruminants they live in herds under the lead of an old male, are peaceable and gentle in disposition through indolence, but become terrible and dangerous during accesses of fury. When attacked they arrange themselves in a circle and show their horns to the enemy. They are fond of plains and marshy tracts. In this group we are acquainted with two animals which form connecting links with other cavicornia, the anoa forming the tran- sition to the antelopes, and the musk-ox to the sheep. The Anoa of the Malays {Probubalus {Anoa) depressicornis), fig. 190, has the form and general bearing of a young cow, for it attains the height of only about four and a half feet at the withers. The forehead is broad, but the head becomes more pointed towards the naked muffle. The ear is small and pointed, the eyes are large and promi- nent. The much-compressed horns, rounded on the outer edge, but with almost a cutting keel on the inner edge, are pretty straight, u6 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. short, very sharp -pointed, and indistinctly ringed. They are set on the head at some little distance from each other. The tail is moderately long, and tufted at the end; the legs are slender, and the accessory hoofs are pretty long. The tear-pits are wanting, the coat is dark brown, but some parts on the under jaw are white. A half-moon-shaped patch on the breast, and the inner sides of the legs are light in colour. The hair is thinly scattered. Concerning the mode of life of this animal very little is known. It dwells in the mountains of the interior of Celebes, and prefers marshy tracts. It is to be seen in certain zoological gardens, where it exhibits a rather sluggish disposition, but among the natives of the region where it is found it has the reputation of being shy and wild. The form of the horns, the colour, the slender limbs, and the presence of the accessory hoofs give it a good deal of resem- blance to the antelopes in external appear- ance. The Musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), fig. 191, is found at the present day only in the polar parts of America,^ Greenland, and the terri- tories round Hudson's Bay, while during the Ice Age its domain extended as far as Germany and the middle of France. This is the dwarf among the oxen, for a full-grown bull measures at the shoulders only about four feet. The rather long body, resting on short legs, is completely covered with long coarse hair, which envelops also the legs as far as the knees, and leaves only the end of the mouth, the region round the eyes, the horns, and the lower parts of the legs free. Mixed with this long hair, which is of a brown colour, is a long dense and bushy wool of a gray colour which imparts a marbled appear- ance to the body generally. A brighter patch is observable on the buttocks. The imper- fectly-developed tail is completely hidden under the fleece. The horns are very thick, ' It was discovered by Lieut. Greely, the commander of the United States Polar expedition of 1882-83, in Grinnell Land in as high a latitude as 81 1^' N.— Tk. are round in section, and their swollen bases meet on the brow. They are peculiarly curved like a fishing-hook, and have their sharp ends directed forwards. The hoofs are strong and broad, the accessory hoofs are small. The musk-ox roams over its inhospitable home in large herds. In winter it makes great migrations in order to approach the woods, but it knows how to find the mosses and lichens under the snow. It has been met with in East Greenland in places where the temperature was such as to freeze mercury. It flees from man when it has once become acquainted with him, but when driven into a corner or obliged to defend its young will charge him boldly. Its flesh is often an invaluable resource for those who are com- pelled to pass the winter in the dreary wastes of Polar America. That of the bull has a decidedly musky taste. The Buffaloes. The Buffaloes (Bubalus) form a pretty dis- tinct sub-group, which has been raised to the rank of a genus. They are oxen with thickset bodies, thick legs, large ears placed at the side of the head, and having hair round the edges, arched brow, very broad muffle, and thick horns, which are curved first outwards and then inwards. The tail is long, the hair coarse and very thinly scattered, so that old animals are almost completely deprived of it. They are forms belonging to the warmer parts of the Old World. The Cape Buffalo i^Bubahis coffer), fig. 192, may be taken as the type of the subdivision of the buffaloes with round horns. The head is relatively small, the ears are very large, fringed with long hairs, and spread out side- ways like two fans. The extraordinarily broad bases of the horns meet in the middle line of the brow, and are wrinkled and flat- tened. The very sharp ends are turned upwards and forwards. The small eye has a wild expression. The muffle is very broad. THE BUFFALOES. 117 the tail thin but long, the hide almost naked and very dark. The Cape buffalo lives in pretty numerous herds throughout South and Central Africa as far as the 17th degree of northern latitude. It is fond of plains and marshy forests, and delights to remain the whole day buried in mud up to the shoulders in order to protect itself against insects by which it is infested, and from which it is partly delivered by birds that settle on its back. Terrible battles are waged between the bulls in the season of heat, and the vanquished 1- ig. 192. — The Cape Buffalo [Bubalus caffer). animals roam about in solitary savageness, and are then highly dangerous even to man. The Cape buffalo is, in fact, more dreaded by the natives than the lion. The solitary bulls dash with blind fury on everything that comes in their way, and conceal themselves in the bush or even behind trees in order to fall unexpectedly on men or animals passing by. All the accounts of travellers in those regions are filled with narratives of disastrous encounters with these terrible buffaloes, and there is not a village in which one does not meet with persons who have been maimed by them. When caught young they may be tamed to a certain degree, but they are always to be dreaded on account of their liability to outbursts of fury. The hunting of the buffalo is dangerous. The flesh is good, and the thick leather made from its hide of the first quality. The buffaloes of Asia have compressed horns placed on the sides of the brow at some little distance from one another. Their bases do not meet in the middle line. To this group belongs the Common Buffalo [Budahis vulgaris), which occurs both tame and wild in India, and has been introduced into Europe and Egypt, where in some dis- I8 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTVLA. tricts it takes the place of ordinary cattle. The marshes of Italy are peopled by these animals in a half- wild condition, and the buffaloes are there employed on account of their great strength for field labours, while their very rich milk, their hides, and horns are also utilized. The flesh, on the other hand, is by no means good. In India they are even ridden like horses, and no one mounted on a buffalo needs to fear tigers. The hotter the country in which these animals live the more docile and tractable are they found to be. In Egypt, for example, they are as gentle as sheep; in Italy, on the contrary, very wild. [The following adventure will show, however, that even in Ceylon the disposition of the animal is not always so mild that its pursuit is unattended with danger. The narrator had pursued a Ceylon buffalo to the edge of a small lake, and seeing it take to the water ran round to meet it on the other side, wading in a certain distance towards it. Fifteen paces off the animal stood sullenly eyeing him, and the narrator then goes on to say: — " I took a quick but steady aim at his chest, at the point of con- nection with the throat. The smoke of the barrel passed to one side — there he stood — he had not flinched; he literally had not moved a muscle. The only change that had taken place was in his eye; this, which had hitherto been merely sullen, was now beaming with fury; but his form was as motionless as a statue. A stream of blood poured from a wound within an inch of the spot at which I had aimed ; had it not been for this fact I should not have believed him struck. "Annoyed at the failure of the shot, I tried him with the left-hand barrel at the same hole. The report of the gun echoed over the lake, but there he stood as though he bore a charmed life; an increased flow of blood from the wound and additional lustre in his eye were the only signs of his being struck. " I was unloaded, and had not a single ball re- maining. It was now his turn. I dared not turn to retreat, as I knew he would immediately charge, and we stared each other out of countenance. With a short grunt he suddenly sprang forward, but fortunately, as I did not move, he halted ; he had, however, decreased his distance, and we now gazed at each other within ten paces. I began to think buffalo shooting somewhat dangerous, and I would have given something to have been a mile away, but ten times as much to have had my four- ounce rifle in my hand. Oh, how I longed for that rifle in this moment of suspense! Unloaded, with- out the power of defence, with the absolute certainty of a charge from an overpowering brute, my hand instinctively found the handle of my hunting-knife, a useless weapon against such a foe. " Knowing that B. was not aware of my situation at the distance which separated us (about a mile), without taking my eyes from the figure before me I raised my hand to my mouth and gave a long and loud whistle; this was a signal that I knew would be soon answered if heard. "With a stealthy step and another short grunt the bull again advanced a couple of paces towards me. He seemed aware of my helplessness, and he was the picture of rage and furj', pawing the water and stamping violently with his fore-feet. "This was very pleasant! I gave myself up for lost, but putting as fierce an expression into my features as I could possibly assume, I stared hope- lessly at my maddened antagonist. " Suddenly a bright thought flashed through my mind. Without taking my eyes off the animal before me, I put a double charge of powder down the right-hand barrel, and tearing off a piece of my shirt, I took all the money from my pouch, three shillings in sixpenny pieces, which I luckily had with me in this small coin for paying coolies. Quickly making them into a rouleau with the piece of rag I rammed them down the barrel, and they were hardly well home before the bull again sprang forward. So quick was it that I had no time to replace the ramrod, and I threw it into the water, bringing my gun on full cock in the same instant. However, he again halted, being now within about seven paces from me, and we again gazed fixedly at each other, but with altered feelings on my part. "At this time I heard a splashing in the water behind me accompanied by the hard breathing of something evidently distressed. The next moment I heard B.'s voice. I dared not turn my face from the buffalo, but I cautioned B. to reserve his fire till the bull should be close into me, and then to aim at the head. " The words were hardly uttered when, with the concentrated rage of the last twenty minutes, he rushed straight at me! It was the work of an instant. B. fired without effect. The horns were To face pagt iiS. Plate XXXI. — THE EUROPEAN BISON (Bison etirof,riis). THE BISONS. 119 lowered, their points were 011 either side of me, and the muzzle of the gun barely touched his fore- head when I pulled the trigger, and three shillings' worth of small change rattled into his hard head. Down he went, and rolled over with the suddenly checked momentum of his charge. Away went B. and I as fast as our heels would carry us through the water and over the plain, knowing that he was not dead but only stunned. There was a large .':^l?^ fallen tree about half a mile from us, whose whitened branches, rising high above the ground, offered a tempting a.sylum. To this we directed our flying steps, and after a run of a hundred yards we turned and looked behind us. He had regained his feet and was following us slowly. . . . " On he came, but fortunately so stunned by the collision with her Majesty's features upon the coin which he had dared to oppose that he could only :V,VCSg^mSTw? Fig. 193. — The Kerabau Buffalo (Buialus Kerahau). reel forward at a slow canter. By degrees even this pace slackened, and he fell." — Sir Samuel Baker, Rifle and Hound in Cej'/on.] Fig. 193 gives an illustration of the Kerabau Buffalo (Budahis Kerabau) as a representative of this group with flattened horns. This animal is a native of the Eastern Archipelago from Celebes to the Philippines. In size it is equal to the largest buffaloes of the Kaffir country. The head is rather long and slender, the muffle is broad, the body long and plump, the dewlap only slightly developed, the colos- sal flattened horns have well-marked rings and are gently curved first outwards and then backwards. In a wild state this animal lives, like other buffaloes, in morasses; when tamed it is very gende and tractable in the hands of the natives, but ill-tempered and dangerous towards Europeans. It is em- ployed like other buffaloes as a beast of draught and burden. Specimens of it have been brought to Europe, and have been paired with the common buffalo. The Bisons. The Bisons (Bison) likewise form a sepa- rate group, the members of which are charac- terized by their broad arched brow, their small short horns, which are thick and bent upwards, by their coat of long thick hair, and by their height at the withers, which part presents a marked contrast to the relatively small hinder quarters. There are two species of bisons, one of which lives in Europe and Western Asia, and the other in America. The European Bison i^Bisoii europanis (bonasus)), PI. XXXI., has at all times had the singular fortune to be confounded with another t20 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. large member of the ox tribe, the Ur or Auerochs, while the inhabitants of the coun- tries to which they belonged distinguished these two rather different species very well. Both species were favourite objects of the chase in the middle ages. In the account of Siegfrid's hunting expedition at Worms, which is introduced into the Nibelungenlied, an account in which mention is made of all the leading kinds of game then hunted in Germany, two species of wild cattle, namely, the Bison and the Ur, occur among the number. The Poles also had separate names for the two species, distinguishing the one as Subr and the other as Tur. Pliny likewise mentions the same species, which in his day were brought to Rome for the games of the circus, and distinguishes the Bonassus with its thick mane from the Urus with its terrible horns. It was only about the sixteenth century that the two species began to be confounded in Western Europe. At that time the urus was already extinct or had been transformed into domesticated cattle, while the bison survived only in Poland. The name of the extinct animal was trans- ferred to the survivor, and the bison was called also the Ur, Aur, or Auerochs, a name which has, unfortunately, been preserved in French nomenclature, but which ought to be allowed to drop out of use altogether in order to prevent the confusion from becoming endless. We see then that the bison, the Wisent of the Germans, the Subr of the Poles, still exists. It is found at the present day in the large forests of Bialowicza, in the govern- ment of Grodno in Lithuania, and in the heart of the Caucasus, in the vicinity of the sources of the Terek and the Kuban. It is an animal of huge .size. An old bull may attain the height of yj4 feet at the withers. The head, with its broad arched forehead, short ears, and broad swollen muffle, carries the small round sharp horns, which are turned upwards in such a manner that the points stand over the roots at the edge of the brow. The legs are short and sturdy, the hoofs rounded, the accessory hoofs small, and the short thick tail carries a tuft of hair at the end. A thick coat com- posed of wool and of long soft hair envelops the breast, shoulders, and withers, and forms a sort of mane on the head and neck. It becomes considerably longer underneath the dewlap, between the horns, and upon the withers, which, apart from this, are so high that the animal appears to carry a hump. The close-set but shorter hair covers all the rest of the body. The colour is a dark brown on the back, lighter on the sides. Bisons live in herds, which were formerly numerous, under the leadership of one of the older bulls, and generally frequent marshy woods when they can. They are savage and courageous, terrible in attack, and dash with fury on the hunter who ventures to pursue them. Formerly, when it was considered the rule to kill the animal with the naked weapon, the hunting of the bison was looked upon as a battle for life or death. The bisons that are found at the present day in our zoological gardens are descendants of a few pairs which were captured young, and presented by the Russian emperors, by whose command the wild animals of the forest of Bialowicza are strictly preserved. The bisons are always savage in their disposition, and the cows, in themselves much more tractable than the bulls, invariably kill their calves, to which they are extremely devoted, when the hand of man has touched them. The flesh was at one time esteemed, and as late as the year looo the vassals of the monastery of St. Gall had to hand over the bisons killed by them to the kitchen of the bishop. The American Bison (Bzsoft americanus), PI. XXXII., which likewise occupies a full- page plate, is not essentially different from the European. The hair is thicker and longer both on the general surface of the body and on the parts occupied by the mane. i To/ace page lio. Plate XXXII. - THE AMERICAN BISON OR BUFFALO (Bison amcricam.s). THE BISONS. 121 The hump is more prominent, the tail shorter, and the horns thicker; but in other respects the two species are closely similar.^ Formerly the bison roamed in enormous herds over the whole territory of the United States as far as the Rocky Mountains. The pursuit, or, as we well may say, the senseless slaughter which has been practised by Indians and settlers has driven it back to the prairies on the other side of the Mississippi, and has compelled it to seek refuge at the present day either on the west side of the Rocky Moun- tains or in the northern regions. It is easy to foresee the time in which the American bison, like his European cousin, will be quite extinct. Those bisons still traverse the prairies in herds of several thousand head,^ swim across the largest streams, and under- take great migrations. Since the introduction ' It may be worth while to draw attention here to an error that has crept in a very singular manner into many accounts of the European and American bison. The error is as to the number of ribs, the European bison being stated to have fourteen, and the American fifteen pairs of ribs. The fact is, that both species have the same number of ribs, namely, fourteen pairs. In a note on this suljject, J. A. Allen, in his American Bisons, Living ami Extinct (p. 2), says : — " In this case the error had a singular origin, and its repetition is to some degree justifiable. The first skeleton of the American bison known in Europe was that obtained from a living specimen received at the Paris menagerie in 1819, and which was described by Cuvier in his Ossemens Fossiles (tome iv. p. 118 of third edition). This specimen — one instance probably in thousands — chanced to have fifteen pairs of ribs, and consequently but four lumbar vertebrae. Cuvier, of course, called attention to this fact as affording an important distinction between the American and Euro- pean bisons. . . . It is hence not strange that mere compilers, and even authorities of some eminence, should for a time perpetuate the error, especially since it was many years before a second skeleton of the American bison fell under the eye of a comparative anatomist. Yet it seems a little strange to find it repeated by leading English anatomists and zoologists for many years after several of the leading museums of Great Britain contained skeletons of the American bison. Owen, as late as 1 865, in his great work on the Comparative Anatomy of the Vertebrates (vol. ii. p. 462), says : ' The European bison has fourteen dorsal and five lumbar vertebra: ; the American bison has fifteen dorsal and four lumbar, and this is the extreme reached in the Ruminant order, of movable ribs, equalling in number those of the hippopotamus.'" — Tr. ^ This was probably still true at the date when it was written, but so rapid has been the destruction of this animal in recent years fhat the National Museum of the United States not long ago thought it necessary to send out an expedition to collect a few specimens before it ^vas completely exterminated. A report furnished to the museum about the middle of 1886 shows what difficulty the expedi- tion had in fulfilling its mission in consequence of the extinction of this species having been so nearly effected already. " It is firmly believed by good authorities," the report states, "that there are not now more than from fifty to one hundred buffaloes in the whole of Montana [where a few years ago this animal was remarkably abun- dant], outside of the National Park, where there are probably from two hundred to three hundred head." — Tr. Vol. II. of horses and fire-arms into America they flee from man, or only very .seldom try to make head against him. When they have once begun to run they plunge on like sheep, with head held down, in dense crowds. They are hunted partly for the sake of the .sport, but aLso for their excellent flesh, their fleece, and their hides. The efforts that have been made to domesticate them have not been successful ;* yet in our zoological gardens they are not so savage as the European bison, and they are easily reproduced in confinement. [Throughout North America this animal is known as the "buffalo." "I suppose," writes Dodge, one of the veterans of sport in the United States, "I ought to call this animal the 'bison;' but, though naturalists may insist that 'bison' is his true name, I, as a plainsman, also insist that his name is buffalo. "As buffalo he is known everywhere, not only on the plains, but throughout the sporting world; as buffalo 'he lives and moves and has his being;' as buffalo he will die; and when, as must soon happen, his race has vanished from earth, as buffalo he will live in tradition and story." — Plains of the Great West. The hunting of the buffalo is pursued either on horseback or on foot, the latter mode being called the "still hunt." "Although," writes Dodge, "there is not a particle of danger in approaching a herd, it requires in a novice an extraordinary amount of nerve. When he gets within three hundred yards, the bulls on that side, with heads erect, tails cocked in air, nostrils expanded, and eyes that seem to 'On this subject the following passages from J. A. Allen's American Bisons, Living and Extinct, are worth quoting: — "Now that the buffalo is apparently so nearly exterminat«1, it is greatly to be regretted, not only that its ultimate extinction has been so rapidly hastened by improvident and wanton slaughter, but that no persistent attempts have as yet been made to utilize this valuable animal by domestication. . . . That the buffalo calf may be easily reared and thoroughly tamed needs not at this late day to be proved. The known instances of their domestication are too many to admit even of enumeration, but they have usually lieen kept merely as objects of curiosity, and little or no care has been given to their reproduction in confinement, and few attempts have been made to train them to labour." After quoting accounts of several instances in which domestication had been successfully effected, the writer concludes: "From the foregoing the following facts are sufficiently attested: (l) That the buffalo is readily susceptible of domestication ; (2) that it interbreeds freely with the domestic cow ; (3) that the half-breeds are fertile ; and (4) that they readily amalgamate with the domestic cattle." American Bisons, sec. 4. — Tr. THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. flash fire, even at that distance, walk uneasily to and fro, menacing the intruder by pawing the earth and tossings of their huge heads. "The enemy still approaching, some bull will face him, lower his head, and start on a most furious charge. But alas for brute courage! When he has gone twenty or thirty yards Mr. Bull thinks better of it, stops, stares an instant, and then trots back to the herd. Another and another will try the same game, with the same result ; and if, in spite of these ferocious demonstrations, the hunter still approaches, the whole herd will incontinently take to its heels." The professional hunter, when desiring to load his teams with meat, advances as close to the herd as he can, concealed as far as possible by the grass and the inequalities of the ground, and "will rarely make his first shot at a greater distance than fifty to seventy-five yards. If the shot result fatally, the herd rarely moves more than fifty yards before stopping to look for the cause of the mishap to their fallen companion, and turning half round to get a good view rearward, they thus present them- selves in the best possible position to the hunter at still short range. Here others fall before the hunter's shots; the herd, again slightly startled, moves on a few paces, and again stops to gaze. The hunter, still keeping prostrate, approaches, if necessary, under cover of those already killed, and continues the work of destruction. The shots are thus often repeated till fifteen, twenty, or even thirty buffaloes are killed before the herd becomes thoroughly alarmed and, in hunter's parlance, 'stampedes.' By keeping prostrate the hunter is able to creep up to the herd again as it recedes, till he has killed enough to furnish loads for his teams; and even sometimes he has to rise and drive away the stupid creatures to prevent the living from playfully goring the dead! When the hunter is thus successful, it is termed 'getting a stand on the herd.' A 'stand' is most surely made in nearly level ground. In shooting from ravines, the herd usually runs away after three to five or six of their number have fallen. During the rutting season, if a cow falls at the first shot, the hunter is pretty sure of a 'stand;' and of getting a dozen or more shots, if he keeps prostrate and uses due caution. As soon as he rises the buffaloes seem at once to recognize the cause of their trouble, and generally immediately stampede; but so long as he re- mains prone they seem to have no perception of the character of their enemy, and often do not notice him at all." — Allen: The Amertcaii Bisons, sec. 3. "Buffalo hunting on horseback," however, "is a very different thing, and, to a novice, full of e.xcite- nient. A buffalo can run only about two-thirds as fast as a good horse; but what he lacks in speed he makes up in bottom or endurance, in tenacity of purpose, and in most extraordinary vitality. "A herd will stand staring at an approaching horseman until he is within about three hundred yards. It will then begin to move off slowly, and, when he is within about two hundred and fifty yards, it will probably break into a gallop. This is the sportsman's moment. A good horse ridden by a man who knows his business will be among them before they have gone two hundred yards, to shoot and slaughter at his pleasure. A poor horse, or careful rider, and the hunter will find to his sor- row that 'a stern chase is a long chase.' If a herd is not overtaken in five or si.x hundred yards the chase had better be abandoned, if any regard is to be had for the horse. The difficulty in this hunting is that the herd is enveloped in a cloud of dust, which prevents very careful aim ; the explosion of the pistol creates a turmoil, confusion, and change of places among the flying animals, rendering it almost impossible to shoot at any individual buffalo more than once; and their vitality is so great, that it is an exceedingly rare exception when one is brought down by a single shot. "The danger is not so much from the buffalo, who rarely makes an effort to injure his pursuer, as from the fact that neither man nor horse can see the ground, which may be rough or broken and per- forated with prairie-dog or gopher holes. This danger is so imminent that a man who runs into a herd of buffalo may be said to take his life in his hand. "I have never known a man hurt by a buffalo in such a case. I have known of at least six killed, and a very great many more or less injured, some very severely, by their horses falling with them. "The knowledge of the danger, the rush of the horse, the thundering tread of the flying brutes, the turmoil, the dust, the uncertainty, and, above all, the near proximity and ferocious aspect of the lumbering throng, furnish excitement enough to set wild the man who is new to it. There is, however, a sameness about it which soon palls, and an old buffalo hunter rarely runs buffalo." — Dodge.'] THE TRUE OXEN. '23 The True Oxen. The True Oxen (Bos) are distinguished by their straight back, not elevated at the withers, and by their unarched and not very broad forehead. The Yak [Bos {Po'ephagus) grunniens), fig. 194, approaches most closely to the bisons in the possession of a thick coat of hair, elevated withers, and .slighdy arched brow. The home of these enormous cattle is the moun- tains and plateaux of Tibet, from the height of about 13,000 to 23,000 feet above sea-level. They are the largest members of the genus, riie Yak [Bos i^ntttHttn/s). old bulls sometimes attaining the height of nearly 10 feet at the withers. The very broad head with protruding muzzle and not very broad muffle, carries relatively small horns, which are flattened and near the base ringed. They are placed quite at the side and have their sharp points directed upwards. What specially distinguishes the yak is the woolly covering, consisting of fine silky hair, which is rather loose on the brow, and on the rather hump-like withers forms a long-fringed cushion. The yak has likewise long and partly curly hair on the dewlap and on the legs, which are completely hidden under this covering. The legs are short but strong, with broad hoofs but small accessory hoofs. The long tail resembles that of a horse. Its fine silky hair trails upon the ground. The whole fleece is of a deep-black colour with the exception of one silver-gray stripe along the back, and the tail, which is almost white. This splendid animal is at home only in the rocky solitudes of its native region, where it delights in rolling in the snow and bathing in the icy mountain torrents. It runs and climbs well, but is in general sluggish and indolent; it is fond of reposing where it can chew the cud at leisure. Its scent is keen, its sight weak, and its intelligence very limited. It stares stupidly when wounded in the chase, then begins to charge the hunter, but is apt to halt in indecision so as to receive a second ball. The hunting of the yak is carried on very actively, not only 124 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. for the sake of its excellent flesh, but more particularly on account of its tail, which is employed to sweep away flies, and is held in no little esteem as an ornament for banners and as an emblem of war among the tribes of the highlands of Central Asia. The so- called horse-tails of the pashas and beys were originally yak tails. The ancients knew this species under the name of Poephagus. The yak has been tamed, and is employed chiefly to ride on and as a beast of burden. Its milk also is used. Domesticated yaks are gentle, Fig. 195. — The Gaur (Bos gaums). readily associate with ordinary oxen, and are contented with any kind of food, but are liable at times to outbursts of fury. They carry tolerably large burdens in those elevated regions where it is difficult for both men and animals to breathe. The yak is now to be seen in all zoological gardens. The Gaur [Bos (jGavceus) gaurus), fig. 195, is a native of the Indian Peninsula, where it is often known by the name of the bison. It is most abundant in the southern part of the peninsula, and prefers the stony wooded or bushy heights. It closely resembles the large species of our domesticated oxen, has short shining hair, a short thick head, long ears, and a tufted tail. The colour is a very dark brown, almost black, but the feet are white. At the shoulders, where there is very little indication of a hump, the height is nearly Gyi feet. The old bulls are danger- ous when hunted; but if a few English officers have lost their life in the chase, one ought to bear in mind that these gentlemen expose themselves to danger with rather too naive rashness. The natives have sometimes managed to tame specimens of this. ox. In Europe this species is rarely seen. The Gayal [Bos {Bibos) fronialis), fig. 1 96, is a distinct species rarely brought to Europe, a native of the mountains on the east and THE TRUE OXEN. 125 north-feast of Bengal. It is specially dis- tinguished by its very broad and short fore- head, and by its thick, conical, and slightly curved horns. The body is sturdy, thickset, and clumsy; the shoulders are slightly ele- vated into a hump; the legs are short; the colour of the coat black. At Antwerp I have seen this animal represented as the ideal of an ox by a celebrated artist. I confess that I have conceived a totally con- trary impression of it. However that may be, we are assured that the gayal in its native Fig ig6.— The {jnyal {Bos /ronialis) country is a very agile animal, and not at all savage. It is said to flee from man, but defends itself vigorously against other oxen. It is easily tamed, and whole herds of gayals are captured by gradually accustoming them to associate with domesticated oxen. The Burmese Wild Ox, the Banteng of the Javanese (Bos kGavceus) sondaicus), fig. 197, is found on Java, Borneo, and Sumatra, and resembles some species of our domesti- cated oxen so much that it could not be distinguished from them if a single individual happened to be met with in a herd. It is far inferior in size to the yak; a full-grown bull measures only 5 feet at the shoulders. It might be described as a race of oxen with slender legs, short broad head, moderately long horns, which are turned only upwards, and with a fine smooth reddish-brown coat, which shows white patches on the lips, the lower parts of the legs, and on the hinder quarters. It is found everywhere on the Sunda Islands where there is water or marshy ground, both on the mountains and on the plains. It always flees from man, but defends itself when attacked, and it is much hunted on account of its excellent flesh. It also is easily tamed. The natives are accustomed to drive their cows into the woods in order that they, may unite with the banteng bulls. 126 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. The Zebu or Humped Ox [Bos indictis), fig. 198, is still found in a wild state in several parts of India, but it is a question whether these are not domesticated animals run wild. The wild specimens are in no respect different from the tame, numerous breeds of which are distributed over India and Africa. It is remarkable on account of a cushion of fat forming a hump on the shoulders, as well as for its rather large dewlap, and is also char- acterized by its pendent ears, the straight line of its back, its pretty long slim legs, and Fig. 197. The Burmese W'ild Ox [Bos sondaiais). page 125. its usually bright-coloured or spotted skin. The size varies. The South African breeds are commonly large and brown, and often have horns of considerable size; but in all countries where they are found there are also moderate-sized and small breeds, even genuine dwarfs of about the size of a large pig. Then there are also breeds with moder- ate-sized or small horns, or even without horns at all. The zebus run, trot, and gallop like horses; they are highly esteemed as steeds and as beasts of draught and burden, and among .some tribes, especially in South and Central Africa, they form, .so to speak, the sole wealth. The zebus furnish a contribution to the solution of the question of the origin of the domesticated breeds of cattle. According to the results of the investigations of Ruti- meyer, which have indeed been confirmed by other inquirers, but are nevertheless far from having exhausted the question, the European breeds are derived from three races or species, the remains of which are found in a fossil condition in the Quaternary strata. Some of these species have lived along with man, but have afterwards become extinct or have been modified through the influence of man. The first place among these primitive species belongs to the Urus, Ur, or Auerochs THE TRUE OXEN. 127 of the Germans, the Tur of the Poles [Bos primigenms), which in the middle ages still lived wild in Central Europe, and which was equal in size to the bison, or even surpassed it. It was dreaded in the chase, and accord- ing to the account of a contemporary, differed " from the tame cattle only in being black and in having a whitish stripe on the back." According to Rutimeyer a white kind of cattle with black or red ears preserved in .some English and Scottish parks, as in that of Chillingham belonging to Lord Tankerville, and the high parks of the Duke of Hamilton at Hamilton, almost in a wild state, is the most direct and least modified descendant of the Auerochs. The tame breeds of the ■■-'*--iX'-f|J- %^Mst^^^~ I y3. —The Zebu \Bos indicus). lowlands bordering on the North Sea and the Baltic' the breeds of Friesland, Holland, Holstein, and Podolia, and so on, are likewise said to be more modified descendants of the same stock, the urus. The heavy spotted breeds of Central Europe, the spotted cattle of France, of Switzerland, and South Germany, the Scan- dinavian and English races with rudimentary horns or without horns at all (short-horns of the English) are said, on the other hand, to be descended from a Quaternary ox, to which the name of Bos frontosus has been given, and which had a rather long head with a brow either flat or even hollowed out in front, and long curved horns. Finally, the uniformly coloured unspotted breeds with short strong horns, not so plump bodies, and less massive legs, breeds which are chiefly to be found in hilly or mountainous countries; the breeds accordingly of the Highlands of Scotland, of Brittany, Auvergne, Schwyz, and similar districts, are believed to be derived from another stock, the Bos brachyurus, numerous remains of which have been found in the vicinity of the lake-dwell- ings. We give our entire assent to these con- clusions, but, as we have already intimated, they are far from exhausting the question. When we consider the ease with which buffaloes, yaks, zebus, and almost all other wild races of cattle can be tamed, acclimatized, and rendered serviceable, such attempts must have been made in the remotest antiquity in all countries where such races of wild cattle 128 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. were found. Now these tamed breeds must, through the wanderings of tribes, through mutual exchanges of many kinds, have got mixed together, and new breeds would all the more easily be formed since all these races are mutually fertile. As a proof of what we have now advanced we may point to what has actually happened in Africa. On that continent no Quaternary cattle have yet been found, and, with the exception of the variety of races introduced in recent times by the Europeans, we may probably say that the whole of the interior of the continent was peopled by various zebu races, from which in some cases the hump has disappeared. It is accordingly probable that the native African races were introduced from India and have become more or less modified on this continent. Now the ancient Egyptians already knew and reared three different races of cattle, as is proved by numerous representations; one race with long horns was greatly reverenced because it produced the bull Apis, a second had short horns, and the third had a hump, consisted in fact of true zebus. This is a clear proof that in that long-past epoch importations had already been made from other countries, and in particular from Central Asia, where there are no zebus. If now in Europe alone there are three ancient stocks which have been continued in varieties of domesticated cattle of the present day, there is no reason to reject the opinion which supposes the same thing to have taken place in Asia, where the species which are still found partly tame and partly wild have certainly contributed to the production of mixed races and of breeds more or less modified by domestication. From all these facts it would result as a final conclusion that tame cattle are not, as Linnaeus called them, a separate species. Bos iatirus, but a mixed product of extremely numerous and very diverse factors, developed in widely separated regions of the Old World. THE GIRAFFE FAMILY (DEVEXA). The family of the giraffes, which on account of their very sloping back have been called Devexa, is composed of only a single species, confined to Africa, namely the Giraffe (Came- lopardalis giraffa), PI. XXXIII. This is without doubt one of the most singular types that can be seen, and we can easily understand the astonishment of the beholders when they first set eyes on the small head carried at the extremity of an ex- cessively long neck about twenty feet above the ground, and the short body with its steep backward slope elevated on legs not less long or less stiff. Notwithstanding its beautiful coat and its splendid eyes the giraffe must certainly be pronounced one of the most disproportioned of mammals, one in which everything is stiff and angular. The head is relatively very small and rather long and narrow. It ends in a mufile with very mobile lips, and is adorned with two short horns covered with hair set upon the occipital bone, as well as with a swelling between the large prominent eyes, which are placed at the side, and are distinguished by their brilliancy and their gentle but lively expression. The pointed funnel-shaped ears are longer than the horns. The tongue is worthy of special note. It is long, worm-like, dark-blue in colour, very flexible, and capable of serving as a tactile and prehensile organ. The giraffe twines this tongue round the twigs and leaves of the trees on which it feeds. Although, as in almost all other mammals, the neck of the giraffe has only seven verte- bra;, it is yet of immoderate length. It is by no means flexible, and is almost always carried erect. The short thick body is remarkable on account of the steep slope of the back from the shoulders to the croup, a slope which is due to the increasing length from behind forwards of the spiny processes of the To/iicf pagt tt^. Plate XXXIII. — THE GIRAFFE (Camdopardahs giraffa). THE CAMEL FAMILY. 129 dorsal vertebrae. The tail is thin, of moderate length, and ends in a long thick tuft of hair. The legs are of equal length, and the bones of the lower parts of the legs, including the metacarpal and metatarsal bones, are ex- cessively elongated, while the upper arm (humerus) and thigh (femur) are short and hidden in the flesh. The hoofs are broad, and there is no trace of accessory hoofs or of the bones which carry them. Of all rumi- nants the giraffe is the one that has the foot most reduced. Tear- pits and interdigital glands are likewise wanting. The dentition is similar to that of the Cavicornia. The hair is for the most part thick and short; there are only a few longer and coarser hairs on the middle line of the neck besides the very long ones of the tail. The ground colour of the coat is a light-yellow, almost white on the back and on the lower parts of the legs, which are not spotted. The other parts show irregular but always polygonal and often pretty large brown spots. The animal inhabits the steppes and deserts of the tropical parts of Central Africa. It is always met with in small troops, which haunt in particular those places where mimosas and other trees form very open clumps. With the exception of the eyes all the organs of sense seem to be very obtuse, and the intelligence of the creature is assuredly not very high. The giraffe feeds on the leaves and young shoots of trees, which it is enabled to reach by the enormous length of its neck and the protrusible tongue. The grazing of grass is difficult for it, and it is enabled to reach anything on the ground only by spread- ing out its fore-legs as widely as possible, which gives it almost a comical attitude. It cannot trot, but it gallops with great rapidity, and when galloping it holds its long stiff neck erect like a mast and keeps swinging it from side to side, while at the same time it lashes its back with its tail. Its pursuers hunt it on horseback or mounted on fleet dromedaries, relays being stationed at different points, Vol. II. where fresh riders and animals take up the chase. The ancient Egyptians received giraffes as tribute from the subject tribes of the Soudan. Julius Caesar brought the first giraffes to Rome. In our times the first two young giraffes were brought to Europe in 1827, one to Paris and one to London. They excited great attention; there were even fashions "k la girafe" introduced. Since then they have been brought over in tolerably large numbers, and all zoological gardens now possess specimens. They are in general gentle and easy to manage, but do not stand our climate very well. They are specially liable to become rachitic if not carefully protected from draughts and rain, which last inspires them with a real dread. THE CAMEL FAMILY (CAMELIDA). The family of the camels has also received the name of the Pad-footed {Tylopodd), on account of the singular structure of their feet, which are but slightly cloven and carry small narrow hoofs seated on a broad rounded warty pad forming the sole. The structure of the teeth is not less remarkable. The camels are the only rumi- nants which have incisors in the upper jaw. Young animals have three of these on each side ; but the inner ones soon drop out and are not replaced. In older animals there is in each half of the premaxillary bone only a single large incisor, which is prominent, conical, and pointed like the canine, but smaller. In the lower jaw there are three pairs of incisors, and immediately behind the last there stands the large pointed canine, similar to the upper, which, however, is separated from the incisors by a diastema. The jaws are, accordingly, much better armed in front than in the other ruminants, and in the countries of which the camels are natives it is very well known that their bite is not without danger. Immediately 49 I30 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. behind the canine there comes a premolar, which is shed sooner or later, and which also resembles the canine in form. The diastema occurs between this canine-shaped premolar and the other cheek-teeth. The latter are constructed according to the ordinary rumi- nant type. As age advances some of the molars are shed; we then find in the upper jaw only five instead of six, in the lower only four instead of six. The camels have no horns. The family is composed of only two genera, which are geographically separated by the oceans; the camels proper belong to the Old World, the llamas to South America. The Camels. The Camels (Camelus) are among the largest of the ruminants, for they attain at the shoulders a height of about Sj4 feet. The head is very unshapely, the brow arched, the mouth long, and broad at the end; the large upper lip is a little cloven in the middle and protrudes beyond the pendent lower lip. The broad movable nostrils are placed above the mouth, but far from the end of the snout. The large prominent eyes are not in the least expressive ; the ears are small ; the back of the head somewhat round, and occupied near the back by two skin-glands, which, especially in the breeding season, excrete a fluid of a peculiarly disgusting smell. The long neck is pretty stiff, and is flattened at the sides; the body is short and thick; and the dorsal ridge in the skeleton slopes some- what backwards from the shoulders, but in the living animal this is concealed by a large hump or two humps of fat. The short thin tail has a tuft at the end. The thick legs, much swollen at the joints, appear as if they were badly inserted in their sockets. They end in broad padded soles which are round behind and cloven in front, where the two short triangular hoofs are placed. The hind- limbs appear as if they were dislocated. When the camel is resting it lays itself down exactly like a frog ready to spring. On the fore-knees there are callous protuberances on which the animal supports itself in lying down. The rather long brain-case with curved nasals has a strong ridge running along the middle line, and connected behind with two transverse side ridges in such a manner as to inclose on each side a broad space in which the strong temporal muscles are at- tached. The dentition presents certain char- acteristic marks. In the adult animal there are in each half of the upper jaw three canine-shaped teeth set close together; they are all sharp- pointed, cutting, and a little recurved. The first of these teeth, which is set in the premaxillary bone, is an incisor; the second, the largest of all, is the canine; the third is the first premolar. A not very large gap follows, and then comes the series of cheek-teeth, the first two of which are premolars with simple half- moon -shaped lamellae, while the others are true molars with lamellae placed in pairs. In the lower jaw the relative situations of the different sorts of teeth are the same. The three pairs of incisors, which are rather prominent, are placed at the end of the rather long narrow jaw in a segment of a circle, and they are immediately followed by strong recurved canines, next to which come a pair of curved premolars, which are flattened at the sides and sharp. A wide interval separates this series from the back-teeth, of which there are only four on each side. The structure of the stojnach is extremely interesting. On the rather large paunch are to be seen two large swellings, which con- sist essentially of more than 800 large cells arranged in parallel rows and separated by membranous partitions, in which the muscular tissue is so beautifully developed that it forms true sphincters capable of closing the mouths of the cells, which are more or less filled with water. This considerable store of fluid in the stomach, a store which the camel eagerly 7 o face pa^e tjo. i-LATi: XXXIV. - THE DROMEDARY or COMMON CAMEL (Camdus dromeJarius). THE CAMEL. 131 renews when the opportunity presents itself, enables it to go for several days without drinking, and that too even in the glowing deserts which it inhabits. The third stomach, the liber, on the other hand, is undeveloped. We are not acquainted with any camels to Central Asia which have been described as such are probably only escapes from domestication. Two species are usually distinguished, the two-humped or Bactrian Camel {Camelus badriamis), fig. 199, which is confined to living perfectly wild. The animals belonging Asia, and in particular Central Asia north of Fig. 199. — The Bactrian Camel {CamcUis bactriaiius]. the Himalayas; and the single-humped camel or Dromedary {Camelus dromedarius), PI. XXXIV., which is found tame throughout Africa and Asia Minor. Both species are illustrated in this work. These two so-called species are distin- guished only by their humps, those accumula- tions of fat, which are very variable as re- gards their volume. The state of health of the camel is held to be indicated by the condition of this hump, which in well-nourished animals is large, full, erect, and elastic when touched, but in ill-fed, starved, or diseased animals hangs down, and is sometimes scarcely ob- servable. Apart from this feature no dis- tinguishing mark can be pointed out between the two species; and we may add that the numerous breeds which have manifestly been produced by artificial selection by man pre- sent far greater differences as regards the proportions of the limbs, the structure of the skeleton, the character of the hair-covering, and so forth, than the two species described. It is true that the two-humped camel is heavier, its body more thickset, its hair-cover- ing denser and coarser, especially on the head, the shoulders, and round the hump; but it must be borne in mind that this animal, as an inhabitant of the steppes of Central Asia, where it is employed in various ways I?2 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. by Turkomans, Mongols, and Kirghiz, has to endure very severe winters, that much less care is bestowed in selection than in the case of the dromedaries ; and, finally, that it is employed almost solely as a beast of burden in the trade between China and the countries of the West. Manifestly the Bactrian camel is the original breed. It is said that north of Tibet there are animals which have be- come wild, but we have no precise and trust- worthy accounts of these. It is certain that the camel is originally a native of Asia; that the Semites, for whom it is a necessary con- dition of life at the present day, were not yet acquainted with it in the earliest antiquity; that it was nevertheless introduced into Egypt 1400 years before the beginning of the Christian era; that mention is made of it at the very commencement of the Bible narrative, that the Egyptian name for it is the same as the Hebrew, the name from which the word camel itself comes, and that the Semites introduced it into northern Africa and the Sahara, while it already lived in the Soudan in the preceding epoch, from which we have figures of it showing that it was then in Egypt. But however that may be, it is certain that the word dromedary is unknown to the African tribes, who rear only the single- humped camel; and everywhere in Africa this species is called by the Europeans camel, by the Arabs je^nmel. But the latter dis- tinguish several races, some of which, used only for riding on, are known as meharis, and compared with animals used to carry burdens are as much more highly esteemed as noble racers are, compared with draught- horses. The mehari, excellent sires of which are reared by the Tuaregs of the Sahara, has very long slender legs, a short-haired glossy coat, expressive eyes, and stands in high repute on account of its fleetness, which surpasses that of the best horses, since the speed can be maintained longer. The camel is certainly an animal wonder- fully adapted to a life in the steppes and deserts. The colour of its coat, a yellowish- fawn colour or brown, is suited to that of the ground; only with difficulty can a recumbent camel with its long neck stretched out on the ground be distinguished from a mass of rock. Its moderation as regards food is quite proverbial. In case of need it feeds on the tough spiny plants which the desert produces, and even devours them with delight when incrusted with salt proceeding from the ex- halations of the desert. When it is able to feed on fresh juicy herbs it can endure thirst for more than a week.^ Thanks to its broad callous soles, it runs easily across the glowing sands; and it carries considerable burdens, which, however, must not overtax its strength. It is the "ship of the desert" in the fullest sense of the word, without whose aid the caravans would be an impossibility; and it has this resemblance to a ship also, that it causes sea-sickness in riders not accustomed to it. [To novices in the art of camel-riding there are other inconveniences attending this mode of pro- gression, which are graphically portrayed in the following account of a camel-journey: — " We are to mount the ship of the desert. There are several methods of doing this, each of which has its difficulties. The most plausible appears to be to mount while the animal is still crouching on the ground. But we take very good care not to attempt that alone, since, long before we could seat ourselves properly, whenever it felt our weight in mounting, the camel would rise suddenly and fling us backwards and sideways. Any one who is accustomed to riding on a camel knows that quite well, and is able to seat himself firmly at once. We uneducated folks, however, while mounting and gradually trying to settle ourselves in our seat, cause the driver to tread upon the forefeet of the still squatting camel so as to keep them from moving, or to tie them, and fix one hand upon the bar of the compressing apparatus that projects before the saddle. It is only in this way that we can prepare ourselves for all the changes of our centre of gravity ' Mr. F. L. James, in giving an account of a journey through the Somali country, speaks of camels that had gone fifteen days without water. See Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc. 1885, p. 630. — Tr. THE CAMEL. 133 that we have to undergo. We give the driver a signal to release the animal, and our body is now swung in rapid succession backwards, forwards, and again backwards; for the animal first .springs up with the lower part of the fdre-leg (it is far more willing to do this than to kneel), then brings its hind feet, on the stretch, into play, and rears at last quite up- right, while it now raises the lowest portion of its fore-legs, and stands upon the sole. "We now find ourselves high above the ground, higher than we have ever ridden before; we shudder when we think upon our helpless condition. If the animal were to become refractory what could we do .' We sit far too high to be able to steady ourselves with the calves of the legs as in riding on horseback. If we sit astride upon the broad saddle, our soles scai'cely touch the ribs ; if we seat our- selves, as is the common plan, with our feet dang- ling down over the neck or over the side of the animal, our position is indeed more comfortable, but is less secure should the awkward case occur in which both saddle and rider are flung off by the violent movements of the camel. The bridle is of no use, since the cord brought round its nose has little influence on the beast however hard it is pulled. The Moslim merely cries, "Tiie name of God on you " (Bismillah Alek), when it turns res- tive or refractory. Such misbehaviour on the part of the animal is fortunately rare, however; were it not so other means of subduing it would have been discovered before now. During its ordinary running pace we are in the greatest security. "We find that the angular projections of the wooden part of the saddle on which any part of the body rests are still insufficiently padded, so that we cannot endure to ride for a quarter of an hour, and have to request the driver to let us dismount. He warns us to stick on firmly as in mounting, since the backward and forward shakings are the same, only they occur in reverse order. We can also dis- mount from a standing camel by grasping the pro- jecting bar of the saddle with one hand and sliding down by means of the other on the sloping hind- neck. On remounting, after our seat has been im- proved, we employ the second method for a change. The camel stands, we grasp with one hand that important saddle-bar, the driver forms one step with his back or his hand, the hollow of the animal's neck forms a second, and this being reached we climb as gracefully as we can into the saddle. It is certainly still better to emancipate oneself entirely from the driver, to compel the camel to lower its neck, and to get the knee upon this by swinging oneself up with one hand on the saddle-bar, where- upon the animal itself raises both neck and rider, who can now obtain full possession of his seat During the latter operation, however, the animal is again on the march, which makes turning oneself somewhat difficult. A person should likewise learn to make the animal let him down when travelling alone, and how to bring it to the trot, and also how to dismount when on the march. But this belongs to the higher branches of the riding art ; we are glad if we can mount and dismount in any manner with- out damage." — Upper Egypt, by C. B. Klunzinger.] The senses of the camel, except that of smell, are obtuse. Their scent, however, is keen enough to guide thirsty animals to water at a distance of several miles. The character of the camel has been very variously estimated. The natives of the East in general exaggerate its good qualities. The Europeans overwhelm it with all kinds of denunciations. To me it appears, when I combine all these different estimates with my own observations, that the camel, like so many other domestic animals, has come to share the character of its masters; it is frugal, patient, and peace- able till the moment when the passion of love comes into play. To all that one tries to get it to do it offers a blind stubborn resistance, accompanied with a deafening bellowing, but at last submits with a patience proof against any trial. Sometimes it is cunning and mischievous, generally it yields only to force, shows no attachment to its keeper, and surrenders itself to all the conse- quences of his actions with passive subjection. To the European, to whom time is money, these qualities are in the highest degree irri- tating and distracting; for the Oriental they are only the reflex of his own mode of action. The camel avenges itself for the bad treat- ment to which it is subjected by all kinds of tricks, which are sometimes contrived with devilish cunning; but except during the breed- ing season, when it becomes intractable, it submits in the end and does all that its master imposes on it, so far as its strength allows. 134 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. Attempts have been made to introduce camels into other countries besides those in which they are already found, and a stud has existed at San Rossore, near Pisa, for about two centuries, but hitherto it has not rendered any great services. Camels manifestly re- quire the great plains with dry climate, the steppes and deserts, and they will prosper in Australia.^ The Llamas. The Llamas (Auchenia (Lama) ) belong to South America, and are seen at the first glance to differ considerably from camels, tig 200 —I he Llama [Auchenia Lama) through being of smaller size, having no hump, and having slender legs. They like- wise differ in having the feet more deeply cleft and the callous pads less developed. The tail is short and rudimentary, and the hair long and thick, which caused the first conquerors of South America to look upon the llamas as sheep. But with respect to the bodily structure there are no other dif- ferences besides those which relate to the slighter build of the llama. The dentition, however, is so far different, in that the first premolar, which adjoins the rather sharp recurved canines, is shed at an early period of life, and the interval between the can- ines and the back teeth is thereby rendered greater. Of these animals we know four species, two of which, the Guanaco and Vicuna, are still found in the wild condition, while the other two, the Llama and Alpaca, are completely domesticated. They were already subject to man at the time of the conquest. Although all these animals are essentially inhabitants of the mountains, and in particular of the Cor- dilleras, yet some of them also descend to the plains and live there in considerable herds. ' Camels have often been employed in exploring the interior of Australia, and are now reared in the colony of South Australia, where they are regularly made use of in the conveyance of stores into the interior, and for other purposes. — Tr. THE LLAMAS. 135 The Guanaco [Aiichenia huanacd) has the form of a large fallow-deer, and lives both in the plains of Patagonia, where the herds, led by an old male, readily associate with the rheas or South American ostriches, and in the Cordilleras, where it climbs like a goat. Its general colour is a dirty reddish-brown; the under parts are whitish, and so also are the inner sides of the legs. The coat consists of a fine wool with longer hairs interspersed. The guanaco has been tamed in the moun- tains; in the plains it is only hunted, and always on horseback. It is caught by means of the bolas, that is an apparatus consisting of two balls attached to a long strap or thong, which, after being swung round the head, are Fig. 20I. — The Alpaca {Auchenia Faco). thrown at the animal so as to entangle the legs. The Llama (^Auchenia Lama {Lama peru- ana) ), fig. 200, a domesticated form descended in all probability from the guanaco, which it resembles in form and proportions. In relation to colour all sorts of varieties are met with: brown, yellow, red, black, white, and often even spotted examples. The llama is the camel of the Cordilleras, and as a beast of burden serves to carry on the trade across the mountain passes between the mines and the sea-coast. It can carry one hundredweight at the outside. It runs and climbs well, but cannot accomplish any great distances; when loaded, at the most thirteen or fourteen miles in a day. The llamas are gentle creatures, but require to be humanely treated. The only resistance which they offer to violence is to squirt their disgusting yellow spittle in the face of their tormentor. When well treated they are extremely docile. The hair is coarse and can be used only to make string. The flesh, especially of young fattened ani- mals, is good. The Alpaca {Auchenia Paco), fig. 201, is smaller than the preceding species, has thinner legs, and a splendid coat of long soft wool. The alpacas are kept in great herds on the mountain plains, where they are not nice as to their food. Once a year they are collected with infinite trouble into larger herds in order to be shorn. The wool, as every one knows, is highly esteemed, and the flesh w 136 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. is excellent. To catch the animals one must always resort to a kind of chase ; they are as obstinate as mules, and when separated from the herd throw themselves down on the ground. Their colour varies like that of the llama, which is always a sign of domestica- tion. As beasts of burden they are not used at all. The Vicuna (Auchetiia viamd) is found only at the height of 1 3,000 feet and upwards on the Cordilleras of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. This species is the smallest and the slenderest. A remarkably fine and highly esteemed woolly fleece covers the animal like a sheep. Head, neck, rump, and thighs are of a reddish-brown colour, the other parts are white. The animals live like wild goats or sheep, like these too are agile and good climbers, and they are eagerly hunted on account of their wool and very palatable flesh. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT OF THE EVEN-TOED UNGULATES. The geographical distribution of the even- toed ungulates presents two peculiarities to which we have already had occasion to call attention, namely, on the one hand cases of very restricted localization, and on the other hand cases in which the range is extraor- dinarily wide. The hippopotamuses are entirely confined to the African continent, where their domain is constantly getting more and more restricted. The small species has been found in the republic of Liberia, the large still existed in historical times in the Lower Nile (in Egypt) as well as in the streams of the Cape region, whence it has entirely disappeared. It is still abundant and wide-spread in the interior of Africa. In the Quaternary period hippo- potamuses even existed throughout Central Europe and extended to England. The Hog family has two entirely distinct territories. The Peccaries are characteristic in South America, and range as far north as Texas. Before the introduction of the domestic pig the hog-type was wholly un- represented in the north of America. The Wart-hogs and the River-hogs are exclusively African types. The Babirussa is confined to the islands of Celebes and Buru, accor- dingly to the confines of the Indo-Malayan and Australian regions. The true Pigs are distributed over the whole of the Eurasian continent, as well as over the Mediterranean region, which was formerly separated from the African continent, and over the islands of Asia as far as Japan and New Guinea. Per- haps there are also members of the group in Central Africa, but hitherto the evidences adduced in favour of this view are not quite convincing. The Tragulida have a highly peculiar dis- tribution. The genus Hyaemoschus, resem- bling the pigs, is found only in West Africa, while the true Chevrotains exist only in India up to the foot of the Himalayas, and on the Sunda Islands. The Musk-deer inhabits Central Asia. Its limits are the Himalaya Mountains, the moun- tains of Siam and Tibet in the south, and the Altai Mountains and the banks of the Amur in the north. The Deer family is distributed over the whole earth, with the exception of the greater part of Africa and the whole of Australia, from which great island the placental mam- mals generally are almost entirely excluded. With the exception of some northern species, such as the elk, the reindeer, and the stag, all the American species are different from GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT. 137 those of the Old World, but the forms belong- ing to the two sides of the ocean show a certain parallelism. It may be presumed that the three forms mentioned reached North America by migrating from the Polar regions. The Hollow-horned Ruminants are alto- gether absent from South America, and are but feebly represented in the northern division of the continent. The curious forms of the Rocky Mountains, the pronghorn antelope, the big-horn, and the white goat, together with the musk-ox, are the only characteristic forms of North America. The American bison approaches too closely to that of the Old World for us to be able to consider these two forms as anything else than varieties descended from the same species, which has immigrated into both continents from the Polar regions. In the Old World the Goats and the Sheep appear to be exclusively of Eurasian origin. The Barbary wild sheep makes only an apparent exception; the Mediterranean zone forms, in fact, a whole by itself, which belongs to the Palaeozoic region. On the other hand, the big-horn of the Rocky Mountains might perhaps be only an immigrant from the opposite peninsula of Kamchatka. Oxen and Antelopes inhabit the whole of the Old World. These two groups present in part very characteristic genera and species for the two continents of Eurasia and Africa. Among the antelopes, for example, the saiga and the chamois for Europe and Asia, the gnus for Africa, among oxen the yak and anoa for Asia, while other groups are found everywhere in the Old World, though almost entirely absent in the New, for North America possesses only the forms already mentioned and South America none at all. The Giraffes are exclusively African types. The Llamas are confined to South America, and the Camels belong originally to Central Asia, whence they have been introduced into Africa. Vol. II. The present geographical distribution of the Artiodactyla differs widely from that which immediately preceded in the Quater- nary period, and corresponds exactly to the facts from which palaeontologists have inferred certain lines of descent. In comparing the faunas of the Quaternary period with the present distribution we observe remarkable transpositions in two' opposite directions, and in connection with that fact we have to note some rather striking instances of the extinction of certain species. Let us now, then, examine the various groups from this point of view, and trace them out to the point where their characters become clearly prominent. In the Quaternary period the Hippopota- muses inhabited the rivers of Southern and Central Europe, and extended as far as Ireland. A larger species than the present hippopotamus (^Hippopotamus major), but otherwise very little different, lived within these wider limits, while in Sicily and the valley of the Arno has been found a species i^H. minor) which was no larger than a pig, and may have been more closely allied to the hippopotamus of Liberia. Now still older hippopotamuses have hitherto been found only in Algeria in the Pliocene, and in India in the Miocene of the Sewalik Hills, where there existed hippopotamuses with six incisors and poorly developed canines, and in addition to these a genus, Merycopotamus, which through the structure of its skeleton and its dentition forms the transition to the pigs. At the present day thei^e are no longer any members of the family in India. This new type, for it is new, since it appears first in the Upper Miocene, must accordingly have migrated from its home to its present African domain after it had peopled a part of Europe in the Quaternary period. The Hog Family shows two parallel primi- tive stocks of much greater antiquity, the one belonging to the Old World, the other to America. True Pigs (Sus) are found already 60 138 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. in the Middle Miocene, and a series of very closely allied genera can be traced through the preceding strata until we arrive at the two-toed genera Entelodon and Choerotherium, belonging to the Upper Eocene, and the four-toed genera, Chceropotamus and Hyo- potamus, of the Eocene gypsums of Mont- martre. The pigs accordingly belong to a very old stock, the stages in whose devel- opment we can follow without interruption down to the forms now existing. No fossil forms have yet been found, however, repre- senting the babirussa, the wart-hog, or the river-hogs. A quite different series is presented by the American peccaries. " We appear," says Marsh, " to have in the series of genetic forms comprised between the Eohyus of the Lower Eocene and the peccaries of our own time (Helohyus, belonging to the Middle Eocene; Perchoerus, to the Lower Miocene; Thinohyus, to the Upper Miocene), the line of descent terminating in the typical American Suidae of the present day. Extinct genera are already found in the Quaternary period, for example, Platygonus ; but at that time the peccaries extended to the northern boundary of the United States, whence they have since retreated." I insist on the difference in the primitive stocks on the two sides of the ocean since Eocene times. "Whatever may be said of them," Marsh continues, "so much is cer- tain, that no authentic remains of the genera Sus, Porcus, Phacochoerus, or Hippopotamus, which constitute the group of the Suidse in the Old World, have ever been found in America." On both sides of the ocean the old bunodont Artiodactyla of Eocene times had four toes on the feet. The reduction of this number has gone on during the further development of the type, but has not been completed ; it has stopped short in the peccaries at the stage indicated. That the peccaries are the forms which approach most closely to the ruminants of all the hog family has already been mentioned. In the series of the selenodont ruminants we have to take note of analogous facts. With reference to these also we may without fear of contradiction maintain the proposition, that we find two entirely different stem-lines on the two sides of the ocean. These arise from genera belonging to the Middle and Lower Eocene, in which the characters derived from the dentition and the structure of the feet are still not well pronounced, inasmuch as the cheek-teeth exhibit, so to speak, wavering forms between bunodont and sele- nodont types, the number of the incisors begins to be reduced, and the four-toed feet, by continuous reduction of the lateral toes, become by degrees two-toed. It is only in later epochs that we begin to obtain characters derived from antlers and horns. It may be taken as a general rule that these outgrowths are only late products, and that the original ruminants were without them, as the young animals are still. The fact that horns and antlers do not appear till long after birth is in itself enough to show that these appen- dages are of recent acquisition. The transition from these equivocal and variable forms, which Leidy has characterized as "ruminant pigs," is effected principally, as Kowalewsky has shown, by the disposition of the bones of the wrist and ankle (carpus and tarsus), which get arranged in two vertical series in such a manner that each series corresponds to one of the principal toes and so helps to carry the weight of the body, while the forms in which this arrangement does not take place remain unfruitful and cannot be continued in the direct line of the present ruminants. In the Middle and Upper Eocene are found a number of these forms, whose teeth already show the half-moon-shaped folds, but which still retain the full number of incisors in the upper jaw, and which, moreover, sometimes have very strong canines. In many of these the lateral toes are greatly reduced, although the wrist and ankle still retain the unfavourable GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION AND DESCENT. 139 condition tibove described. Such forms are Hyopotamus; Anoplotherium, examples of which are so abundant in the gypsums of Montmartre ; Xiphodon, whose canines re- semble those of the musk-deer; the four-toed genus Dichobune, some species of which did not exceed the size of a hare. In America the corresponding genera are present in enor- mous quantity in the Eocene strata; Eomeryx, Opomeryx, and Oreodon represented in the New World the ruminant pigs. The first true ruminant in Europe is the genus Gelocus belonging to the Upper Eocene. It was about the size of a dog, but cannot be assigned to any particular family. The Tragulida first appear as represented by the still-existing genus Hyaemoschus, remains of which have been found in the phosphorites of Quercy in the west of France, that is, in the Upper Eocene, and in the Middle Miocene of Sansans. This genus accordingly lived in Europe at the same time as the prosimian genus Necrolemur so closely resembling the African pottos, which has been found in the same phosphorites; and it is curious to note that these two genera are now both confined to the west coasts of Africa, while their ancestors lived in Europe. Deer and fully characterized Antelopes appear at the same time in the Middle Miocene strata of Sansans and St. Gaudens. The old deer have forked horns, which in certain respects are like those of the muntjac and the pronghorn of the Rocky Mountains. Only in the Upper Miocene and the Pliocene do we meet with antlers with several tines; antlers have thus passed through the same course of development in the geological epochs as they pass through in our stags in the course of life. Yet this family shows the greatest development of the antlers during the Pliocene and Quaternary period; Cervus Sedgivickii from the forest bed of Cromer had gigantic antlers, and still more gigantic were those of the Megaceros from the peat- bogs of Ireland. The latter species, standing as regards its horns between the fallow-deer and the elk, was distributed over all central and southern Europe. Whole skeletons of it have been found in the peat -bogs of Ireland, and there is no doubt that these gigantic deer were hunted by man. During the ice-age the elk and reindeer were spread over all Europe north of the Alps and the Pyrenees. The reindeer first retired within the Arctic circle; it did so even in prehistoric times, and it was only in the middle ages that it was followed by the elk. The Antelopes are as old as the deer. Their remains are found in the Upper Miocene of Pikermi, Mont Leberon, and the Sewalik Hills, and in such quantity that it is plain that in those times numerous herds of these animals must have roamed over southern Europe as well as India. Some of the species then living approached the gaz- elles, others the cannas and the Oryx. The saiga has had its former domain restricted like the elk. During the Quaternary period it was spread over the plains of central Europe up to the foot of the Pyrenees. The Oxen are apparently descended from the antelopes. The oldest forms are the buffaloes from the Sewalik Hills. The bisons first appear in the Quaternary period in the form of an intermediate species which is to be placed between the European and American bison. Ancestors of the true oxen are found in the Pliocene strata of Italy and Asia; in the Quaternary deposits they are very numer- ous. Goats and sheep can be distinguished by the structure of their skeleton, the only means of distinction accessible to palaeonto- logists, neither from one another nor from certain antelopes. Unquestionable remains of members of these two groups are first found in Quaternary strata. The highly re- markable intermediate form of the musk-ox, which at the present day is confined to the Polar regions of North America, still inhabited during Quaternary times the north of Ger- many and France. I40 THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. The family of the Giraffes appears for the first time, represented by an actual giraffe, in the Miocene strata of Pikermi. This type accordingly then inhabited Europe. But at Pikermi, as well as in the deposits of the Sewalik Hills, which are perhaps a little older, there are preserved also some gigantic forms which are unquestionably allied to the giraffe, and some of which must have been ver)'^ clumsy and unwieldy creatures ; such, for example, are the Helladotherium of Pikermi, the Sivatherium and Bramatherium in India. These forms are extremely curious, and Sivatherium, for instance, had a skeletal structure as heavy and clumsy as that of a Rhinoceros. The Camels, finally, are traced back in the Old World to the Miocene of the Sewalik Hills. The primitive stocks have developed in America in a manner generally analogous to what we find in Europe, but differing in the details. In this part of the world no fossil remains have yet been found of giraffes, goats, sheep, antelopes, or true cattle; and these groups are likewise absent from the fauna of the New World, except the goat, the sheep, and the pronghorn of the Rocky Mountains. The bisons date there from the Pliocene; and during the ice age the musk- ox ranged over the whole area of the United States. The Camel Family, on the other hand, has a much older line of descent in America than in the Old World. This line plainly begins in the Upper Eocene with a genus Parameryx. It gets more and more sharply characterized in the Miocene and Pliocene, and even in the Quaternary period the llamas inhabited the whole area of the United States, whence they have since retired. The Deer finally show the same gradual development of the antlers as in Europe. They begin in the Lower Pliocene with genera (Casoryx), which have the metacarpal and metatarsal bones still separate, and are con- tinued without interruption till we come to the types of the present day. In the Quater- nary period the reindeer advanced as far as Texas. Lastly, we mention that it has been alleged that antelopes have been found in the caves of Brazil, but a careful investigation is re- quired for the establishment of this fact. GNAWERS OR RODENTS (RODENTIA). The Rodents have claws on the toes {Unguiculata) and an incomplete dentition. They have only two large functional incisors, without roots, above and below; there are no canines; the cheek-teeth, all nearly similar in form, stand in a close-set series beside one another, and are separated from the incisors by a wide interval. The placenta is discoidal. The Rodents or Gnawers are the order of mammals richest in genera and species. It is an order, the members of which vary in an extraordinary degree through the diversity of secondary characters arising from adaptations to different modes of life, and yet are best marked off from other orders by the con- stancy of their essential characters. The internal structure, on the description of which we cannot here enter, is little different from that of the insect-eaters, and certain details even remind us of the marsupials. The rodents are in general small animals; the largest of them, the Capybara, does not exceed in size a one-year-old pig. On the other hand, the smallest rodents rival in diminutiveness the pigmy shrew or shrew- mole of the Irish. With respect to the external characters we may observe a certain parallelism to the insect-eaters, with which the rodents also agree in the simple structure of the brain as well as in the peculiar forma- tion of the sexual organs. The dentition presents the chief distin- guishing character, that in which there is but little variation, and in which there is an essential difference from the insect-eaters. In the latter the form, number, and position of the teeth are remarkably varied, while in the rodents we must enter into the details of structure to find any distinctions at all between the different types, and even then they are not profound. The long-drawn-out jaws have only four incisors altogether, one in each half of each jaw. These incisors have no roots, and consequently keep growing throughout life. They are deep-set in large sockets, which are continued far backwards, and are always curved in the arc of a circle. The enamel layer, often yellow or red in colour, is found only on the outer surface. Sometimes they show longitudinal folds. Since the condyle or articulating surface of the lower jaw is drawn out in the direction of the axis of the skull, and the gnawing action takes place through backward and forward movements of the jaw, these teeth get worn away on the back by mutual friction in such a manner that the enamel layer always presents a chisel-shaped cutting edge transversely placed. The marks which are left, for example, by the teeth of a beaver on trees cut down by them, resemble the marks of a chisel so much that it has often been a matter of controversy whether certain marks found on fragments of timber that have come down from pre- historic times are to be ascribed to the hand 142 THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. of man or to beavers. Since these incisors go on constantly growing, remarkable mal- formations can be produced in captive animals by preventing them from using these teeth. Only in a single family, that of the hares, do we find behind the large functional incisors a pair of small incisors, which are so placed that they seem to serve as a heel to the former.^ The canines are altogether wanting even in the milk-dentition. The number of the cheek-teeth is rather small, varying from two to six in each half of each jaw. They resemble each other very closely, so that the premolars cannot be dis- tinguished by their form alone from the true molars. If, however, we trace out their development, we find that there are always three true molars, and that the teeth standing in front of these are liable to be shed. But in certain rodents, for instance, it has been observed that the milk-teeth are shed even before birth, so that these species come into the world with the permanent dentition. The rodents with three molars do not get their single premolar replaced, whether it be shed before or after birth; those with four molars have a single premolar replaced, and thereby present a remarkable point of agree- ment with the marsupials, which also have only one replaceable tooth in their dentition. Lastly, the rodents with five molars have two replaceable premolars. The structure of the cheek-teeth, although it varies greatly in details, may be reduced to a few types, which, however, are connected by intermediate forms. We find in the first place rootless constantly-growing cheek-teeth in which the part set in the socket is wide open below, but otherwise resembles the crown in form. Such is the case, for example, with the Capybara. Secondly, we see teeth with clearly-distinguished crown and root, as in the rats. But between these extremes there are transitional forms with a more or ' On this account this family is sometimes separated as a distinct sub-order under the name of the Duplicidentata.— Tr. less complete closure of the roots, and we even find genera in which the distinction between root and crown first comes out in advanced age; the root in the young animal is open and gets constricted only with advancing years. The relations between the different sub- stances which compose the cheek-teeth, enamel, dentine, and cement {if the last is present at all), vary considerably, and have been made the ground of important zoologi- cal distinctions. In some, for example the octodonts, the cheek-teeth are simple cylin- ders exhibiting a round or oval surface filled with dentine and surrounded with an unbroken ring of enamel. These teeth resemble those of certain edentates. In others again the teeth are tubercled, and accordingly in a certain measure similar to those of the Omnivora or Insectivora. As the tooth gets worn away the tubercles form small isolated patches surrounded by enamel. Such teeth are found in the rats. Vertical enamel folds producing grooves on the outside penetrate more and more deeply into the dentine. If there is, as in the jumping-hares, only one such fold, the worn surface presents a figure like that of a loaf of bread divided by a single groove down the middle. If there are two folds, an outer and an inner, the tooth appears to consist of two halves connected by a bridge, and when these folds curve and wind, as in the beavers, the gnawing surface presents a confused coil of folds, which pro^ duces the appearance of a piece of coarse cloth irregularly folded and pressed. Lastly, the folds may, as in the Capybara, pass right across the teeth and thus become subdivided into a number of plates or lamellae connected by cement and having the intervals between them filled with dentine, so that these teeth, which resemble those of elephants, seem to be made up of a number of small teeth pressed close together. There are, accordingly, among the rodents, simple, tubercled, folded, and lamellar teeth. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. •43 We do not mean to discuss here the characters drawn from the skeleton and the nature of the internal organs, but confine ourselves to the following remarks. The limbs present considerable differences accor- ding to the uses to which they are adapted. Those rodents which use their fore-feet as hands to hold their food while they gnaw, as well as those which climb, swim, and burrow, always have a collar-bone, while this bone is rudimentary or altogether absent in those which use their limbs only for running. The toes are almost always free, seldom connected by a web for swimming. In most cases they are furnished with more or less sharp claws. But there is a South American family, to which our guinea-pig also belongs, provided with true hoofs, whereby it is proved that the distinction between Ungulata and Unguicu- lata, to which so much consequence has often been attached, is after all of doubtful value. Lastly, we direct attention to a singular fact first observed in guinea-pigs, but also verified in rats and mice. In all other known mammals, and even in other rodents, as the rabbit, the embryo is formed in such a manner that the central nervous system, which occupies the back, is turned towards the outer part of the egg, the yolk of which is enveloped by the abdominal side of the embryo ; but in the species named the position is exactly the reverse. We now know the cause of this inversion, which at first appeared an inexplicable anomaly; but, nevertheless, when we observe this phenomenon occurring in species separated by the whole breadth of the ocean, we cannot cease to regard it as striking. Altogether the rodents form a well-defined order, constituting, as we shall see, one of the oldest types of placental mammals. It cannot be denied that it presents certain affinities to the insectivores and even to the marsupials, and it is, moreover, clear that the dentition of the aye-aye, on the one hand, and the hyrax on the other hand, indicates very well the manner in which the peculiar dental structure of the rodents has been brought about by the loss of the lateral incisors, the canines, and some of the pre- molars ; yet it must also be granted that these modifications of the dentition are very old, and that the affinities that may have existed, either with other placental mammals or with the still older marsupials, are very obscure and difficult to demonstrate. It is likewise impossible to say anything general concerning the habits and mode of life of the members of this order. They have, indeed, become adapted to all modes of life, to all the conditions which all the different parts of the globe, with all their varieties of climate, present. The Torrid and the Frigid Zones, mountains and plains, withered steppes and soft marshes, are in- habited by them. Wherever vegetable or animal life of any kind is found at all, rodents of some kind are to be met with; in the water and under the ground as well as on the surface. Everywhere we find them exposed to a violent struggle for existence, pursued and preyed upon by carnivorous animals of all classes — mammals, birds, rep- tiles, and even fish, and from these struggles we always see them come forth as victors, not through bodily strength or cunning, but through their incredible fertility. Only a few of them are provided with means of defence, for example, the porcupines, and these bring forth but few young, and have a long period of gestation. But in the case of the great majority of rodents, and especially the small species, the females bring forth a considerable number of young ones, which complete their development in a comparatively short space of time, and soon become capable of reproducing their kind. In this manner the rodents, if the conditions are otherwise favourable, multiply with extraordinary ra- pidity, and in this fact we find the explanation of their frequently sudden appearance in innumerable swarms, which, like swarms of 144 THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. locusts, overwhelm the land and leave de- struction and desolation behind them. Their enemies also multiply rapidly indeed, but are helpless in face of such prodigious swarms, which always leave enough to continue their species. THE SQUIRREL FAMILY (SCIURIDA). The family of the squirrels comprises a pretty large number of forms, which vary between the two extremes presented by our ordinary squirrels, the agile climbers, and the sluggish clumsy marmots, which live almost entirely underground. But the intermediate forms are so numerous that it is impossible to break up this family into any subdivisions. It is characterized as a whole by the structure of the teeth, the skeleton, and the feet. In the upper jaw there are usually five, in the lower, four cheek-teeth, with triple or quad- ruple roots and triangular crowns; the internal heel and the division of the tooth into external Fig. 202. — The I'aguan or Brown Flyiiig-S(iuirrel {Pteroniys pcttiiinsta). points present the >--form so characteristic of the insect-eaters. In the majority these cheek-teeth retain more or less sharp jaeaks and tubercles even when worn, but others have the grinding surface flattened by use so as to present more or less complicated folds. The first upper cheek-tooth is small and in some species is soon shed. In the skull we are struck by the longish nasals, which become broad at the end so as to support the blunt snout. The frontal bone carries a considerable process, which forms in the rear THE SQUIRRELS. >45 a boundary between the cavity of the orbit and the temporal fossa, without, however, forming a complete ring round the former. A collar-bone is always present, an indication of the fact that the fore-limbs are capable of varied applications; they can, in fact, be used as arms and hands. The feet have always four free toes in front, five behind, and these are armed with strong, sharp, curved claws; but there is always at least a rudiment of the first digit more or less well-develop- ed. The squirrel family is distributed over the whole earth with the exception of Australia and Mada- gascar. According to their mode of life the members of this family may be con- sidered as forming two groups, the climbing squirrels d^i !• Fi£r. 20^. — The Common ^tiuirrel the crawling ' marmots. The typical members of the for- mer group live chiefly on trees. The Squirrels. The Flying- Squirrels (Pteromys) are dis- tinguished by the parachute, formed of a fold of skin stretched out between their limbs, neck, and tail, as in the colugo or flying-cat. By means of this hair-covered parachute they can make extraordinary leaps. A bony spur proceeding from the wrist serves as a support for it. In other respects they are true squirrels, with round heads, elegant limbs, and a tail which is in some cases round and bushy like that of a fox, sometimes set with two lines of hair as in the ordinary squirrels. Vol. II. The small ears are not tufted. In habits they are nocturnal. During the day they sleep in holes in the trees, where they build warm nests for themselves. In the evening they awake and go out in search of food, not only collecting fruits, nuts, and berries of all sorts, but also catching insects and birds. Like our squirrels, too, they are unsparing plunderers of nests, and know well how to suck out the con- tents of the eggs, which they hold gracefully in their fore-paws. Like all nocturnal animals they are, when kept in captivity, sleepy and inactive by day, and, when teased, ill-tempered, but at night extremely lively and agile. The larger species are rather vicious, and their sharp nar- row incisors inflict deep wounds. The flying- squirrels are Indies, on the Sunda northern part of both hemispheres. A markedly divergent genus (Anomalurus), with a dentition allied to that of the porcujaine and a tail covered with scales at the base, inhabits the west coast of Africa. The largest of the flying-squirrels, the Brown Flying-Squirrel, the Taguan of the Malays, the Oral of the Coles {Pt.pdaurisia), fig. 202, attains the size of a cat, while the smallest, the Assapan of the red-skins {PL volucelld) has a body less than 6 inches in length with a tail of about 4 inches. The True Squirrels (Sciurus) form a genus extraordinarily rich in species, found wherever woods exist in the parts of the earth above SI [Sciurus vulgaris), page 146. found in the East Islands, and in the 146 THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. indicated. As the type of this genus an illustration is given of our Common Squirrel {Sa'urus vulgaris), fig. 203, a charming creature, just as pretty as it is destructive, in captivity very entertaining when young, but ill-tempered and apt to bite when old. Its bites are deep and leave ugly scars behind. Every one, no doubt, is acquainted with this rodent, which, like all species belonging to the same genus, has a roundish head with two large eyes and enormous ears cover- ed with hair ending in a long bunch of stift bristles. The body is slender, the long tail thickly covered with hair arranged in two rows. The limbs are rather short, and have in front four well -de- veloped toes and a warty protuberance in place of a thumb, while there are five toes behind. All these toes are free and armed with sharp curved claws. Our species has a coppery- red coat, inclining to brown or yellow on the back, but on the under surface always yellow- ish. In winter the colour becomes paler. There are also black varieties, more rarely white or spotted ones The squirrel lives chiefly on trees, and feeds on seeds, nuts, young shoots, and the bark of trees when filled with sap, and often does much damage to young plantations. The cembra pine, that beautiful tree of the high elevations, can hardly thrive in the Alps because the squirrels greedily search for and destroy their seeds, which resemble pistachios. The squirrel is at the same time a ruthless destroyer of birds'-nests, and is particularly Fig. 204. — The Chipping Squirrel or Chipmunk ( Tamias striatus). sented in fig. 204, fond of eggs and young birds. It builds nests for itself in hollow trees, or .-iometimes among the small twigs growing out from strong branches. The nests are warmly lined, roofed over, and have an opening below directed to the east. The squirrels collect considerable stores of food for winter, and the species living in Northern Siberia under- take great migrations. The Ground-Squir- rels (Tamias), unlike the last species, live on the ground, and inhabit chiefly the northern parts of both hemispheres. They are smaller and more thickset than our squirrels, have cheek- pouches of consider- able size, a shorter and not very hairy tail, and small rounded ears without tufts, but otherwise resem- ble our squirrels in bodilystructure. They dig holes for them- selves in the ground. The species repre- the Chipping Squirrel ( Tamias striatus), the Burunduk of the Rus- sians, the Chipmunk of North America, is only about 6 inches and the tail 4 inches long. A black stripe along the middle of the back and two lateral stripes stand out in relief against the general yellowish hue which forms the ground colour of the fur. This tiny creature, which is detested by the tillers of the ground, digs holes for itself under the roots of trees in the forest, and these holes it fills with acorns, nuts, and grains of corn. It has a winter sleep, but not a very deep one. The Spermophiles (Spermophilus)are hardly any larger than the ground-squirrels, and their general habit is exacdy like that of THE MARMOTS. 147 marmots. The body is small and thickset, the tail short, and the ears are almost com- pletely hidden in the fur. They have large cheek-pouches. They inhabit the cold tracts of both hemispheres, dig holes in fields and meadows, and connect their holes by passages. They also collect considerable stores and pass the winter in sleep. The species shown in the illustra- tion, the Souslik (Spermophilus citil- lus), fig. 205, is very extensively distribut- ed in Russia, and is also found in the Sla- vonic provinces of Austria. The fur of this species is reddish- yellow, somewhat lighter on the under parts. The souslik accustoms itself very readily to the pre- sence of man. The Marmots. The True Marmots (Arctomys) have a thickset body, almost equally thick along the whole length, a flat skull, slightly concave between the eyes, and a short tail. There are no cheek-pouches; the ears are hidden in the coarse fur. The Alpine Marmot i^Arclomys marmota), PI. XXXV., inhabits the higher regions of the Pyrenees, Alps, and Carpathians between the woods and the glaciers. It is among the larger rodents, for a full-grown marmot has a body about 20 inches in length, exclusive of the tail, which is about 4 inches long. There is a smaller species, called the Quebec Marmot [A. monax), a native of the Rocky Mountains, and another still smaller, the Bobak (^A. Bobac), a native of the steppes of European Russia, Mongolia, and Siberia. Fig. 205. — 1 l.e 6,^1. J.l. The Alpine marmot is olive-brown in colour, sometimes very dark brown on the back, but a little lighter on the under parts. All marmots lead the .same kind of life. They dig out underground passages, which are often rather complicated and pretty deep, and the.se passages end in a chamber vaulted like a baker's oven, and warmly lined with dried herbs. They collect no stores of provisions, and when they leave their holes it is only with the utmost cau- tion, after they have carefully surveyed the neighbourhood. When they have as- certained that all is safe, they stand sen- tinel in front of their hole, sitting on their hind quarters with their fore-paws hang- ing down, and direct- ing their glances all round. Gradually other marmots ven- ture out, the neigh- bours come together, they play, and devour fresh herbs, berries, seeds, and so forth, but an old animal always stands sentinel. A shrill whistle gives warning of approach- ing danger, and in the twinkling of an eye the whole assembly has disappeared in their holes, from which they never venture very far. In the autumn the marmots are fat, and, as I can testify from my own experience, very tasty; but since the fat is of a greenish tinge it is rather disgusting to some people. On the approach of the winter's cold the marmot retires to his chamber, after carefully closing the mouth of his hole and the passages with dried herbs, and passes the winter in deep sleep. The chase of the marmot is rather 148 THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. difficult, because in those rocky solitudes with- out trees and without shrubs it is not easy to find a cover under which to creep up and surprise the object of pursuit, and unless the marmot is killed at the first shot it escapes at once to its hole. On the other hand, the marmots are very easily dug out in winter if their holes have previously been marked. The so-called Prairie-dog [Cynomys ludo- vicianus), fig. 206, which owes its peculiar name to its voice, which resembles the bark of a dog, is properly speaking nothing but a small marmot, which inhabits the prairies of North America west of the Mississippi. This pretty and amusing little creature is distinguished from the other marmots by Fig. 206. — Prairie-dogs {Cynomys ludovUianus). the comparatively large size of its first cheek-tooth, by its cheek-pouches, and by the possession of a fully-developed thumb armed with a claw. These prairie-dogs live exactly like marmots, but it is a remarkable fact that in their holes one may often find rattlesnakes and large ground-owls, with which they appear to live on good terms. THE DORMOUSE FAMILY (MYOXIDA). This small family is composed of animals, the general habit of which is not unlike that of the squirrels, but which are distinguished from them by having only four cheek-teeth above and below, the.se teeth being made up of transverse bars of enamel, and always having roots. Apart from the structure of the teeth and the form of the skull, which is somewhat elongated like that of the rats, the dormice agree more or less both with the marmots and squirrels. Like the former they pass the winter in sleep, while they agree with the squirrels in their arboreal habits. The fur is soft and woolly, the tail long and thickly haired, except in the case of a few African species. The ears are rounded and have no tuft. The fore-paws have four toes with sharp claws and a small rudimentary thumb covered with a flat nail. On the hind- feet there are likewise four toes. All dormice build nests for themselves like squirrels. In these they sleep by day. By night they go out in search of food, which consists exclusively of vegetable substances, To/act pa£e 14S. Plate XXXV. — THE ALPINE MARMOT (Antomys marmota). THE BEAVER FAMILY. 149 especially seeds, small nuts, and the like. Their stomach is incompletely divided into two sections. The large species are remark- ably voracious, and, like the squirrels, are ruthless destroyers of birds' nests. In autumn they become very fat, and their winter sleep is not less deep than that of the marmots. Out of three European species the largest and the smallest have been selected for illustra- tion. The Loir or Com- mon Dormouse of the European mainland {Myoxus glis), fig. 207, resembles the squirrel most on ac- count of its bushy tail, which may attain the length of 6 inches, almost the same as that of the body. Of the four cheek-teeth the two middle ones are the largest. They have four deep folds of enamel, into which fit three opposite folds. THE Fig. 207. — The Loir (AJyoxus glis) The head with its round blunt ears resembles that of a rat. The thick silky fur is of a gray colour, inclining more to brown on the back and the tail, which has the hair arranged in two rows. The loir lives chiefly in Eastern and Southern Europe, preferring oak and beech woods for its home. It builds its nest in hollow trees or in holes in the rocks, but never exposed in the fork between two branches like squirrels. It collects stores, and wakes on warm winter days to eat. The Romans prized this animal so highly that they used to keep specimens of it in cages called gliraria. The loir is easily caught in traps; and it is very ready to settle in the box-nests which are set up in some districts for starlings and tits. In captivity the loir is ill-natured; its bites are severe. The Common Dormouse, the Hazel Mouse of the Germans {Muscardinus {Myoxus) avellaiiarius), fig. 208, is just as gentle and agreeable in its disposition as the loir is ill-natured and disagreeable. It is a charm- ing little creature of about the size of an ordinary mouse, of a reddish-yellow colour, with a tail about as long as the body, but not very hairy. It frequents shrubberies, and is particularly fond of hazel hedges and thickets; and it advances as far to the north and ascends as high in the mountains as its favourite plant does. The dormouse builds a very artistic round nest, in which it rolls itself up in the form of a ball. It can easily be kept in birds' cages, and it makes an agreeable pet on account of its cleanliness, its graceful movements, and its gentle and affectionate disposition. BEAVER FAMILY (CASTORIDA). The Beaver {Castor fiber) may well be referred to a separate family, although it is the only species belonging to it. Formerly the beaver was spread over all the temperate and cold countries of both hemispheres. It was so much sought after for the sake of its flesh, its fur, and the castoreum, a product yielded by both sexes and highly prized in medicine, that at the present day it is con- fined to Eastern Europe, Siberia, Canada, ISO THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. and the regions lying to the west of the Mississippi. Only here and there, as, for example, on the small islands of the Rhone near Aries, in Bohemia and Silesia, a few specimens are to be found; but elsewhere, except in a few streams in which some lovers of zoology have allowed one or two beavers to live in a state of freedom, the beaver has fortunately been extirpated in the cul- tivated parts of Europe. [Among other fdmilies of beavers that have been maintained in a state of freedom or semi- freedom by lovers of zoology is one belonging to the Marquis of Bute in the grounds of Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute. Eight beavers had been procured by the marquis in January, 1875, and in September, 1877, the family was visited by the late Mr. Frank Buckland in company with Mr. Bartlett of the Zoologi- cal Gardens, London. Of that visit an interesting account is given in an article afterwards published in Notes and Jottings from Animal Life. At some little distance from the house above named, says Mr. Buckland, "there is a lonely pine-wood. Through part of this wood runs a natural stream. In the centre of the wood a stone wall has been built in such a manner as to keep the beavers perfectly quiet and undis- turbed. "As far as could be ascertained by the curator of the beavery there were twelve beavers. There were certainly one or more young ones in the big house which these most intelligent animals had erected. These when born are about as large as rats; and from their size and other observations the curator thinks that beavers have two litters of cubs in the year. "On entering the inclosure one might easily im- agine that a gang of regular woodcutters had been Fig. 208. — The Common Dormouse [^ (uscardinus avellanarius). p. 149, at work felling the trees all around them. Wood'- cutters had indeed been at work very busily, but they were not biped labouring men working with sharp axes, but fur-clad quadrupeds, armed by nature with exceedingly sharp powerful teeth. "The original stream, which flows gently down a slight incline, is now divided into one larger and two smaller ponds by means of dams or weirs, which the beavers have built directly across the run of the water. "It is difficult, if not impossible, to see these wonderful dam -makers at work, as they gener- ally, I hear, are out at night and are very shy beasts. From the struc- ture they have made it is evident that they work with a design, I may even say with a definite plan. The trees have been cut down in such a manner that they shall fall in the position in which the beaver thinks they would be of the greatest service to the general structure, gener- ally right across the stream. The cunning fellows seem to have found out that the lowest dam across the river would receive the greatest pressure of water upon it. This dam, therefore, is made by far the strong- est. They seem to have packed, repaired, and continually attended to the tender places which the stream might make in their engineering work. "A fact still more curious — the custodian of the beavers pointed out to us a portion of the work where the dam was strutted up and supported by the branches of trees extending from the bed of the stream below to the sides of the dam — forming, in fact, as good supports to the general structure as any engineer could have devised. . . . " Mr. Bartlett and I closely examined the mark- ings of the beavers' chisel-like teeth on the trees which they had cut down. These trees were oak, larch, pine, birch, and willow. The young ones, judging from the markings of their teeth, are not such good workmen as their parents, and one would THE BEAVER FAMILY. 151 almost imagine that it was necessary for them to go through some sort of education in cutting down trees. It is very interesting to observe how the beaver goes to work to cut down a tree. Attack- ing one side he cuts, by means of his sharp chisel, a regular notch in the tree. One side of this notch is flat like a saw cut; the other side is brought down to the saw cut by an angle; in fact, he cuts down the trees by the same sort of incision as we ourselves employ to cut a stick out of the hedge. Mr. Bartlett informs me that he has seen the beaver put his head so far into the notch that he was afraid the weight of the tree from above would crush down upon him and smash his head; but Mr. Beaver is a better carpenter than this. Mr. Bartlett has seen him at this stage of the proceed- ings come out and go to a little distance, sit on his hind-legs, and inspect the tree with the air of an engineer looking at a scaffold in process of con- struction. When the beaver has gnawed his notch as deep as he dare into the tree, the cunning fellow will test its stability by standing on his hind-legs and pushing the tree to see the degree of firmness of the portion which holds the two pieces of wood together; but how is he to separate the bit which unites the wood.' He simply leaves off gnawing the big notch he has made. He then goes to the other side, where the bark and wood have not been touched at all, and gnaws away until down comes the tree. "These beavers are most industrious little animals. These water-carpenters have converted the place into a regular subterranean city, for they have bur- rowed out the earth in such a manner as to form streets, galleries, highways, and by-ways. These runs, I imagine, are made primarily for the purpose of safety, and secondly that the houses or dams may be connected together, so that the families living in the different huts may be able at will to visit their friends." Of the beaver family to which the preceding paragraphs relate, there survived in the spring of 1887, as the owner of the family was kind enough to inform the translator of the present work, only two individuals. These, however, were apparently healthy, having raised a new dome-shaped house and done a great deal of work in damming, &c.] Many writers have uttered sentimental complaints regarding the extirpation of the beaver, but it cannot be denied that this is one of the most destructive of animals. We have more need of timber than of its fur and castoreum. It feeds chiefly on roots and the bark and young wood of trees in which the sap is flowing, and it builds dams and habitations in the water out of stems and branches, sometimes measuring 2 feet in diameter. It thus causes considerable de- vastation in forests, especially among willows and poplars. The beaver is consequently an animal that is bound to di.sappear before the advance of cultivation, and which neither complaints nor pious wishes will be of any avail to preserve. The beaver is one of the largest of rodents. It attains a length of more than 3 feet, and its flat scaly tail measures about 12 inches. Its weight may amount to 66 pounds. The body is short and thickset, the back arched. The head is thick and blunt in front. The legs are short and thick, and have five toes with small nails. The hind -toes are connected by a web. The small eyes have a large nictitating membrane, the nostrils are capable of being closed, and the short round ears may be laid over the external ear-passage {auditory meatus) in such a manner as to close it in diving. With respect to the structure of the sexual organs of the female the beaver has a remarkable resemblance to the marsupials, or even to the monotremes. The fur consists of a fine soft down interspersed with long bristly hairs; it is of a fine chestnut-brown colour, darker on the back than on the under parts. The four cheek-teeth in each half of the jaw present to view extremely complicated folds on the grinding surface ; the thick and broad incisors are covered with a dark -brown layer of enamel. The castoreum is secreted in two pouches in the neighbourhood of the anus. The American beaver (PI. XXXVI.), which many naturalists take to be a distinct species, is beyond doubt only a geographical variety. It is rather darker than the Euro- pean, and has a narrower head and a curved profile. THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. Beavers live in holes, which are dug out on the banks of rivers, and have their entrance under the water like those of otters. From the entrance a tunnel leads obliquely upwards to a chamber which lies above the level of high water and to which air is admitted by a narrow opening. In retired places they build dams across the streams out of the trunks of trees, which are driven into the ground and have their branches consolidated by earth. In this manner they convert streams into a series of pools with a constant level. In front of these dams they construct out of clay regular fortresses with arched roofs, which have the entrances under the water, and in addition to the warmly lined dwelling-chambers contain also provision rooms. The beavers are extraordinarily expert in the use of their fore-feet and teeth in the working up of the various materials which they carry or drag to the desired place, waddling on erect on their hind-feet as they do so. In the construction of these dams and dwellings the beaver undoubtedly reveals a decided mental superiority to other rodents. Its flesh, which was regarded as one of the meats that might be used during fasts, is very palatable, and the tail is considered a delicacy. The beaver is generally caught in traps. America yields about 100,000 skins yearly. The castoreum is in high esteem ; it is almost ten times as valuable as the fur. There are some Indian tribes which live almost ex- clusively by catching the beaver. [The following extracts, besides furnishing some further details of interest regarding the habits of the beaver and its trapping in older days, show at least that some of the generally received accounts of this animal do not apply to its behaviour in all parts of the region inhabited by it even in North America: — " In regard to the beavers' houses, I am forced to come to the conclusion, either that travellers who have written regarding the beaver in the country east of the Rocky Mountains, have woe- fully taken advantage of a traveller's license, have listened to mere hearsay wonders without seeing for themselves, or that the habits of the beaver differ much in different parts of the country. " It is only after they have been pointed out to you that the 'houses' can be recognized, as they seem like loose bundles of sticks lying on the water. In a recent account of the beaver in the British provinces in North America by an anonymous writer, the houses are described as being exactly the same as I have seen them in the West, and not plastered domes. The vigilance of the little builders is so great that it is rarely, unless closely watched for a long time, that they can be seen. A passing traveller rarely surprises them at work. . . . The only approach to plastering their houses which I have observed is its giving a self-satisfied 'clap' of the tail on laying down its load. . . . "In winter they have a store of food secured at some convenient distance from their abodes} When they require any they start off to get it. They do not eat there, but bring it to their house, and there make their meal. Of the almost human intelligence of the 'thinking beaver' the stories are innumerable; but many of them are much exag- gerated, or even fabulous (such as Buffon's account). The following is tolerably well authenticated, my informants vouching for the accuracy of it. In a creek about four miles above the mouth of Quesnelle River, in British Columbia, some miners broke down a dam in the course of the operation for making a ditch, at the same time erecting a wheel to force up the water. Beavers abounded on this stream, and found themselves much inconvenienced by these proceedings. Accordingly, it is said that, in order to stop the wheel, the beavers placed a stick between the flappers in such a way as to stop the revolutions of the wheel. This was so continu- ally repeated night after night, and was so artfully performed, as to preclude the possibility of its being accidental. ... " When beaver was 30J. per lb. Rocky Mountain beavers were piled up on each side of a trade-gun until they were on a level with the muzzle, and this was the price! The muskets cost in England some \^s. These were the days of the free trapper — ^joyous, brave, generous, and reckless— the hero of romance, round whom many a tale of daring circles, the love of the Indian damsel, the beau ideal of a man in the eyes of the half-breed, whose ' Mr. Green, the writer of the communication from the notes to which these extracts are taken, states that one day's supply of sticks for a single beaver would fill a house. Ta/acefage isi. Plate XXXVI. — THE BEAVER (Castor fiber). THE MOLE-RATS. 153 ambition never rose higher than a conreur des bois — a class of men who, with all their failings, we cannot but be sorry to see disappearing from the fur- countries. The fall of beavers' peltry rang their death-knell ; and, as a separate profession, trapping is almost extinct, being nearly altogether followed, at uncertain spells, by the Indians and the lower class of half-breeds. The world is fast filling in; the emigrant, with his bullock-team and his plough, is fast destroying all the romance of the far West — fast filling up with the stern prose of the plough and the reaping-machine and the whistle of steam what was once only claimed by the pleasant poetry of the songs of the voyageur, the coureur des bois — the hunters and trappers of the great fur companies! But perhaps it is better after all!" — Notes by Mr. R. Brown to a communication by Mr. A. H. Green "On the Natural History and Hunting of the Beaver on the Pacific Slope of the Rocky Mountains," read before the Linnean So- ciety; Linnean Society's Journal, vol. x.] THE MOUSE FAMILY (MURIDA). The large family of the rats and mice and their kindred is so numerous and varied that many naturalists have erected it into a sub- order, which, however, has no well-marked distinctive characters. One might almost say that in this family have been included all those forms which are connected together by almost imperceptible links of transition, and which could not well be referred to any other family. In this respect this family plays pretty much the same role as that of the antelopes among the ruminants. In general Vol, II. the members of this family have only three cheek-teeth in each half of each jaw, and these teeth exhibit in most cases transversely- placed tubercles, whereby an approach to the zygodont structure is brought about. When worn away by use these tubercles often appear as more or less complicated folds, and then the cheek-teeth have distinct roots. In other cases, however, there are cheek-teeth with lamella; and without roots; there are also cases in which only two cheek-teeth are present ; and lastly, those in which the upper jaw alone posses- ses four teeth of this kind. The mice al- ways have well-develop- ed collar- bones. Us- ually there are on the fore-feet four toes and a rudimentary first digit; the hind- feet have five toes. The tibia and fibula are fused together in their lower parts. On the whole no general characters can be given. From among the numerous groups we have selected only a few characteristic representa- tives. The Mole-rats. The Common European Mole-rat {Spalax typhlus), fig. 209, may be taken as the repre- sentative of this family, the Spalacida, a group consisting of a large number of animals resembling the moles in their habit, their behaviour, and their underground mode of life. Their head, however, presents some differences. It is short, broad, almost as round as a ball, and shows in front, instead of the rather long snout of the moles, the large incisors not covered by the lips. The 62 -,r ---^" '*^ ' ' -The Common European Mole-rat (Spalax typhlus). 154 THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. eyes are very small, often quite hidden under the skin; the external ears are altogether wanting; the tail is rudimentary or quite absent. The form of the body resembles that of the moles. The stout fore-feet are furnished with four toes with powerful bur- rowing claws and a rudimentary first digit covered with a smooth nail. These animals live in underground galleries, in the course of which they throw up little mounds of earth like mole-hills. In plantations they cause considerable damage by gnawing away the roots even of large trees. The species re- presented in fig. 209 is a native of the east of Europe, very abundant in Ukraine and Moldavia, not rare in Hungary, and met with Vig. 210. — The Hamster as far as the Caucasus and the Urals. The minute eyes are completely covered with skin. The fur is silky, soft, thick, and of a dark yellowish-gray colour. The three cheek-teeth have two enamel folds running into them, and small spots of enamel in the centre. The Hamsters. This group (Cricetus) forms the transition to the field-mice and the rats, but is distin- guished by the presence of enormous cheek- pouches opening into the mouth, covered with a sinewy membrane, and sometimes extending immediately beneath the skin far back, even behind the shoulders. The first cheek-teeth have six tubercles arranged in three transverse lines, the others only four. The typical species, the Hamster Proper [Cricetus frumentarius). (Cricetus frumentarius), fig. 210, is met with in corn-fields in the temperate parts of Eu- rope, from the Vosges on the one side to the Urals on the other. Formerly it was much more widely distributed, but it has never passed beyond the Vosges within historical times^ although in certain years it is tolerably abundant in Alsace and the Palatinate of the Rhine. It is a plump, compact animal with short legs, and measures about 12 inches in length. The head resembles that of a cat, with short broad rounded ears and brilliant moderately large eyes. The tail is very short; the toes, notwithstanding the burrow- ing habits, have only short claws. The thick fur is brownish on the back, black underneath, and bright yellow on the feet and the rest of the body. Light-yellow patches separate the RATS AND MICE. 155 two leading tints on the sides of the head, the breast, and the flanks. As regards the dis- tribution of the colours, however, there are numerous varieties. The hamster is a remarkably destructive animal, which in many years multiplies with almost incredible rapidity. It confines itself to cultivated fields, where it digs tunnels in all directions, and forms its nest and provision cellars. These it fills chiefly with grain, which it carries home in its enormous cheek- pouches. It is a real pest in Saxony and Thuringia, where hamster years are recorded as cockchafer years are elsewhere. In a single year a hamster can store up as much as a hundredweight of grain. All methods are resorted to for its destruction, and its provision stores when found are used like fig grain kept in a granary. The hamster is at once an ill-tempered and courageous animal, which, small as it is, will spring at the throat • of dogs, bite men on the legs, and seek to destroy every animal it meets with in order to devour it. It is very fond of eggs and birds. Rats and Mice. This remarkably numerous group (Murina) has the same sort of dentition as the hamsters, cheek-teeth with tubercles and true roots, but the cheek-pouches are absent, and the tail, which is longer, is ringed, scaly, and sparsely covered with hair, the hair being arranged in accordance with the rings. The typical genus may be divided into two groups: the larger members forming the Rats, in which the grooves of the palate run from the teeth 1 Rat ( l/«j decum tnus) atticking a Black Rat (Afus ratlus) on one side of the mouth to those on the other side, and the smaller members forming the Mice, in which these folds are separated in the middle. In this genus are found, along with the field-mice, the most disagreeable pests of human dwellings. The Black Rat [Mus rat ins), fig. 211, attains a length of 6 inches, while the tail measures 7^ inches, and is furnished with at least 260 rings. On the back this rat is of a dark-brown colour, underneath rather lighter. Till the beginning of last century it was the master on European soil, and only occasion- ally had to fight against another rat with white belly, which was more common in the south and in Egypt {Mus tectorum s. leuco- gaster). It accompanied man wherever he went, travelled round the whole earth on 156 THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. ships, and settled everywhere — in the Tropics as in the Frigid Zone, in America as in Australia. But this almost universal do- minion has been greatly encroached on by the immigration of another rat, more powerful and more ferocious, from Asia into Europe, and in the latter continent the Brown Rat, as it is called [Mus deaimamis), fig. 211, has everywhere displaced the black rat. In the year 1727 prodigious swarms of the brown rat swam across the Volga in the neigh- bourhood of Astra- khan, and since then this species has multi- plied with great rap- idity, extinguished the black rat, peopled Europe, and has also reached transoceanic countries on ships. At the present day the brown rat has already advanced beyond the Mississippi, and soon it will have overrun the whole territory of the United States as Fig. 212. — The Common Domestic Mouse (Mus miisculus). the Common Domestic Mouse [Mus musculus), which attains a length of 4 inches at the most. Its tail, with about 180 rings, is just about as long as the body. The colour is a well-known gray, a little darker on the back than on the under parts. The houses, cellars, and barns which it inhabits it is very un- willing to quit, and it hardly ever ventures beyond the gardens it has already done the whole area of Europe. It lives in the sewers of towns, in houses, barns, and stables, and may become a real plague, and above all on ships. The brown rat attains a length of 8 inches; the tail has only about 220 rings. The hair is coarse, and of a grayish-brown colour on the back, lighter underneath. It eats anything, destroys everything, burrows everywhere, is courageous and fierce, and, like all members of the group, extraordinarily prolific. An albino variety with white hair and red eyes is pretty common. The Mice are not such mischievous de- stroyers, but nevertheless are far from agree- able companions. In fig. 212 is represented into the fields, where it is replaced by the Field-mouse {^Mtis ag- rarius); in the woods the Long-tailed Field- mouse takes its place [Mus sylvaticus) ; and in many corn-fields and reedy marshes there is' a smaller species, the Harvest- mouse {^Miis {Micro- mys) minuius), which builds for itself a round nest hanging to the stalks of the corn or reeds. In Al- geria and the steppes of the interior of Africa occurs one of the prettiest members of this genus, the Striped or Barbary Mouse (Mtts striatus (bar- barus)), fig. 213. Its fawn-coloured fur is marked with ten dark -brown longitudinal stripes; the belly is white. It attains a length of very nearly 5 inches. All these mice lead much the same kind of life, residing in holes, where they make nests for their frequent litters of young. From eight to ten young ones are always born at a birth. The period of gestation is never more than four weeks, and at the age of four months the young animals are already capable of reproduction. A new period of gestation begins almost immediately after the birth of a litter. If one will only take the THE VOLES. 157 trouble to reckon up the possible during the summer months, from April to Octo- ber, one will get some idea of the almost fabulous rate of mul- tiplication of these little creatures. [In South Africa Liv- ingstone met with a species of " rats, or rather large mice, close- ly resembling Miis pn- milio (Smith)," which he says are "quite fa- cetious, and, having a great deal of fun in them, often laugh heart- ily. Again and again they woke us up by scampering over our faces, and then bursting into a loud laugh of He! formed the feat. Their sense of the ludicrous appears to be exquisite; they screamed with laughter at the attempts which disturbed and angry human nature made in the dark to bring their ill-timed mer- riment to a close. Un like their prudent Euro- pean cousins, which are said to leave a sinking ship, a part of these took up their quarters in our leaky and sinking vessel. Quiet and invisible by day, they emerged at night, and cut their funny pranks. No sooner were we all asleep, than they made a sudden dash over the lockers and across our faces for the cabin- door, where all broke out he! he! he! showing how Fig. 213.— The Striped or Barbary Mouse (Mus slriatus). number of generations | joke. They next went forward with as much delight and scampered over the men. Every night they went fore and aft, rousing with impartial feet every sleeper, and laughing to scorn the aimless blows, growls, and deadly rushes of outraged humanity." — Expedition to the Zambesi, chap. vi.] The Voles. This group (Arvi- colina) consists of rodents very similar to the rats and mice, but distinguished from them by their thicker head with broad blunt muzzle, their thickset body, he! he! at having per- | their short tail, and the structure of their cheek-teeth. These have such a large number of enamel folds crossing one another at acute angles, that the grind- ing surface of the three very close-set teeth of this kind forms a long zigzag line. The field-voles live like the true field- mice, do no little dam- age in plantations and forests, but never enter houses. They flee as much as pos- sible from the pre- sence of man. Of the numerous Fig. 214. — The Common Field-vole {Arvicola anialis). native members of this into a loud He! he! he! keenly they enjoyed the group we mention first of all the Common Field-vole, Campagnol, or Short-tailed Field- 158 THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. mouse {Arvico/a arvalis {agrestis)), fig. 214. It is of about the size of an ordinary mouse, but its tail measures little more than an inch out of a total length of 5^ inches. The colour is a yellow- ish-gray, somewhat darker on the back than underneath ; on the belly it is a dirty white inclining to red. It is this field-vole in particular which dev- astates our fields; sometimes it multi- plies to such an extent that the harvest is totally destroyed. In the circle of Zabern (Saverne) in Alsace, in the mouse year, 1822, a million and a half of these destroyers were killed. Foxes, polecats, weasels, owls, mouse-buzzards, and other beasts of prey are of all the less avail in checking its devastations, since these animals are themselves relentless- ly destroyed in the most senseless man- ner. The Water-rat or Water-vole [Arvi'co/a amphibius), fig. 215, likewise belongs to this genus. It is of the same colour as the black rat, and attains about the same size, Fig. 215. — The Water-rat or Water-vole (Arvicola amphiitus) Fig. 216. — The Lemming {Myodes lemmus). but is distinguished from it by its thick blunt head, its short broad rounded ears, and its considerably shorter tail. This rat digs tun- ■^.jjsjic-. nels in the neighbour- hood of water, and ">#» * "^ lays waste plantations, though at the same time it is very fond of a flesh diet. It is a capital swimmer and diver. It is still a mat- ter of doubt whether the scherrmaus of the Germans, which does not frequent the water, is the same species or only a variety. A species regarding which many fables have been invented is the Lemming {^Myodes lemimis), fig. 216, a vole with a thickset body, large Inroad flat- tened head, and with ears hidden in the fur. The lemming attains the size of a moderate- sized rat, but has a tail only about an inch in length. On the fore- feet the first digit is completely developed. The coat resembles that of the hamster, and is in general of a yellow colour with brown spots and white stripes. The under parts are likewise rather whitish. The lemming in- habits the northern parts of Europe. During the Ice Age its domain extended as far as the Pyrenees and the Alps. Species allied to it are found in Siberia and Canada. On the high plateaux THE VOLES. 159 of the Scandinavian Alps, in Lapland and Finland, it is met with everywhere. It lives like the hamster, and like this kinsman, too, is courageous and vicious notwithstanding its small size. In favourable years it multiplies to such an extent that enormous swarms are compelled to emigrate in order to seek their food elsewhere. In spite of the fact that their habitual mode of life is a nocturnal one, they then move on in a close phalanx in the full light of day, swim across brooks and even rivers, and are not deterred by the fact of their being pursued by eagles, falcons, and small carnivores. The carcasses of those which die on the way pollute the air all round. Similar migrations of the brown rat, voles, and other rodents have been observed. The Musk-rat, the Musquash of Canada, the Ondatra of the Indians {Fiber zibethicus), fig. 217, is a species living entirely in the water. This is a pretty large rat, whose com- pressed and flattened tail, sparsely covered with stiff bristles, is of about the same length as the body. In the neighbourhood of the anus there is a gland of the size of a nut, which secretes an oily substance with a strong smell of musk. The five toes of the hind-feet as well as the four toes of the fore-feet are con- nected by a web set with stiff intercrossing bristles, which are of service in swimming. The coat consists of very fine thick soft woolly hair, beyond which projects a number of long glossy bristles. On the back the colour is brown, on the belly reddish-gray. In Canada it is eagerly hunted for the sake of its very valuable fur. About three millions of skins are obtained every year. The mode Musquash [Fiber zibethicus). of life of the musk-rat is similar to that of the beaver. According to circumstances it either excavates tunnels on the steep banks of rivers or constructs regular fortresses with domed roofs rising above the surface of the water; but such fortresses are of course distinguished from those of beavers by their much smaller size. We now mention a few mice of which no illustrations are given, but which yet deserve some attention. First there is the Australian genus Hy- dromys, which is distinguished from all other rodents by the remarkably small number of its cheek-teeth. In each jaw there are, in fact, only two such teeth ; these have oval enamel folds. This genus lives in the water like the musk-rats. The fore-feet are adapted for burrowing, the hind ones for swimming. i6o THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. This animal is one of the few placental mammals of Australia. Secondly, we mention, by way of transition to the next family, mice with elongated hind- legs. Some of these (Meriones) have almost the habit of hares. They dwell in the steppes round the Caspian Sea. Others (Gerbillus) have a greater resemblance to the jumping- the collar-bone is present, and there are almost always five toes armed with sharp claws. A single American genus (Jaculus), which is found in the Arctic Regions round Hudson's Bay, has only four toes and a rudimentary first digit with a flat nail. These fore-feet are used in walking only while the animal is feeding; as a rule the jerboa goes Fig. 218.— The Egyptian Jerboa (Dipus mnuritanicus) hares, and occur in Africa. They have a long tail without any terminal tuft. THE JERBOA FAMILY (DIPODIDA). This family is so sharply distinguished from all other rodents by the structure of their hind-legs that some naturalists have constituted them a sub-order. Their whole structure is adapted for jumping, and we find resemblances in this structure on the one hand to the kangaroos, and on the other hand to the jumping-shrews among the Insec- tivora. The fore-feet, although very much reduced in size, are yet perfectly well formed ; Fig 219 — Ihejumping-rabbit of Siberia (^/ar/