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SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY.

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OF
Vou. III.

ORDER—PACHYDERMATA,

TERRESTRIAL AND AQUATIC 5

ORDER—CETACEA ; AND THE PHOCIDA.

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.

EN SEA! OBO ALES.

LONDON:
€. COX, 12, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND.

1849.

*

London : Printed by W. Chowes and Sons, Stamford Street.

CONTENTS OF VOL. III.

eee

Orprer—PACHYDERMATA

The Hippopotamus

The Rhinoceros . : , :

The Indian Rhinoceros . - s

The Javanese Rhinoceros

The Sumatran Rhinoceros .

The Black or Common African Ristneares

The Keitloa ° ° :
The White or Bie ucsed Rivioceros : “
The Daman, or Hyrax . : .
The Cape Hyrax, or Dassie of the Gbloniets

The Syrian Hyrax : : : : .
Genus Tapirus . . . :

The Common Nmctiewn Tapir
The Malay or Indian Tapir .

Famity—SUIDA.

The Collared Peccary .

The Babiroussa . °

The Wild Hog : : ; ° :
The Domestic Hog : ° - . °
Genus Phacocherus .

The South African Phincoobere

The Abyssinian Phacochere .

EXTINCT FOSSIL SPECIES.

Skull of the Fossil Adapts
The Mastodon
The Paleotherium : °

iv CONTENTS.

The Lophiodon . :
The Anoplotherium

The Dinotherium . :
Fossil Skull of Toxodon

TrinE—AQUATIC PACHYDERMATA.

The Dugong : . ° .
The Manatee, or Lamantin . ; j °
Zeuglodon . :

eS

Orper—CETACEA,
Famity—DELPHINIDA.

The Common Porpoise » : .
The Narwhal . °
The Beluga ° : .

Fam1Ity—CATODONTID4.

The Common Cachalot, or Spermaceti Whale .

FamMiIty—BALAENID/A,

The Greenland bila or Great Moi acs °
The Rorqual : :

Famity—PHOCID.

The Common Seal

The Harp-Seal

The Sea-Leopard .

The Crested Seal . i

The Elephant-Seal 2

The Ursine Seal . “

Forster’s Sea-Lion : ‘

The Walrus, or eee . , °° . :

Page
100
102
104
111

132
133
135

141
144
149

151

162
168

174
180
182
184
187
192
195
19

Shey 1 Cl

OF THE

HISTORY OF THE MAMMALIA,

OrpeEr—PACHYDERMATA.

Tux term Pachydermata was given to the present order
by Cuvier, and refers to the thickness of the hide so
generally conspicuous in the animals it comprehends ;
such, for example, as the elephant, hippopotamus, rhino-
ceros, hog, &c.

On looking at the order Pachydermata as a whole, we
find it for the most part composed of genera between
which there is a want of that intimate relationship which
gives us an idea of unity or completeness. We see
chasms in the gradation of existing forms, and are forced,
as it were, by abrupt transitions from one genus to
another, instead of passing through an intermediate series.
Yet we are not rashly to infer the original plan and pur-
pose of nature to have been destitute of unity. Far
from it: happily the researches of the geologist have
brought to light the fossil relics of many species, the
extinction of which at some remote epoch has left blanks
in the series—blanks, however, which we are thus
enabled to fill up. And as these researches are con-
tinned and extended, we have reason to conclude that
every hiatus caused by the absence of intermediate forms
will become occupied. In the present order, indeed, the
fossil erlics of extinct species are peculiarly valuable and

VOL, IIt. B

6 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

interesting: among them are found not only the fossil
remains of animals allied to existing species, as the fossil
elephant or mammoth, fossil rhinoceroses, and others,
but also of animals which have now no living represent-
atives, and which constitute the types of distinct genera,
comprehending exclusively beings whose characters are
to be drawn only from their recovered relics, they them-
selves having been long blotted out from among the
‘things that be.”” Such are the Mastodon, the Ano-
plotherium, the Palzotherium, the 'Toxodon, the Dino-
therium, and many more.

The order Pachydermata is divided by Cuvier into
three sections: the first (Proboscideans) includes the
elephants and the extinct Mastodon; the second (ordi-
nary Pachyderms), the hippopotamus, tapir, rhinoceros,
and hog,—the Anaplotherium, Paleotherium, and many
other extinct forms; the third (the solidungulous Pa-
chyderms) includes the horse and ass. To these we may
add a fourth, namely, the ee represented by the
Dugong, Lamantin, &e.

The sketch of the Pachy dermata would properly
commence with the Elephant, but to that animal a volume
has been devoted, and we therefore begin here with the
Hippopotamus.

Tue Hirroproramus.

M. Desmoulins, from an examination of the skulls and
skeletons of hippopotami from Senegal and from South
Africa, considers that there are two distinct species,
which he names respectively H. Senegalensis and H.
Capensis. Very probably M. Desmoulins is correct,
but as the habits of both species are precisely the same,
and as the distinctive characters are founded on osteolo-
gical minutize only, we shall not treat them as different,
more especially as the point is rather assumed than abso-
lutely proved.

The hippopotamus is a native exclusively of Africa,
where, though much more limited than formerly in the
range of its habitat, it tenants the banks and beds of the
larger rivers, and of the inland lakes from the Gariep to

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 7

the upper Nile and its tributary branches. It is, how-
ever, not restricted to these, for it is marine as well as
fluviatile; and Dr. Smith thinks it difficult to decide
whether it gives preference to the river or the sea for its
abode during the day. When the opportunity of choosing
the sea or the river existed, he found that some selected
the one, and some the other.

Scarcely, if at all, inferior to the elephant in bulk, but
much lower in stature from the shortness of the limbs,
this massive animal presents us with the ‘ne plus ultra”
of uncouth clumsiness and heavy solidity. Its body, like
an enormous barrel supported on four thick pillars,
almost touches the ground ; the head is ponderous; the
muzzle is swollen; and the great thick lips, studded with
wire-like bristles, entirely conceal the projecting incisors
of the lower jaw, and the huge curved tusks or canines ;
the mouth is wide; the nostrils open on the top of the
swollen muzzle; and the eyes, which are very small, are
situated high on the head; hence, when in the water,
the animal by raising merely a small upper section of the
head above the surface can both lock around and breathe,
the body remaining submerged. The ears are small and
pointed ; the tail is short, and furnished with a few wiry
bristles, The toes, four on each foot, are tipped with
small hoofs. The hide is naked, coarse, and of great
thickness, being two inches deep or more on the back
and sides. It is made into shields, whips, walking-sticks,
&e. The whips known in Egypt under the name of
korbadj are made of its skin, and form an important
article of trade with the Sennaar and Darfour caravans.
‘¢ After being taken off, the skin is cut into narrow strips,
five or six feet long, and gradually tapering to a point;
each strip is then rolled up so that the edges unite and
form a pipe, in which state they are tied fast, and left to
dry in the sun. To render them pliable, they must be
rubbed with butter or grease. In Egypt, where they
are in general use, and the dread of every servant and
peasant, they cost from half a dollar to a dollar each.
In colder climates, even in Syria, they become brittle,
crack, and lose their elasticity.”

B2

8 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

Between the skin and the flesh is a layer of fat, which
is salted and eaten asa delicacy by the Dutch colonists of
Southern Africa; indeed the epicures of Cape-Town, as
Dr. Smith says, do not disdain to use their influence with
the country farmers to obtain a preference in the matter
of sea-cow’s speck, as this fat is termed when salted and
dried. ‘The flesh also is excellent and in much request.
The general colour of the hippopotamus is dusky brown-
ish red, passing on the sides and limbs into a light
purple, red, or brown ; the under parts, the lips, and the
eyelids are light wood-brown, with a tinge of flesh-
colour; the hinder quarters and the under surface are
freckled with spots of dusky brown; the hairs of the
tail and ears are black, those on the muzzle yellowish-
brown. The male far exceeds the female in size.
The hippopotamus is gregarious in its habits, saga-
cious, wary, and cautious. It has been long driven away
from the rivers within the limits of the Cape colony ;
but in remoter districts, where the sound of the musket
is seldom heard, it abounds in every large river, and is
comparatively fearless of man. ‘‘ To convey,” says Dr.
Smith, ‘“‘ some idea of the numbers in which they were
found in several of the rivers towards the tropic of
Capricorn, it may suffice to state that in the course of
an hour and a half a few members of the expedition
party killed seven within gunshot of their encampment.
Several other individuals were in the same pool, and
might also have been killed, had it been desirable. One
of the survivors was observed to make his escape to an
adjoining pool, and in accomplishing that he walked
with considerable rapidity along the bottom of the river,
and with his back covered with about a foot of water.”
(Fig. 1.)

The hippopotami, according to Dr. Smith, feed
chiefly on grass, resorting to situations near the banks of
rivers which supply that food. ‘‘ In districts fully in-
habited by man,” says Dr. Smith, ‘‘ they generally pass
the day in the water, and seek their nourishment during
the night; but in localities differently circumstanced
they often pass a portion of the day as well as the night
upon dry Jand. In countries in which the night-time

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 9

1.—Female Hippopotamus and Young.

constitutes the only safe period for their leaving the
water, they are generally to be seen effecting their escape
from it immediately before dark, or are to be heard doing
so soon after the day has closed, and according to the
state of the surrounding country; they then either
directly commence feeding, or begin a journey towards
localities where food may exist. When previous to
nightfall they may have been in pools or rivers, they
are generally at once enabled to commence feeding on
reaching the dry land ; but when they may have passed
the day in the sea, they require commonly to proceed
some distance after leaving it, before they find the grass
which appears congenial to their palate. It is not every
description of grass that hippopotami seem to relish:
they often pass over, in search of food, luxuriant green
swards, which would strongly attract many other animals
which feed upon grass. Besides having a peculiar relish
for the grasses of certain situations, they appear to have
a predilection for districts supporting brushwood ; and,

10 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

owing to the latter peculiarity, they are often to be found
wandering in localities on which but little grass exists,
when they might have it in the neighbourhood in great
abundance, but without the accompaniment of wood.”

We learn from Mr. Salt, that in the district of Abys-
sinia watered by the Tacazze, a tributary to the Nile,
hippopotami are very numerous. ‘The Abyssinians term
the animal Gomari. As Mr. Salt travelled along the
line of the river, he found it interrupted by frequent
overfalls and shallow fords. Between these shallows are
holes or pits of vast depth, resembling the lochs and
tarns in the mountain districts of Scotland and England.
It is to these depths that the hippopotami delight to
resort; and here Mr. Salt and his companions observed
their actions, which he compares to the rolling of a gram-
pus in the sea.

‘‘Tt appears,” observes the same traveller, ‘ from
what we have witnessed, that the hippopotamus cannot
remain more than five or six minutes at a time under
water, being obliged to come up to the surface at some
such interval for the purpose of respiration.”

It has generally been asserted that this huge, power-
ful, and, it should seem, inoffensive animal has no enemy
in the brute creation audacious enough to contend with
it. Some travellers, however, have attributed this bold-
ness to the crocodile, describing combats between them,
which in truth never take place, no enmity subsisting
between the two animals, While Mr. Salt and his party
were engaged shooting at the hippopotami, they fre-
quently observed several crocodiles of an enormous size
rise together to the surface of the same stream, appa-
rently regardless of and disregarded by their still more
enormous neighbours. Captain Tuckey, in his expedi-
tion to explore the Zaire or Congo, observed immense
numbers of hippopotami and alligators in the same water
—an association inconsistent with hostility.

Burckhardt (see his ‘Travels in Nubia’) informs us
that lower down the Nile, in Dongola, where there are
neither elephants nor rhinoceroses, the hippopotamus is
very common. The Arabic name for it is Barnik. It

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. It

is a dreadful scourge to the inhabitants, who lack the
means of destroying it. Occasionally, but rarely, it is
seen much farther north, even below the cataract of the
Nile at Assouan.

The hippopotamus abounds in the Niger, where it
was seen by Richard and John Lander. Clapperton
observed them in the lake Muggaby, Bornou, and in the
great lake Tchad and its tributary rivers.

Quiet and inoffensive, it is only when attacked that
the hippopotamus becomes furious, and if hard pressed
on land he rushes open-mouthed with the utmost des-
peration on his aggressor. If the party attacking the
animal in his watery domicile be in a boat, their danger
is extreme. Captain Owen (‘ Narrative of Voyages to
explore the Shores of Africa, under Captain W. F. W.
Owen’) had many encounters with these animals,
While examining a branch of the Temby river, in Dela-
goa Bay, a violent shock was suddenly felt from under-
neath the boat, and ‘‘in another moment a monstrous
hippopotamus reared itself up from the water, and in a
most ferocious and menacing attitude rushed open-
mouthed at the boat, and with one grasp of its tremendous
jaws seized and tore seven planks from her side; the
creature disappeared for a few seconds, and then rose
again, apparently intending to repeat the attack, but was
fortunately deterred by the contents of a musket dis-
charged in its face. The boat rapidly filled, but, as she
was not more than an oar’s length from the shore, they
(the crew) succeeded in reaching it before she sank.
The keel, in all probability, had touched the back of the
animal, which, irritating him, occasioned this furious
attack ; and, had he got his upper jaw above the gun-
wale, the whole broadside must have been torn out.
The force of the shock from beneath, previously to the
attack, was so violent, that her stern was almost lifted
out of the water, and Mr. Tambs, the midshipman steer-
ing, was thrown overboard, but fortunately rescued
before the irritated animal could seize him.

Fig. 2 represents the skeleton of the hippopotamus,
which is a ponderous frame-work in unison with the

2.--Skeleton of Hippopotamus.

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 13

vast weight of solid flesh to be sustained and the enor-
mous strength of the muscles. ‘The neck, though short,
is longer in proportion than that of the elephant, and
from the shortness of the limbs gives the animal the
power of grazing the herbage.

The following account of the mode of attacking the
hippopotamus in Dongola is from ‘Travels in Nubia,’
by Dr. Edward Riippell, a careful observer and a trust-
worthy writer. Dongola is a narrow slip of country
lying on both sides of the Nile, and extending southward
from 19° 43/ of north latitude for about 170 miles, mea-
sured along the course of the stream :—

‘¢ The harpoon with which the natives attack the hip-
popotamus terminates in a flat oval-shaped piece of iron,
three-fourths of the outer rim of which are sharpened
to a very fine edge. ‘To the upper part of this iron one
end of a long stout cord is fastened, and the other is tied
to a thick piece of light wood. ‘The hunters attack the
animal either by day or by night, but they prefer day-
light, as it enables them better to escape from the assaults
of their furious enemy. One part of the rope with the
shaft of the harpoon the hunter takes in his right hand ;
in the left he holds the rest of the rope and the piece of
wood. ‘Thus armed, he cautiously approaches the animal
when he is asleep during the day on some small island in
the river, or he looks for him at night, when the hippo-
potamus is likely to come out of the water to graze in
the corn-fields. When the huntsman is about seven
paces from the beast, he throws the spear with all his
might, and if he is a good marksman the iron pierces
through the thick hide, burying itself in the flesh deeper
than the barbed point. The animal generally plunges
into the water; and though the shaft of the harpoon
may be broken, the piece of wood that is attached to the
iron floats on the surface, and shows what direction he
takes. There is great danger if the hippopotamus spies
the huntsman before he can throw his spear. He then
springs forward with the utmost fury, and crushes him
at once in his wide open mouth; an instance of which
took place while we were in the country.

BS

14 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

‘¢ As soon as the animal is fairly struck, the huntsmen
in their small canoes cautiously approach the floating
wood, and, after fastening a strong rope to it, they
hasten with the other end towards the large boat, which
contains their companions. ‘The huntsmen now pull the
rope, when the monster, irritated by the pain, seizes
the boat with his teeth, and sometimes succeeds in
crushing or overturning it. In the mean time his assail-
ants are not idle: four or five more harpoons are plunged
into him, and every effort is made to drag the beast
close up to the boat, so as to give him less room to
plunge about in. Then they try to divide the liga-
mentum nuche * with a sharp weapon, or to pierce his
skull. Since the body of a full-grown hippopotamus is
too bulky to be pulled out of the water without a great
number of hands, they generally cut him up in the water
and bring the pieces to land. In the province of Don-
gola not more than one or two of these animals are killed
in a year: from 1821 to 1823 inclusive, nine were
killed, out of which number we despatched four. The
flesh of a young hippopotamus is very good; but the
full-grown ones are generally too fat. They weigh as
much as four or five oxen. ‘The hide is made into ex-
cellent whips, and will furnish from 250 to 500. No
use is made of the teeth.

‘¢ One of the hippopotami which we killed was a very
old fellow, and of an enormous size, measuring 133
French feet from the nose to the extremity of the tail.
His incisive teeth were 26 French inches long, measured
from the root to the point, along the outer bending.
We fought with him for four good hours by night, and
were very near losing our large boat, and probably our
lives too, owing to the fury of the animal. As soon as
he spied the huntsmen in the small canoe, whose busi-
ness it was to fasten the long rope to the float, he dashed

* The suspensory ligament (an elastic substance), which
holds the heads of quadrupeds in their places, so as to allow
a free movement downwards, is particularly strong in all
those whose heads are of great weight.

THE RHINOCEROS. 15

at them with all his might, dragged the canoe with him
under the water, and smashed it to pieces. The two
huntsmen with difficulty escaped. Of twenty-five
musket-balls aimed at the head from a distance of about
five feet, only one pierced the skin and the bones of the
nose: at each snorting the animal spouted out large
streams of blood on the boat. The rest of the balls
stuck in the thick hide. At last we availed ourselves of a
swivel ; but it was not till we had discharged five balls
from it at the distance of a few feet, and had done most
terrible damage to the head and body, that the colossus
gave up the ghost. The darkness of the night increased
the danger of the contest, for this gigantic animal tossed
our boat about in the stream at his pleasure; and it was
at a fortunate moment indeed for us that he gave up the
struggle, as he had carried us into a complete labyrinth
of rocks, which, in the midst of the confusion, none of
our crew had observed.

‘¢ For want of proper weapons the natives cannot kill
a hippopotamus of this size: all they can do to drive
him from their fields is to make a little noise in the night,
and to keep up fires at different spots. These animals,
from their voracity, are a curse to a whole district ; and
in some places they are so bold that they will not quit
the fields which they are laying waste till a great number
of men come out with poles and loud cries to attempt to
drive them away.”

Four fossil species of hippopotamus are described by
Cuvier; of one (#7. antiquus) the relics are widely dis-
tributed, and are particularly abundant in the Val d’Arno,
Italy, intermixed with those of the elephant and rhino-
ceros.

Tue Ruryoceros.

This genus contains six living and well-established
species, as far as naturalists are at present able to deter-
mine, and several fossil species, of which the relics occur
in the same strata as those of the fossil elephant.

The existing species are confined to the hotter regions
of the Old World, and are divided between Africa and

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

16

“soroo0ulyy—

THE RHINOCEROS. 17

India, including the islands of Java and Sumatra. It is
in the land of the elephant and the hippopotamus that
the rhinoceros wanders in fearless confidence, as if aware
of his enormous powers and the advantage of his
weapons of defence. One species (Ath. Indicus: Figs.
3, 4, 5, and 7) is peculiar to continental India beyond
the Ganges, Siam, and Cochin-China; one (Ath, Java-
nus: Fig. 8)is a native of Java; and one with two
horns (2th. Sumatranus: Fig. 10), of Sumatra. Three
two-horned species are indigenous in Africa, viz. the
common two-horned or black rhinoceros (Zh. bicornis,
Linn. ; 2h. Africanus, Cuv.: Figs. 11 and 12) ; the white
rhinoceros (/th. simus: Figs. 14 and 15); and the
keitloa (Fh. Keitloa: Fig. 13), discovered by Dr.
Smith during his expedition into the interior, We may
here add that, though Bruce and Salt notice the existence

opis’

i ASU ny
ea

4.—Indian Rhinoceros.

18 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALTA.,

y ei i

ip Then ‘f 4
ea Oo Mei

Uf nD AE HE NWT

f EY i AN . . H YY

LQ

5.—Indian Rhinoceros.

of a two-horned rhinoceros in Abyssinia different from
the common species of South Africa,* there is some

* A pair of horns brought by Salt from Abyssinia, and
now in the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, more
nearly resemble those of the keitloa than of the Rh. bicornis ;
and Dr. Smith considers a pair brought by Major Denham
from North Africa to be different again, and unlike those
of any other species. Clubs of rhinoceros-horn, of about
three feet in length, have been brought from Dahomy,
Western Africa. It is evident that there are two or three
species in Africa with which naturalists are not acquainted.

THE RHINOCEROS. 19

reason to believe in the existence of a single-horned
species in that region. Bruce states that a one-horned
rhinoceros is found towards Cape Gardafui, according to
the accounts of the natives in the kingdom of Adel.
Accounts of such an animal were received by Dr. Smith
from the natives in the interior of South Africa, who
represented it as living far up the country; moreover
Burckhardt alludes to a one-horned species in the terri-
tory above Sennaar, and states that the inhabitants there
give it the name of the ‘‘mother of the one horn.”
According to this traveller, its northern boundary, like
that of the elephant, is the range of mountains to the
north of Abou Huaze, two days’ journey from Sennaar.
The hide of this animal is manufactured into shields,
which have an extensive sale; the material of the horn
is also sold, and at a high price, Burckhardt having seen
four or five Spanish dollars paid for a piece four inches
long and one inch thick. Was the one-horned rhinoceros
seen by Strabo at Alexandria this species or the common
Indian ?—and the same question applies to the one-
horned rhinoceros, which, with a hippopotamus, was
given by Augustus, in the celebration of his triumph
over Cleopatra, to be slain in the Circus; which animals,
Dion Cassius says, were then first seen and killed at
Rome—an assertion perfectly erroneous as it respects
the rhinoceros, if it was the common Indian species, for
Pliny, in his eighth book, alluding to the games of
Pompey, mentions the one-horned rhinoceros (Indian,
it is presumed) as then exhibited (‘‘ lisdem ludis, et rhi-
noceros unius in nare cornu, qualis seepé visus”’), With
respect to the two-horned African species, it was also
exhibited in Rome; and had learned critics known any-
thing of natural history, the line in Martial (‘‘ namque
gravem gemino cornu sic extulit ursum’’) would not have
given rise to so many futile disquisitions and attempted
corrections. Pausanias describes a two-horned rhino-
ceros under the name of &thiopian Bull. ‘Two indivi-
duals of the same species appeared at Rome under the
Emperor Domitian, on some of whose medals was
impressed their figure; others were exhibited under

20 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

Antoninus, Heliogabalus, and Gordian III. Martial lived
in the time of Domitian, and the rhinoceros ‘‘ gemino
cornu”’ was doubtless seen by him.

The animals of the present genus are all remarkable
for the massiveness of their form and the clumsiness of
their proportions ; they are, however, more prompt and
rapid than might be at first supposed, and when attacked
they rush on their foes with headlong impetuosity. The
body is of great bulk, and protuberant at the sides; the
neck is short and deep; the shoulders are heavy, the
limbs thick ; the feet are divided into three toes encased
in hoofs, The skin is thick and coarse, with a knotty
or tuberculous surface, and destitute, or nearly so, of
hairs. In the common Indian species it is disposed in
large folds, especially on the neck, shoulders, haunches,
and thighs. ‘The eyes are small, placed nearer the nose
than in other quadrupeds, and high towards the upper
surface of the skull; the ears are moderate and erect.
The head is large and ponderous: it is elevated between
the ears, whence it sweeps with a concave line to the
nasal bones, which rise in the form of an arch to support
the horn (see skeleton, Fig. 6). The upper lip is soft,
flexible, sensitive, capable of being protruded, and used
to a certain degree as an organ of prehension.

But that which gives most character to the head of
the rhinoceros is its horn, single in some species, double
in others. This organ is of an elongated, recurvent,
conical figure, arising from a broad, limpet-shaped base,
seated on the nasal bones, which are of a thickness and
solidity not to be found in other races of quadrupeds.
They form a vaulted roof, elevated in a remarkable de-
gree above the intermaxillary bones, containing the in-
cisor teeth, and their upper arched surface is rough with
numerous irregularities and depressions; and here we
may pause, to reflect on the advantages gained by their
form and structure. They have not merely to sustain
the weight of the horn, no trifle in itself, but to resist
the shock occasioned by the violent blows which the
animal gives with the weapon upon various occasions,
Hence, conjoined with their solidity, that form is given

92 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

to the nasal bones which, of all others, is best calculated
for sustaining a superincumbent weight or sudden jars ;
while the rugosities and depressions tend to the firmer
adhesion of the skin, to which the horn is immediately
attached. In the two-horned species the posterior horn
rests on the os frontis. The nasal horn of the rhinoceros
is a solid mass, structurally composed of agglutinated
fibres analogous to hair, and much resembling those into
which whalebone is so easily separable.

It has been asserted by some traveilers that the horns
of the African species are moveable, and that the ani-
mal rattles them against each other: this, however, is a
mistake—they are firmly fixed. The nostrils are on
each side of the upper lip; the tongue is perfectly
smooth, contrary to what is alleged by many of the older
writers, who describe it to be covered with spines, and
capable of lacerating the skin. The senses of smell and
hearing are very acute. Dentition variable: canines
wanting. In the Indian rhinoceros the formula is as fol-

7—7
lows :—Incisors, = 5 molars, pie 36.

Tue Inpran Rurwoceros

In his native regions leads a tranquil, indolent life: iike
the elephant, he gives preference to the marshy borders
of lakes and rivers, or swampy woods and jungles, de-
lighting to roll and wallow in the oozy soil, and_ plaster
his skin with mud. He is also fond of the bath, and
swims with ease and vigour. ‘The splendid animai in
the gardens of the Zoological Society may be often seen
during the hot weather of summer enjoying the bath in
the paddock appropriated for his exercise, or rolling
and wallowing in the mud, or basking luxuriously, half
in, half out, of the water, like a huge hog, uttering every
now and then a low grunt of self-complacent satisfac-
tion. (Fig. 7.)

Sluggish in his habitual movements, the rhinoceros
wanders through his native plains with a heavy step,
carrying his huge head so low that his nose almost touches
the ground, and stopping at intervals to crop some

THE RHINOCEROS. 23

7.—Indian Rhinoceros.

favourite plant, or, in playful wantonness, to plough up
the ground with his horn, throwing the mud and stones
behind him. The jungle yields before his weight and
strength, and his track is said to be often marked by a
line of devastation. When roused the rhinoceros is
a most formidable antagonist, and such is the keenness
of his senses of smell and of hearing, that, unless by
very cautiously approaching him against the direction of
the wind, it is almost impossible to take him by surprise.
On the appearance of danger the rhinoceros generally
retreats to his covert in the tangled and almost impene-
trable jungle, but not always, and instances are on recordin
which, snuffing up the air and throwing his head violently
about, he has rushed with fury to the attack, without
waiting for the assault. ‘There are, in fact, seasons in
which the rhinoceros is very dangerous, and attacks
every animal with impetuosity that attracts his notice or
ventures near his haunts, even the elephant himself. _

24 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

From the earliest times the horn of the Indian rhino-
ceros (the observation applies to other species also) has
been regarded either as an antidote against poison or as
efficacious in detecting its presence, as well as useful in
curing disease. The Indian kings made use of it at
table, because, as was believed, ‘it sweats at the ap-
proach of any kind of poison whatever.”’ Goblets made
of it are in high estimation ; these are often set with gold
or silver, and sell for large sums : when poison is poured
into them, the liquor, it is said, betrays its noxious quali-
ties by effervescing till it runs over the brim: water
drunk from them, or from the cup-like hollow at the base
of the horn, is regarded as medicinal. In the latter case
the water is to be stirred in the hollow with the point of
an iron nail till it becomes discoloured, when the patient
must drink it.

The strong deep folds into which the coarse skin is
gathered in the cheeks, neck, shoulders, haunches, and
thighs, are distinguishing characters of the Indian rhino-
ceros. The general colour of the skin is dusky black,
with a slight tint of purple. Mr. Hodgson (‘ Proceed-
ings of the Zoological Society,’ 1834) states that the
female goes from 17 to 18 months with young, and pro-
duces one at a birth: he adds also, ‘‘ It is believed that
the animal lives for 100 years; one taken mature was
kept at Katmandoo for 35 years without exhibiting any
symptoms of approaching decline. The young continues
to suck for nearly two years: it has for a month after
birth a pink suffusion over the dark colour proper to the
mature hide.”” ‘The female is desperate in the protection
of her young.

Tue JAVANESE Rurnoceros (2th. Javanus).

As far as is ascertained, this species is confined to the
island of Java, where it is called Warak. In the cha-
racter of the incisor teeth, and the horn being single, it
agrees with the Indian species; but it is a less bulky
animal, and, in proportion, more elevated in the limbs;
the folds of the skin are both less numerous, less deep, and

THE RHINOCEROS, 25

8.—Javanese Rhinoceros.

also differently arranged: the surface of the skin is di-
vided into small polygonal tubercles with a slight central
depression in each, from which arise a few short bristly
hairs. (Fig. 8.) In its habits this species is gregarious ;
its range on the island extends from the level of the ocean
to the summits of mountains of considerable elevation—
the latter situations are preferred; its retreats in these
mountains are to be discovered by deeply excavated
passages worked out on their declivities. When met
with, or otherwise disturbed, it quietly retires, being
very mild and peaceable. Night is the principal season
of its activity, and it often commits considerable damage
in the plantations of coffee and pepper. The horns and
skin are employed for medicinal purposes by the natives.
Dr. Horsfield (‘ Zoological Researches in Java’) gives a
detailed account of one of these animals which was kept at
Suracarta. He says that ‘‘ by kind treatment it soon
became domesticated to such a degree, that it permitted
itself to be carried in a large vehicle, resembling a cart, to
the capital of Suracarta. I saw it during its conveyance,

26 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

and found it perfectly mild and tractable. At Suracarta
it was confined in the large area or square which bounds
the entrance to the royal residence. A deep ditch about
three feet wide limited its range, and for several years
it never attempted to pass it. It was perfectly reconciled
to its confinement, and never exhibited any symptoms of
uneasiness or rage, although on its first arrival harassed
in various ways by a large proportion of the inhabitants
of a populous capital, whose curiosity induced them to
inspect the stranger of the forest. Branches of trees,
shrubs, and various twining plants were abundantly
provided for its food: of these the species of Cissus, and
the small twigs of a native fig-tree, were preferred.
But plaintains were the most favourite food; and the
abundant manner in which it was supplied with these by
the numerous visitors tended greatly to make the animal
mild and sociable. It allowed itself to be handled and
examined freely, and the more daring of the visitors
sometimes mounted on its back. It required copious
supplies of water, and, when not taking food or inten-
tionally roused by the natives, it generally placed itself
in the large excavations which its movements soon caused
in the soft earth that covered the allotted space. ‘The
animal rapidly increased in size: in the year 1817,
having been confined at Suracarta about nine or ten
months, the dimensions were nine feet in length, and
above four feet three inches in height at the rump. In
182] it had acquired the height of five feet seven inches.

‘‘'This information I received from my friend Mr.
Stavers, who is now in England on a visit from the
interior of Java; and he favoured me further with the
following detail, which completes the history of the
individual.

‘¢ Having considerably increased in size, the ditch of
three feet in breadth was insufficient for confining it;
but, leaving the enclosure, it frequently passed to the
dwellings of the natives, destroying the plantations of
fruit-trees and culinary vegetables which always surround
them. It likewise terrified those natives that accidentally

THE RHINOCEROS. 27

met with it, and who were unacquainted with its appearance
and habits. But it showed no ill-natured disposition,
and readily allowed itself to be driven back to the en-
closure like a buffalo. The excessive excavations which
it made by continually wallowing in the mire, and the
accumulation of putrefying vegetable matter, in the
process of time became offensive at the entrance of the
palace, and its removal was ordered by the Emperor to
a small village near the confines of the capital, where, in
the year 1821, it was accidentally drowned in a rivulet.

‘“The rhinoceros lives gregarious in many parts of
Java. It is not limited to a peculiar region or climate,
but its range extends from the level of the ocean to the
summit of mountains of considerable elevation. I no-
ticed it at Tangung near the confines of the Southern
Ocean, in the districts of the native princes, and on the
summit of the high peaks of the Priangan Regencies ;
but it prefers high situations. It is not generally dis-
tributed, but is tolerably numerous in circumscribed spots
distant from the dwellings of man, and covered with a
profuse vegetation. On the whole, it is more abundant
in the western than in the eastern districts of the island.
Its retreats are discovered by deeply excavated passages
which it forms along the declivities of mountains and
hills. I found these occasionally of great depth and
extent. In its manners the rhinoceros of Java is compara-
tively mild. It is not unfrequently met in the wilds by
Europeans and natives. No instance of its showing a
disposition to make an attack has come to my knowledge :
being the largest animal in Java, its passions are not
roused, as in many parts of India, by contentions with
the elephant. It is rarely seen in adomestic state, but
is occasionally decoyed into pits and destroyed. Our
animal rambles chiefly at night, and often occasions
serious injury to the plantations of coffee and pepper
which are laid out in the fertile districts selected for its
retreats. The horns and skin are employed for medi-
cinal purposes by the natives.”

The Javanese rhinoceros was known to Bontius, who

28 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

wrote on the productions of that island in 1629. Fig. 9
represents the skull of this species, which is more elon-
gated in proportion and less heavily made than that of
the Indian animal.

9.—Skull of Javanese Rhinoceros.

Tur SuMATRAN RHINOCEROS
(Rh. Sumatranus, Raffles)

Was first described by Mr. Bell, surgeon in the service
of the East India Company, at Bencoolen (‘ Philosophical
Transactions,’ 1793) ; but it appears to have been indi-
cated previously by Mr. C. Miller, long resident in
Sumatra (Pennant’s ‘ History of Quadrupeds,’ 3rd ed.,
vol. i.). The head is more elongated than in the other
two species, and there are two horns on the nose; the
neck is thick and short, the limbs massive; the skin is
rough and black, and covered with short hair; the folds
are very inconsiderable, but are most distinct on the neck,
shoulders, and haunches. (Fig. 10.) The female is
stated to have a heavier head than the male. The num-
ber of incisors is four in each jaw, but of these the lateral
ones are very small and soon fall out; hence Bell and
others supposed the number to be only two.

‘The Sumatran rhinoceros is by no means bold or

THE RHINOCEROS. 29

savage; one of the largest size has been seen to run
away from a single wild dog. Its native name is Badak,
whence the term Abadia, or Abath, applied to the
Indian rhinoceros by our early navigators. Sir S. Raffles
says that, besides this species, there is another animal in
the forests of Sumatra, never noticed, which in size and
character nearly resembles this rhinoceros, but which is
said to have a single horn, and to be distinguished by a
narrow white belt eneircling the body. The natives of
the interior term it Tennu, which, at Malacca, is the name

—

——
At

=; Vian,
7

WV s MF
OV AZAL AM

10,—Sumatran Rhinoceros.

of the Tapir; but in Sumatra the name of the pir 1s
Gindoi and Babialu. In the interior, however, where
different tribes shut out from general communication
speak different dialects, it is probable that the term Ten-
nu may be the name applied by some, as at Malacca, to
the tapir, and hence would the confusion arise ; tor, from
the description, notwithstanding the assertion that it pos-
sesses ahorn, we cannot help regarding this Tennu of
the forest of the interior as the tapir.

Of the African species of rhinoceros we may first no-
tice the

VOL. III. c

30 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

Brack or Common AFRICAN RHINOCEROS
(RA. bicornis, Linn.; Rh. Africanus, Cuv.).

This huge animal, though driven from the precincts of
the colony, is still extensively spread throughout the
southern regions of Africa. When the Dutch first
formed their settlement on the shores of Table Bay, this
rhinoceros was a regular inhabitant of the thickets which
clothed the lower slopes of the mountain: but it has
retired, and continues to retire, before the advance of
colonization and the gun of the hunter. This species
differs from the Indian, not only in the possession of a
double horn, but in the absence of massive folds of skin,
and in wanting the incisor teeth. The skin is thick,
coarse, scabrous, and forms a deep furrow round the
short thick neck ; the head is heavy ; the eyes are small,
and the skin round them, and on the muzzle, and before
the ears, is wrinkled ; the upper lip is slightly produced,
and prehensile. The anterior horn is long, fibrous at
the base, hard, and finely polished at the point; the
posterior horn is short and conical. General colour
yellowish brown, with tints of purple upon the sides of
the head and muzzle; eyes dark brown. Length about
eleven feet. A few black hairs fringe the edge of the
ears and the tip of the tail. (Fig. 11.) Thisanimal feeds
upon brushwooa, and the smaller branches of dwarf trees,
‘¢trom which circumstance,” says Dr. Smith, ‘‘ it is in-
variably found frequenting wooded districts, and in those
situations its course may be often traced by the mutilations
of the bushes. The mass of vegetable matter consumed
does not appear to be in proportion to the bulk of the
animal : indeed, as it feeds but slowly, and passes much of
its time in idleness, it must be regarded as a very mode-
rate eater, and, considering that it appears to be fastidious
in the choice of its food, it is fortunate for its comfort
that it does not require more nourishment.” Of the
senses of the rhinoceros, those of hearing and smell are
very acute, and aid the animal more than his sight in the
discovery of danger, the bulk of the body screening ob-

THE RHINOCEROS. 31

IVA
Zeb Nit ag
HHA TS

iy
tf;

%p hn)
PH
oy Heap

WH

)
Eb,

Uf

11.—Black Rhinoceros and Young.

jects not immediately before the eyes. ‘‘ As these ani-
mals depend much upon smell for their existence and
safety, it is necessary to advance upon them from the
leeward side, if the aim be to get close without being
discovered. In pursuit they also trust for guidance to the
same sense, and may be heard forcibly inspiring the air,
when they have lost the scent of the object they are fol-
lowing. ‘The ticks and other insects with which they are
covered furnish for them another source of intelligence,
inasmuch as they attract a number of birds, which sit
quietly picking them off when nothing strange is in
sight, but fly away when any object excites their fear.
So well does the rhinoceros understand this, that he pro-
ceeds feeding with the greatest confidence while the
birds continue perched upon his back; but the moment
they fly, the huge animal raises his head and turns it
in all directions to catch the scent. Whether he accom-
c2

32 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

plishes this or not, he generally feels so uncertain of his
position, that he moves to some other locality.” The
same observations apply to the other African species.
(Fig. 12.) When disturbed or attacked the rhinoceros
becomes furious, and especially when wounded: he then
rushes towards his foe, and, if he can get the hunter once
within his sight, the escape of the latter, unless he exert
great presence of mind, or the well-directed shot of a
companion stop the animal in his career, is very doubtful.
The best plan is to wait till the enraged beast approaches,
and then step aside suddenly, where some bush or in-
equality of the ground may afford a shelter, and give
time to the hunter for reloading his gun before the rhi-
noceros gets sight of him again, which fortunately it does
slowly and with difficulty. Travellers in the regions

12.—African Rhinoceros.

THE RHINOCEROS. 3o

frequented by this animal are not safe during the might
from its attacks. It appears to be excited by the glow
of a fire, towards which it rushes with fury, overturning
every obstacle. It has, indeed, been known to rush
with such rapidity upon a military party lodged among
the bush covering the banks of the Great Fish River,
that before the men could be aroused it had severely in-
jured two of them, tossed about and broken several guns,
and completely scattered the burning wood. Le Vaillant,
in his animated account of a rhinoceros-hunt, describes
the enraged and wounded animals as ploughing up the
ground with their horns, and throwing a shower of
pebbles and stones around them; and Dr. Smith says
that they are sometimes seen to plough up the earth for
several paces with the front horn when not enraged, but
for what object he could not discover. The native
(Bechuana) name of this species is Borili. The fol-
lowing is Le Vaillant’s narrative:—‘‘ In the midst of
this immense menagerie, the variety of which kept me
in a continual state of enchantment, I was surprised
not to find that prodigious number of rhinoceroses which
had been mentioned to me by the people of Haripa’s
horde.

‘One day, however, Klaas, who was always concerned
in every matter of importance, and the first to commu-
nicate agreeable intelligence, came in great haste to my
tent to inform me that he had observed at some distance
from my camp two of these animals standing quietly
close to each other in the middle of the plain, and that
I had it in my power to enjoy the pleasure of the finest
hunt I had ever yet experienced.

‘The hunt indeed promised to be amusing, but, in-
dependently of danger, I foresaw that it was likely to be
attended with difficulties. To attack two such formidable
enemies it was necessary to use great precaution, and
that we should approach them in such a manner as that
they might neither see nor smell us, which is always very
difficult. I at first proposed to form a ring which should
surround them on all sides, and to advance upon ihem,
gradually contracting the circle, soas to unite the inoment

34 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

we were about to commence our attack ; but the savages
assured me that with these animals this plan was imprac-
ticable. I gave myself up therefore entirely to their
direction, and we set out armed alike with a good fusee
and with the necessary courage. All my hunters wished
to be of the party, and each proposed to display the
greatest prowess. I caused two of my strongest dogs to
be led in aleash, in order that they might be let loose
on the rhinoceroses in case it should be found necessary.
We were obliged to make a long circuit to gain the lee
side of them, lest they should smell us; and we reached
the river, the course of which we followed under cover
of the large trees that grew on its banks, when Klaas
soon made us observe the two animals at about the distance
of a quarter of a league in the plain. As one of them
was much larger than the other, I supposed them to be
a male and female. Motionless by the side of each other,
they were still in the same posture in which Klaas had
first seen them, but they stood with their noses to the
wind, and consequently presented to us their rumps.

‘Tt is the custom of these animals when thus at rest to
place themselves in the direction of the wind, in order
that they may discover by their smell what enemies they
have to dread. From time to time, however, they move
their heads round to take a look behind them, and to be
assured that they are safe on all sides, but it is only a
look, and they soon return to their former position.

‘¢ We were already deliberating on the dispositions to
be made for commencing the attack, and I was giving
some orders to my company, when Jonker, one of my
Hottentots, requested that I would permit him to attack
the two animals alone as a vekruyper.

‘My readers will here recollect that, when I fool-
ishly attempted to cross the Elephant’s river, near its
mouth, on the trunk of a tree, Jonker was one of the
swimmers who saved my life, and that in return, at the
desire of his companions, I raised him to the rank of
hunter. At that time he was entirely a novice in this
exercise, but I have already remarked that he afterwards
became a most excellent shot, and surpassed all the rest

THE RHINOCEROS. 35

of my hunters, particularly in the art of creeping. I
have before observed that hunting in Africa has no re-
semblance to that in Europe ; that to get within the reach
of certain wild animals we must approach them without
being perceived ; and that it is impossible to get near
them but by creeping on the belly. Those who have
acquired this art are called vekruypers, and it was in this
quality that Jonker asked leave to attack alone the two
rhinoceroses, assuring me that he would acquit himself to
my satisfaction.

*¢ As his design would not prevent the execution of
our plan, and as, in case his particular attack should not
succeed, it would not impede our general one, I granted
his request. He then stripped himself naked, and,
taking his fusee, proceeded towards the animals, creep-
ing on his belly like a serpent.

‘In the mean time I pointed out to my hunters the
different posts they were to occupy. ‘They repaired to
them by circuitous ways, each accompanied by two men.
As for me, I remained on the spot where I was with two
Hottentots, one of whom held my horse and the other
my dogs; but, to avoid being seen, we posted ourselves
behind a bush,

‘In my hand I held a glass, which had often enabled
me to see the operation of stage machinery and the effect
of our theatrical decorations. ILow changed the scene!
At this moment it brought before me two hideous monsters,
which at times turned towards me their frightful heads.
Their movements, which indicated fear and observation,
soon became more frequent, and I was apprehensive they
had heard the agitation of my dogs, who, having dis-
covered them, made efforts to escape from the keeper,
and rush upon them. Jonker still kept slowly advancing,
but with his eyes fixed on the two animals. If he saw
them turn their heads, he stopped, and remained motion-
less; one would have taken him fora large stone, and
indeed in this respect I myself was deceived. He con-
tinued creeping with various interruptions for more than
an hour. At length I saw him proceed towards a large
bush of euphorbia, which was only 200 paces from the

36 SKETCH OF THh HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

animals. Being certain when he reached it that he
could conceal himself there without being seen, he rose
up, and, casting his eyes everywhere around, to see
whether his comrades had arrived at their posts, he made
preparations for firing. During the time he was creep-
ing along I had followed him with my eye, and in
proportion as he advanced I felt my heart beat with
involuntary palpitation.

‘‘'This palpitation, however, increased when I saw
him so near the animals, and just upon the point of firing
at one of them: what would I not have given at that
moment to have been in the place of Jonker, or at least
by his side, that I might have brought down also one of
these savage monsters! I waited with the utmost im-
patience the report of the gun, and I could not conceive
what prevented him from firing, but the Hottentot who
stood near me, and who was able by the bare sight to
distinguish him as perfectly as I could with my glass,
informed me of his design. He told me that Jonker
did not fire because he was waiting till one of the rhino-
ceroses should turn round, that he might if possible take
aim at his head, and that on the first motion they made
I should hear the report.

‘Presently, the largest of the two, having looked
behind, was immediately fired at; being wounded, he
sent fortha horrid cry, and, followed by the female, ran
furiously towards the place whence the noise had pro-
ceeded. I found my heart now agitated by the most
violent emotion, and my fear was carried to its utmost
extent. A cold sweat diffused itself over my whole
body, and my heart beat with such force as to prevent
me from breathing. I expected to see the two monsters
tear up the bush, tread the unfortunate Jonker under
their feet, and tear him to pieces; but he had thrown
himself down with his belly on the ground, and this
stratagem succeeded. ‘They passed close by his side
without perceiving him, and came straight towards me.
My fear now gave place to joy, and I prepared to receive
them; but my dogs, animated by the report they had
heard, became so restless on their approach, that, being

THE RHINCCEROS. 37

unable to check them, I ordered them to be let loose,
and encouraged them to the attack. When the animals
saw this, they instantly turned aside, and proceeded
towards another of the hunters placed in ambush, from
whom they received a second fire, and then to another,
from whom they received a third; my dogs, on the
other hand, harassed them prodigiously, which still in-
creased their rage; they kicked at them in the most ter-
rible manner, ploughed up the plain with their horns,
and, digging furrows in it seven or eight inches in
depth, threw around them a shower of pebbles and stones.

‘¢ During this time we all kept approaching in order
to surround them more closely, and to unite against
them our forces. The multitude of enemies by which
they found themselves enclosed rendered them com-
pletely furious. The male, however, suddenly stopped,
and, turning round to attack the dogs, endeavoured to
rip up their bellies with his horn, and while he was en-
gaged in pursuing them the female quitted him and made
her escape. I was highly pleased at her flight, which I
considered a fortunate circumstance; for it is certain,
notwithstanding our number and our arms, we should
have been much embarrassed by two so formidable ad-
versaries. I must even confess that without the assist-
ance of my dogs we should not have been able to combat,
but with great hazard and danger, the one that remained.
The bloody traces which he left wherever he went an-
nounced that he had received more than one wound ;
but, reduced to despair, he only defended himself with
the greater obstinacy.

‘+ After a fruitless attack, which lasted for some time,
he began to retreat, and seemed as if desirous of gaining
some bushes, apparently with a view of finding shelter,
and to prevent his being harassed but in front. I
guessed this stratagem, and, in order to disappoint him,
I rushed towards the bushes, and made a sign to the two
hunters who were nearest to me to advance there also.
He was only thirty paces from us when we took posses-
sion of the post ; accordingly, we all at the same time
presented our pieces, and, discharging our three shots,

c3

38 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

he instantly fell, and was never after able to rise. I
beheld his fall with tne utmost satisfaction : as a hunter
and a naturalist it afforded me a double triumph.

‘* Though mortally wounded, the animal still continued
to defend himself when lying on the ground as he had
done when on his legs; with his feet he threw around
him heaps of stones, and neither we nor our dogs durst
venture to approach him.

‘IT wished to put an end to his torment by firing one
more ball, and was making preparations for the purpose,
when my people entreated me to desist. As I could
not ascribe their request to pity, I was at a loss to con-
ceive what could be their motive. I have already said
that all the savage tribes, and even the people at the
Cape and in the colonies, set a high value on the dried
blood of the rhinoceros, to which they ascribe great
WIREWOS.: fs) The animal had lost a great deal by his
wounds. It was with much regret that they saw the
earth moistened with it around him, and they were
apprehensive that a new wound would increase that loss.

‘¢Scarcely had the animal breathed his last, when
both old and new Hottentots all approached with eager-
ness in order to collect the blood. With that view they
cut open its belly, and took out the bladder, which they
emptied. One of them then applied the mouth of it to
one of the wounds, while the rest shook a leg of the
animal to make the blood flow more readily. In a little
time, to their great joy, the bladder was filled, and I am
persuaded that with what was lost they might have filled
twenty.

‘¢ T had approached the body also, but with a different
design; for my intention was only to measure and ex-
amine it.

‘‘'The savages of the horde, accustomed to see such
animals very often, assured me that it was one of the
largest of its species.

‘©T however did not believe them, and what induced
me to doubt their information was, that its principal
horn was only (in French measure) nineteen inches
three lines in length, and I had seen horns much longer,

THE RHINOCEROS. 39

in the possession of some of the Dutch planters. The
height of the animal was seven feet five inches; and its
length, from the snout to the root of the tail, eleven feet
six inches.”

Tur Keritioa (2h. Keitloa, Smith).

In general figure this savage species resembles most
nearly the common African rhinoceros. (Fig. 13.)
There are, however, Dr. Smith observes, many marked

ote niplhe ¢s 9

1 RAW Dee

€ “ae iin

wey? Holy Hh

ee te

Senay
SS

i

if
‘Nl

dr
eave
i Mm

13. -Rhinoceros Keitloa.

differences between them, of which the following are a
few of the external and more palpable. In Rhinoceros
Keitloa the two horns are of equal or nearly equal
length ; in Rhinoceros Africanus the posterior in neither
sex is ever much beyond a third of the length of the an-
terior horn; the length of the head in proportion to the
depth is very different in the two. The neck of Rhino-
ceros Keitloa is much longer than that of the other, and

40 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

the position and character of the cuticular furrows des-
tined to facilitate the lateral motions of the head are very
different. Besides these, Dr. Smith states that many
other diagnostic characters might be instanced ; such as
the black mark on the inside of the thigh cf the keitloa,
the distinctly produced tip of the upper lip, and the
comparatively few wrinkles on the snout and parts around
the eyes.

The first example of this animal which Dr. Smith met
with during his expedition was shot about 180 miles
N.E. of Lattokoo, but considerably south of the country
to which the species appears directly to belong, and from
which it might be considered as a wanderer. On the
expedition penetrating to the northward of Kurrichane,
every one was found conversant with the name, and able
to direct to situations where the animal was found. Few
mentioned the keitloa without alluding to its vindictive
temper and ferocity ; and those, says Dr. Smith, who
had sufficient confidence in the party, compared to it a
chief then awfully oppressing that part of the country, -
and spoke of the man and the animal as alike to be
feared. As the party advanced, the keitloa became
more common, though it never occurred in such numbers
as the other two species.

‘« The interest,” says Dr. Smith, ‘‘ which the discovery
of this species excited, led to the making of minute
inquiries as to the animals of this genus; and the expe-
dition had sufficient reason to believe, from the replies
to constant questions, that two other undescribed species
existed farther in the interior, one of which was de.
scribed as being something like the keitloa, and having
two horns—the other as differing in many respects, and
having only one horn. The keitloa browses on shrubs
and the slender branches of brushwood, using the upper
lip as an organ of prehension.”

Tse Wuirte or Buiunt-nosep RHINOCEROS
(Rh. simus),

Termed Mohoohoo by the Bechuanas, is larger than the
two former species, being upwards of twelve feet in

THE RHINOCEROS. 41

14.—White Rhinoceros.

length, and nearly six feet in height. It is a huge,
massive animal, with the neck longer than in the other
African species, having three deep wrinkles running
from the nape down the sides ; the muzzle is truncate, the
mouth shaped like that of an ox, the upper lip perfectly
square, and destitute of the mobility and power of pro-
trusion which it exhibits in the other species. (Fig. 14.)
Hence, instead of browsing upon shrubs, it feeds prin-
cipally upon grass, and therefore frequents open plains
where such herbage abounds, wandering very exten-
sively in search of pasturage. This animal was first
described by Mr. Burchell, who when at Lattakoo found
it in abundance there, and Mr. Campbell brought the
head of one to England. In the mohoohoo the horns
are situated close to the extremity of the nose: the first

42 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

is very long, tapered to a point, and slightly curved
back; the second is short, conical, and obtuse. The
general colour is pale broccoli-brown; the buttocks,
shoulders, and under parts shaded with brownish purple ;
tail clothed with stiff black hair. (Fig. 15.) Accord-
ing to Dr. Smith, the introduction of fire-arms among
the Bechuanas has rendered this animal rare in the dis-
trict where Mr. Burchell found it numerous: higher up
the country, however, it still maintains its ground. In
disposition it differs from the other two species, being
much more gentle, and is therefore regarded with less
fear than either the keitloa or the borili.

The flesh of all three species is esteemed wholesome
food by the natives, who dig pitfalls for them in situa-
tions to which they are known to resort; and sometimes,
though rarely with success, attempt to kill them with
the assagai or spear. In style of motion they are all
alike, and so awkward that their swiftness is to be appre-
ciated not by directly watching the animal itself, but by
fixing the eye upon some two points between which it

mm)

i

)
N

re
Ak A N

\)y\
ny
Ae AANA NEN
ASH) Hah we
Ws) te

15.—Two-horned Rhinoceros.

THE RHINOCEROS. 43

takes its course. To revert to the one-horned rhinoceros,
of which Dr. Smith heard in the interior of South Africa,
and of which Bruce and Burckhardt received accounts as
existing in Adel and the country south of Sennaar, it
may be added that Dr. Smith adduces the testimony of
Mr. Freeman respecting an animal by no means rare in
Makooa, north of the Mozambique Channel, which,
overlooking the absurdities and exaggeration of the de-
scription, he suspects to be a one-horned rhinoceros, and
probably that of which he heard, and which may extend
to the countries mentioned by Bruce and Burckhardt.

Among the fossil relics of animals which at some
former period have tenanted this globe, and after a quiet
possession, generation succeeding generation, of their
pasture-lands, have become as it were blotted out of the
book of creation, those of the rhinoceros are extremely
abundant, little less so, if at all, than those of the fossil
elephant or mammoth, as widely distributed, and oc-
curring in the same strata and the same localities.
Several species have been distinctly made out, among
which the most remarkable is that with a bony partition
between the nostrils, and supporting the nasal bones: it is
termed by Cuvier Rh. tichorhinus. Fig. 16 represents
the skull in two views: a, profile; 6, seen from below.

It was of this species that Pallas in 1771 discovered
an entire frozen carcase buried in the sand on the banks
of the Wilouji or Viloui, which joins the Lena, in Si-
beria. Happily, therefore, we know the form and true
proportions of the living animal. The skin was smooth
and destitute of folds, and, like the common African rhi-
noceros, the animal had two horns. The feet had three
toes, as in all extant species, but the hoofs were lost.
Like the mammoth of Siberia, this animal was originally
covered with hair: in many parts of the skin this hair
still remained, especially over the feet, where it was very
abundant, measuring from one to three inches in length,
of a stiff quality, and of a dusky gray. The head was
invested with a similar clothing. The head and feet are
preserved in their natural state in the museum of St,
Petersburg.

44 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

The skull of this species differs from that of the two-
horned African rhinoceros, not only in the presence of
the osseous nasal partition, but in general form and pro-
portions. The length and narrowness of the skull are
very remarkable, as is also the space between the orbits,
which is much more contracted than in the common two-
horned species, and the nasal bones are far more elon-
gated. In the two-horned rhinoceros the disc which
bears the anterior horn is a semi-sphere, in this an oblong
ellipse, and a disc of similar figure supports the second
horn, whence it may be safely concluded that the horns

16.—Skull of Fossil Rhinoceros.

of this fossil species were strongly compressed at the
sides. The occipital ridge is elevated and drawn out
backwards, so that from the highest point the occipital
Bece slopes at a very acute angle inwards to the con-
dyles.

About nine fossil species of rhinoceros are described.

THE DAMAN. 45

Almost every bone-cavern in England, France, and
Germany has afforded them in abundance; and Dr.
Buckland proves that there must have been a long suc-
cession of years in which the elephant, hippopotamus,
and rhinoceros, with the hyzena, inhabited our island ;
and that the former, as the bones testify, became the
prey of the latter, or were devoured after natural or
accidental death.

Tue Daman, or Hyrax.

When we look at the rabbit-like hyrax, it does not sur-
prise us to find that all the older naturalists regarded it
as a Rodent, and placed it in that order. It was reserved

AE par rneee Sasa

uel
ni”

y \
\Y Lae:
al wt wal) WY

oy

WY \\ \
. ANS
‘AK

A A
RA MOY .
SS WE WSQEEQEE
SSS

17.—Skull of Daman,

for Cuvier to point out its true situation. “There is no
quadruped,” says this great man, “ which proves more
forcibly than the daman the necessity of having recourse
to anatomy, as a test by which to determine the true re-
lationship of animals.” This fur-covered active creature

the
i i
An Gi
¢ a
OA

Oy Wjph
TL
ere

*,—Skeleton of Daman.

THE DAMAN, 47

is a true pachydermatous animal, and, notwithstanding the
smallness of its size, it is to be regarded as ‘‘ interme-
diate between the rhinoceros and tapir.” ‘he resem-
blance which the hyrax bears to the former may be
traced in its osseous system and internal anatomy (see
‘Proceeds. Zool. Soc.’ 1832 and 1835). On these
points it would here be out of place to dwell; we have,
however, figured the skull (Fig. 17), which to many
will be of interest. With respect to the skull, the sin-

18.—Hyrax.

gular depth of the lower jaw cannot but strixe every
attentive observer; and it may be added that in the
convexity of the posterior edge of the ascending portion
it surpasses that even of the tapir, which, in this
respect, is the nearest among all animals to the hyrax.

48 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

In other particulars the skull approaches that of the rhi-
noceros; the molar teeth, in fact, are those of the rhino-
ceros in miniature, both as to form and number. ‘There
are, as in the rhinoceros, no canines. The upper inci-
sors, two in number, are long, triangular, pointed, stout,
and separated from each other by a small interval. The
lower incisors are four in number, set in close array, flat,
and directed forwards. At first their edges are notched,
but they become smooth by use. The molars are seven
on each side, above and below: but the first, which is
small, falls out, being worn down as soon as the last
molar on each side has arisen; and, in old individuals,
the next is frequently wanting also.

With respect to the skeleton (Fig. 17*), it may be
remarked that there are 21 ribs on each side, a number
greater than in any other quadruped, except the two-
toed sloth, which has 23. The elephant and tapir
follow the hyrax. The fore feet are divided into four
toes, tipped with hoof-like nails; the hind feet into
three, of which the innermost is furnished with a long
claw-like nail. The toes are all buried in the skin, as
far as the little hoofs, precisely as in the rhinoceros.

Several species belong to the present genus: we have
figured the Cape hyrax or daman. (Fig. 18.)

Tue Care Hyrax, or Dasstz OF THE COLoNIsTs
( Hyrax Capensis),

Is common in the rocky and mountain districts of South
Africa, taking up its abode in the fissures of the rugged
crags, which afford it an asylum. It abounds on the
sides of Table Mountain, but is so wary, quick, and
active, that it is not to be approached without much
difficulty. It often, however, falls a prey to the eagle
and falcon, which pounce upon it while feeding in appa-
rent security. ‘The vulturine eagle (Aguila vulturina),
which makes the mountain precipices its abode, destroys
it in great numbers. This timid little animal is grega-
rious in its habits, like the rabbit, which it somewhat
exceeds in size. The fur is soft and deep, and of a dark

THE SYRIAN HYRAX. 49

grayish brown, becoming of a paler tint beneath. ‘There
is no tail. The following communication, by Mr. W.
R. Read (see ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’
1835, p. 13), needs no apology for its insertion :—

“The Hyrax Capensis is found inhabiting the hollows
and crevices of rocks, both on the summits and sides of
hills, as well as near the sea-shore, even a little above
high-water mark. It appears to live in families, and is
remarkably shy in its wild state. In winter it is fond of
coming out of its hole, and sunning itself on the lee side
of a rock, and in summer of enjoying the breeze on the
top; but in both instances, as well as when it feeds, a
sentinel is on the look-out (generally an old male),
which gives notice, usually by a shrill prolonged cry, of
the approach of danger, or even the least movement of
any suspicious object. It lives on the young shoots of
shrubs, the tops of flowers, herbs, and grass, particularly
of all those which are aromatic.”

Tae Syrian Hyrax (H. Syriacus).

This species, according to Bruce, is found in Abys-
sinia, where it haunts the deep caverns and clefts in the
rocks. By the natives of Amhara it is termed Ashkoko,
or Askoko. It also tenants the mountains of Syria and
Arabia ; and, as in days of old, the rocks of Horeb and
of Sinai are still ‘‘a refuge for the conies.” By the
Arabs, according to Dr. Shaw, it is called Daman Israél,
that is, Lamb of Israel, or rather Ganam or Gannim
Israel, as Bruce contends, the word Daman being mis-
taken for the latter. Mos authorities agree that it is
the Shaphan (translated cony) of the Scriptures. The
Syrian hyrax agrees in habits with its Cape relative.
It tenants the acclivities of the rocks, sheltering itself
under projecting ledges, in deep fissures and caves; it
is gregarious, and dozens may be often seen either
sitting upon the great stones at the mouth of the caves,
to warm themselves in the sun, or playfully skipping
about in the enjoyment of the freshness of the evening.
When captured, they inflict severe wounds with their

50 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

formidable incisors, but are soon rendered tame and
familiar. Cuvier and many naturalists have hesitated as
to the distinctness of the Syrian and the Cape hyrax.
They are, as we think, undoubtedly different, and the
Syrian species may be distinguished by the presence of
Jong bristle-like, but slender, black hairs, dispersed not
very thinly over its body, and considerably exceeding
the fur: such at least was the case with the specimen
which we examined; while in the numerous specimens
from the Cape, of all ages, in the museum of the Zoolo-
gical Society, nothing of the kind is to be perceived.
Bruce, indeed, noticed this peculiarity, and he considered
the Amharic name Ashkoko ‘‘as derived from the sin-
cularity of those long herinaceous hairs which, like small
thorns, grow about his back, and which in Amhara are
called Ashok.”

A fossil form closely allied to the hyrax, the skull
of which has been discovered in the clay near Herne Bay,
has been described by Professor Owen.

Genus TAPIRUS,

This genus comprehends, as far as known, only three
species, of which two are natives of South America, the
other of Sumatra and Malacca.

The geographical distribution of the existing species _
of pachydermatous animals is so partial, that we are sur-
prised to find the islands of Sumatra and the peninsula
of Malacca dividing with South America this limited
genus between them. America, compared with Asia
and Africa, is deficient in living forms of the Pachyder-
mata; two only are indigenous to that vast continent,
viz. the peccary and tapir; and, reasoning from analogy,
we should not expect to find either of these forms in any
portion of the Old World, and more especially in the
islands of the Indian Archipelago. The great mass of
the Pachydermata are peculiar to the warmer regions of
Asia and the continent of Africa: and many genera, as
Elephas, Rhinoceros, Sus, and Equus, give species to
each, but not to America: so that the existence of cog-

THE TAPIR, 51

nate species in one of the Indian islands and in South
America appears as if it were an exception to a general
rule, at least if we limit our views to the races now ex-
tant on the earth. Once, indeed, America was replete
with animals of this order: and why so few should now
appear as their representatives is a point not easy of
solution. In their general form and contour the tapirs
remind us of the hog; but the snout consists of a flexible
proboscis, not, indeed, elongated like that of the ele-
phant, but still sufficiently developed to serve as a hook
by which the animal is capable of drawing down twigs
to the mouth, of grasping fruit or bunches of herbage.
The nostrils open at its extremity in the form of two
transverse fissures, but there is no finger-like append-
age. (For anatomy see ‘Proceeds. Zool. Soc.’ 1830,
p-. 163.)

The tapir is a massive, powerful animal; the limbs
are thick and moderately long; the head is large, com-
pressed, and, in the American species, elevated at the

, il i
\ i \ Ml ’ oe D i 4 n Mis } | toy
Th ih Mze es

Ky « 3

19,—Skull of American Tapir.

occiput (see Fig. 19), whence the thick neck rises with a
prominent upper crest or ridge, along which runs amane
of stiff thinly-set hairs. The eyes are small and deep
set; the ears are rather short; the tail is rudimentary.

52 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

The anterior feet are divided into four toes, the hinder
into three, the tips only being cased in hoofs. ‘The skin,
which is thick, tough, and solid, is sparely covered, ex-
cepting in one species, with very short close hair. The
dentition (see Fig. 20) consists of six incisors in each
jaw; the canines are small, especially those of the upper
jaw, and are separated from the molars by a considerable

rAslil

ya om Ace
iM i I! wr ee = SSA Mn Ny ~y
J > i si hives

20.—Teeth of Sumatran Tapir.

interval; the molars are seven on each side above, and
six below, and, until worn down by attrition, the crowns
present two transverse ridges. Fig. 21 represents the
skeleton of the ordinary American tapir; in general
details it approaches that of the rhinoceros. Of the two
species of tapir peculiar to America, one has been only
recently discovered. It was found by Dr. Roulin in the
most elevated regions of the Cordillera of the Andes,
and is covered with long, thick, black hair. The bones
of the nose are more elongated than in the other species,
and Cuvier regards it as approaching in some respects to
the fossil genus Paleeotherium.

Tur Common American Tarir
(Zapirus Americanus).

This species is very extensively spread throughout the
warmer regions of South America, but especially between
the tropics, where it inhabits the deep forests, leading a
solitary life, and seldom stirring from its retreat during

‘Iidvy, Ubalroury Jo UOW]IyG—" 1%

VOL, Ill,

54 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

the day, which it passes in a state of tranquil slumber.
During the night, its season of activity, it wanders forth
in quest of food, which consists of water-melons, gourds,
young shoots of brushwood, &c. Its choice of food is
not very limited ; and, indeed, it appears to be as omni-
vorous as the hog. Azara, who states that the Guaranis
term this animal Mborebi, and the Portuguese of Brazil,
Anta, affirms that it devours the barrero, or nitrous earth
of Paraguay, and that he has found a quantity of this
substance in the stomach. Its senses of smell and hear-
ing are extremely acute, and serve to give notice of the
approach of enemies. Its voice, which it seldom utters,
is a shrill kind of whistle, in strange contrast with the
massive bulk of the animal. Of enormous muscular
power, and defended with a tough thick hide, the tapir
is capable of tearing its way through the underwood in
whatsoever direction it pleases: when thus driving on-
wards, it carries its head low, and, as it were, ploughs
its course. (Figs. 22 and 22,*)

22.—American Tapir.

Its fondness for the water is almost as strong as that
evinced by the hippopotamus. It swims and dives
admirably, and will remain, as we have seen while observ-
ing the specimens in the gardens of the Zool. Soc., sub-

THE AMERICAN TAPIR. 55

22*,—American Tapir,

merged for many minutes, rise to the surface for breath,
and plunge again. When hunted or wounded, it always,
if possible, makes for the water, and in its nightly
wanderings will traverse rivers and lakes in search of
food, or for pleasure. The female is very attentive to
her young one, leading it about on the land, and accus-
toming it at an early period to enter the water, where it
plunges and plays before its parent, who seems to act as
its instructress. ‘The male takes no share in this work,
and does not constantly associate with the female.

In its disposition the tapir is peaceful and quiet, and,
unless hard pressed, never attempts to attack either man
or beast ; when, however, the hunter’s dogs surround it,
it defends itself very vigorously with its teeth, inflicting
terrible wounds. We have witnessed those in confine-
ment in the gardens of the Zool. Soc. occasionally break

D2

56 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

23.—Young Tapir.

out into fits of irritation, plunging about, lunging vio-
lently with their heads, and snapping with their teeth
like a hog. The most formidable enemy of this animal
(if we except man) is the jaguar; and it is asserted that
when that tiger of the American forest throws itself upon
the tapir, the latter rushes through the most dense and
tangled underwood, bruising its enemy, and endeavour-
ing thus to dislodge him, and sometimes succeeds in the
attempt.

In Cayenne the tapir is occasionally domesticated,
and is harmless and quiet; it becomes indeed familiar,
and often proves troublesome to those who caress it, as
may be imagined would be the case with a pet hog under
similar circumstances, ‘The adult tapir measures from
five to six feet in length, and between three and four in
height; its colour is uniform deep blackish brown; the
young are longitudinally marked with spots and six or
eight bands of fawn-colour along the body, and with
numerous spots of the same tint on the cheeks. (Fig. 23.)

Tue Matay or Inpran Tapir
( Tapirus Indicus, Farquhar),

This species was first introduced to science by Major
Farquhar in 1836. It is a native of Sumatra and the

THE INDIAN TAPIR. 57

Malay Peninsula, where it is called ¢annoh or tennu;
and is as well known in Malacca as the elephant or rhi-
noceros. In disposition it resembles its American rela-
tive. It feeds on vegetables, and is very partial to the
sugar-cane. ‘Though the natives have not domesticated
it, this species is as easily tamed as the tapir of America,
and becomes as gentle and familiar. Major Farquhar
possessed one which was completely domesticated, and
as much at home as any of the dogs: it fed indiscrimi-
nately on all kinds of vegetables, and was very fond of
attending at table to receive bread, cakes, and the like.
This tapir was procured in the Malay Peninsula. (See
‘Trans. Asiat. Soc.,’ vol. xv., 1820.) A Sumatran tapir
was about the same time presented alive to the Asiatic
Society by G. J. Siddons, Esq., resident at Bencoolen.
It was of a lazy habit, very familiar, and delighted in
being rubbed or scratched; and this favour it solicited
from the people about him, by throwing itself down on
its side, and making sundry movements, It is distinctly
stated of this Sumatran specimen, that another of its great
delights was to bathe,—also ‘that it remained a very
considerable time under water.” The living specimen,
says Sir S. Raffles, sent from Bencoolen to Bengal, “ was
allowed to roam occasionally in the park at Barrack pore.
The man who had the charge of it informed me that it
frequently entered the pond, and appeared to walk along
the bottom under the water, and not make any attempt to
swim.” This characteristic habit of the animal was not
observed by Major Farquhar in his Malacca specimen.
That gentleman says, indeed, that he thought he might
venture to affirm that the Malacca tapir is not, like the
American species, amphibious in its nature. He adds,
that the one he reared showed rather an antipathy to
water, and that in the peninsula of Malacca these ani-
mals are found to frequent high grounds. As, however,
it is admitted on all sides that the Malacca and the Su-
matran tapirs are the same, and as these creatures differ
in no material points of conformation from the American
tapir, it is not easy to imagine that, while the American
animal and that from Sumatra are so aquatic in their

58 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

habits, the animal from Malacca should exhibit contrary
propensities. In Sumatra the tapir inhabits the dense
forests of the interior, and is, therefore, seldom seen:
hence it has been considered rare in that island : it must,
however, be observed, that after the loss of the ship Fame
by fire, when a living Sumatran tapir with other animals
perished, Sir S. Raflles, during the short period of his
stay in Sumatra, was enabled to procure other specimens,
one of which is in the museum of the Zoological Society,
and another inthe museum of the East India Company.

The Indian tapir exceeds the American in size: it has
no mane, and the snout is longer and more proboscis-like.
The most striking external difference between the east-
ern and western animal, however, is in colour. Instead
of being of the uniform dusky-bay tint of the American,
the Indian tapir is strangely particoloured. The head,
neck, fore limbs, and fore quarters are quite black: the
body then becomes suddenly white or grayish-white, and
so continues to about half way over the hind quarters,
when the black again commences abruptly, and is spread
over the legs. ‘The abruptness and contrast of the mark-
ing of this animal make it look precisely as if it were
covered round the body with a white horse-cloth, leaving
the fore and hind quarters exposed. The young, until
the age of four months, are black, beautifully marked with
spots and stripes of fawn colour above, and white below.

According to Sir S. Raffles, the Indian tapir receives
various names in different districts. By the people of
Limun it is called Saladang; in the interior of Manna,
Gindol; at Bencoolen, Babi Ala ; and at Malacca, Tennu.
Marsden states that it is denominated by the Malays in
many districts Kudaayer, or river-horse. Though the
flesh of the Indian tapir, like that of the American, is
dry and disagreeable, and therefore of little value as an
article of food, still the animal might be domesticated
with advantage (and the same observation applies to the
western species), and employed as a beast of draught or
burden, its docility and great strength being strong re-
commendations. Its skin would prove, from its toughness,
useful for various purposes.

THE COLLARED PECCARY. 59

Tue Famity SUID, or tue Hoe Trine.

Tue animals composing this family, of which the hog is
the type, are distributed over Europe, Asia, Africa, and
South America; it is indeed the only pachydermatous
group the members of which are thus distributed.
Viewed externally, the feet of these animals resemble those
of the ordinary Ruminants, and may indeed be termed
cloven; but the distinction is evident when we come to
examine the bones. Inthe hog every toe (there are four
on each foot) has its own metacarpal or metatarsal bone,
and though the outer toe on each side is shorter than the
two middle, still it is as perfect in conformation. The
external similarity of the feet of the hog to those of the
cloven-footed ruminants, and their real distinction, did
not escape Buffon, though at the same time that celebrated
philosopher was unable to discern the true affinities of
this animal, and its real place in the scale of the mam-
malia. In the peccaries, however, it must be observed
that the metacarpal bones of the two middle toes of the
fore limbs and the corresponding metatarsal bones of the
hind limbs are consolidated into a sort of cannon-bone,
as in ruminating animals, while at the same time the sto-
mach is divided into several distinct sacculi—an additional
point of structural approximation to the ruminants.

The general external characters of the hog tribe need
not be recapitulated here; all are familiar with them, as
displayed by the ordinary tenant of the sty.

Tuer CoLiarep Peccary (Dicotyles torquatus).

The Peccaries are the only indigenous representatives
of the porcine group in America; the hog, which is
now common there, being of recent introduction, though
it wanders in wild herds.

The peccary closely resembles the hog in form and in
the quality of the bristly hair which covers the body.
It ditfers, however, from the hog in dentition, the in-
cisors of the upper jaw being four instead of six, and the
molars above and below on each side six ; while the tusks,

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

60

24 to 26.—Teeth of Collared Peccary.

THE COLLARED PECCARY. 61

which are of moderate size compared with those of the
hog, instead of taking a curve outwards, meet like ordi-
nary canines; they are, however, sharp and effective
weapons. Fig. 24 represents a lateral view of the teeth
of both jaws; Fig. 25 those of the upper jaw in two
views ; and Fig. 26 those of the under. The limbs are
more slender in proportion than in the hog, and there are
only three toes on the hinder feet, the small outer toe
being wanting. The tail is a mere tubercle: beneath
the skin on the top of the loins is a large glandular ap-
paratus, which pours out a secretion of disgusting odour.
In their voice, their habits of rooting in the earth, the
mode in which when angry they erect the bristles of
the mane and clash their teeth, they resemble their
porcine relative of the Old World.

27.—Collared Peccary.

The collared peccary is a native of the dense forests
throughout the greater. part of South America, and is
usually met with in pairs or small families: they take up
their abode in hollow trees and holes of the earth, where
they seek a refuge from the pursuit of their enemies, of
which, man excepted, the jaguar is the most destructive.
Plantations of maize, sugar-canes, and potatoes often suf-
fer from their incursions. It is only when hard pressed
that the peccary defends itself: indeed it displays no-

D3

62 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

thing of the sullen courage of the wild boar, but retreats
on the appearance of danger, and precipitately seeks its
hiding-place. (Fig. 27.)

Azara states that the Guaranis term this species Tay-
tétou, and the white-lipped species Tagnicati. It is, he
adds, domesticated with more facility than the wild hog,
and becomes troublesome from its familiarity. “It is
said, and I believe it, that their flesh is good, but not so
fat as that of the hog; when killed, however, the glan-
dular orifice between the haunches must be removed,
since, if this be not done, the flesh acquires a bad odour
and taste. Nevertheless the Indians eat it without this
precaution.” The inferiority of the flesh of the peccary
to that of the hog, and its dorsal gland, will combine to
exclude it from the European farm-yard. The collared
peccary is about three feet in length, and is distinguished
by a stripe of white or yellowish white passing from the
withers down each shoulder and meeting on the throat.
Its general colour is grizzled blackish gray; the bristles
being ringed gray, straw-colour, and black.

The white-lipped peccary (Dycotyles labiatus) is larger
than the collared species and more robust; it associates
in vast troops directed by an old male; when attacked
they surround the man, dog, or jaguar, and, if there be
no means of escape, their enemy is soon torn to pieces.
M. Schomburgk had a narrow escape from an infuriated
herd, the leader of which he shot in the act of rushing
at him: as the troop approached where he stood, the
noise was like that of a whirlwind through the bushes;
but the peculiar grow] and awful clapping of the teeth,”
he adds, ‘‘did not leave me long in doubt as to its cause :
it was evident the herd had divided, and were coming
directly towards me: I know not yet how I climbed the
lower part of a mora-tree, when by they rushed, their
muzzles almost sweeping the ground, and their rough
bristles on the back standing erect: they might have
numbered fifty. They came and passed like a whirl-
wind ; and before I had recovered from my astonishment,
I heard them plunge into the river and swim to the
opposite bank.” Both species delight to wallow in the

THE BABIROUSSA. 63

mire and muddy pools, and readily take to the water,
swimming with great vigour.

In captivity the white-lipped peccary has appeared to
us to be more reserved and savage than the collared spe-
cies, and more ready to testify by the clashing of its teeth
its feelings of displeasure.

Tue Basrroussa
(Sus Babirussa, Linn. ; Babirussa alfurus, F. Cuv-).

The term Babiroussa means literally hog-deer, and
there is some reason to think that the ancients were not
altogether unacquainted with the animal. Pliny notices
a wild boar with horns on the forehead, found in India ;
and Cosmes, a writer in the sixth century, uses the term
hog-deer (xo:peAapos) as the designation of an Indian
animal: however this may be, it is only recently that
naturalists have become well acquainted with it and its
habits, though its skulls have been brought over to Europe
in abundance by vessels trading among the Moluccas.

The babiroussa differs somewhat in dentition from the
hog, the incisors being four above, instead of six, and
the molars five on each side in either jaw. The upper
canines or tusks of the male emerge directly upward
from their apparently distorted sockets, and sweep with
a bold arch backwards, attaining to a very great length.
The skin is thick, coarse, granular, of a blackish tint, and
sparingly beset with very short bristly hairs. The tusks
of the lower jaw are long, strong, and sharp, emerging
like those of the boar. The tusks of the upper jaw do
not pass out between the lips, but cut their way through
the skin, nearly half way between the end of the snout
and the eyes. ‘The tusks of the lower jaw are formidable
weapons. ‘The male when adult equals the largest hog ;
the female is of much inferior size, and destitute of the
curled upper tusks, or has them only rudimentary.

The babiroussa is found in the marshy forests in the
interior of Bourou, and other of the Molucca islands, as
Amboyna, and also Java, where it associates in troops.
Its habits resemble those of the wild hog, and it is rest-

64 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

Jess and ferocious. According to Lesson it feeds chiefly
upon maize, giving preference to that grain beyond other
articles of diet. It is partial to the water, and swims
with the greatest ease, often crossing the straits between
adjacent islands without any difficulty. Some time since
a pair of these animals were living and produced young in
the menagerie of Paris. They were fond of nestling
under the straw, and when the male retired to rest the
female would cover him over with litter, and then creep
under the straw to him, so that both were concealed.
The following are notes which we made from a young
male babiroussa living in the gardens of the Zool. Soc. :
—This animal is hog-like in its figure, and much resem-
bles a small pig of the Chinese breed. It is roundly

£8.—Babiroussa.

formed, like a young well-bred hog, and the skin lies
close, giving a compactness to its appearance. The
head is small, and high between the ears; the snout is
elongated ; the ears are very small, erect, and pointed;
the eyes in their form and expression resemble those of
a stag; the iris is brown; the skin, which is thinly clothed
with short black bristly hairs, is everywhere dotted
with small granulations, which spread and become
rougher, coarser, and more decided about the limbs and

THE BABIROUSSA. 65

feet, and especially on the anterior part of the head and
sides of the face and under jaw. (Fig. 28.) Closely as
the skin lies, it becomes thrown into a series of regular
and prettily arranged wrinkles or furrows with the dif-
ferent movements of the body, and varying in direction
accordingly. As the animal turns to one side, these fur-
rows are transverse ; in other attitudes they become more
or less oblique ; but none are to be seen when the animal
stands still or lies quietly on its straw. The tail is rather
long, slender,.and tapering; the limbs are well propor-
tioned, and do not appear to be longer, in relation to the
size of the body, than in the hog; the tusks of the upper
jaw (in the present individual) are at present small, but
curved back.

ng es eae

=3>

30.—Skull of Babiroussa.

66 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

31 to 33.—Teeth of Babiroussa.

In its state of captivity this young babiroussa seems as
contented as a pig in its sty, and it is not only quiet, but
disposed to familiarity, raising itself up on its hind legs,
and putting its snout to the bars of the enclosure, evi-
dently soliciting food. It turns the straw over and over

THE WILD HOG. 67

with its snout, and champs in eating, but utters, as far as
we could learn, no grunt, as does the hog, nor has it the
unpleasant smell of the latter. That the babiroussa might
be reclaimed, notwithstanding Lesson’s account of its
savage disposition in captivity, and added to our domestic
animals, is very evident. Its flesh is reported to be held
in high estimation. Fig. 29 represents the head of the
male babiroussa (a) and of the female (6) by way of con-
trast. Fig. 30 is an admirable delineation of the skull
of the adult male, in which the form of the tusks, their
relative proportions and direction, are faithfully given.
Fig. 31, a lateral view of the dentition of the upper and
lower jaw. Fig. 32, dentition of the upper jaw, in two
views; Fig. 33, those of the lower jaw.

Tur Witp Hoe
(Sus Aper, Briss. ; Sus Scrofa, Linn.).

The wild hog is, as all naturalists admit, the origin of
our domestic race, but at what period it was reclaimed is
very uncertain. The circumstances indeed connected
with the domestication of every animal subject to the
bondage of man are enveloped in obscurity. The do-
mestication, however, of the wild hog would not involve
much difficulty. Young individuals taken in their native
forest soon become reconciled to captivity, and display
the same contentment and familiarity which are so conspi-
cuous in the ordinary tame beast. It is this disposition,
a characteristic of the Pachyderinata, which renders the
elephant, the rhinoceros, the tapir, and others, so easily
subjugated ; but, on the other hand, the readiness with
which they submit to the restraints of captivity is coun-
terbalanced by an equal readiness to assume a life of in-
dependence. ‘The hog when left to itself resumes its
original habits, as is the case in America, where wild
herds roam the forest ; and, as we have seen, the elephant
often escapes its trammels and joins its wild brethren,
immediately submitting, if retaken, to the voice of au-
thority which it had previously learned to obey. The

63 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

horse ina wild state scours the plains of Tartary and South
America; it requires but a struggle to break in the most
spirited. It may be laid down as an axiom, that the ani-
mals of whose services man stands most in need are, each
in its way, those whose nature most readily induces them to
submit to his dominion, nay, even to court his friendship.
Some we can tame, and only tame ; others we can educate.

The wild hog was once common in our island, and it
is almost surprising, considering the passion for the chase
which seems to be part and parcel of our English tem-
perament, that this animal is not re-established in some
of its old haunts, the parks and forests of nobility. In
India, indeed, the chase of the wild boar is one of the
field-sports to which our countrymen are enthusiastically
devoted ; nor is there any reason why it might not be re-
vived in England.

The wild hog is still common in the forests of Germany,
France, and other portions of Europe, and extends also
through Asia and Africa; if indeed the species is posi-
tively identical—a point which there is some reason to
question. At all events slight differences are observable
between the Indian wild boar and the present breed of
the German forests; and Sonnini expresses a doubt as to
the identity of the Egyptian and European wild race.

In no essential point does the wild race of Europe
differ from our domestie breeds; the snout however is
more elongated, and, as might be expected, the contour
of the frame is more gauntand bony. ‘The ears are short
and erect, the tusks large, and the bristles long and
coarse; the general colour is rusty black or blackish
brown, more or less brindled in patches. After the age
of three years the wild boar leads a solitary life in the
forest, fearless of every foe and confident in his weapons,
which, added to his great strength, render hima formid-
able antagonist. Itis not, however, until the age of five
or six years that he attains to his full dimensions, and the
duration of his life is from twenty-five to thirty years.
The females with their young associate in herds for the
sake of mutual protection: on the approach of an enemy
the young are placed in the centre, the old ones

THE WILD HOG. 69

34.—Female Wild Hog and Young.

forming a circle round them ; and should he be hazardous
enough to venture on the attack, he meets with a rough
reception. It is thus that the young are preserved from
wolves, the chief foes to be dreaded by them; to which
in some districts they often fall a prey, notwithstanding
the vigilance of their parent. Itis only in defence of their
young that the females are furious, but the old males are
not to be approached without caution, and often rush
out upon those who venture near the precincts of their

70 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

lair. At certain seasons, indeed, the wild boar is very
savage, and should he meet a rival the most sanguinary
combat ensues.

In the month of December or January each male
attaches himself to the society of a chosen female, whom
he accompanies in the deepest glens of the forest for
about thirty days. When about to produce her young,
the female seeks some undisturbed retreat remote from the
haunts of the male, who, it appears, exhibits a propensity
to devour her progeny if he discover the litter. (Fig. 34.)
To her young the female is a most attentive mother; she
suckles them for three or four months, and they remain
with her for a long time: an aged female is sometimes
seen followed by several families, among which are some
of the age of two or three years. These young rovers the
French hunters call bétes de compagnie. The wild boar
seldom stirs from his lair during the day, and may there-
fore be regarded as in some degree nocturnal; on the
approach of twilight, he rouses from his indolent slumbers,
and sets out in quest of food, which consists of acorns,
beech-mast, grain, different vegetables, and roots; in
search of the latter, he ploughs up the ground with his
snout: corn-fields in the vicinity of forests where wild
hogs exist often suffer extensively from their nightly in-
cursions. The wild boar, though not truly carnivorous,
does not refuse animal matters which chance may throw
in his way : he does not however ordinarily attack and
kill others for the sake of their flesh, but only devours
what he may meet with in his rambles. In the morn-
ing the wild boar returns to his lair in the thickest
and most gloomy part of the forest, under a rock, ina
cave, or under the canopy of gnarled and intertwined
branches. When roused by the hunter and his dogs, the
old boar retreats sullenly and slowly, gnashing his teeth,
foaming with anger, and often stopping to receive his
pursuers, on whom he often rushes with sudden impe-
tuosity, striking with his tusks, goring dogs and men, and
scattering terror around. When the boar turns upon
a pack, the foremost dogs are sure to suffer, and seve-
ral will fall by as many strokes. (Fig. 35.) An

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THE WILD HOG-
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72 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

instance is on record in which a boar turned suddenly
upon a pack of fifty dogs which pursued him, and in-
stantly despatched six or seven of them, wounding all the
rest, with the exception of ten. The young boar is less
resolute than the old animal, and will run to a consider-
able distance before he is brought to bay; nor is the
assault attended with any great degree of danger. In
all ages the chase of the boar has been a favourite di-
version ; the classic writings abound with allusions to it
and to the risk incurred. Ovid (Fab. iv., lib. viii.) gives
a spirited account of the chase, in which the fury and
strength of the enraged beast are admirably depicted.
It would seem that the ancients endeavoured to enclose
the boar by nets so as prevent his escaping into the re-
cesses of the forest: the combat was close and therefore
dangerous ; driven from his lair by the dogs, and hemmed
in, the infuriated animal turned savagely upon his
assailants, and died, after killing and wounding dogs
and men, transfixed by spears and javelins. Our fore-
fathers in the Middle Ages deemed the wild boar one of
the noble ‘* beastes of venery,”’ and kept a powerful breed
of hounds for the chase: the weapons used by the hunts-
men were spears, and a sort of short sword, or couteau
de chasse; the spears were used when the boar was
brought to bay, and the attack gave abundant oppor-
tunities to the hunters of showing their skill and courage.
The loud blast of the horn, mingled with the shouts of
men and the baying of the hounds, proclaimed the
vigorous home-thrust that struck the savage lifeless to
the ground. Figs. 35 and 36 are illustrative of the
boar-hunt as conducted in Europe in the Middle Ages.
Fig. 37 illustrates boar-hunting as practised in India at
the present day. The hunters are always mounted on
horseback, and, instead of meeting the animal with spears,
attack him with javelins, which are launched at him as
he flies, or as he rushes to the charge, which is often so
determined that the horses cannot be brought to stand
the shock, or, if they do, are thrown down and gored ;
serious accidents sometimes occnr. Mr. Johnson relates
an instance in which a large and resolute boar, after

THE WILD HOG. 73

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74 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

being driven by the hunters into a plain, stood at bay and
challenged the whole party: he charged every horse
that advanced within fifty yards of him, with great fero-
city, causing them to rear and plunge, and throw off their
riders, whose lives were in jeopardy : though many of the
horses were accustomed to the sport, none would stand his
-charges, or bring the rider within javelin distance, and at
last he fairly drove the party from the field; and then,
gnashing his tusks and foaming, he made his way to the
jungle, where it was useless to attempt to follow him.

In our own country the boar, reserved for the sport
of the privileged classes, was protected by severe laws.
By one of the edicts of William the Conqueror (a.p.
1087), it was ordained that any who were found guilty
of killing a stag, roebuck, or wild boar were to have their
eyes put out: sometimes, indeed, the penalty appears to
have been a painful death.

At what precise period the wild boar became extinct
in our island cannot be exactly determined ; it is evi-
dent, however, that as population increased, and the vast
woods which spread over many parts of the country were
cut down and the land cleared, the range of the boar
would become more and more limited, and its numbers
decreased, till at length its extirpation would be complete.
We look in vain for the forest which, in the 12th cen-
tury, covered the country to the north of London, and
of which Fitzstephen, in the reign of Henry II., writes,
observing that ‘‘on the north are corn-fields and de-
lightful meadows, intermixed with pleasant streams, on
which stands many a mill, whose clack is so grateful to
the ear; beyond them an immense forest extends itself,
beautified with woods and groves, and full of the lairs
and coverts of beast and game, stags, bucks, boars, and
wild bulls.” Banished, however, as the wild boar is from
among our native mammalia, “‘ its name is immortalised, ’
as Mr. Bell observes, ‘‘ by having given origin to the
appellation of many places in different parts of the coun-
try, and by its introduction into the armorial bearings
of many distinguished families of every division of the
kingdom.”

THE WILD HOG.

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76 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

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38.—Skull of the Hog.

The skull of the hog (Fig. 38,) which affords an index
of the habits of the animal, is of a conical or wedge-like
form; the base or occipital portion forms a right angle
with the oblique upper surface, and a bold transverse
ridge is formed by the union of the occipital and parietal
bones. ‘The nasal bones are prolonged nearly to the end
of the snout, which, in the living animal, terminated in a
moveable cartilaginous disc, pierced by the nostrils.
The lower jaw is of great strength. The dentition

1—1

(Fig. 39) is as follows :—lIncisors, 6) canines, Tae

v7

THE HOG.

39.-—Teeth of the Hog.

VOL. Itt,

78 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

molars, — = 44. The canines of the upper jaw are

prismatic, and curve downwards, having their anterior
surface worn by the action of the huge canines of the
lower jaw, which are sharp, sweep out from the sides of
the mouth, and often attain to the length of eight or ten
inches, and sometimes even more. ‘These canines or
tusks are terrible weapons: rushing on his antagonist, the
boar strikes obliquely upwards, right.and left, with pro-
digious violence; a mode of action the best calculated
for bringing these weapons into effective play, and in
which the muscular powers of the neck and shoulders are
the most advantageously and naturally exerted.

Tue Domestic Hoe

is too well known to need any description ; and its utility
too well appreciated to require comment. It is not,
however, valued alike in all countries, and in some is
regarded with abhorrence. In India both Brahmin and
Mussulman reject its flesh as food, yet in many districts of
that country semi-domesticated hogs wander about the
villages, feeding on the refuse which they pick up in the
streets. Colonel Sykes states that in Dukhun “every
village abounds with hogs, but any property in them is
equally abjured by individuals and the community.” De-
testation of the hog was a feeling entertained by certain
nations in remote antiquity. It was classed by the Jews
among the vilest animals, and in Egypt the swineherd was
numbered among the profane, and forbidden to enter the
temples of their gods ; even the lowest dregs of the people
refused to bestow their daughter on him in marriage.
The Egyptians sacrificed the hog to Bacchus, and to the
moon when full. ‘In the evening of the festival of
Bacchus,” says Herodotus, ‘‘ though every one be obliged
to kill a hog before the door of his house, yet he imme-
diately restores the carcase to the swineherd that sold
him.” ‘The ancient Scythians, according to the same
authority, made no use of swine, nor suftered any to be

THE DOMESTIC HOG. 79

kept in the country. The Abyssinians and the Copts
of Egypt, as well as the Mohammedans, reject the flesh
of the hog. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans,
though the office of swineherd appears to have been
held in’contempt, the flesh of the hog was in high esti-
mation, and a sucking pig was as favourite a dish as
amongst ourselves in the present day. The Chinese
have derived no prejudices against the hog from the
Mohammedan nations of the East: on the contrary,
they rear these animals in great numbers for the sake of
their flesh ; and even the numerous population who tenant
the floating town of rafts or barges contrive to keep and
rear them.

‘One of the most singular circumstances,” says Mr.
Wilson, ‘‘in the domestic history of this animal, is the
immense extent of its distribution, more especially in
far-removed and insulated spots inhabited by semi-barba-
rians, where the wild species is entirely unknown. For
example, the South Sea Islanders, on their discovery by
Europeans, were found to be well stocked with a small
black-legged hog; and the traditionary belief of the
people in regard to the original introduction of these ani-
mals showed that they were supposed to be as anciently
descended as themselves. Yet the latter had no know-
ledge of the wild boar or any other animal of the hog
kind from which the domestic breed might be supposed
to be derived.” (‘ Quarterly Journal of Agriculture.’)
Among our Saxon forefathers the hog was of great im-
portance: its flesh was a staple article of consumption in
every household, and a great portion of the wealth of
the farmers and landed proprietors consisted of droves of
swine, which were attended by swineherds, thralls, or
bondslaves, and which were driven into the woods of oak
and beech, in order to feed on acorns and mast, and all
the while guarded from the attacks of the wolf. The
domestic hog of that period appears to have closely
resembled, in form and colour, the wild species ; and the
old unimproved breed, now seldom seen, may be re-
garded as its modern representative. (Fig. 40.) There
ure now in our island several breeds of this useful animal,

E 2

80 “KETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

wee

jee

4).—Domestic Hog.

of acknowledged excellence, the result of judicious cross-
ings. The test of excellence is productibility, a readi-
ness to become fat, small bone, and the quality of the
whole animal when converted into bacon: size is of
minor importance. The introduction of the small Chinese
breed is one great source of improvement. The Chinese
hog is short in the head, with sharp neat ears, low on the
limbs, and high in the chine. It is very prolific, and
fattens readily. The prevailing colours are black or
half black and half white. This breed, or one closely
allied to it, extends from China throughout various groups
of islands in the Pacific. ‘

The breed nearest to the Chinese in this country is the
Suffolk: these are generally white; they are compactly
made, and deep in the chest.

THE DOMESTIC HOG. $1

Another source of improvement is the Neapolitan hog:
this is a plump animal of a black colour, without any hair,
and with a singular predisposition to become fat: it is
however of a tender constitution. The pure black breed
of Essex, which has very little hair, is closely allied to
it, and when crossed with the Neapolitan produces a
most valuable stock: a cross between the Neapolitan
and Berkshire breed is also in high esteem. A _ breed
between the Berkshire, Chinese, and Neapolitan may,
by careful selection, produce every quality which can be
desired : great fecundity, an early acquisition of fat, and
moderate size, with admirable form and proportions.

The domestic hog is by no means destitute of intelli-
gence, and little deserves the character of a stupid filthy
brute, as some are pleased to call it. As regards filthi-
ness, everything will depend on its keeper: it is true
that, like the elephant and hippopotamus, it delights to
wallow inthe mire; but no animal more luxuriates in
clean straw, and when it is styed up in filth justice is not
done to it. The hog isa ‘ huge feeder,’’ but so are the
horse and ox, and a fat hog is a more comely-looking
beast than one that is lean and ill-fed. With respect to
intelligence, we rank it far before the ox and horse,
though it is less docile. In Minorca it is used to draw
the plough, and works well; and Pennant says that in
the district of Murray, between the Spey and Elgin, it
was formerly employed for the same purpose, and that a
credible eye-witness informed him “ that he had seen in
his parish there, a cow, asow, and two young horses
yoked together and drawing a plough in light sandy soil,
and that the sow was the best drawer of the four.”’ The
senses of taste, smell, and hearing are possessed in great
perfection by the hog: it is a saying among a certain
class of persons that pigs can smell the wind; they are
certainly aware of the approach of a storm, and we have
seen them agitated during its continuance, screaming,
and running about with straw in their mouths, or carrying
it to their sty as if to add to their shelter. In Italy ad-
vantage is said to be taken of the sense of smell with
which this animal is endowed in searching for truffles

82 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

and in our own country the famous sow Slut was broke
in to the gun, and stood to her game as stanch as the best
pointer.

The genus Sus as at present constituted contains, be-
sides the common wild hog and its domestic relatives,
two other species known to naturalists: of these one is
the Papuan hog, or Béne of the natives of New Guinea
(Sus Papuensis), figured and described in the ‘ Zoologie
de la Coquille,’ by MM. Lesson and Garnot. It is
remarkable for its small size, and its light and agreeable
proportions, and the shortness of the tusks. It is common
in the forests of New Guinea, where it is esteemed by
the native Papuans as delicate food: they contrive to
catch these animals when young, and rear them in a state
of domestication.

The other animal is the Woodswine of South and
Eastern Africa, and of Madagascar, the Bosch-Vark of
the Dutch colonists of the Cape (Sus larvatus, Cuv.).
This savage and formidable animal resembles the wild
boar of Europe, but its head is larger in proportion, its
snout broader, and an elevated callous protuberance is
seated on the cheeks between the tusks and eyes, giving
a revolting aspect to the physiognomy. Prompt and
vicious, the Bosch-Vark is much to be dreaded in com-
bat, its strength and the size of its tusks rendering it a
match for almost any foe. It dwells in excavations in
the ground, where it is dangerous to attack it, as it rushes
out suddenly from its retreat and deals rapid destruction
among its assailants. Dr. Smith observes that this spe-
cies is subject to great variety of colouring, scarcely any
two specimens being precisely alike: some are of a
brownish black variegated with white, and others are of an
almost uniform light reddish brown or rufous without white
markings ; and it is scarcely possible to say which is the
most prevailing style of colouring. The bristles are long,
particularly upon the upper parts of the neck and back ;
the canines are of huge size and strength: the ears are
short, and thinly covered both without and within with
coarse black hair, which is longest at their tips. The
tail is thinly covered with black bristles. Average

GENUS PHACOCH@RUS. 83

length of body, between four and five feet ; of the tail,
one foot.

The discovery of the bones of an extinct hog of huge
size in the cavern of Sundwick in Westphalia is due to
M. Goldfuss. Bones of three distinct species occur in
the Epplesheim sand (Miocene division of tertiary
deposits, Lyell), and fossil relics of a species have been
found in Hutton Cave, in Mendip, and in other places.

Several species of an extinct genus (Cheropotamus)
closely allied to the hog have been discovered in the
gypsum of Montmartre, in certain strata in Switzer-
land, and in the Eocene formation of the Isle of Wight,
&e.

Genus PHAacocu@rwus.

The animals contained in this genus resemble the
hog in manners, form, and aspect, so that, were it not for
the peculiarity of their dentition, they would necessarily
be included in the genus Sus. Their dentition, how-
ever, is so different from that of the hog as to justify
their separation, Instead of presenting the ordinary
structure, the grinders have a great analogy with those
of the elephant : they are composed of vertical cylinders
of enamel enclosing an osseous deposit, and are cemented
together by cortical substance, or crusta petrosa. It is
long before the root of these teeth is perfected, and
they advance in rotation from behind forwards, pushing
before them the first molars, which in old individuals are
found to be either greatly reduced or to have entirely
disappeared. It is not till after ceasing to push forward
that the roots become consolidated. With regard to
number, they appear to vary. In the skull of the
Abyssinian Phacochere (Ph. A:liani, Ripp.), which we
have carefully examined, the molars were found to be four
on each side above, and three below. From the first molar
above, which was very small, to the third, the increase in
size was gradual, but the fourth molar was long and _nar-
rowed gradually as it proceeded backwards. Had the
animal lived much longer, it is probable that the first molar

(m Ly) py! ] MM
Ufuul) J

41 to 43.—Teeth of Phocachere.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN PHACOCHGRE. 85

would have disappeared: the dentition would then have
been as represented in Fig. 41. The incisors were two
above and six below. The tusks were enormous. It would
seem that the presence of incisors is variable; for in the
South African species they either do not exist or are unde-
veloped. Cuvier states that vestiges of them are some-
times found under the gum; but in specimens from Cape
Verde the incisors are generally complete.

Fig. 41 is one side of the upper jaw of the South
African Phacochere: Fig. 42, one side of the lower jaw
of the Cape Verde species: Fig. 43, a lateral view of
the last molar tooth, which may be compared with the
molar of the elephant.

The head of these animals is enormously large and
heavy ; the eyes are small and set high on the forehead,
which is depressed between them; under each eye isa
large coarse fleshy lobe ; and a warty excrescence appears
oneach side of the muzzle, between the eye and the
tusks. The muzzle is very broad, and the ears are erect.

Tue South AFRICAN PHACOCHERE
(Phacocherus Aithiopicus, F. Cuvier),

or Vlacke Vark of the Cape colonists. The phacochere
found in Guinea, at Cape Verde, and along the Senegal,
is regarded as distinct from the present species by F.
Cuvier, in consequence of the possession of incisors ; and
is termed by him Ph. Africanus. The range of the
South African phacochcere, or Vlacke Vark, does not
appear to be precisely determined ; formerly it existed
within the limits of the Cape colony, and still lingers on
the frontier districts, but is much more common in the
remoter latitudes. In the frontier districts these animals
seldom venture to seek their food during the day: but
in the countries inhabited by natives who are destitute of
the efficient arms of the colonists they are at all times to
be met, though their favourite feeding-times are early in
the morning, late in the evening, and even during the
night, if it be moonlight. When disturbed in its retreats,
E3

86 SKETCH OF THE AISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

and especially when hunted, the Vlacke Vark is a very
dangerous animal ; for though it will not turn out of its
way to give chase, yet, if brought to bay, or forced to
extremity, it attacks with furious impetuosity, and strikes
with its tusks, which are dreadful weapons: it has been
known to cut with one stroke completely through the
fleshy part of a man’s thigh. Welearn that, though this
animal is used as food by the colonists, the Hottentots,
and Bechuanas, it is rejected by the Coast Caftres, who
are much more particular as to what they eat than any
- other natives of South Africa, and consider as an inferior
class the persons who consume as food the articles which
they hold as prohibited. The top of the head, the up-
per part of the neck, and the anterior part of the back
are covered with very long and rigid bristles of a black-

44.—African Boar.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN PHACOCHERE, 87

brown colour, those on the top ofthe head diverging
like the rays of a circle. On the other parts the hair is
shorter and of a dull brown, slightly inclined to white
on the belly and flanks. ‘The tail, except along the top,
where itis furnished with a number of blackish brown
bristles, isnearly naked. Length of head and body, about
five feet; of the tail, about eleven inches. (Fig. 44.)
Sparrman, who was well acquainted with this species
during his residence in South Africa, gives us a good
account of its habits and manners, whence it would ap-
pear that the young and the females associate in herds,
for the sake of mutual defence, as is the case with the
wild swine of Europe. In the tenth chapter this accu-
rate writer says, ‘‘ This day I saw for the first time a
herd of boschvarkens, or, as they are likewise called,
wilde varkens (wood swine or wild swine), in their wild
uncultivated state; for I had hitherto seen only one of
this species of animals in the menagerie at the Cape.
He was confined there with a strong iron chain, and was
very wild and vicious. M. Pallas informs us in his
‘Spicel. Zool.,’ Fase. xi. add. p. 84, that one of them
killed the keeper of the menagerie at Amsterdam. One
may easily conceive that this creature is very dangerous,
if one only takes notice of its large tusks... 2... Ina
head of this animal, salted and dried, which I gave to
the Royal Academy of Sciences in Sweden, the upper
tusks stand nine inches out of the jaws, and measure tull
five inches in circumference at the base. The two other
tusks which come from the lower jaw project but three
inches from the mouth, being flat on the inside, and corre-
sponding with another plain surface similar to it in the
upper tusks. These the beasts make use of not so much
for biting as for goring and butting with. A little pig
of this species which I afterwards canght at Visch rivier,
and had tied up, thinking to bring it alive along with
me, had already got this trick, so that I was soon obliged
to let it be killed. It was terribly vicious, and quick in
all its motions; and though at that time not absolutely
dangerous, yet my Boshies men were very much atraid
of it. ‘ We had rather,’ said they, ‘attack a lion on the

&8 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

plain than an African wild boar; for this, though much
smaller, comes rushing on a man as swift as an arrow,
and, throwing him down, snaps his legs in two, and rips
up his belly before he can get to strike it and kill it
with his javelin.’ . . . The dwelling-place of this same
species of wild boar, to which the avenues seemed to be
very narrow, is under ground, I have been told indeed
that the boschvarkens go down into them backwards,
and place themselves there in a row one behind the
other; but this is not very likely, for probably these
passages are widened lower down. ‘Thus much, how-
ever, is certain, that people dare not attack them in their
holes, for fear of their coming out on them on a sudden.
The body of this animal is small in comparison with its
head, a conformation which facilitates its burrowing and
living underground,

“‘ It would not be advisable for a man on horseback
to approach too near or to hunt this animal, as it will
often turn round on a sudden, and, striking with its tusks
at the horse’s legs, afterwards kill both him and his
rider.

‘*'This day I pursued several young pigs with the old
sows, with a view to shoot one of them, but in vain;
nevertheless the chase of them afforded me peculiar
pleasure. On a sudden, the heads of the old ones, which
before were of a tolerable size, seemed to have grown
still larger and more shapeless than they were before ;
which momentary and wonderful change astonished me
so much the more, as my hard riding over a country full
of bushes and pits had hitherto prevented me from giving
sufficient attention to the manner in which it was brought
about. ‘The secret, however, consisted in this: each of
the old ones, while they were making off, took a pig in
its mouth; a circumstance that also explained to me
another subject of my surprise, namely, that all the pigs
which I was just before chasing along with the old ones
vanished all on a sudden. In this action we find a kind
of unanimity among the wood-swine, in which they
resemble the tame species, and which they have in a
greater degree than many other animals. It is very

THE ABYSSINIAN PHACOCHGRE, 89

astonishing that the pigs should be carried about in this
manner between such large tusks as those of their
mothers, without being hurt or crying out in the least.
I saw the same done, however, on two other occasions,
as I was chasing them. The cry of their young was like
that of our common pigs, as I found in some we after-
wards caught.”

Tue ABYSSINIAN PHACOCH@RE
(Ph. Azliani, Riippell).

This species was found by Riippell first in Kordofan,
but afterwards in greater abundance on the eastern slope
of Abyssinia. It haunts low bushes and forests, and
has a habit of creeping on its bent fore limbs in quest of
food. In this attitude, it uses its tusks in digging up or
tearing out of the ground the roots of plants, which
constitute part of itsdiet. When thus engaged it pushes
its body forwards by means of its hind legs, in order to
move along. This habit of kneeling to feed has been
observed in the species from Cape Verde. We have
occasionally noticed it in the common hog. (Fig. 45.)

45.—Abyssinian Phacochere.

go SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

Genus Equus.

Of this genus we have already treated in a separate
volume, and we therefore pass on to extinct fossil spe-
cies of this order. ,

EXTINCT FOSSIL SPECIES

SKULL OF THE Fossin ADAPIS.

To the order Pachydermata Cuvier refers an extinct
animal, of which the remains have been found in the
plaster-quarries of Montmartre. ‘The remains, however,
are very rare, and we believe that only three fragments
of skulls have been recovered. The adapis was evidently
a small animal, its skull being only about a third larger
than that of a hedgehog. There were four incisors,

oe pe Lie
46.—Skull of Fossil Adapis.

sharp-edged and oblique, in each jaw, followed by a
canine tooth of a conical form and not exceeding the
molars in length. Of these latter there were seven on
each side, in each jaw. In the upper jaw the first
molar was trenchant, the second and third surrounded

THE MASTODON. 91

by a small ridge, the last four flat-crowned. In the
lower jaw the first three molars were pointed and
trenchant, the remainder flat-crowned and tuberculous,
like those above opposed to them. (Fig. 46.) Of the
genus, Dichobunes contains three species, D. leporinum,
murinum, and obliguum: the first about the size of a
hare; the other two, of a guinea-pig. They appear to
have had much of the form, and probably of the habits,
of the little musk-deer, or chevrotains.

Tur Masrtopon.

Coexistent perhaps with the mammoth, a race of huge
animals, now. utterly extinct, once tenanted our globe:
their remains, which are met with in the superficial strata,
occur in some localities in great abundance ; and, from
the differences presented by the teeth and other parts,
several species have been identified. ‘To these animals
Cuvier gave the title of Mastodon, in allusion to the
principal character of the molars, which, instead of being
formed, as in the elephant, of transverse lamine, have
the crown of simple structure, but exhibiting ranges of
bold conical elevations, divided from each other by deep
furrows. (Fig. 47.) As the points of these elevations
become worn down by use, the crown presents a series
of lozenge-siaped lines of thick enamel (Fig. 48), but
when these are quite obliterated the surface becomes
uniform and concave.

Of the molars thus characterised there were two above
and below on each side; but before these molars it
would appear that in young individuals others had been
situated, and had failen in succession, as Cuvier satis-
factorily ascertained from the examination of various
specimens. With regard to the mode of succession in
the grinders of the mastodon, it takes place, says Cuvier,
by a movement from behind forwards, When the back
_ tooth is in the act of piercing the gum, that anterior to
it is worn and ready to fall, and they thus replace them-
selves one after the other. It does not ay pear that it is
possible for more than two at a time on each side to be

92

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

=o
s Ww) \

Y

LY DY

\
\
\\

48.—Molar of Mastodon, much worn.
in full operation, and ultimately, as in the elephant,
That the mastodon had tusks like

there is only one.
the elephant is proved by the large alveoli for their re-
As no perfect skull of the mastodon is known,

ception.

it is impossible to define its contour: it must, however,
have had a general resemblance to that of the elephant,
inasmuch as the tables of the frontal bone are separated

in a similar manner by extensive cells.
The neck is short, and the skeleton generally (Fig.
The masto-

49) approximates to that of the elephant.

THE MASTODON. 93

=I
S)
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3
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Ww
=
—_
iS
S
3
~
©
&
o
-s
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oS
~

94 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

don must have possessed a proboscis, as is evident from
a consideration of the structure of the skull and skeleton,
—and indeed it would appear that this proboscis has not
in every instance been completely decomposed. The
relics of the Mastodon giganteus, or ‘‘animal of the
Ohio,” are found in North America, especially in saline
morasses, and to this circumstance Barton thinks is to be
attributed the occurrence of soft parts still capable of
being made out. In 1762 (as he states) out of five
skeletons which were seen by the natives, one skull still
possessed what they called a ‘‘long nose” with the
mouth under it. Kalm, speaking of a huge skeleton,
which, in accordance with the ideas of his time, he be-
lieved to be that of an elephant, and which was disco-
vered by the savages in the country of the Illinois, says
that ‘‘ the form of the trunk (bec) was still apparent,
though half decomposed.” Of the several species of
this extinct genus the Great Mastodon, or animal of the
Ohio, is the most remarkable. Its relics appear to be
confined to the American continent: they are distributed
very generally, and are accumulated in some places in
considerable abundance, but nowhere so much so as in
that saline morass popularly termed the Big-bone Lick.
They are found buried in the mud, and along the borders
of the morass, at the depth of four feet and upwards,
together with the bones of buffaloes, stags, &c. These
relics have no appearance of having been rolled, and in
some places, as for example along the Great Osage
River, they are found in a vertical position, as if the
animals had sunk down into the mud, which had closed
over them. The ferruginous matter with which the
bones are impregnated, says Cuvier, is the main proof
of their loug repose in the earth.

The traditions which were rife among the Red Men
concerning this gigantic animal and its destruction must
not be passed oyer in silence. M. Fabri, a French
officer, informed Buffon that the savages regarded these
bones scattered in various parts of Canada and Louisiana
as belonging to an animal which they named the Pere
aux Beeufs. The Shawnee Indians believed that with

THE PALEOTHERIUM 95

these enormous animals there existed men of propor-
tionate development, and that the Great Being destroyed
both with thunderbolts. Those of Virginia state that,
as a troop of these terrible quadrupeds were destroying
the deer, the bisons, and the other animals created for
the use of the Indians, the Great Man slew them all
with his thunder, except the Big Bull, who, nothing
daunted, presented his enormous forehead to the bolts,
and shook them off as they fell, till, being at last
wounded in the side, he fled towards the great lakes,
where he is to this day.

Besides the Mastodon giganteus, the following species
are distinguished : MW. Angustidens (Europe, America ?),
M. andium (Andes), M. Humboldtii (Concepcion—
Chili), M. minutus, M. tapiroides, M. Turicensis, M.
Avernensis (Epplesheim, Puy-de-Déme), MM. elephan-
toides (Irawaddi, Sewalik Mountains), MM. latidens (Ira-
waddi, Sewalik Mountains), and M. longirostris, Kaup.
Professor Owen has referred the teeth from the Norfolk
crag to the last-named species.

Tue PALmoOTHERIUM.

In the gypsum-quarries near Paris and in various
parts of France have been discovered the fossil relics of
a group of Pachydermatous animals, to which Cuvier
gave the title of Palgotherium. ‘Ten or eleven species
are recognised, varying trom the size of a rhinoceros to
that of a hog. The most immediate alliance of these
fossil forms is to the tapir, and they perhaps take an
intermediate station between that animal and the rhino-
ceros. The bones of the nose prove that the Palexo-
theria must have been furnished with a short proboscis ;
the toes were three in number on each foot : the dentition
consisted of 6 incisors in each jaw ; canines, as usual ;
and 7 molars on each side above and below.

Figs. 50 and 51 represent respectively outlines of the
Paleotherium magnum and Paleotherium minus, as re-
stored by Cuvier; Figs. 52 and 53 represent the skele-
tons of the same animals; Fig. 54 is an imperfect skull
of Paleotherium magnum ; Fig. 55 shows the characters

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

96

“SNULUL WNIAYOR]eg JO ouljjug—"|¢

—_a ———__ ai

—=a

“WINUSEU UINIIAyOR]eg JO sUIT]NO—"0G

_~-—__ > - F ‘ oi 6 a

97

THE PALZOTHERIUM.

“SNUIU UNLLaYjO@]eq JO UOJ[aYS—"ec

98 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

of the molar teeth of the upper jaw; Fig. 56, the lower
jaw and molar teeth, imperfect.

The restoration of the skeletons of these extinct forms
is one of the triumphs of science ; and, by persons unac-
quainted with the law of harmonious dependence which
reigns throughout the structure and organization of
animal bodies, might be deemed an improbability, or at
least, an uncertain process: not so—the bones of the
feet, the teeth, the spine, or of the limbs, are to the
comparative anatomist a foundation upon which he can
rear a superstructure, a clue to the recomposition of the
fabric. Speaking of the accumulated stores of fossil
relics at his command, Cuvier thus writes :—“ I at length
found myself, as if placed in a charnel-house, surrounded
by mutilated fragments of many hundred skeletons of
more than twenty kinds of animals piled confusedly
around me; the task assigned to me was to restore them
all to their original position. At the voice of compara-
tive anatomy every bone and fragment of a bone resumed
its place. I cannot find words to express the pleasure I
experienced in seeing, when I discovered one character,
how all the consequences which I predicted from it were
successively confirmed. The feet accorded with the
characters announced by the teeth; the teeth were in
harmony with those indicated previously by the feet.
The bones of the legs and thighs, and every connecting
portion of the extremities, were seen joined together
precisely as I had arranged them before my conjectures
were verified by the discovery of the parts entire. Each
species was, in short, reconstructed from a single unit of
its component elements.”” The relics of the Palzotheria
are found mingled with those of many other extinct
forms in a stratum of fresh-water formation, as is evi-
denced by the shells it contains: it is the first of the
great fresh-water formations of the Eocene period of
Lyell, a deposit in which nearly fifty extinct species
were discovered by Cuvier. We cannot doubt but that,
like the tapir and rhinoceros of the present day, the Pa-
leotheria frequented the borders of lakes and large rivers,
feeding upon the leaves and twigs of brushwood : there

99

THE PALZOTHERIUM.

= DSs e
By CRY NT

Da

Ne

Le as
BPs ons
4 ¢ i IB V4
Betas = 7 | Bf
AN \
y ~ CE
SS

SF
56.—External View of part of the Lower Jaw of the same.

109 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

they lived and died; their dead carcases drifted to the
bottom of the lake, swept off from the shore in seasons
of flood, when the swollen rivers cleared the adjacent
lowlands of hosts of dead, and perhaps also of the living,
hurrying them to destruction, and depositing their relies,
to be in other ages brought to light, the “reliquia vetus-
tioris evi.”

Tue Lopuiopon.

Another fossil genus allied to the tapirs is termed by
Cuvier Lophiodon: not less than fifteen species are de-
termined ; and they are found in the same fresh-water
formation as the Paleotheria. The dentition of the
Lophiodon differs from that of the last-named animals,
the lower jaw having only six molars. ‘The teeth in
character approach those of the rhinoceros. Fig. 57
represents a Jower back molar of the gigantic Lophiodon
of Argenton; Fig. 58, an upper back molar; Fig. 59,
a canine tooth ; Fig. 60, two incisor teeth: all of the same
species. With many essential parts of the osteology of
these extinct animals naturalists are as yet unacquainted ;
the bones of the nose, for example, and those of the feet,
are not recovered. The remains of the Lophiodons
found at Issel, Argenton, Bucksweiler, Montpellier,
Montabusard, &c., occur in beds of fresh-water forma-
tion, but below those superficial strata containing the
bones of the mammoth and mastodon. They are as-
sociated with the relics of forms of terrestrial animals of
which we have no living prototypes, and with those of
crocodiles and fresh-water tortoises. The antiquity of
these beds may be inferred from the fact that in most
places they are covered by strata of decidedly marine
formation, so that the Lophiodon existed and passed
away not only before the races had commenced whose
remains are found (and found only) in the alluvial strata
of the earth, but before the extinction of still older races ;
they belong in fact to strata of our continent over which,,
after becoming consolidated, the sea has rolled, and re-
mained long enough to cover them with rocks of a new
origin.

THE LOPHIODON. 101

i SS
ayy A\ a

Y — a a Nea \ \\
a \ ‘

@. i ne
i 4 a

ZA
aay ee

ZEEZE

SS

a

57 to 60.—Teet’ of Lophiodon.

VOL. Ill FE

102 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

Tur ANOPLOTHERIUM.

Our figures give Cuvier’s restoration of the outlines of
two species of the extinct group of Pachydermata termed
Anoplotherium, the fossil relics of which, mixed with
those of the Paleeotherium, occur in the gypsum-quarries
near Paris, and also, though more rarely, in the neigh-
bourhood of Orleans and Genoa. ‘These Anoplotheria
are remarkable for the characters of their dentition; the
teeth consist in each jaw of six incisors, two canines,
and fourteen molars, reckoning both sides together; and
these are arranged in a continued and uninterrupted
series ; without any vacancy between the incisors and
the canines, or between the canines and the molars.
The canines resemble the incisors in form, and might be

61.—Anoplotherium.

mistaken for them; the four posterior molars are like
those of the rhinoceros. The feet are cloven as in the
deer, being divided into two toes, sheathed with a hoof
at the extremity ; in the deer and other Ruminants the
metacarpal and metatarsal bones are blended into a single
canon-bone, but in the Anoplotherium they are sepa-
rate as in the hog. Allied to the Pachydermata in some
points, and in others to the Ruminantia, the Anoplotheria

THE ANOPLOTHERIUM. 103

appear to have occupied an intermediate station between
these two great orders: their heads, judging from the
skull, partook of the form of that of the horse and of
the camel ; the snout was not elongated into a proboscis
as in the tapir or the elephant. ‘The Anoplotheria are
divided into three subgenera, on various minor details
vf structure. The restricted division Anoplotherium
Proper comprehends two species, viz. A. commune
(Fig. 61), about the size of the ass, and the A. secun-
darium, about the size of the hog. These animals were
low on the limbs, and probably resembled the tapirs in
their habits, but were furnished with a long tail com-
pressed horizontally at the base, and rendering them
more essentially aquatic: they resorted to lakes and
marshes in search of aquatic plants, and, as the flattened
form of the tail indicates, must have swum and dived
with greater ease than either the hippopotamus or tapir.

|

/

62.—Anoplotherium,

The subgenus Ziphodon contains but a single species
(A. gracile: Fig. 62), a light, slender, graceful crea-
ture, with much of the contour of the gazelle: it was
pevably fleet and active, and was confined to the dry
and, where it fed like the deer. The taii was short,
and in this respect and in its general figure, as the

F2

104 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

skeletons prove, it must have exhibited a complete con-

trast to the low-built, heavy Anoplotherium commune. |
Of the third sub-general outline of the Adapis we have
as yet no means of arriving at any idea. |

Tue DinoruErium

(D. giganteum), as restored by Professor Kaup. Cuvier,
from teeth and isolated fragments, gave, in his work on
fossil bones, the title of ‘‘ Tapir gigantesque” to the
huge animal of which they were the relics, the only ones

5

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ig

Yi:
yn
oe ill

63.—Lower Jaw of Dinotherium.

then discovered. It was reserved for Professor Kaup
to add to our knowledge of the animal in question, by
the discovery first of several lower jaws (Fig. 63), and
subsequently of the skull (Fig. 64), which were found

THE DINOTHERIUM. 105

SS

Ses

\,

‘

LZ”

64,—Skull of-Dinotherium.

imbedded in a stratum of sandstone (the second or Mio-
cene system of tertiary deposits) at Eppelsheim, about
twelve miles south or Mayence, in company with relics
of the following, viz.: a second species of dinotherium,
making the species 2: Tapirus, 2, larger ey living
species; Chalicotherium (allied to tapirs), 2; Rhi-

106 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

noceros, 2; Tetracaulodon (allied to mastodon), 1;
Hippotherium (allied to horse), 1; Sus, 83; Felis (some
as large as a lion), 4; Machairodus (allied to bear,
Ursus cultridens); Gulo (glutton), 1; Agnotherium
(allied to dog, but as large asa lion), 1.

Cuvier, before he had completed the last edition of
his ‘ Régne Animal,’ became aware of M. Kaup’s dis-
covery of the lower jaw, and in his Additions, vol. i. p.
581, he alludes to this fragment as affording data for the
separation of the ‘‘ Tapir gigantesque”’ into a distinct
genus. ‘l’o this genus M. Kaup has given the title Di-
notherium. The skull of this extraordinary animal is
more than a yard in length, and the size and situation
of the nasal orifice (Fig. 65), with the salient portion of

65.—Skull of Dinotherium.

the short nasal bones, indicate the probable possession of
a proboscis; we sav probable, because in the manatee
or lamantin, and also the dugong, we have a similar
extent and situation of the nasal orifice, a circumstance
militating against the inference that a proboscis necessa-
rily accompanies this conformation of the skull. Indeed

THE DINOTHERIUM. 107

the general aspect of the skull of the dinotherium, set-
ting aside the tusks of the lower jaw, and its strange
alveolar projection, strougly reminds us of that of the
lamantin (Manatus, Cuv.). The orbits themselves are
very small, but the temporal fossee are very deep and
extensive, indicating the great mass of the temporal
muscle. The lower jaw is most remarkable. It is armed
at the extremity with two enormous tusks (incisors),
which, instead of projecting upwards or forwards, sweep

N=

downwards, and curve gently backwards, having their
roots imbedded in enormous alveoli. ‘The dentition is as

a a OF , 0—0 5—5 b
follows :—Incisors, 5 ; canines, 5—} molars, ae 22,
Of the molars the third has three transverse ridges across
its surface, the others have two, with the exception of

108 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF-MAMMALIA,

the first molar of the lower jaw, which has only one at
its posterior part, the anterior portion being trenchant.
Fig. 66 represents the palatal view of the skull of the
dinotherium; Fig. 67, the molar teeth and the relative
bearing of the two rows, which approximate towards
each other anteriorly,

Fig. 67.

The situation and affinities of the dinotherium have
been the subject of much speculation, and very opposite
opinions have been entertained by different naturalists.
M. Kau, influenced by the discovery of huge claws
and a scapula, resembling in character those of the Pan-
golins (JZanis), assigns the animal to the Edentata, but
differing from all extant species not only in exceeding
the elephant in size, but in having, like the elephant, a
proboscis. Dr. Buckland regards the dinotherium as
approximating to the tapir, of aquatic habits, and fur-
nished with a proboscis, by means of which it conveyed
to the mouth the vegetables raked from the bottom of

THE DINOTHERIUM. 109

lakes and rivers by its tusks and claws; and he alludes
to its claw resembling that of the Pangolins. MM.
Blainville and Duméril consider the dinotherium to have
been allied to the lamantins, or ‘‘ aquatic gravigrades,”
—to have been in fact adugong with tusk-incisors, and
therefore one of the concluding forms of the Pachyder-
mata. They consider that it had no proboscis, but a
huge inflated muzzle and upper lip. Geger places it
with the seals. Now, as regards M. Kaup’s theory, we
may at once state that the claws and scapula on which
he founds it are not proved to belong to the dinotherium ;
and he himself admits that, should the discovery take
place of other fossil relics whence the certain existence
of a Manis gigante might be presumed, his theory
would be overthrown. Our own opinion coincides with
that of M. Blainville. The occipital condyles (see the
posterior view of the skull seen from below, Fig. 68, and

Fig. 68.

the skull Fig. 64) are terminal, or in the direction of the
longitudinal axis of the skull, as in the lamantins, and also
the cetaceous mammalia modified for aquatic existence.
The occipital surface is large, subvertical, and even in-
clined from before backwards, with a profound mesial
depression for the insertion either of a very strong cer-
vical ligament or powerful muscles for the elevation of
the head. The basilary portion of the skull (Figs. 66,
67) is narrow in its component parts, while the vertical
surface (Fig. 64) is, as in the lamantins and dugongs,
F3

110 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

very wide, overplumbing the temporal fosse, of which
the depth and width indicate the enormous levator mus-
cles of the lower jaw, not only for the purpose of mas-
tication, but for the particular action of the lower jaw,
with its rake-like tusks. Moreover, in the lower jaw
we find an analogy to that of the dugong, of which the
branches curve downwards for a third of their length to
a deflected symphysis, only that in the dinotherium
this downward curvature is carried to a far greater ex-
treme, for the implantation of tusk-incisors. What were
the limbs of this gigantic animal? If its habits were
terrestrial, which a consideration of the skull forbids us
to believe, the dinotherium must have had solid pillars
of support, like the limbs of the elephant, and destitute
of that liberty which even in the Pangolins they are
endowed with; but if our ideas are correct, its limbs

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69.—Dinotherium,

FOSSIL SKULL OF TOXODON, 111

were adapted for aquatic locomotion, and perhaps the
posterior pair were wanting, or formed the elements of
a terminal paddle. Its diet was undoubtedly vegetable,
as in the dugong; and we may conceive it tearing up
the strong-fibred vegetables from their subaquatic bed by
means of its tusks, which might serve also as weapons of
offence, or as anchors for the purpose of mooring itself
to the banks of the lake or river, or of dragging its
unwieldy body partially out of the water. (Fig. 69.)

Dr. Buckland informs us that bones of the dino-
therium have lately been found in tertiary fresh-water
limestone near Orthes, at the foot of the Pyrenees, and
with them remains of a new genus allied to rhinoceros,
of several unknown species of deer, and of a dog or wolf
equalling a lion in size.

Cuvier and Kaup calculate the length of the dino-
therium at about eighteen feet; the massive lower jaw
measures nearly four feet, exclusive of the tusks.

Fosstz Sxuiz oF Toxonon (Zoxodon Platensis, Owen).

We are inclined to refer the toxodon, of which an
imperfect skull and fragments of a lower jaw, and some
teeth, are our only guides, to the aquatic Pachyderms;
and, as in the instance of the dinotherium, we draw our
deductions from the weight of the skull, from the form
and position of the nasal aperture, the slope of the occi-
put, and the position of the occipital condyles.

The skull in question was brought by Mr. Darwin
from South America. It appears that during his sojourn
in Banda Oriental he heard of some giant’s bones at a
farm-house on the Sarandis, a small stream entering the
Rio Negro, about 120 miles north-west of Monte Video.
Accordingly there he rode, and for the sum of eighteen-
pence purchased the cranium now in the museum of the
Royal College of Surgeons, London. Mr. Darwin was
informed by the people at the farm-house that the relics
were exposed in consequence ofa flood having washed
down part of the bank of earth. When first found the
skull was perfect; but unfortunately the boys of the

12 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

neighbourhood knocked out the teeth with stones, and
set up the head as a mark to throw at. Mr. Darwin,
however, found a perfect tooth, and fragments ascertained
by Professor Owen to be those of the lower jaw. These
remains were so fresh as to render it difficult to believe
that ages had passed since their interment; and Mr.
Darwin observes that they contained so much animal

matter, that, when a portion was heated in the flame of a
spirit-lamp, it not only exhaled a very strong animal
odour, but burnt with a slight flame. The deposit in
which they were imbedded was a whitish argillaceous
earth, forming the banks of the Sarandis, overlying a
granitic foundation.

FOSSIL SKULL OF TOXODON. 118

314 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

The skull in question equals in size that of the hip-
popotamus, measuring two feet four inches in length,
and one foot four inches in extreme breadth. The form
of the skull (Figs. 70, 71) is elongated and depressed ;
the zygomatic arches are of enormous size and strength,
an index of the great volume of the temporal and mas-
seter muscles. The occipital region (Fig. 72) slopes
from the condyles upwards and forwards. The maxillary
portion of the skull is compressed laterally, narrow
across, and with large intermaxillary bones, slightly
dilated at their extremity. The superior part of the
skull was cavernous, with cells, or sinuses, giving to it
greater apparent volume than the cerebral cavity would
lead us to infer. According to Professor Owen the

+
dental formula is as follows: Incisors, 63 canines none, a
vacant space being in their place; molars, — — oo.

74.—Incisor of Lower Jaw of Toxodon.

The incisor teeth (see Fig. 73, the fragment of the an-
terior part of the lower jaw, with the teeth in situ;
and Fig. 74, an incisor of the lower jaw) are remarkable
for their resemblance in many respects to those of the
Rodents ; they were rootless, and had persistent pulps;
growing, therefore, as worn down by use. In the upper
jaw the two central incisors were very small; the two

FOSSIL SKULL OF TOXODON. 115

external ones very large, curved, with their sockets
extending back in an arched direction through the inter-
maxillary bones to the maxillary, and terminating, without
becoming contracted, immediately anterior to the grind-
ing teeth. In the lower jaw the two middle incisors are
largest, the rest gradually diminishing in size. (Fig. 73.)
The molar teeth also were rootless, and curved, whence
the name toxodon (rédgov, a bow, ddovs, a tooth); and
their grinding surface presented one or more folds of
enamel re-entering the osseous substance of the centre,
as in Rodents. See Fig. 77, the last molar teeth but
one of upper jaw; Fig. 78, the grinding surface of the
* same; Fig. 79, the grinding surface of the correspond-
ing molar of lower jaw.

We might here enter on many minutie, and follow
Professor Owen through his anatomical details, were it
not that they are rather adapted for the close attention
of the comparative anatomist than the general reader.
Those who wish to gain the fullest information on these

116 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

points we may refer to the ‘ Proceeds. Geol. Sec. Lond.’
1837; and the ‘ Zoology of the Beagle: Fossil Mam-
malia.’ We may observe, however, that ‘‘in the aspect
of the plane of the occipital foramen and occipital region
of the skull, in the form and position of the occipital
condyles, in the aspect of the plane of the bony aperture
of the nostrils, and in the thickness and texture of the
osseous parietes of the skull,” the toxodon manifests an
affinity to the dinotherium and the aquatic Pachyderms
(the herbivorous Cetacea of Cuvier, but which in man-
ners and organization have little relationship to the true
whales, excepting as far as they are all modified for the
waters of the deep).

With respect to the limbs of the toxodon, we have
as yet no evidence respecting their form or number ;
how far, therefore, they were constructed for aquatic
progression, whether for this solely, or for occasional
visits to the land, is yet a problem to be solved. Pro-
fessor Owen, however, suggests that the presence of
large frontal sinuses renders it not improbable that the
habits ot this species were not so strictly aquatic as the
total absence of hinder extremities would necessitate.

In speaking of the dinotherium and toxodon it will
be seen that we have referred them, with the lamantins
and dugongs (more properly duyongs), to the aquatic
Pachyderms, between which group and the ordinary
Pachyderms we regard the hippopotamus.as forming a

STOMACH OF PACHYDERMS. Liz

link, though decidedly within the pale of the latter.
Cuvier has remarked that such of the Pachydermata as
approach the Ruminants in the structure of their feet
partake in some degree of the complication of the sto-
mach which in the animals of the latter order is so
remarkable a character; and it may be said, per contra,
that such Pachyderms as approach in a certain degree
in habits to the aquatic group resemble them in the
structure of the same organ. ‘The stomach of the semi-
aquatic hippopotamus, for example, consists of certain
sacculi, which renders it analogous to that of the lamantin.,
Sir E. Home observes that ‘‘ the stomachs of the manatee
and hippopotamus bear a close resemblance to each other
in structure, and are in many respects similar to that of
the peceary, which is a variation of the hogs, to which
the tapir is also allied; and these circumstances throw
no small light upon the preparatory processes required
for the digestion of different kinds of vegetable food.

The grass of the field is the food of ruminating ani-
mals, and, from the structure of their digestive organs, it
is evident that much previous digestion is necessary for
its preparation, ‘The grass and weeds at the bottom and
on the banks of rivers is the food of the manatee and
hippopotamus, and the apparatus formed for preparing
these substances displays an approach to the stomachs
in Ruminants. In the hog tribe the resemblance is less,
those animals having a more indiscriminate diet; the
structure of their stomach shows that grass is by no means
their natural food. The stomachs of the manatee and
hippopotamus, then, which at first sight appear so ex-
traordinary and incomprehensible, are in fact the links
which unite the Ruminants to those animals which feed
on roots and various vegetable substances, and form a
key, without which the different gradations cannot be
satisfactorily explained.”

It is not only in the form of the stomach, but in the
structure and contour of the skull, the position of the
eyes and nostrils, and even in the nature of the skin,
with its subcutaneous layer of fat, that we trace the ap-
proximation of the hippopotamus to the lamantins; and

118 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

it may be that the toxodon, and even dinotherium,
form links between the lamantins and hippopotamus,
being within the pale of the group to which the former
belong.

We may here observe, that the number of fossil ge-
nera included within the Pachydermata greatly exceeds
that of genera containing living species, of which latter
many, as Equus, Elephas, Rhinoceros, and Hippopo-
tamus, have fossil as well as living species: so that the
number of fossil or extinct species already ascertained of
the Pachydermatous order, taken collectively, is far
greater than the number of living species. In some,
perhaps many, instances the affinities of the fossil Pa-
chyderms are not understood, fragments of bones only
having been recovered: in some instances they cannot
be mistaken.

We began our observation on the Pachydermata by
alluding to the unfilled intervals between the forms now
living on the surface of the earth, and a statement that
in fossil forms—some yet to be discovered, others to be
made out, and, as it were, re-constructed—would the
lost links in the chain be recovered; and we again
express our opinion that ultimately the work will be, if
not perfectly, at least to a great extent, accomplished.

That our ideas are not unreasonable we have from time
to time satisfactory proofs. Sir Thomas Mitchell has
recently transmitted from Australia some fossil bones
which incontestably prove the existence of at jeast one
gigantic Pachyderm, at some remote period, in that
region. These fossils consist of a portion of a molar
tooth, of the shaft of a thigh bone, with part of the
spine, of a scapula, and some smaller fragments of a long
bone. They were found on the Darling Downs, those
extensive plains marked to the south-west of Moreton
Bay on most maps of Australia, at the source of the river
Darling, and upwards of 4000 feet above the level of
the sea. Sir Thomas Mitchell, in his letter to Professor
Owen, to whom the relics were forwarded, states that
these huge bones are found in some abundance. 1t
would appear from Professor Owen’s examination, that

EXTINCT AUSTRALIAN PACHYDERMATA. 119

this huge extinct animal was allied both to the mastodon
and dinotherium. _ Fig. 80 represents the femur of this
extinct Australian Pachyderm—a, its transverse section ;
Figs. 81, 82, two views of the portion of a molar tooth
of the same. These fossils, now in the museum of the
Royal College of Surgeons, cannot, observes Professor
Owen, be contemplated without suggesting many inter-
esting reflections,

“They tell us plainly that the time was when
Australia’s arid plains were trodden by the hoofs of
heavy Pachyderms; but could the land then have been,
as now, parched by long continued droughts, with dry
river-courses, containing here and there a pond of water ?
All the facts and analogies which throw light on the
habits of the extinct mastodons and dinotheres indicate
these creatures to have been frequenters of marshes,
swamps, or lakes, Other relations of land and sea than
now characterize the southern hemisphere, a different
condition of the surface of the land and of the meteoric
influences governing the proportion and distribution of
fresh-water on that surface, may therefore be conjectured
to have prevailed when huge Mastodontoid Pachyderms
constituted part of the quadruped population of Australia.
May not the change from a humid climate to the present
particularly dry one have been the cause, or chief cause,
of the extinction of such Pachyderms? Was not the
ancient Terra Australis, when so populated, of greater
extent than the present insular continent? The mutual
dependencies between large mammalian quadrupeds and
other members of the animal kingdom suggest other
reflections in connection with the present fossil. If the
extinct species ever so abounded as to require its redun-
dancy to be suppressed by a carnivorous enemy, then
some destructive species of this kind must have co-existed,
of larger dimensions than the extinct Dasyurus laniarius,
the ancient destroyer of the now equally extinct gigantic
Kangaroos, Macropus titan, &c., whose remains were
discovered in the bone-caves of Wellington Valley.
Extremely few coprophagous beetles have hitherto, we
believe, been found in Australia; and the scarcity of

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‘FOSSIL RELICS OF EXTINCT GENERA. 121

such is readily explained by the absence of native species
of large herbivorous mammals; but the dung of the
mastodontoid quadrupeds which formerly existed in
Australia must then have afforded the requisite condi-
tions for a greater abundance of such coleoptera. These
and other speculations are naturally suggested by the
highly interesting fossils here described. ‘The great
importance of such organic remains will be obvious from
the few inferences which have been briefly noted; our
obligations to the enlightened collector and transmitter
of the mastodontoid fossils are great, and the arrival of
additional facts and specimens will be most earnestly
welcomed.”

A consideration of the fossil relics of extinct animals
throws the mind back upon remote periods before the
surface of our globe had acquired its present aspect, its
present arrangement of land and water, of mountains
and plains, islands and continents; and when we begin
to review the history of its phases, we find ourselves
carried back into the obscure of time, till—in comparison
with the ages which have passed since the commence-
ment of the Primary period, wherein those oldest rocks
were formed in which there are no traces of animal or
vegetable life, to the conclusion of the Secondary geo-
logical period—the date of man’s existence on the globe
seems but of yesterday, and the few thousand years
through which he has played his part sink into a span.

But though the vast antiquity of the globe is clearly
demonstrated, still the length of time which has elapsed
during the formation of the whole or of any definite
portion of the crust of the earth is a problem yet to be
solved. We know that at one period life had no place
on our planet. The gneiss and mica-schist systems of
strata of the Primary period are destitute of all trace of
organic remains. In these, the most ancient of rocks,
which exhibit to us the combined effects of igneous and
aqueous agency, no fossil relics speak of a Fauna or
Flora during their formation, and we may believe that.
few or none of the organised wonders of nature were
then in existence, because the physical conditions of the

hipar SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

globe requisite for the existence of animals and plants
were not then established.* How long did this state of
the earth continue? It isa question which cannot be
answered. Passing from the primeval rocks,

“Where the bird dared not build, nor insect wing
Flit o'er the herbless granite,”

we come to the Snowdon rocks of argillaceous slate, and
the calcareous and argillaceous rocks, constituting the
Cumbrian system, in which a few traces of organic life
have been detected, but of organic life in its lowest type.
Then the Silurian or transition system succeeds, con-
sisting of sandstones, limestones, and shale; here corals,
crinoidea, trilobites, terebratule, &c., all belonging to
extinct species, and often to extinct genera and families,
and all aquatic, are abundant. From these systems of
the primary strata, we advance to the secondary strata—
rich in oceanic life—divided into the carboniferous
system, the saliferous or new red-sandstone system, the
oolitic system, and the cretaceous or chalk system. The
deposits constituting each of these systems are replete
with organic remains, but all of extinct species and
often of extinct genera. ‘The coal-measures are rich in
an extinct Flora, principally consisting of ferns, often in
an extraordinary degree of preservation, the most deli-
cate leaves being spread out, and so arranged as to con-
stitute a beautiful Hortus Siccus of a long-past period.
About 300 species of plants have been discovered in the
coal-measures of this and other countries. ‘Their luxu-
riance indicates a genial temperature and a humid ground.
“Tt would hardly be credited,” says Professor Lindley,
in his ‘Fossil Flora of Great Britain,’ “by persons un-
acquainted with the evidence upon which such facts re-
pose, that in the most dreary and desolate regions of the
present day there once flourished groves of tropical
plants, of Conifere, like the Norfolk Island and Arau-

* We exclude microscopic animalcules from our consi-
deration, because at present we scarcely know under what
circumstances they can live,

FOSSIL RELICS OF EXISTING GENERA. 123

carian pines, of bananas, tree-ferns, huge cacti and
palms; that the marshes were filled with rush-like plants
15 or 20 feet high, and the coverts with ferns like the
undergrowth of a West India island.

The chalk system is rich in extinct corals, zoophytes,
and echinoderms. Our lofty chalk hills and the white
cliffs of Dover have been formed through a long succes-
sion of ages at the bottom of a deep sea. From the
Secondary we advance to the Tertiary periods. In ge-
neral, says a talented writer, ‘‘ No contrast can be more
complete than that between the secondary and the tertiary
rocks; the former retaining so much uniformity of cha-
racter, even for enormous distances, as to appear like the
effect of one determined sequence of general physical
agencies: the latter exhibiting an almost boundless local
variety, and relations to the configuration of land and
sea not to be mistaken. ‘The organic bodies of the
secondary strata are obviously and completely distinct
from those of the modern land and sea; but in the ter-
tiary deposits, it is the resemblance between fossil and
recent kinds of corals, shells, plants, quadrupeds, and
other vertebrata, which first arrests the judgment. In
general there is a decided break between the two groups
of rocks, a discontinuity which is nowhere completely
filled. Yet besides the pseudo-tertiary or transition
chalky rocks of Maestricht and the Pyrenees, and the
conchiferous marls of Gosau, we have in England and
France above the chalk a prevalence of green and ferru-
ginous sands similar to those below. Perhaps they have
been derived from the waste of those older rocks. Mr.
Lyell supposes the tertiaries of the London basin to have
been formed from the waste of the secondary strata of
Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Hampshire. With the ter-
tiary system came into existence, if we may trust the
evidence which the earlier strata present, many races of
quadrupeds, some birds, reptiles, and fishes, extremely
analogous to, though for the most part specifically dis-
tinct from, the modern denizens of land and water;
thousands of corals, shells, crustacea, &c., which present
with living races quite as great analogy as obtains be

124 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

tween the tribes of the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans
of our day. The general features of land and sea as
they now exist began to appear, and there can be no
doubt that in a philosophical study of the revolutions of
the globe the tertiary era of geology cannot be properly
separated from the existing system of nature.” The
tertiary period, taken in this extended sense, saw the
creation and extinction of the mammoth, the mastodon,
the palzeotherium, the fossil rhinoceros and hippopotamus,
the dinotherium, the toxodon, and the huge pachyderm
of Australia; and next, the creation of all our modern
races of animals.

During the period of the deposition of the tertiary
strata, the relations of land and sea were greatly altered
in various portions of the globe ; in Europe by the rising
of the Pyrenees beyond the height they reached after
the cretaceous era, and by the uplifting of the Alps from
the Mediterranean towards Mont Blane. “ In England
we may believe the upward movement of the southern
counties connected with the Hampshire axis of elevation
and the Isle of Wight convulsion was ended at an early
epoch of the tertiary period. The eastern range of the
Alps from Mont Blane to Vienna is of later date, and
may be viewed as the most marked phenomenon of ele-
vation which accompanied or preceded the dispersion of
erratic blocks in Europe.”

Besides the alterations thus produced in the relation
of the land and the sea, changes have taken place, and
are still in progress, from other causes. Rivers bring
down vast quantities of the disintegrated particles of the
strata through which they flow, and deposit the sediment
at their mouths, forming deltas, or low tracts, won as it
were particle by particle from the domain of the ocean ;
on the other hand, the sea itself wears down coasts to a
great extent, making vast inroads on the land, and con-
verting the isthmus into an island: sometimes, by the
sudden or gradual elevation of a large tract of land, an
inland sea becomes drained, leaving in its place a sandy
desert. In the depths themselves there is no rest }
multitudes of zoophytes and testacea there live and die,

FOSSIL RELICS. 125

there their remains accumulate layer upon layer, forming
beds of vast thickness, which at a future day may be laid
bare, covered with alluvium, and engage the researches of
another Cuvier. The chemical action of the atmosphere ;
heat and cold, rain and snow, winds, springs, rivers,
torrents, the action of the tides; life, animal and vege-
table ; and volcanic agencies, all contribute their part to
alter the surface of the land, and to effect changes in its
relative extent to that of the sea—changes which are in
reality never stationary, but, imperceptible as they may
seem, in constant progress.

The deposits of the Tertiary period are divided by Mr.
Lyell into three series: the oldest, or Eocene, in which
there occurs from three to five per cent. of existing spe-
cies of shells; secondly, the series of the middle age, or
Meiocene, averaging 18 per cent. in the occurrence of
existing species of shells; and thirdly, the superficial or
Pleiocene deposits, in which the ratio of existing shells is
from 40 to 95 per cent.

We trust we shall be pardoned for this brief digres-
sion, into which we were led by a desire to show that
fossil relics are not all of the same era, and that Primary,
Secondary, and Tertiary periods have each their distin-
guishing characteristics, their own fossil relics ; that on
the whole the progression of life has been from the
lowest aquatic forms, to forms analogous to those now
tenanting the earth, which, when they existed in the
Eocene, Meiocene, or Pleiocene epoch of the Tertiary
period, must have presented to a certain extent the
superficial features it at present exhibits, though there
were doubtless great modifications in the arrangements
of land and water, and in the temperature of given lati-
tudes. We beg to refer our readers to the articles
‘Organic Remains’ and ‘ Geology,’ in the ‘ Penny
Cyclopedia.’ The perusal will give additional interest
to our details of fossil relics.

Tribe—-AQUATIC PACHYDERMATA

(The Herbivorous Cetacea of Cuvier).—TIf our readers
will turn to our account of the fossil dinotherium and
VOL, Ill. G

126 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

toxodon, pp. 104 and 111, he will find that we have
there alluded to the dugong or duyong, and the lamantin
(the Aquatic Gravigrades of Blainville), as belonging
to the pachydermatous order, and as having in manners
and organization little relationship to the true whales, ex-
cepting in so far as they are alike modified for the waters
of the deep.

In their external form, indeed, these aquatic paehy-
derms are whale-like: there are no hinder limbs, the
pelvis being either rudimentary or wanting, and the fore
limbs are converted into flippers or paddles; the body is
continued conical till it terminates ina transverse or hori-
zontal tail, consisting of an expanse of cartilage covered
with tendinous fibres and skin, and which is the chief organ
of aquatic locomotion. The skin is almost naked, oily,
and covers a layer of subcutaneous blubber or fat ; the lips
are studded with thick wiry bristles. Although the nasal
opening is placed high on the skull, the nostrils in the
skin are placed at the extremity of the muzzle, which is
remarkably obtuse and truncate—a form advantageous for
the browsing habits of these animals, which feed on sub-
marine vegetables. The eyes are protected by a mem-
brana nictitans, and the teats in the females are situated
just behind the roots of the flippers—two points of
difference between these aquatics and the whales. The
stomach is sacculated ; the teeth present flat bruising
surfaces; there are no intercostal and intra-vertebral
arterial plexuses, as in the true Cetacea. (Fig. 83.)
The bones of the skeleton are of dense texture and
destitute of medullary cavities; they are not loaded
with oil, as in the Cetacea. In the Indian dugong
there are seven cervical vertebrae, nineteen costal verte-
bree, and thirty lumbar, pelvic, and caudal. In the
dugong of the Red Sea the lumbar, pelvic, and caudal
vertebree amount to thirty-three ; making in all fifty-
nine. ‘he number of the ribs is nineteen on each side.
The lower jaw is articulated to the cranium by a true
synovial capsule, reflected over cartilaginous surfaces,
and not, as in the true Cetacea, by a coarse oily liga-
mentous substance. In the lamantin, or manatee, the

AQUATIC PACHYDERMATA. 127

83.—Vascular Apparatus of Whale.

ribs are sixteen on each side. Fig. 84 represents the
skeleton of the dugong, and Fig. 84* that of the mana-
tee. ‘They may be compared together, and with the
skeleton of the porpoise, Fig. 94* (a true cetacean), with
advantage.

Fig. 85 represents the skull of the dugong; Fig. 85*,
that of the manatee. The skull of the manatee may be
distinguished from that of the dugong by the following
particulars :—The nasal bones are very small, and im-
bedded, so to speak, in the frontal, which consist of two

G 2

a A “ay

I) a ;

o
5

84,—-Skeleton of Dugong.

84*,—-Skeleton of Manatee,

AQUATIC PACHYDERMATA, 129

FAW
SnD

SS
YH)

( 4 fi Pr be ys ,
AU ak Ts
Np fi; BESSA,
—

J \ 7g

} ft ce, , (

Y) (( Y? fyi
1 Ppa \\ Wg ” ff }
co? ey ! Ye! Mi
rd Y ul & ff
y Ye Niall ifs
a inp ht!
85.—Skull of Dugong,.

85*,.—Skull of Manatee.

portions advancing forwards, so as to enter into the
upper margin of the nasal orifice, and form the ceiling
of the orbits. The intermaxillary bones (a) advance
far forwards, but are destitute of teeth, excepting during
the early stages of the animal’s existence; these bones
form the lateral edges of the nasal orifice, which is very
spacious; but in the living animal the bones are con-

130 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

tinued by a cartilaginous addition, so that the nostrils
open at the end of the muzzle. ‘The orbits are situated
far forwards, and their margin is very prominent; the
zygomatic arch is broad and strong; the muzzle advances
directly forwards with a very slight gradual downward
bend. The dentition of the manatee (Fig. 86) is not

VE Te ee

! / g

/
\

es

?
ie
cs

eee =
hh —S
= Sr =
Sek
~

86.—Teeth of Manatee.

correctly ascertained. In adult skulls eight molars on
each side are usually found, in others nine or ten; and
Fred. Cuvier observes that, as in some of the ordinary
Pachydermata, the anterior molars, worn the first, fall

AQUATIC PACHYDERMATA. Jot

as the posterior ones become developed, being, indeed,
ushed out by their advance. ;

The skull of the dugong (Fig. 85) is distinguished
by the enormous size of the intermaxillary bones, a,
which extend backwards as far as the middle of the tem-
poral fossz, and are bent down with a sudden angle (re-

87.—Teeth of Dugong,

minding us of the beak of the flamingo) over the elon-
gated symphysis of the lower jaw. In this deflected
portion of each intermaxillary bone is lodged the root of
a permanent, tusk-like, but not very prominent incisor,
there being two of these teeth above, none below. This
development and shape of the intermaxillary bones throws

132 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

the nasal orifice higher up than in the manatee: the
lower jaw is thicker, shorter, deeper, and its symphysis
fits the deflected portion of the intermaxillary bones.
In the young dugong the molars are five on each side,
above and below; but the three anterior are deciduous,
the two last being permanent (see dentition, Fig. 87).
To those who wish to investigate the anatomy of this
animal we recommend a paper by Professor Owen, in
the ‘ Zool. Proceeds.’ for 1838, p. 28.

Tur Ducone

(Halicore Dugong, F. Cuv.; Halicore Indicus,
Desmarest).

This species is a native of the Indian seas, being com-
mon among the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and
visiting also the coasts of New Holland. (Fig. 88.)
Its favourite haunts are the mouths of rivers and straits
between proximate islands, where the depth of water is
but trifling (three or four fathoms), and where, at the
bottom, grows a luxuriant pasturage of submarine algee
and fuci: here in calm weather may small troops be

€8.—Dugong,

THE MANATEE. 133

seen feeding below the surface, and every now and then
rising to take breath. The position of the mouth, the
muscular powers and mobility of the lips garnished with
wiry bristles, and the short incisor tusks of the upper
jaw, enable these animals to seize and drag up the long
fronds of the subaquatic vegetables which constitute their
nourishment.

The dugong (more properly duyong) is in high esteem
as an article of food, its flesh being tender and not unlike
beef; hence it is hunted assiduously by the Malays,
who attack the animal with harpoons, in the manage-
ment of which they are very dexterous.

The mutual affection of the male and female is very
great, and the latter is devoted to her offspring. Ifa
dugong be killed, the survivor of the pair, careless of
danger, follows after the boat, carrying the body, im-
pelled by an overmastering passion, and thus often shares
the fate of its partner; indeed, if one be taken, the other
is an easy prize.

The dugong attains to the length of seven or eight
feet; its caudal paddle is crescent-shaped; the large
thick upper lip hangs over the lower; the skin of the
body is thinly set, with very short prickly bristles ; the
anterior limbs, or flippers, are destitute of nails. The
ventricles of the heart are not united together, but form
as it were two distinct hearts joined at the top: this se-
paration of the ventricles does not alter the routine of
the circulation. The eyes are very small.

An allied species (Halicore TYabernaculi) has been
discovered by MM. Ehrenberg and Riippel in the Red
Sea.

Tae Manates, or LAMANTIN
(Manatus Americanus ; Trichecus Manatus, Linn.).

The American manatee inhabits the embouchure of
the Amazon, Orinoko, and other rivers of South America,
and feeds upon subaquatic herbage. Its flippers exhibit
rudiments of nails, and by their aid it sometimes drags
its unwieldly body on shore, and crawls up the banks,

G3

134 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

either to bask in the sun or seek for terrestrial vege-
tables. (Fig. 89.) The males and females are mutually
attached to each other, and the latter are tenderly de-
voted to their young, which soon after birth they carry
under their flippers, where the teats are seated. This
species measures from six to seven feet in length ; the
head is small, the muzzle thick and fleshy, presenting at
its extremity a semicircular disc, at the upper part of
which are the nostrils, semicircular orifices, directed for-
wards. ‘The eyes are small; the aperture of the audi-
tory canal almost imperceptible. From the shoulders
the body gradually diminishes, and terminates in a flat,
horizontal, oval paddle.

89.— Manatee.

A distinct species (Manatus Senegalensis, Desm.) is
found in the embouchure of the Senegal and other rivers
of Western Africa; its manners resemble those of the
preceding, but we have no very precise details.

According to Dr. Harlan, a distinct species of mana-
tee, which he terms Manatus latirostris, inhabits the
shores of some parts of North America.

ZEUGLODON, 135

ZEUGLODON.

The fossil teeth here represented were discovered by
Dr. Harlan in America, and attributed by him to an ex-
tinct reptile, which he termed Basilosaurus. Professor
Owen, however, proves them to belong to an extinct
animal referable to the present tribe, and allied to the
manatee and dugong; and for this animal he has pro-
posed the name of Zeuglodon, a word suggested by the
form of the posterior molars, which resemble two teeth
tied or yoked together. (Fig. 90.) a represents the

90.—Fossil Teeth of Zeuglodon.

136 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

cut surface of one of these teeth, each part exhibiting a
central pulp-cavity, and concentric strize of growth. For
minute details see ‘ Mag. Nat. Hist.’ May, 1839, p.
209.

——

OrpeR—CETACEA.

Tux Cetacea are characterized by the conical fish-like
form of the body, covered with a smooth naked skin,
adapted for the medium in which they live; between
the skin and the muscles is a layer of blubber, varying
in thickness in different species, and most abundant in
the Greenland whale, its thickness being from eight or
ten totwenty inches. The uses of this layer are various:
in the first place, it renders the huge body of these ani-
mals specifically lighter than the surrounding fluid ;
secondly, it materially tends to the preservation of the
vital heat; and, thirdly, it affords protection to the internal
organs against the effects of the enormous pressure to
which these animals are subject while plunging deep
into the abysses of the ocean. ‘The fore limbs are
modified into flippers, and the posterior part of the body,
destitute of hind limbs, is continued conical, and termi-
nates in a broad horizontal cartilaginous paddle. On
the central line of the upper surface, and generally
towards the tail, is sometimes seated a small vertical car-
tilaginous fin, unconnected with the skeleton. This fin
varies in figure, and is often absent. It is partly by the
aid of this fin, where present, but more so by that of the
flippers, that the Cetacea balance themselves in the water,
for when dead or dying they float on the side or the back.
The mode of progression consists of a series of leaps or
impulses produced by the action of the tail, which is bent
down and then struck out with greater or less violence,
according to the rapidity with which the animal is cleav-
ing its way. By means of this organ it can dive instan-
taneously, or even leap out of the water, throwing the
waves around into spray and foam. In the ordinary
position of the Cetacea while floating, only the top of
the head and part of the back appear above the surface,

CETACEA. 137

their capacious jaws, and also the eyes, being beneath ;
hence, in order to admit of uninterrupted respiration,
the situation and structure of the nostrils are modified
accordingly.

These animals are called blowing Cetacea, because,
in consequence of the structure of the nostrils, they
are capable of throwing up jets of water or spray accom-
panied with a loud noise; this act is termed blowing,
and the nasal orifices blow-holes or spiracles; they open
on the top of the head, and lead to two large membra-
nous pouches seated immediately below the integument.
These pouches are receptacles for fluid, which, being
forced up into them, is prevented from returning into
the throat by certain valves furnished with strong muscles,
lodged above the intermaxillary bones (see Fig. 91,

91.—Skull of Dolphin.

the skull of the Dolphin) ; it is in the hollow at the top
of the head that these pouches are placed. The poste-
rior nasal passage is furnished with longitudinal and cir-
cular muscular fibres, and opens into the pharynx, or
back part of the mouth ; and into it the larynx rises in
the form of a pyramid, and the circular fibres of the nasal
passage have the power of grasping it by their contrac-
tions. The channel, therefore, from the larynx thorugh
the posterior nasal passage into the pouches is plain.
Now these pouches are lodged, as we have said, beneath

138 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

the skin, and the nostrils which conduct to them open
externally by a transverse semilunar slit, while very
strong muscular fibres, radiating from the entire circum-
ference of the cranium, cover the whole surface of the
apparatus, and act as compressors of the pouches. Let
us suppose, says Cuvier, ‘‘ that the cetaceous animal
has taken into its mouth some water which it wishes to
eject ; it moves its tongue and jaws as if it were about to
swallow, but, closing the pharynx, it forces the water to
mount into the nasal passage, where its progress is ac-

Lan

92.—Section of Head of Porpoise.

celerated by the action of the circular fibres, until it raises
the valves and distends the membranous pouches above.
Here it can be retained until the animal wishes to eject
it and take in breath. In order to spout, the valves being
closed, it forcibly compresses the pouches by means of
the muscular expansions which cover them; and, com-
pelled to escape by the narrow crescentie aperture, it is
projected to a height corresponding to the force of the

CETACEA, 139

pressure.” The noise, however, called blowing, shows
that the animal forcibly exhausts its lungs of the pent-up
breath, driving the air through the nasal orifices, which,
mingled with the water contained in the pouches, rises
like spray or dense midst. Fig. 92 represents a section
of the head of the porpoise, showing the structure of the
nasal apparatus. This apparatus is of little use as an
olfactory organ, the sense of smell being very deficient.
As respects the organs of sight, we may observe that the
eye is very small, and adapted, as in fishes, to the density
of the surrounding medium, the cornea being flat, and
the crystalline lens globular ; there is no lachrymal gland,
but the lids are furnished with certain little glands
secreting a fluid adapted for lubricating the eyeball.
The external aperture of the ear is minute and capable
of being closed at pleasure. Under water the whale
hears the smallest sounds, the slightest splash of the
oar, but to sounds in the air above, even the report of a
cannon, as Scoresby states, it is insensible. Its auditory
apparatus, enclused in a bone (petrous portion of the
temple) remarkable for hardness, appreciates only the
vibration of water. The sense of taste does not appear
to be acute.

The Cetacea, passing their existence in the wild waste
of seas, are capable of remaining submerged for a con-
siderable length of time, and the vascular system is modi-
fied accordingly, the arteries not only of the limbs, but of
the chest and vetebral canal, being singularly plexiform.
The discovery of this arrangement is due to the cele-
brated W. Hunter, who published an account of it in
the Phil. Trans. 1787. These animals, he says, ‘‘ have
a greater proportion of blood than any other known, and
there are many arteries apparently intended as reservoirs
where a larger quantity seemed to be required in a part,
and vascularity could not be the only object. ‘Thus we
find that the intercostal arteries divide into a vast number
of branches, which run in a serpentine course beneath
the pleura (lining membrane of the chest), the ribs, and
their muscles,” forming a deep maze of intermingled
and contorted tubes. ‘‘ These vessels, everywhere lining

140 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

the sides of the thorax, pass in between the ribs near their
articulation, and also behind the ligamentous attachment
of the ribs, and anastomose with each other. The spinal
cord is surrounded with a network of arteries in the same
manner, more especially where it comes out from the
brain, and where a thick substance is formed by their
ramifications and convolutions. Fig. 83 represents the
arrangement of the arteries of the chest.

Nor is this plexiform arrangement peculiar to the ar-
terial system; it iseven more strongly displayed in the
venous; the veins in certain parts forming immense
plexiform reservoirs. This curious disposition of the
vascular system in the Cetacea is, as we have intimated,
most probably connected with their habits of diving,
during which their respiration is suspended, and conse-
quently the passage of the blood through the lungs im-
peded ; while at the same time they are subjected to a
great pressure. Hence perhaps the arterial plexuses are
needed as reservoirs stered with oxygenated blood for
the use of the system, while the venous plexuses are
reservoirs for the sake of safety during the suspension of
respiration,

The females of this order have two teats deeply
imbedded at the lower portion of the abdomen. The
stomach is very complicated, divided into several
compartments, and digestion is very rapid.

As these animals have to plough the waves head foremost,
a long or even decided neck would interfere with their
movements, consequently the cervical vertebra are com-
pressed into a small space, and more or less entire]
anchylosed into one mass, to the total immobility of the
head, the axis of which cannot be altered without a
corresponding alteration of that of the body. It is more-
over remarkable that the two halves of the head do not
precisely correspond in symmetry. This is especially
observable in the dolphins, porpoises, grampus, and
cachalot. (See Mechel’s ‘ Anatomie Comparée,’ vol.
iv. p. 361.)

The Cetacea are all carnivorous, but their prey differs
from the small mollusk to fishes and even the smaller ot

THE COMMON PORPOISE. 141

their own order; and their teeth are modified accord-
ingly. They are divided into the following families :—

1. Delphinide, Dolphins, Grampuses, Narwhals, &e.
2. Catodontide, Cachalots, or Spermaceti Whales, 3.
Balenide, Rorquals and Blubber Whales,

Famity—DELPHINID (Dolphins, Porpoises, &c.).

Tur Common Porrotss (Phocena communis).

In the genus Phoceena the snout in the living animal is
not produced as in the dolphin; but in other respects
the characters are the same. The teeth are numerous,
compressed, rounded, and interlock when the jaws are
closed, and are well fitted for snapping at and retaining
the slippery prey. (Fig. 93.) A dorsal fin is present.
There are several species.

oe
p—flbaanass Ns ae
in. Sa

~ ———

eee = EAS

7 ee

93.—Teeth of Porpoise.

The common porpoise is active, fleet, and voracious ;
it frequents, in troops, the bays and inlets of our coast,
and especially the mouths of rivers, not unfrequently
advancing to a considerable distance up their stream.
(Fig. 94.) In such places it is often taken in nets by
the fishermen, becoming entrapped while eagerly pursu-

142 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

ing its prey. When the shoals of herring and other
fish which periodically visit our coast make their appear-
ance, they are harassed, among other enemies, by this
active and voracious animal, which revels in the luxury
of a perpetual feast; and as its appetite is enormous
and its digestion rapid, the slaughter in which it appears
incessantly occupied must be very great. The porpoise
is common at the Nore, and few have sailed to Margate
or Ramsgate who have not seen these animals tumbling
along, as they appear to do, in the rushing waves. The
peculiarity of their motion results from the horizontal

94.—Common Porpoise.

position of the tail-paddle, and the up-and-down stroke
which it gives; and their momentary appearance is for the
purpose of breathing, which accomplished, they plunge
down in search of their food. In former days the flesh of
the porpoise was highly esteemed as a delicacy for the
table, and was served at public feasts; indeed, it is but
lately that it has fallen into disrepute, and been omitted
at City entertainments, where the turtle usurps its place.
Our forefathers must have had a different notion about

‘astodi0g JO U0J[OYS—"x. 6

344 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

table delicacies from ourselves; for few, we believe,
would now relish the rank, oily, fishy flesh of this ani-
mal. Length about five feet. Fig. 94* represents the
skeleton.

Fig. 91 represents the skull of the dolphin (Delphinus
Deiphis), a species. celebrated by the ancients, and
resembling the porpoise in its habits and food. The
aquatic evolutions of these animals, as seen sporting
around ships, apparently for the sake of amusement, their

varied and rapid turns, and gambols, are well described
by Ovid—

“Undique dant saltus, multaque adspergine rorant ;
Emerguntque itertim, redeuntque sub equora rursus,
Inque chori ludunt speciem, lascivaque jactact
Corpora, et acceptum patulis mare naribus efflant.”

Tue Narwuax (Monodon monoceros).

The genus Monodon, of which the narwhal is the
only recognised species, is provisionally placed by Cuvier
in the family Delphinide., It evidently forms the type
of a distinct group. Among the Cetacea inhabiting the
dreary realms of the Polar Ocean, the narwhal, if not
the largest or among the largest, is nevertheless one of the
most remarkable: its general form resembles that of the
porpoises ; it has, however, no teeth, properly so called,
but two ivory tusks, or spears, implanted in the inter-
maxillary bone, but of which the right remains usually
rudimentary and concealed during life. The left tusk,
on the contrary, attains to the length of from five to
seven or eight and sometimes ten feet in length, and
projects from the snout ina right line with the body,
tapering gradually toa point, with a spiral twist (ropelike)
throughout its whole extent (Fig. 95, where, by an over-
sight, the tusks have been transposed). In its structure
and growth this tusk resembles that of the elephant,
being hollow at its base or root, and solid at its extremity.
It is in the male only that this spear-like weapon, under
ordinary circumstances, becomes duly developed, the
females (and indeed the young males) having the left as

THE NARWHAL. 145

«Qs

ANN

95.—Skull and Tooth of Narwhal.

well as the right tusk concealed within its bony
socket. This rule, however, is not invariable,
for females have not only been seen with the left
tusk projecting, but the right also, if we may
credit the account of Lacépéde, who states that
Captain Dirck Peterson, commander of a vessel
called the Golden Lion, brought to Hamburg,
in 1689, the skull ofa female narwhal, having two
tusks implanted in it, of which the left measured
seven feet five inches, the right seven feet.
It may be added that Captain Scoresby brought

146 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

home the skull of a female narwhal in which both tusks
projected, though only to the distance of two and a
quarter inches, and which was examined by Sir E. Home.
Nor with respect to the male must it be supposed that the
right tusk never becomes developed, for, on the contrary,
instances sometimes occur in which the right tusk projects
externally nearly as far as the left ; and there are grounds
for supposing that, when the left becomes lost, or broken
by accident, the right tusk becomes developed to supply
the deficiency. Formerly these horns, or tusks, were
looked upon to be the horns of the fabulous land-unicorn,
and therefore they were valued as an inestimable curiosity,
and sold excessively dear, till the Greenland fishery was
set on foot, when they became more common, and their
real nature known.

The use assigned to the tusk of the narwhal by Crantz,
viz. that of uprooting marine vegetables on which to feed,
is altogether a supposition. As the male only has this
instrument developed, or generally the male, the female
must be reduced to sad difficulties in the procuring of
food ; but in truth the position cf the tusk renders such a
use as is here attributed to it impossible. Moreover the
narwhal does not subsist on marine fuci, or algze, but on
soft animal matters, as mollusks and fish. Captain
Scoresby found the remains of cuttle-fish in the stomachs
of several which were opened by him, and similar re-
mains were also found in the stomach of one driven ashore
near Boston.

In general form the narwhal resembles the porpoise,
but the head is small and blunt; the mouth is small, and
not capable of much extension. The under-lip is wedge-
shaped. The eyes are placed in a line with the opening
of the mouth, at the distance of thirteen or fourteen
inches from the snout, and of small size, being about an
inch in diameter. The spiracle, or blow-hole, is a single
orifice of a semicircular form, on the top of the head,
directly over the eyes. ‘The fins, or flippers, are about
fourteen or fifteen inches long, and from six to eight
broad: their situation on the sides of the animal being
at one-fifth of its length from the snout. The breadth

THE NARWHAL. 147

of the tail is from fifteen to twenty inches. There is no
dorsal fin, but a sharp ridge runs down the centre of
the back, the edge of which is generally found to be
rough, and worn, as if by rubbing against the ice. At
an early age the narwhal is blackish gray on the back,
with numerous darker spots and markings running into
each other, forming a general dusky black surface. The
sides are almost white, with dusky and more open
markings; the under surface is white. In adult speci-
mens the ground-colour of the back is yellowish-white,
with markings varying from dark gray to dusky black,
and of a roundish or oval figure, with interspaces of white
or yellowish-white between them. ‘The skin resembles
that of the common Greenland whale (Balena mysti-
cetus), but is thinner. (Fig. 96.) The female narwhal
produces a single young one at a birth, which she
nourishes with milk for several months.

96.—The Narwhal.

To the rapidity, the great powers, and the ferocity of
the narwhal when attacked, many writers have borne
testimony. Its form is admirably adapted for cleaving
the waters, and we can well believe that the shock of its
weapon, driven full tilt against an enemy, must produce
a terrible effect. The ribs of the stoutest boat would

148 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

be transfixed by the dint of such a blow, far more easily
than was ever shield by the lance of knight in battle or
tournament. Several instances have indeed been known
in which the animal has plunged his weapon deep into
the thick oak timbers of a ship, when it has fortunately
snapped short, the fragment remaining fixed in the orifice,
so as to plug it up. A portion of wood taken from
the hull of a ship with a piece of narwhal’s tusk firmly
imbedded in it came some few years ago under our
own inspection. It is probably only in defence of the
females and their young, unless indeed when attacked
himself, that the male narwhai thus rushes against ships
or boats; for we utterly discredit the usual accounts of
its causeless and indiscriminate attacks upon any object
which approaches within its range. Doubtless when
wounded and harassed it becomes desperate; and its
power, its velocity, and weapon combine to render it
formidable.

The narwhal is gregarious, associating in troops of
from six or eight to twenty or more; and numbers are
often seen clustered together, both in the open sea, and
in bays and inlets free from the ice, forming a compact
phalanx, moving gently and slowly along. Under such cir-
cumstances the independent movements of each individual
are necessarily embarrassed, so that a considerable slaugh-
ter may be easily effected among them. When attacked
at such a time, the hind ranks, instead of turning against
their assailants, press upon those before, sliding their
long weapons over the glossy backs of their leaders, and
all becomes disorder and confusion. Opportunities of
this kind are welcome to the Greenlanders, to whom
the narwhal is an important animal. Independently of
the oil, which the narwhal yields in considerable quantity
and of excellent quality, the flesh is much esteemed by
these people as food, and eaten both fresh and in a dried
and smoked state, being prepared over the fire of their
huts. The tendons of the muscles are useful in the pre-
paration of thin but tough cordage; and Duhamel states
(see his ‘ Traité des Péches’) that several membranous
sacs are obtained from the gullet, made use of as parts

THE BELUGA. 149

of their fishing apparatus. The ivory spear, or tusk, the
Greenlanders employ in various household and economical
purposes instead of wood, and in the manufacture of
weapons, as darts or arrows, &c. When struck by a
harpoon, the narwhal dives with great velocity, and in
the same manner as the whale, but not to the same extent.
In general it descends about 200 fathoms; and on re-
turning to the surface is despatched by a whale-lance
without any difficulty. ‘The blubber is about three inches
in thickness, and invests the whole body: it affords
about half a ton of oil.

The narwhal may be registered among the occasional
visitants to the British shores. Of its visits, however,
only three instances are on record, as far as we can learn,
The first is recorded by Nicolas Tulpius in 1648. The
second is of one killed, in 1800, near Boston, in Lincoln-
shire, and said to have been twenty-five feet in length.
The third instance occurred in 1806, at the Sound of
Weesdale, in Shetland.

Tur Betuca (Delphinapterus Leucas, Pall.).

The genus Delphinapterus is characterized by the
presence of a dorsal fin. _ Head small and blunt; teeth
variable in number. The beluga (White Fish, or
White Whale) is a native of the high northern latitudes,
and is one of the most beautiful, confident, and active of
itsrace. Its colour is clear milk-white, sometimes tinged
with arose-colour or aslight wash of yellow, and the skin
is very soft, smooth, and slippery. It associates in small
troops or families, and is in the habit of following and
surrounding boats or ships, gambolling like the dolphin
around them; or chasing its finny prey, in quest of
which it often ascends the mouths of rivers, occasionally
to a considerable distance. (Fig. 97.) During the in-
tense severity of the winter, the beluga is said to migrate
southwards; this journey cannot, however, be to any
great extent, as it very rarely occurs in the sea around
the most northern portion of the British Isles. Indeed
we do not know of more than one instance on record ot

VOL. IIL. H

150 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

97.—Beluga.

his species visiting our coasts; we refer to the individual
taken, in the summer of 1815, in the Frith of Forth,
where it had been observed for nearly three months
ascending with the flood-tide and regularly descending
with the ebb. This individual, as is proved by the time
of the year in which it was seen, was a stray wanderer
from its native latitudes, and not on a regular journey of
migration. The flesh of this animal is eaten by the
Greenlanders and other people of the boreal regions.
Crantz says it is as red as beef, and of somewhat similar
flavour; Pallas, that itis black. The carcase yields ex-
cellent oil, and it is principally for the sake of this that
the beluga is hunted. It is sometimes intercepted by
nets extended across the inlet or stream it bas entered,
and attacked with lances while endeavouring to force its
return : on other occasions it is harpooned, and sometimes
even caught by means of hooks baited with fish. The
female produces one or two young at a birth, towards
which she displays the strongest attachment ; they follow
her in all her movements, and do not quit her until they
are of considerable size. Cuvier states that the teeth

THE SPERMACETI WHALE. bs]

are nine in number on each side, above and below.
Mr. Bell states that, in a cranium in his possession, there
are eight teeth in the upper and six in the lower jaw,
on each side; but that, as two have evidently fallen from
the former, there must have been ten originally. Aged
individuals are often found without any teeth in the upper
jaw. The beluga measures, when adult, seventeen. or
eighteen feet in length. That caught in the Frith of
Forth measured thirteen feet four inches, and nearly
nine feet in circumference at the thickest part, viz. the
centre of the body, whence it tapers both to the head and
to the tail.

Famiry—CATODONTIDZ (Physeteride, Bell).

Turis family, which includes the Cachalots, is charac-
terized by the immoderate size of the head, which equals
one-third the length of the body, and terminates in a
deep, abrupt, truncate snout, advancing beyond the lower
jaw, which is narrow, the two rami being in contact for
the greater part of their length, and armed each with a
row of compressed, solid, conical teeth, at equal distances
fitting into cavities in the upper jaw, which is either
destitute of teeth, or merely furnished with a few in
a rudimentary state and almost covered by the gum.
The blow-holes open externally by a single orifice. The
tongue is small and’ pointed.

Tue Common Cacuatot, or SPERMACETI WHALE

(Physeter macrocephalus, Linn. ; Physeter Catodon, Linn. ;
Catodon trumpo, Lacépéde; Blunt-headed Cachalot,
Pennant).

The cachalot is one of the mightiest of the Cetacea,
the adult male measuring upwards of seventy feet in
length ; and from its powers, and not unfrequent pa-
roxysms of fury, is one of the most dangerous of the
monsters of the deep which the daring sailor is called
upon to combat. (Fig. 98.)

The cachalot roams the ocean at pleasure, and is seen

H 2

152 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

in all latitudes, but its native regions may be considered
as the arctic and antarctic seas.* It would seem that
the animal is gregarious; and is generally seen in parties
consisting of half-grown males, or of females attended
by their young, and guarded by one or two males of the
largest size. When solitary cachalots are observed,
they invariably prove to be aged males.

ee

rae * be el

§8.—Spermaceti Whale.

According to Mr. F. De Bell Bennett (‘ Zool. Pro-
ceeds.,’ 1837, p. 39), the speed of an alarmed cachalot
does not exceed from eight to ten miles an hour, though
when harpooned its temporary velocity may be estimated
from twelve to fifteen miles. When thus flying from
pursuit, the huge animal moves with a regular and majes-
tic, although rapid pace, and with a gently leaping gait :
the anterior and upper portions of the colossal head are
raised above the water, anda portion of the back is also
frequently exhibited. When parties are pursued, they
often move in lines like a troop of horse, and exert all
their movements, and descend, rise, and even spout in
unison. When about to plunge deep, the cachalot as-
sumes a vertical position, raising the caudal fin, or
“flukes,” perpendicularly in the air, an action that is

* Baron Cuvier considers that only one species of
spermaceti whale, or cachalot, exists. And Fred. Cuvier
adopts this opinion, with some doubt as to whether the
southern cachalot may not be distinct, which Mr. Bell regards
as being the fact. As the elucidation of doubtful species
is not our present object, we leave the question open, and
speak of the cachalot in general terms as a native of the
Northern and Southern oceans.

THE SPERMACETI WHALE. 153

performed leisurely, and one that distinguishes this from
most other species of Cetacea. This evolution is not,
however, invariably performed, since, when tranquilly
feeding, or carelessiy avoiding a boat, the cachalot will
descend very gradually, lowering itself, or, as it is tech-
nically termed, ‘‘ settling down.”

The ordinary length of time which the cachalot remains
under water, when alarmed or wounded, is three-quarters
_ of an hour, but in some instances the time has extended,
it is said, to an hour and a quarter.

The chase of this animal is very hazardous, for
although generally the troop fly on the appearance of
danger, yet, when one is wounded, the others often come
to the rescue, especially in the case of the females, which
assist each other; while the males, as Mr. Bennett
affirms, commonly make a speedy retreat. One of the
latter, however, if attacked and infuriated, is extremely
formidable, and will rush with immense velocity, head
foremost, against a boat, shivering it to pieces, or, lash-
ing with its tail, will cut it asunder, scattering the hap-
Jess mariners, some, perhaps, struck dead, others maimed,
on the surface of the rolling ocean. Occurrences of this
kind are indeed numerous, and many a thrilling narra-
tive of the ‘“ hair-breadth ’scapes,” and of loss of men and
boats, in the close encounter with this giant of the
waters, can an old South Sea whaler tell, and many have
been recorded, which of themselves would fill a goodly
and not uninteresting volume. Not only are the boats
in jeopardy, but the “ whaling vessel” itself is not secure :
—Mr. Bell refers to an authenticated instance of an
American ship of large size being stove in and foundered
by a blow froma gigantic male cachalot rushing head
foremost against it.

The food of the cachalot consists of seals, and fishes of
a large size, which it pursues with great pertinacity ; but
it would appear that a large species of cuttle-fish ( Octopus)
forms its principal nutriment.

We have already noticed the magnitude of the head
of the present species, and we may here observe that this
magnitude is not owing to any extraordinary develop-

154 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

ment of the skull: the maxillary and intermaxillary
bones are indeed prolonged, but the cranial portion is
small, and rises abruptly (see Fig. 99, Skull of the Ca-
chalot in profile). If, however, we look at the upper
surface of the skull (Fig. 100), we find the top deeply
concave, with a margin continued along the outer edge
of each maxillary bone. It isin this concavity principally
that the substance termed spermaceti, or more properly
cetine, is lodged, and that in such immense quantity as
to give to the head its extraordinary size and figure.
This substance, in a semi-fluid state, is contained in a

A 4: Lbs A
ALS4OL ta OADM, A am ze

100.—Skull of Spermaceti Whale, seen from above.

THE SPERMACETI WHALE. 155

tissue of cells, not only filling up the concavity of the
surface of the skull, but giving to the head a singular
elevation, the whole being invested by a dense cartila-
ginous expansion. Cetine is also found in cells along
the back and in other parts of the body. This cetine
exists mixed with oil, and, when the whale is killed, a
hole is made in the outer and upper part of the head,
and the oleaginous fluid is baled out with buckets. The
first process is the separation of the oil by means of drain-
ing and squeezing; the impure cetine is then put into
barrels in the state of a yellow unctuous mass, and is
afterwards further purified by the following process :—
‘¢’The mass is put into hair or woollen bags, and pressed,
between plates of iron in a screw-press, until it becomes
hard and brittle ; it is then broken into small pieces and
thrown into boiling water, where it melts, and the im-
purities are separated from it. After being cooled and
taken from the first water, it is put into a boiler of clean
water, and a weak solution of potash is gradually added.
This is thrice repeated, after which the whole is poured
into coolers, when the spermaceti concretes into a white
semi-crystallized mass, and on being cut into small pieces
exhibits a beautiful flaky appearance, so well known as be-
longing to thespermaceti of commerce.”’ An ordinary-sized
whale will yield twelve large barrels of crude spermaceti.

Like other whales, the cachalot is clothed with a layer
of blubber, but in less abundance than in the common
whale (Balena mysticetus). ‘The oil procured from it,
however, is thinner and more valuable. Fig. 101 re-
presents in outline, 1, the spermaceti whale, with the sec-
tions marked for flencing; 2, the anterior aspect of the
head ; a, the place where the holeis made; b, the harpoon ;
c, the lance.

There is another substance produced by the cachalot,
known in commerce under the name ofambergris. This
substance, in the form of opaque grayish masses, marbled
with darker tints, and somewhat hard and brittle,is found
floating in many parts of the sea, or thrown up on the
shore. It is most abundant in the neighbourhood of the
Moluccas and along the coasts of China, Japan, Mada-

156 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

gascar, Africa, and also South America. Its consistence
resembles that of common wax; it is fatty, inflammable,
and when heated emits a fragrant but powerful musky *
odour. In general it is mixed up with the beaks of cuttle-
fish, the bones of fishes, and other foreign matters. For
a long time the nature of this substance was utterly
unknown. It has been regarded by some as a sort of
bitumen, or as a kind of gum, and by others as a composi-
tion of wax andhoney. It is nowknown to be produced,
as a concretion, in the intestines of the cachalot, and is

101.—Spermaceti Whale.

often found in sickly or diseased animals; indeed, Dr.
Schwediawer asserts that the existence of these indi-
gestible concretions often occasions abdominal abscesses,
after the bursting of which the ambergris is found float-
ing on the surface of the sea. Formerly this substance
was in high estimation as a medicine; at present it is
only used as a perfume, but is seldom to be obtained
unadulterated. As in most of the Cetacea, the skull of
the cachalot is destitute of symmetry, having a turn as it

THE SPERMACETI WHALE. 157

were, or bend, towards the left; it is asserted also that
the left eye is smaller and more limited in visual range
than the right, on which account the sailors endeavour
to attack it on its left. Mr. Bennett makes no allusion
to this circumstance, but merely observes that, if boats
are not brought within the line of vision, the animal may
be approached with great facility, the sense of hearing
being very imperfect; ‘‘a deficiency, however, which
appears to be in some measure compensated for by the
perfection in which it possesses the sense of touch, through
the medium of a smooth skin abundantly supplied with
nervous papillee. It even appears as though the cachalots
had the means of conveying impressions to one another
through the water, at considerable distances ; for it is a
fact well known to the southern whalers, that, upon a
cachalot being struck from a boat, others that are miles
distant will almost instantaneously display by their actions
an apparent consciousness of what has occurred, and either
take themselves off or come down to the aid of their
injured companion.” ‘This intelligence he supposes can
only be communicated by a concussion of the water.

We have said that the cachalot roams all seas; it
appears, however, to be more scarce in the arctic latitudes
than formerly, but is abundant in the Southern Ocean,
and within the regions of the antarctic circle. Ac-
cording to Colnett, the neighbourhood of the Galapagos
constitutes a sort of rendezvous in spring for all the
cachalots frequenting the coasts of Mexico, Peru, and
the Gulf of Panama.

We have several instances on record of this animal
having been captured on our own coast, and on that of
the adjacent continent; it has been seen in the Medi-
terranean, off the Southern shores of Europe, as well as
of the shores of Southern Africa, and in the channel of
Mozambique.

In 1769 a cachalot was killed in the Frith of Forth,
and one was seen off the Kentish coast. In 1774 alarge
one was stranded on the coast of Norfolk; some few
years since a small one was captured in the Thames near
Gravesend. In 1784 thirty-two cachalots ran aground

H3

158 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

104,—Skull of Spermaceti Whale, back view.

THE TRUE WHALES: 159

on the coast of Audierne, being stranded on the sands
towards Cape Estain. In 1819 one of 63 feet in length
was killed in Whitstable Bay. According to Lowe, the
cachalot ‘is often driven ashore about the Orkneys,
nay, sometimes caught.”

The general colour of this species is grayish black
above, lighter beneath ; the eye is small, with a few stiff
hairs around. There is no dorsal fin, but a distinct pro-
tuberance; the pectoral fins are small, and slightly
grooved longitudinally. Fig. 102 represents a portion
of the lower jaw, to show the teeth. Fig. 103, the skull
seen from below. Fig. 104, the back view of the skull,
showing its occipital elevation above the articulating
processes and foramen magnum (see also Fig 99).

Famity—BAL/ENID ZS (tHE tRuE WuHates).

Test animals equal the cachalot in size, but have the
head more proportionate to the bulk of the body, and
display a less clumsy contour. They are, moreover,
distinguished from all other Cetacea by the total absence
of teeth; their place in the upper jaw, which is extremely
narrow, being supplied by pendent horny laminz, called
whalebone, or baleen.— The palate of the whale is arched
and oval (see Fig. 105), and forms a vaulted roof to
which the plates of baleen are attached transversely, in
two rows, parallel to each other. Each plate consists
of a central coarse fibrous layer, lying between two
which are compact and externally polished, constituting
a sort of enamel or varnish ; but which outer layers do
not cover the internal or true baleen to its extreme free
edge: the latter, therefore, extends beyond the former,
and terminates in a fringe, in which are entangled the
small molluscous animals which constitute the food of
this huge animal. Each plate of baleen is of a subtrian-
gular figure, and its base, attached to the palate, has a
long furrow, fixed upon a pulp, buried deeply in the firm
vascular substance of the gum covering the under surface
of the maxillary and intermaxillary bones. The outer
layers, of compact matter, are continuous with a white

160 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

horny layer of the gum, which passes on to the surface of
each plate, and the pulp is therefore the secreting organ
of the internal layer of coarse elastic fibres. The number
of plates composing each row is from 300 to 400, and, the
palate being oval, the longest are those situated in medio ;
those towards the muzzle and near the entrance of the
throat being consequently the shortest. The longest of
these laminze often measure 15 feet and upwards in length ;
and the abbreviation anteriorly and posteriorly is gradual.
Each plate, as we have said, is fringed, and the filaments
of the fringe are very numerous, and fill up the cavity
of the mouth sufficiently to forma strainer. ‘The lower
jaw is arched boldly outwards on each side, so as to form

“

f S
Yj
WM iit My WS

3105.—Inside Jaws of Greenland Whale.

THE TRUE WHALES. 161

108.—Skull of Greenland Whale, under view ; lower jaw removed.

162 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

a broad ellipse, the margin of a huge spoon which ladles
in and conveys to the strainer or fringes vast quantities
of water replete with shoals of small crustacea, of the clio
borealis, and other small tenants of the briny deep, which
absolutely crowd its waters. The tongue is very large,
thick, fleshy, fat, soft, and spongy. In the Greenland
whale it often exceeds 20 feet in length, and nine or ten
in width. The orifice of the gullet is very small; so that
fish even of a moderate size cannot pass down. The
eyes are small, and seated just above the angle of the
enormous mouth. There are two distinct blow-holes on
the top of the head. The skin is smooth and glossy.
The blubber is abundant. In the Greenland whale the
layer of this subcutaneous /ard varies from eight or ten
to 20 inches in depth, and a single whale of large size
will yield about 40 tons;* but much more has occa-
sionally been obtained, The lips appear to be composed
of little more than cellular tissue and blubber.

Referring to our pictoral specimens of osteology, Fig.
106 shows the skull of the Greenland whale in profile ;
Fig. 107, an upper view of the same; Fig 108, an under
view of the same, with the lower jaw removed; Fig.
108* represents the skeleton of the Greenland whale,
in which the rudiments of the pelvis are apparent.

THe GREENLAND Wuate, or Great Mysticere
(Balena Mysticetus).

This colossal animal, yielding oil and whalebone, both
valuable in acommercial point of view, is a native of the
arctic seas, whither it is followed by a daring race of
mariners amidst horrid icebergs and extensive floes,
where danger in every form is imminent. Cold, intense
beyond description,—this has to be borne; hunger, for
often are the vessels ice-bound, and the provisions scanty,
—this has to be endured ; watchfulness, fatigue, and the
chance of being engulfed during the tremendous conflict,

: “The proportion of pure oil to the blubber is as three to
our.

108*.—Skeleton of Greenland Whale,

164 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

—these the sailor bears and braves, content if he return
home with arich harvest gleaned from the arctic waters.
The Greenland whale, therefore, even in this sense, is
one of the most interesting of the Cetacea; nor is it less
so from its habits and manners, which various observers,
and in particular Captain Scoresby, have contributed to
illustrate. ‘The ordinary length of this species is from
sixty to seventy or eighty feet; but it is said to attain
occasionally to greater dimensions. Seen at a distance,
it appears asa dark ill-defined mass floating on the surface
of the water, and indeed it is only when lying on its side,
after death, that its true outline is to be made out. (Fig.
109.)

109.—Greenland Whale.

It is upon minute animals, such as small shrimp-like
crustacea, the clio borealis, meduse, &c., that this huge
animal supports his colossal frame. Ploughing his way
beneath the surface with open mouth, he engulfs his
prey by myriads, which become entangled among the
filaments fringing the baleen, and thus are as it were
sifted from the water, which escapes at the sides. Every

THE GREENLAND WHALE. 165

few minutes he rises to breathe, expelling through the
blow-holes a column of steam and water, and again
plunges to continue his repast. In order to dive, the
whale first raises his head, and then plunges it under the
surface, drawing his tail at the same time underneath
the body so as to form the segment of a circle; instan-
taneously he strikes it out, and goes down like a shot.
The length of time passed beneath the surface varies,
but according to Captain Scoresby it seldom exceeds
half an hour, and this only when harpooned ; under such
circumstances, on appearing again, which is generally
at a considerable distance from the spot where the ani-
mal descended, he is always in a state of great exhaustion,
owing chiefly to the immense pressure he has sustained,
but no doubt in part to the long suspension of respira-
tion: under ordinary circumstances the whale rises to
breathe every eight or ten minutes.

The velocity of the whale is very great. Captain
Scoresby harpooned one which, on being struck, de-
scended four hundred fathoms, at the rate of eight miles
an hour. But under the pain of this weapon they often
descend a much greater depth, subjecting themselves to
an enormous pressure of water, and are at the same time
so overcome by terror as often to bruise themselves
severely by the rocks met with in their course, and some-
times even to strike so violently against the hard bed of
the ocean as to fracture their jaws. At the depth of
800 fathoms Captain Scoresby calculates the pressure at
211,200 tons.

The most pleasing as well as astonishing exhibition of
the power and activity of these animals is during the
pairing season, when they gambol and frolic in the
waters, throwing themselves about in the exuberance of
delight, little aware of the approach of their enemies.
Sometimes they dart along the surface, and then dive
and re-ascend with such energy as to leap entirely out
of the water; sometimes they raise themselves perpen-
dicularly ; sometimes, head downwards, they flourish
their tails aloft, and lash the water with tremendous
violence, throwing the sea around them into foam, and

166 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALTA,

producing a roaring noise resounding toa considerable
distance. The tail is, in fact, not only their organ of
locomotion, but their weapon of defence, and, though
extremely timid and peaceful, they often use it, when
driven to despair, with terrible effect; and this the
more particularly when one of a pair is struck, or the
life of the cub is in danger. The mutual attachment of
each pair, and the affection of the female for her young
one, are intense ; and many are the instances on record
in which the one has died in defending the other.
Captain Anderson relates that, “having struck one of
two whales, a male and female, that were in company to-
gether, the wounded one made a long and terrible resist-
ance ; it struck down a boat with five men in it by a
single blow of the tail, and all went to the bottom; the
other still attended its companion, and lent it every as-
sistance, until at last the whale that had been struck sank
under its wounds, while its faithful associate, disdaining
to survive the loss, stretched itself upon the dead animal,
sharing its fate.’ A more affecting instance, exempli-
fying the strength of maternal attachment, is related by
Captain Scoresby. One of his harpooners struck a cub
in the hope of capturing the mother (a plan, we are sorry
to say, frequently made use of), who arose, and, seizing
the young one with her paddle, dived instantly, dragging
about a hundred fathoms of line out of the boat with
considerable velocity. Again she arose to the surface,
furiously darted to and fro; frequently stopping short,
or suddenly changing her direction, and exhibiting every
symptom of extreme agony. For a considerable length
of time she thus continued to act, although closely pur-
sued by the boats, but her concern for her offspring made
her regardless of the danger by which she was sur-
rounded. After two fruitless trials she was harpooned,
but even then did not attempt to escape, notwithstanding
her sufferings, but still clung to her offspring, and
allowed the other boats to approach, so that in a few
minutes three more harpoons were fastened, and in the
course of an hour both the mother and cub were floating

dead.

THE SOUTHERN WHALE. 167

The female of this species produces only one cub at a
birth, which remains under her care for a considerable
period, until, by the development of the baleen plates, it
is enabled to procure its own support. ‘The whale
usually lives in pairs, but sometimes numbers are seen
together, in places to which abundance of food or other
causes induce them to resort.

The unceasing persecution to which the Greenland
whale has been long subjected has not only thinned its
numbers, but driven it from localities in which it was
formerly common. It is at present chiefly to be found
in the icy seas of Spitzbergen, in Davis’s Straits, Baffin’s
Bay, and the waters of the polar circle. General colour
above, a velvety blackish gray; under parts, white.

An allied species, the Cape or Southern Whale (Ba-
lena Australis, Cuv.), but not attaining to so large a
size, inhabits the Southern Ocean, and in the month of
June visits the bays of Africa adjacent to the Cape of
Good Hope, for the purpose of bringing forth its young,
It is, in fact, only the females that thus approach the
coast, and they return to the main ocean in September.
Two skeletons, brought by De Lalande in 1820, are in
the museum of Paris, and the osteological differences
between this and the Greenland whale have been de-
scribed by Cuvier. ‘The speculations of commerce have
been directed to this representative of the northern mys-
ticete, which at a future day may in like manner become
driven from its old haunts to more remote abodes.

Fig. 110 is the outline of a species of Baleena (Balena
Antipodarum), tenanting the ocean near New Zealand.
Of the mode of attacking the Greenland whale, and as
conveying some idea of the dangers of the contest, we
relate the following incident :—‘‘ Captain Lyons, of the
Raith of Leith, while prosecuting the whale fishery on the
Labrador coast, in the season of 1802, discovered a large
whale at a short distance from the ship. Four boats
were sent in pursuit, and two of them succeeded in ap-
proaching it so closely together, that two harpoons were
struck at the same moment. The whale descended a
few fathoms in the direction of another of the boats,

168 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

which was on the advance, rose accidentally beneath it,
struck it with its head, and threw the boat, men, and
apparatus about fifteen feet into the air. It was inverted
by the stroke, and fell into the water with its keel
upwards. All the people were picked’ up alive by the
fourth boat, excepting one man, who, having got en-
tangled in the boat, fell beneath it, and was unfortunately
drowned.”

110.—New Zealand Whale.

Tuer Rorquan

( Balenoptera Boops, Flem.; Balenoptera Rorqual,
Lacép.).

The Rorquals, constituting the genus Balenoptera,
differ from the Greenland whale and its allies in the
possession of a small dorsal fin on the lower part of the
back (not seen in the position of the pictorial specimen),
and a series of longitudinal folds on the skin of the under
surface of the body, and particularly the throat and
chest. The plates of baleen are short. The food of
these animals consists of fishes, and especially herrings
and other species which go in shoals, and they engulf
multitudes at once in the abyss of their capacious mouth.
They are remarkable for the rapidity and ease of their
movements: they dart along or dive with almost un-
equalled impetuosity, and are dangerous to attack.
From this cause, as well as from the small quantity of
blubber they afford, and the inferior quality of the ba-

THE RORQUAL. 169

leen, they are seldom chased by the crews of the whaling-
vessels. The species do not seem to be as yet well
determined.

The Great Rorqual is one of the largest, if not the
largest, of this gigantic race of beings, often exceeding
a hundred feet in length. Its native regions are the
polar seas, where it is seen both in troops and pairs, the
paired males and females exhibiting devoted attachment
to each other. The rorqual is more restless, more sus-
picious, and fiercer than the common whale, and, when
struck by the harpoon, descends with such velocity as
often to snap the line. It was an individual of this spe-
cies which, in the month of November, 1827, was
stranded near Ostend, and of which the skeleton was
subsequently exhibited in London and Paris. The
length of the skeleton was ninety-five feet; the head
measured twenty-two feet. The spinal column consisted
of sixty-two vertebre; the ribs were fourteen on each
side. The expanse of the caudal paddle was twenty-two
feet and a half. The opportunity of examining the in-
ternal anatomy of this animal was lost, a circumstance
lamented in indignant but just terms by M. Van Breda,
whose memoir on the subject is published in Cuvier’s
‘ Histoire Naturelle des Cétacées.’ This writer states
that, besides the usual plates of baleen, the aninial had at
the tip of its muzzle a thick tuft of rounded horny fila-
ments, or rather coarse hairs, united at the root by a
common membrane, and divided into finer threads at
their points; these filaments were of different length,
some exceeding three feet. This peculiarity had not,
we believe, been previously noticed. ‘The weight of this
individual when captured was 480,000 pounds, and 4000
gallons of oil were extracted from the blubber. Weight
of the skeleton aione, 70,000 pounds, Fig. 111 repre-
sents the skeleton.

Here we close our survey of the Cetacea. It is a
class which yet requires much elucidation ; its species
are still involved in confusion, and of many almost
everything is yet to be learned. ‘They have seldom in-
deed been contemplated in their native regions by pro-

*yenbsoyy Jo woapaYS—"TLI |

~

SEALS. 171

fessed naturalists—hence the changes they may (many
of them, at least) undergo in their progress from youth
to maturity, the duration of their lives, the rapidity of
their growth, and many points in their economy are yet
desiderata. Who has counted the years of the whale ;
who has marked an individual from birth, till, one of
the patriarchs of its oceanic race, it has failed beneath
the burden of ages? Who has tracked these colossal
beings in their migrations, or patiently studied their
nicer instincts, their less prominent manners and habits ?
—Their ways are hidden in the deep, and the little that
we’ know of them is the result of accumulated but for-
tuitous observation, to which commerce has impelled a
daring class of men, whose great object is their de-
struction. Much information will be doubtless added from
time to time, but, after all, many points will necessarily
remain beyond our powers of acquisition.

We may conclude by observing that the chase of the
whale was carried on by the Norwegians as early as the
ninth century, principally, as it would appear, for the
sake of its flesh, which was accounted a delicacy. For-
merly a species of whale abounded in the Bay of Biscay,
and was killed by the inhabitants of the coast for the
same object, till at length it was driven away from that
bay by incessant persecution; the Biscayan mariners
then carried the navigation farther and farther from their
own shores, till at last they approached the coasts of
Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland ; and thus was
commenced, in the course of the sixteenth century, the
northern whale fishery as pursued in modern times; the
object being not the flesh of the animal, but the blubber
and baleen.

Famity—PHOCID (Seats).

Or all four-limbed mammalia the seals (Phocidz) are
those which most display in every part of their organiza-
tion a fitness for the watery element. The body is
elongated and conical, tapering from the chest to the
tail (see skeleton, Fig. 112), the pelvis being so narrow

172 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALTA,.

as not to interrupt the gradual decrease. The spine is
provided with muscles capable of inflecting it with con-
siderable force. The clothing consists of short, stiff,
glossy hairs, very closely set, and adpressed against the
skin. The limbs are oars or paddles. The anterior pair
have the humerus and fore arm so short, that little more
than the paw alone advances from the body; this in
reality consists of five fingers, but they are impacted in
_ skin, the nails, which are flat, indicating their number.
The hinder limbs are directed backwards, and terminate
the body ; the bones are short and strong, and the hip-
joints want the ligamentum teres. ‘The feet are broad-

112.—Skeleton of Seal.

webbed paddles, consisting of five toes, the central ot
which is the shortest, the outer one on each side the
longest ; when not in action the webs of these paddles
are folded, and the toes in contact, but when brought
into use they spread and present a broad surface. Between
these paddles is the short and compressed tail. On land
or masses of ice these animals are very awkward and
clumsy, but they scuttle along by the action of the an-
terior paddles, dragging their hinder quarters after them,
ani manage to proceed with tolerable rapidity; they
can also climb rocks and crags of ice.

The neck in these aquatic animals is very long and

SEALS. 173

singularly flexible ; the head is round, with a large full
fleshy muzzle, furnished with long stiff whiskers; the
nostrils are valvular, and capable of being closed at will ;
the eyes are large and dark, with a mild intelligent ex-
pression, and are adapted for subaquatic vision. ‘The
external ears are either wanting or very small, and the
auditory orifice is valvular ; the tongue is almost smooth,
and is abrupt and indented at its tip ; the brain is large,
the lungs voluminous, the stomach capacious.

The internal arrangement of the venous system Is very
remarkable, and adapted so as to effect a sort of reservoir
for the blood, which naturally accumulates in it when
the circulation is impeded during the suspension of
breathing, as is perpetually the case as the animals are
pursuing their prey beneath the surface of the water.
Between the skin, which is very tough, and the muscles,
there intervenes a fibrous loose elastic tissue of a dark
red tint; indeed the muscles are dark, and the blood of
a blacker hue than in most mammalia. From the ante-
rior part of the breastbone (sternum) a long cartilaginous
continuation projects forwards for the more extensive
attachment of the voluminous muscles acting upon the
anterior paddles. he arteries of the limbs are plexi-
form, as we have described them in the volume of the
Monkeys. |

The varying forms of the skull in the Phocide will be
easily appreciated by reference to our pictorial speci-
mens. With respect to the teeth, we may describe them
as prehensile; they are not formed for grinding, but for
seizing the slippery prey and dividing its flesh into large
portions. Their number is very different in the different
species, nor less so are the minor details of their struc-
ture. The incisors are six or four above, and four or
two below; the canines are large and strong; the molars
are either simply conical or furnished with cutting edges,
and more or less deeply notched with a large central
point. Without entering into any disquisition respecting
the genera into which the seals are divided, and their
arrangement—a point of the less importance, as our
knowledge of the group is at present confessedly imper-

VOL. Ul. I

174 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

fect—we shall proceed at once t0 comment upon the
specimens before us.

Tue Common Srau (Phoca vitulina) ;
Calocephalus vitulinus, F. Cuv.

Le Veau marin and Phoque commun of the French ;
Vecchio marino of the Italians; Lobo marino of the
Spanish; Meerwolf and Meerhund cf the Germans ;
Zeehund of the Dutch; Seelhund of the Danes; Sial of
the Swedes; and Moelrhon of the ancient British.

114.—Skull of Seal, lower view.

For the general characters of the skull in the genus
Phoca, or Calocephalus of F. Cuvier, reference may be
made to Fig. 118, an upper view; Fig. 114, an under
view; and Fig, 115, a profile of the Phoca Monachus.

5—5
Fig. 116 illustrates the dentition. Molars, pore

The Phoca vitulina of Linneus has only within the
last few years been disengaged from confusion; three

THE COMMON SEAL. 75

distinct species, according to Nilsson, having been in-
cluded under that denomination, viz. Ph. variegata, Ph.
annellata, and Ph. leporina. To the first of these the
term vitulina is really applicable, and the term variegata,
given by Nilsson, must be abandoned. The common
seal is found along the shores of temperate Europe, and
is common on many parts of the Scottish coast, and also
of those of England and Ireland. It is gregarious in its
habits, and haunts caverns and recesses among the rocks,
to which the females retire to breed. The young are
generally two in number, and the mother nurses them
with great assiduity and affection, taking them out to sea
very early. When surprised basking on the shore,
which the seal often does, luxuriating in the sun, its first

115.—Skull of Seal.

effort is to make for the water; but, if intercepted, it
shows fight, and with a growl turns on its adversary,
who, unless he avoid the attack, isin some danger, for
the animal has great power and weight (often two hun-
dred and twenty-four pounds): having overset its anta-
gonist, it shuffles to the water, and there disappears.
All are familiar with Sir Walter Scott’s humorous uarra-
tive of Hector MacIntyre’s discomfiture by a ‘‘ phoca.”
(‘The Antiquary.”) The voice of the seal is a gruff
grunt, not unlike that of a pig, but when wounded it
often utters a peculiar moaning sound. These animals
are sagacious and watchful, and while half-slumbering
on the beach their customary caution seldom leaves them,
12

as : ie

pe RRA RENE ty =
116.—Teet)i of Seal

THE COMMON SEAL. Lid

for one of their number is usually placed a little higher
on the rock than the others, and he seems constantly
awake, and ever and anon upraises his ‘‘ grim feature,”
scenting the windward air. Flatfish, especially flounders,
are the favourite food of this species, at least off the coast
of Colonsay, where it is common. In the estuary of the
Tees it makes great havoc among the salmon. ‘This
seal is hunted, as are others also, for the sake of its skin
and blubber. The fishing commences in autumn, and is
practised by means of nets stretched across narrow sounds
where the seals are in the habit of swimming. In these
nets they are entangled, but it is only the young that
can be thus captured; the old ones are shot, or their
recesses and caves are entered at night by boatmen with
torches and bludgeons, upon which the animals, alarmed
by the glare and the shouts of the men, rush tumultuously
forward to sea, and, as they push along in confusion and
terror, they are knocked on the head with clubs, the
men being duly stationed for the purpose.

The common seal can remain under water for about
five minutes, and swims so rapidly, that if alarmed it will
proceed nearly half a mile during that period. ‘The seal
is intelligent and docile, and easily domesticated : it be-
comes attached like a dog to its master, and may be
readily taught to assist in fishing. Many anecdotes re-
specting tamed seals are recorded. Few animals have a
finer sense of hearing, and musical sounds appear to
afford it great delight. Laing, in his account of a voyage
to Spitzbergen, states that the violin, when played on
board the vessel, would generally draw around it a nu-
merous audience of seals, which would continue to follow
it for miles. Sir Walter Scott alludes to the same cu-
rious fact in the following lines :—

“ Rude Heiskar’s seals through surges dark
Will long pursue the minstrel’s bark.”

The common seal is from four to five feet in length ;
its colour is yellowish gray, more or less dappled and
spotted with dusky brown. (Figs. 117 and 118.)

The seal is hunted in Scotland, but it is not the com-

178 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

——
eS
— >

118.—Common “eal,

THE COMMON SEAL, 179

mon seal; it is a much larger and fiercer species, viz.
the gray seal, Halicherus Gryphus (Phoca Gryphus,
Fabricius), which is also common round the Farn Islands.
(See Mr. Selby’s observations in ‘ Ann. and Mag. Hist.
Nat.,’ February, 1841, p. 462.) This species has till
lately been confounded with another, viz. the Phoca
barbata, which is rarely if ever seen on our coasts.

The gray seal is of great size, sometimes attaining the
length of twelve feet, and producing upwards of twenty
gallons of oil. It swims and dives with wonderful ra-
pidity, but from its curiosity often comes within range of
the rifle, for, as the boats approach it while reposing on
the rocks or swimming on the water, it raises its head
and remains for many minutes gazing at the objects of its
attention. The gray seal has but little intelligence, and
cannot be tamed. The young, which are produced in
August, grow rapidly, and are able to follow their dams
to the water within a fortnight after birth.

Mr. Newman, in his interesting ‘ Notes on Irish Na-
tural History’ (‘Mag. Nat. Hist.,’ December, 1839, p.
575), observes that ‘‘ these seals are most abundant all
round the coast of Cunnemara, from Galway to the Kil-
leries ; indeed, I imagine, on every part of the coast of
Ireland: they are strong, resolute, and ferocious animals,
and totally different from the Phoca vitulina, which is
in these respects the reverse. The Halicherus Gryphus
grows occasionally to an enormous size, sometimes at-
taining even the length of twelve feet, and Mr. Ball, of
Dublin, told me of one he had killed at Howth Harbour,
which he believed to weigh five hundred pounds.
Phoca vitulina occurs not unfrequently on the north
coast of Ireland, and among the Scotch islands, but it
appears to be nearly expelled from the southern half of
Ireland by the more powerful and savage species above
referred to.” Mr. Selby records one-killed in the Farn
islands, weighing upwards of forty-seven stone, fourteen
pounds to the stone.

The gray seal is stated by Nilsson to be solitary in
the Baltic; but such is not the case either on the Farn
islands or the coast of Ireland, where it tenants caves

180 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

and rocks, in parties of twelve or fourteen, or perhaps
more. No doubt, like the common seal, itis often seen
alone.

Tue Harp-Seat (Phoca Grenlandica).

The native regions of this seal are the shores of Green-
land, Newfoundland, Iceland, Kamtchatka, &c. It is one
of the species in the chase of which the Greenlander en-
counters so many perils. Crantz, in his History of Green-
land, states that it is there called Attarsoak. “It hasa
pointed head and big body, and is, when full-grown,
nearly three yards long; it is then almost all of a white-
gray colour, and has a black figure on its back like two
half-moons, with their horns in a uniform direction
towards one another. But there are others somewhat

119.—Harp-Seal.

blackish all over. (Fig. 119.) All seals vary annually in
colour till they are full grown, but no sort so much as
this ; and the Greenlanders vary its name according to its
age. In the first year it is called Attarak, and is of a
cream colour: in the second year, Atteisiak ; it is then
gray: inthe third year, Aglektok; it is then painted:
in the fourth year itis Milektok; spotted: in the fifth

THE HARP-SEAL, 181

year, Attarsoak; it then wears its half-moon, the signal
of maturity.”

It is singular that the Greenland seal, in its immature
livery, occasionally visits the British shores, and also the
coasts of France. In the‘ Proceedings of the British
Institution’ for 1836 there is an account of two caught
in the Severn; one captured on the coast of France lived
for some time in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. Fred.
Cuvier, considering it a new species, gave it the title of
Calocephalus (Phoca) discolor. Professor Nilsson also
regarded the immature as a distinct species, and charac-
terized it as such under the name of Phoca annellata.
The titles, therefore, discolor and annellata, must both
merge into Grenlandica.

120.—Immature Harp-Seal,

Fig. 120 is the immature Harp-Seal, the Phoca dis-
color of F, Cuvier, from a specimen which was captured
on the coast of France, and lived for several weeks in
the Paris Menagerie. M. F. Cuvier declares that he
never knew any wild animal that was more eas'ly tamed

13

182 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

or attached itself more strongly. When it first came
to the Jardin des Plantes, it did its best to escape when
M. F. Cuvier tried to touch it; but in a very few daysits
timidity vanished, and it rather courted his caresses than
shunned them. In the same enclosure with it were two
little dogs, and they amused themselves by mounting on
the seal’s back, barking, and even biting it: the seal,
however, took it in good part, and seemed pleased with
them, though it would sometimes give them slight blows
with its paws, as if more to encourage their play than
repress their liberties. When the little dogs made their
way out of the enclosure, the seal tried to follow them,
not deterred by the rough and stony ground. In cold
weather they all three huddled kindly and warmly toge-
ther. If the dogs snatched the fish from the seal’s mouth
when he was feeding, he bore it patiently ; but he ex-
hibited very different conduct to another seal, who shared
his mess ; for they generally had a fight over their meal,
the combat ending, as usual, in the defeat of the weakest.

Tuer SxA-LEOPARD

(Stenorhynchus leopardinus) : St. Weddellit Lesson; Phoca
leopardina, Jamieson.

The genus Stenorhynchus is characterized by the pro-
minence of the muzzle and the jagged form of the teeth,
which have each a bold acute middle tubercle, and an
anterior and posterior acute tubercle of smaller size,
separated from the middle one by a deep notch. Claws
very small.

4 1—]

Dental formula :—Incisors, 5 ; canines, Ean E molars,
> — 82. (See Fig. 121.) Fig. 122 represents the
skull of a species of Stenorhynchus.

Of the habits of the sea-leopard little is ascertained.
It inhabits the South Shetlands (south of Terra del
Fuego), in 60° 37/S. lat., and attains to the length of
eleven feet. The hair is soft and thin, grayish above,

ali

if
Uj
Yt

J ty
KZ

“ui?

}
\

Me
ill
TMU

ANT
Wr

122,—Skull of Sea-l.eopard

Why

=)

184 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

yellowish on the under parts: the whole of the upper
surface is spotted with whitish. The claws are sharp,
black, curved, and grooved. (Fig. 123.)

123.—Sea-Leopard.

Tue Crestep Sxax (Stemmatopus cristatus).

In the genus Stemmatopus the head is surmounted by
acurious hood-like appendage, the nature of which is
not well understood. Molars with simple roots, short,
wide, and striated only on the crown; muzzle narrow and

obtuse. Dentition :—Incisors, — ; canines, —— ; molars,
= 30. (See Fig. 124.) Fig. 125 represents the

skull.

The crested seal is a native of Greenland and various
parts of the coast of North America. Crantz says it is
called Neitsersoak by the Greenlanders, and also Clap-

SSN
SS ae

Seren,

ale

eeth of Crested Se

T

124.

125.—Skull of Crested Seal.

186 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

mutz, from the ‘‘ thick folded skin on its forehead, which
it can draw down over its eyes like a cap to defend
them against the storms, waves, stones, and sand.”
The apparatus consists of a cartilaginous crest which
arises from the muzzle and increases rapidly in height as
it passes backwards, being about seven inches high at
its posterior edge, which is separated into two planes by
an intervening depressicn an inch deep ; this cartilaginous
appendage is a development of the septum of the nose,
and it runs into the hood or sac-like appendage of the

126.—Crested Seal.

head, which is strongly muscular, with circular fibres
round its two orifices at the snout like nostrils, the true
nostrils opening on each side of the cartilaginous crest
beneath the hood, and are of an oblong figure. In the
females and young the curious apparatus is undeveloped,
being peculiar to the adult male. The eyes, which are
capable of being drawn deeply into the socket during re-
pose, are eminently formed for discerning distant objects.
The fur is soft, long, and woolly beneath ; in old indi-

THE ELEPHANT-SEAL, 187

viduals it is black, silvered on the under parts. In young
animals it is gray, spotted irregularly with brown. The
dilatable sac which crowns the head is covered with short
brown hair. (Fig. 126.)

The crested seal attains to the length of eight feet.
It haunts the open sea, and is said to visit the land chiefly
in April, May, and June. These animals are commonly
seen on large ice-islands, where ee sleep without pre-
caution. Great numbers are found in Davis’s Straits,
where they are stated to make two voyages a-year—in
September and March. They depart to bring forth
their young, and return in June very lean and exhausted.
In July they proceed again to the north, where they
appear to procure plenty of food, for they return in high
condition in September. One male is lord of many
females. They fight among themselves very desperately,
inflicting deep wounds with the claws and teeth. Their
bite is indeed very formidable. ‘The voice of this seai
is stated to resemble the bark and whine of a dog.
Great numbers of the skins of this animal are brought to
England, and it is one of those seals which are so valu-
able to the Greenlanders.

It is the Phoca cristata of Gmelin, the Phoca leonina
of Fabricius.

Tue ELEPHANT-SEAL

( Macrorhinus proboscideus) ; Bottle-nose of Pennant ; Phoque
a trompe of Péron; Miouroung of the Australians.

In the genus Macrorhinus the males have the power of
lengthening their large moveable snout into a proboscis
resembling that of the tapir, through which, when ex-
cited, they respire violently. The teeth consist of four
incisors above and two below, formed like the canines:
the canines themselves are very large, conical, and re-

rd eae
curved ; the molars are op with simple roots far ex-

ceeding in circumference the crowns, which are mere
mamillary projections (see Fig. 127).

188 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

Fig. 128 represents the skull of Macrorhinus.

The whiskers are strong, coarse, long, and screw-
twisted ; the eyes are large and prominent; the paddles
well developed, the nails small; hair short and close ;
its colour grayish or bluish gray, rarely blackish brown.
Length from twenty to thirty feet, girth from fifteen to
eighteen feet. In the female there is no proboscis; the
colour is dark olive-brown above, passing into yellowish
bay on the under parts. ‘The hair lies in patches in all
directions, giving aspotted appearance to the body some-
what like watered silk. No nails on the hind toes.

THE ELEPHANT-SEAL. 189

The elephant-seal is a native of the southern hemi-
sphere, in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans,
between 35° and 55° S. lat., Kerguelen’s Land, South
Georgia, Juan Fernandez, South Shetlands, and the
Falklands. ‘This huge seal lives in troops, which at
certain seasons frequent various islands in the southern
seas, especially where fresh-water lakes or swamps, in
which they delight to wallow, are easily accessible.
They are in fact migratory animals, advancing with the
winter season towards the tropic’ of Capricorn, and
towards the south in the summer. It is in the middle of
June that they perform their first migration, covering,
in countless multitudes, the shores of King Island, which,
as the sailors report, are sometimes blackened by them,

ft

SS
i) Y ;
MY U Yy
(< / x
boo Si); 4
A

i {1

(B

128.—Skull of Elephant-Seal.

Here the females produce their young, and, as it is
affirmed, the males form a line between the females and
the sea, while the latter are nursing their cubs, in order
to prevent the possibility of their deserting their charge,
even for the shortest space of time. (Figs. 129 and 130.)
Tae period of nursing and imprisonment lasts for seven
or eight weeks, during which time the females are de-

190 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

129.—Elephant-Seals. Males.

barred from food, and become extremely emaciated: some,
it is said, occasionally perish. The growth of the young
is very rapid. After birth they measure between four
and five feet, but in eight days are double their original
dimensions, and in the third year are from eighteen to
twenty-five feet in length. At this period the proboscis
begins to be developed in the male. When the term of
imprisonment has expired, the whole troop, young and
all, visit the sea, where the females soon recover their
strength and condition, and where they sojourn for about
a month, when they again visit the shore, which now
becomes the arena of most furious conflicts between the
adult males, the females remaining passive spectators.
When these scenes of bloodshed and excitement have
ended, the troop, under the guidance of a leader, leave
the shores of the islands in lat. 33°, and migrate south-
wards towards the antarctic circle, where they spend
the summer months. It is observed, however, that a
few remain in the former localities, even during the
summer, probably in consequence of being disabled by.

THE ELEPHANT-SEAL. 191

wounds or debility from undertaking the ordinary journey,
Assoon as the frost commences in the low southern lati-
tudes, the herds begin their return towards the tropic,
and in Jue have arrived at their accustomed breeding-
places.

130,—Elephant-Seal. Female.

Captain Carmichael, in his description of the island of
Tristan d’Acunha (see ‘ Linn. Trans.,’ vol. xii.), observes
that a full-grown male will yield seventy gallons of oil ;
indeed, as they crawl along, their body trembles like a
great bag of jelly. ‘‘ These seals pass the greater part
of their time on shore: they may be seen in hundreds
lying asleep along the sandy beach, or among the long
grass which borders the seashore. These huge animals
are so little apprehensive of danger, that they must be
kicked or pelted with stones before they make any effort
to move out of one’s way. When roused from their
slumber, they raise the fore part of their body, open

192 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

wide their mouth, and display a formidable set of tusks,
but never attempt to bite. Should this, however, fail to
intimidate their disturbers, they set themselves at length
in motion, and make for the water, but with such deli-
beration, that, on an excursion we once made to the
opposite side of the island, two of our party were tempted
to get upon the back of one of them and rode him fairly
into the water.” These animals taken young are easily
tamed, and become very affectionate ; one petted by an
English seaman became so attached to his master from
kind treatment for a few months, that it would come at
his ¢ail, allow him to mount upon its back and put his
hands into its mouth.

The voice of the male is deep, hoarse, and terrific,
and may be heard at agreat distance ; that of the females
and young is a kind of loud bellowing.

The food of the elephant-seal appears in great part to
consist of cuttle-fish and seaweed, the beaks of the former
and remains of the latter, often mixed with pebbles,
being commonly found in the stomach.

It is for the oil of this species principally, which, be-
sides being yielded in great abundance, is clear and
inodorous, that the seal-fisheries of the South Pacific are
conducted. The skin, moreover, is valuable, from its
strength and thickness, and is extensively used for car-
riage and horse harness. ‘The flesh is oily and disgusting,
but the tongues, when salted, are said to be very excel-
lent.

Tue Ursrve Seay

(Arctocephalus ursinus); Phoca ursina, Linn.; Ursus
marinus, Steller; Z’ Ours marin of Buffon.

The characters of the genus Arctocephalus are as
follows:—Head with a narrow retracted muzzle: the
—]l 6— 6
‘molars = -—
1 5—5

st. : 6 ;
dentition thus: Incisors, qi canines, :

== 36 (see Fig. 131); small external ears. Fig 132 re-

presents the skull of Arctocephalus.
The ursine seal attains the length of nearly eight feet ;

URSINE SEAL, 1°3

i 131.—Teeth of Ursine Seal,

194 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

its fur is brown, washed with gray: it is long and erect,
especially round the neck in old males, where the hair
is two inches in length and stiff; there is beneath the
hair a soft brownish-red wool close to the skin. (Fig.
133.) This species inhabits the islands on the north-
west of America, Kamtchatka, the Kurile Islands, &c.,
and is migratory in its habits. When these seals appear
off Kamtchatka and the Kuriles early in the spring, they
are in high condition, and the females are pregnant.
They remain on or about the shore for two months,
during which the females bring forth. They are poly-

132.—Skull of Ursine Seal.

gamous, and live in families, every male being surrounded
by a crowd of females (from fifty to eighty), whom he
guards with the greatest jealousy. These families, each,
including the young, amounting to 100 or 120, live sepa-
rate, though they crowd the shore, and that to such an
extent on the islands off the north-west point of America,
that it is said they oblige the traveller to quit it and scale
the neighbouring rocks. Both male and female are very
affectionate to their young, and fierce in their defence ;
but the males are often tyrannically cruel to the females,
which are very submissive. If one family encroaches
on the station of another, a general fight is the conse-
quence. They will not, in fact they dare not, leave
their stations, for if they did they must encroach on that
of some other family. Steller relates that he had been
beset by these seals for six hours together, and was at
last obliged to climb a precipice to get rid of the infu-

URSINE SEAL, 195

133.—Ursine Seal.

riated animals, at the imminent peril of his life. They
have their war-notes and several other intonations. When
amusing themselves on the shore they low like a cow,
chirp like a cricket after a victory, and, when they are
wounded, cry like a whelp. They swim very swiftly,
and are as great a terror to other seals as the sea-lion
(Phoca jubata, Gmel.) is to them.

The skin of the ursine seal is very thick, and from its
full deep fur makes excellent winter clothing. Steller
speaks of a garment which he made for himself from one,
when he was in Behring’s Island, with grateful remem-
brance.

Forster’s Sra-Lion

(Platyrhynchus Foster); Otaria Fosteri, Less., in ‘ Dict.
Class. ;’ Phoca Forsteri, Fischer.

The genus Platyrhynchus differs little from Arctoce-
phalus, except in a few minor points in the dentition,

196 | SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.
in the greater elevation of the cerebral region of the skull,

and in the enlargement of the muzzle. There are ex-
ternal ears. Fig. 134 represents the skull.

|

Gj A .. ‘ Ny a i 3
ae a

134 — Skull of Sea-Lion.

Several species of seal have been termed sea-bears or
ursine seals ; and several sea-lions, among which may be
mentioned the huge elephant-seal already described.
Dr. Hamilton considers, however, that three distinct
members of the present genus have been thus designated :
—1, the sea-lion of Steller ( Phoca jubata, Gmelin), in-
habiting the eastern shores of Kamtchatka and the Kurile
Islands ; 2, the sea-lion of Forster (Leo marinus, Buff.),
a native of the southern hemisphere ; and 3, the sea-lion
of Pernetty (Platyrhynchus leoninus, F, Cuvier), a
native of the Falkland Islands.

Forster’s sea-lion is a native of the southern seas, fre-
quenting the Magellanic coast, Terra de] Fuego, and the
Magellanic Islands. ‘he skin is thick, the hair reddish,
yellowish, or dark brown; no fur or short wool under
the long hair. A mane on the neck of the male reaches
to the shoulders. Head small in proportion to the body,

FORSTER’S SEA-LION. 197

which is everywhere equally thick-looking, as Buffon de-
scribes it, like a great cylinder, more suited for rolling
than walking. Fars conical, about six or seven lines long ;
cartilage firm and stiff, but yet rather curled at the
margin. Upper lip overhanging the lower, both fur-
nished with long, coarse, black whiskers, which become
white with age. Length from ten to fourteen feet; the
females shorter and more slender. (Fig. 135.)

135.—Forster’s Sea-Lion.

Captain Cook states that it is not at all perilous to go
among these animals, for they either fled or stood still.
The only danger was in going between them and the
sea; for if they took fright at anything, they would come
down in such numbers, that the person in the way would
be run over, When he and his party came suddenly
upon them, or waked them out of their sleep, they
would raise up their heads, snort and snar!, and look

YOL. III, K

198 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

fierce, as if they meant to devour the intruder; but when
the men advanced, the sea-lions always ran away. He
states that the male is surrounded by from twenty to
thirty females, and that he is very attentive to keep them
all to himself, beating off every male that attempts to
come to his flock. Others, again, had a less number,
some no more than one or two; and here and there was
seen one lying growling in a retired place, suffering
neither males nor females to come near him. These he
judged to be old and superannuated.

Forster relates that the rocks along the shore in New
Year’s Harbour were covered with multitudes of these
sea-lions. ‘‘ We put intoa little cove under the shelter
of some rocks,” says he, ‘‘and fired at some of these
fierce animals, most of which immediately threw them-
selves infothe sea. Some of the most unwieldy however
kept their ground, and were killed by our bullets. The
noise which all the animals of this kind made was various,
and sometimes stunned our ears. The old males snort
and roar like mad bulls or lions, the females bleat exactly
like calves, and the young cubs like lambs. ‘They live to-
getherin numerous herds. The oldest and fattest males
lie apart, each having chosen a large rock to which none
of the rest dare approach without engaging in furious
combat.” Forster goes on to relate that they were often
seen to seize each other with an indescribable degree of
rage, and that many of them had deep gashes on their
backs, which they had received in the wars. The
younger active sea-lions, with all the females and the
cubs, lay together. They commonly awaited the approach
of the people; but as scon as some of the herd were
killed, the rest precipitately fled, some females carrying
off a cub in their mouths, while many were so terrified
that they left the young behind. When undisturbed,
they were often observed caressing each other in the
most tender manner, and their snouts often met together
as if they were kissing. ‘The same author states that
they come on shore on those uninhabited spots to breed,
and that they do not feed during their stay on land,
which sometimes lasts for several weeks; they then

THE WALRUS. 199

grow lean, and swallow a considerable quantity of stones
to distend the stomach. He adds that the stomachs of
many of them were found entirely empty, and those of
others were filled with ten or twelve round heavy stones,
each of the size of two fists.

Tus Waxrus, orn Morse (Zrichecus Rosmarus).

Leaving the genuine seals, we come to the genus Tri-
checus, of which we are acquainted with only one spe-
cies, the Walrus or Morse and Sea-cow of the British ;
Morse, Vache Marine, Cheval Marin, and Béte & la
grande dent of the French. It is the Horse-whale or
Whale-horse (Hval-ros) of Octher the Norwegian, who,
about the year 890, made his report of it to Alfred, as
having in its teeth bones of great price and excellency,
some of which he brought to the king on his return from
his voyage beyond Norway ; also Rosmar of the Norwe-
gians; Morss or Morsh of the Russians; and Morsk of
the Laplanders.

The walrus is a native of the polar regions of both
hemispheres, and it is more than probable that the arctic
animal is specifically distinct from the antarctic, though
in habits and manners they agree precisely. The arctic
walrus has occasionally visited the British shores, and is
therefore figured by Mr. Bell in his ‘ History of British
Quadrupeds,’ though it can scarcely 0e accounted one of
their number. In general form, no less than in habits,
the walrus closely resembles the larger species of seals,
but it differs from all the species of this group in the
general contour of the skull and in the dental formula.
Fig. 186 represents the skull and lower jaw ; Fig. 137
the molars and a tusk of this animal.

The first peculiarity which strikes us in the skull of
the walrus consists in the enormous magnitude of the
canine teeth of the upper jaw, which are from eighteen
inches to two feet in length, stout and solid, with large
roots imbedded in protuberant alveoli, or sockets, occu-
pying the anterior part of the muzzle, and rising above
the cranium, which appears of disproportionate volume.

K 2

200 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

LA]

136.—Skull and Lower Jaw of Walrus.

The immense development of the alveoli of these canines
gives a swollen appearance to the face, which is increased
by the tumid character of the lips, covered with thick
wiry moustaches. The dentition is as follows :—Upper
jaw : incisors four, of which the two middle are deciduary,
falling out at an early period; the two lateral have the
character of molars. Of the enormous canines we have
already spoken. Molars on each side four, cylindrical,
short, and obliquely. truncate. Lower jaw: incisors want-
ing; cauines wanting; molars as in the upper jaw. The
lower jaw is not only small in proportion to the general
volume of the skull, but is compressed as it proceeds, in
order to fit in between the huge canines of the upper

THE WALRUS.

201

137.—Molars and Tusk of Walrus.

202 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

jaw, which sweep with a gentle curve perpendicularly
downward. The nostrils, in consequence of the deve-
lopment of those imbedded in the maxillary bones, are
thrown upwards, so as to open considerably above the
muzzle with a vertical aspect. The eyes are small, but
brilliant; the orifices of the ears are placed very far
backwards on the head; the neck is short and thick ; the
chest of great volume; the tail short; the body thinly
clothed with short stiff brownish hair; the hinder pad-
dles are large. In length the walrus attains to fifteen or
sixteen feet, and its body not only yields abundance of
oil, but its skin is highly valued for its toughness and
durability. The tusks of this animal, which remind us
of those of the elephant, are instruments both of defence
and of progression ; by their aid it assists itself in clam-
bering up floating icebergs, or in traversing the fields of
ice along the shore, to which it resorts both to rest and
breed. It uses them also with great effect in defending
itself from the attacks of the polar bear, which may be
regarded as its most formidable adversary, and with
which it often engages in bloody conflicts. But there is
also another use to which these tusks are destined: the
walrus feeds to a great extent on a species of marine ve-
getable, the fucus digitatus, and these instruments are
admirably calculated for tearing up the long wreaths of
seaweed fast rooted in the bed of the ocean. Besides
this vegetable, they also feed upon other aliment; Mr.
Scoresby found in their stomachs shrimps, a kind of
crayfish, and the remains of young seals. They are
probably omnivorous. (Fig. 138.)

The walrus, like the seal, is gregarious in its habits,
and is often observed in vast flocks reposing upon the
ice, or upon rocky islands or sand-banks; on these oc-
casions some appear to act as sentinels, and give notice
of the approach of an enemy ; their voice is a loud roar
or bray, and may be heard at a considerable distance :
Captain Cook observes that in the night or in foggy
weather, the roaring of the walruses gave notice of
the vicinity of the ice before it could be seen. When
attacked or fired at, the whole troop rushes tumultuously

THE WALRUS. 203

138.—Wairus, or Morse.

into the sea; should one be wounded, its companions
hasten with loud cries to the rescue, and, emboldened by
their numbers, assail the boat with great ferocity, and
endeavour to upset or break it with their powerful tusks.
The thickness and toughness of the skin render it no
easy matter to drive a lance or harpoon into the animal’s
body, and a sharp weapon not unfrequently glances off
without piercing. When wounded on shore, the morse
turns furiously upon its adversary, striking right and left
with its tusks, and endeavouring to dash him to the
ground ; then, roaring with pain and fury, it makes off
into the sea, where it is joined by its companions.
Zorgdrager, in his description of the Greenland fishery
(1750), states that, before the morse had been so perse-
cuted, large troops would often advance on the shore to
a considerable distance from the edge of the water, so
that it was easy to cut off their retreat, and the more so
as the animals exhibited no alarm on seeing the approach
of the hunters, who would often kill several before the

204 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

rest attempted to regain the sea. As is the case with
the whale, the annual slaughter made among these ani-
mals for the sake of their oil, and of their tusks, which
are of the finest ivory, has thinned their numbers, or
driven them from haunts where they formerly abounded,
to seek shelter in more inaccessible localities. ‘That they
are not without courage or sympathy for their wounded
companions there is ample testimony. When Martens
wounded one, others speedily surrounded the boat, and,
whilst some endeavoured to pierce it with their tusks,
others raised themselves out of the water and endeavoured
to board her. Captain Phipps, afterwards Lord Mul-
grave, relates that, when near a low flat island opposite
Waygat’s Straits, in 1773, two of the officers went in a
boat in pursuit of sea-horses. They fired at one and
wounded it. The animal was alone when it was wounded,
but, diving into the sea, it brought back a number of
others. ‘hey made a united attack upon the boat,
wrested an oar from one of the men, and were with diffi-
culty prevented from staving or oversetting her; but a
boat from the Carcass joining that from the Racehorse,
they dispersed. Captain Phipps adds that one of that
ship’s boats had before been attacked in the same manner
off Moffen Island. Sir Edward Parry encountered about
two hundred in Fox’s Channel, lying piled as usual over
each other on the loose drift-ice. A boat’s crew from
both the Fury and Hecla went to attack them, but they
made a desperate resistance, some with their cubs
mounted on their backs, and one of them tore the planks
of a boat in two or three places. Their parental affec-
tion is great. Captain Cook states that on the approach
of the boats, which were hoisted out to attack them in
Behring’s Straits, all the walruses took their cubs under
their fins, and endeavoured to escape with them from
the ice into the sea. Several whose young were killed
and wounded, and were left floating on the surface, rose
again and carried them down, sometimes just as the
people were going to take them into the boat; and they
might be traced bearing them to a great distance through

THE WALRUS. 205

the water, which was coloured with their blood. They
were afterwards observed bringing them up at times
above the surface, as if for air, and again diving under
it with a dreadful bellowing. The female, in particular,
whose young had been destroyed and taken into the boat,
became so enraged that she attacked the cutter, and
struck her tusks through the bottom of it.

In the arctic regions the flesh of the walrus is held by
the natives in great estimation; Sir Edward Parry re-
marks that the flesh was tolerably good, affording variety
amid the ordinary sea-fare. ‘The ivory is finer than that
of the elephant ; the skin makes excellent carriage-har-
ness; and the oil is valuable, though only from twenty
to thirty gallons are yielded by a single carcase; its
blubber, as Crantz says, being white and solid like bacon,
ae a hand’s breadth thick, but not giving out much fluid
oil.

Seals’ flesh, says Crantz, supplies the Greenlanders
‘‘ with their most palatable and substantial food ; the fat
furnishes them with oil for lamp-light, chamber and
kitchen fire; and whoever sees their habitations pre-
sently finds that, even if they had superfluity of wood,
it would not be of use—they can use nothing but oil in
them. ‘They also mollify their dry food, mostly fish,
with oil; and finally they barter it for all kinds of ne-
cessaries with the factor. ‘They can sew better with
fibres of the seal’s sinews than with thread or silk ; of
the skins of the entrails they make window-curtains for
their tents, and shirts ; part of the bladder they use as a
float to their harpoons, and they make oil-flasks of the
stomach. Neither is the blood wasted, but is boiled up
with other ingredients and eaten as soup. Of the skin
of the seal they stand in the greatest need, because they
must cover with seal-skins both the large and small boats
in which they travel and seek their provisions. They
must also cut out of them their thongs and straps, and
cover their tents with them, without which they could
not subsist in summer. No man therefore can pass for a
right Greenlander who cannot catch seals, This is the

206 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

ultimate end they aspire at in all their device and labour
from their childhood up.” To the Greenlander, then,
the sea is his pasturage, where his flocks and herds are
fed: the sea is his hunting-domain, where, in his light
kajak, he skims over the waves :

“ There tumbling in their seal-skin boat,
Fearless the hungry fishers float,
And from the teeming seas supply
The food their niggard plains deny.”

lN
i)

be |
A

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

ans

Page
Female Hippopotamus and
MOUS emma Veueut 5 ef jeu

Skeleton of Hippopotamus. . 12
IRMINOCErOS, a.) 6's, 12 , = e, LG
Indian Rhinoceros . . . . 17
WittOMr eel cmaeok tt se al LS
Skeleton of Rhinoceros. . . 21
Indian Rhinoceros . . . 23

Javanese Rhinoceros. . . . 25

Skull of Javanese Rhinoceros. 28
Sumatran Rhinoceros . . . 29
Black Rhinoceros and Young . 31
African Rhinoceros. . . »« 382
Rhinoceros Keitloa. . . . 39
White: Rhinocéros “.... «41
Two-horned Rhinoceros. . . 42
Skull of Fossil Rhinoceros. . 44
Skulliof Daman; ;) 6% 4. 3 «49
Skeleton of Daman... . 46

47

Tax me relies) waive die 8)" ile
Skull of American Tapir . . 51

Teeth of Sumatran Tapir . . 52
Skeleton of American Tapir . 53
American Tapir. . . . . 54

WTO We Sitar very or wen neni ley ie HOD:

Noung Lapitss” (5. sr) eh ten et OG
Teeth of Collared Peccary. . 60
Collared Peccary. . . . © 61
[abirOussales ate) cee ole etsy Oe
Head of Babiroussa, seen in
roiile ep mer cert se) oj «1's JO0
Skull of Babiroussa . . . - 65
Teeth of Babiroussa . . - « 66
Female Wild Hog and Young. 69

Boarvllunmttrerecutertrctriee dale ou ntl

AA AARh

Boar Hunt yg) siren ven oq) annie
Boar-hunting in India. . . 75
Skullofthe Hog. . . . « 76
Teeth ofthe Hog. . . - « 77
Domestic Hog. . - . .

Teeth of Phacochere . . . 84
African’ Boar: <) “date itan 26 FeSO
Abyssinian Phacochere . . 89
Skull of Fossil Adapis . . . 99
Molar of Mastodon, not worn . 92
Molar of Mastodon, much worn 92
Skeleton of Mastodon . . . 93
Outline of Palseotherium mag-
DIM os 6:2 oth cone op eT.
Outline of Paleotherium minus 96
Skeleton of Paleother:um mag-
TUM se" ony ae se eey one or min one ort
Skeleton of Raleotherium
AMUN \ar. oes lath. Neruheranen ental
Skull of Palzeotherium magnum 99
Molar Teeth of upper jaw of the
same, seen from above . . 99
External view of part of the
lower jaw ofthe same. . . 99
Teeth of Lophiodon, . . .101
Anoplotherium . . . . .102
IDICtON en) sicitejuei tell) el emu etlOe
Lower Jaw of Dinotherium, . 104
Skull of Dinotherium . . .105
Ditto ° ° . ° . . . e 106
Palatal view of Skull of Dino-
CHETIUIN aii cohen iculienn omiete ONG
Molar Teeth of Dinotherium . 168
Occipital condyles of Dinothe-
TIUNI see eeee ewe sitive ie) tee LOO
Winotheriumese el 0s ss a LLO

208

Fossil Skull of Toxodon, .
LU RP OS AR Os eee ter we tape ops 6 |
Dito naentce) eres cemetett cs LLG
Part of lower jaw of Toxodon . 113

IncisorofDitto se) «6! eA
Tooth of Toxodon |.) 2 % 4.5
DIELO ec dec mete on NG? btoiis ANG
DiCtO wean ces cee Mel ehlah ema eLLO

Femur of extinct Australian
PACHYderM. vs cache’ ia @ ALO

Molar Tooth of ditto. . . .120
WDUGEO: 68 os o* «fast Oa. 120
Vascular Ae eaatas of Whale . 127
Skeleton of Dugong. . . .128
Skeleton of Manatee. . . . 128

Skull of Dugong, . . . .129
Skull of Manatee. - . . 2129
Teeth of Manatee . . . .130
Teeth of. Dugong 2. .° «63131

Dngong 4° 21/8 >.) wo 4S 188
Manteca veh went ties s/h nad
Fossil Teeth of Zeuglodon., .135
Skullof Dolphin. . . . .137
Section of Head of Porpoise . 138
Teeth of Porpoise . . . . 141
Common Porpoise . . . «142
Skeleton of Porpoise. . . . 143
Skull and Tooth of Narwhal . 145
Mhe Narwhal fc a hat
Beluga, .) - ero uch eayy
Spermaceti W hale ot ue ye how
Skull of Spermaceti Whale, in
MICHle wes cowile nt = . 154
Skull of Spermaceti Whale,
seen from above . , « .154
Spermaceti Whale . . . .156
Lower Jaw of Spermaceti
Wihtalet is cimiatre gue i) ie tos

Skull of Spermaceti Whale,
seen from below)... ss) /.1o8

Page | P
+112 | Skull of Spermaceti Whale,

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,

age

IDACKEVIE Wists is ls vcr), sai los
Inside Jaws of Greenland Whale 160

Skull of Greenland Whale,
in/profile’, << . 161

Skull of Greenland Whar
TIPPER VIEW <6 «° 6 « i LOL

Skull of Greenland Whale, un-
der view, lower jaw removed 161
Skeleton of Greenland Whale 163

Greenland Whale . . . . 164
New Zealand Whale. . . .168
Skeleton of Rorqual. . . .170

SkeletonofiSeal. «5... = L%2

| Skull of Seal, upper view . .174

Skull of Seal, lower view . .174

SkullvofiSeals. ©. «pour cmewlecey
Teeth of/Seals « . Gea ualeeplao
Common Seal. . . . . «178
Ditto: <9 Ue" | a. eee ue

Harp-Sealie js sas) co eeu nLSD
Immature Harp-Seal . . .181
Teeth of Sea-Leopard . . .183
Skull of Sea-Leopard . . .183
Sea-Leopard , . o a fe Oe
Teeth of Crested Seal Si asics
Skull of Crested Seal . . .183
Crested Seal. cic ue © «186
Teeth of Elephant-Seal. . .188
Skull of Elephant-Seal. . .189
Elephant-Seals. Males. . .190
Elephant-Seal. Female . . 191
Teeth of Ursine Seal. . . .193
Skull of Ursine Seal. . . .194
Ursine Sealiie. ese emrcel tee oe
Skull of Sea-Lion, . . . .196
Forster’s Sea-Lion . . . «197
Skull and Lower Jaw of Walrus 200
Molars and Tusk of Walrus, . 2(C1
Walrus, or Morse. . . © . 263

END OF VOL, III.

London: Printed by W. CLowes and Sons, Stamford Street.

SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY.

MiSs TOmY

OF

THE MAMMAL PAL

VonckWe

ORDERS—RODENTIA; EDENTATA.

WiTH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.

IN SIX VOLUMES.

LONDON:
C. COX, 12, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND.

1849.

London: Printed by W. Crowes and Sons, Stamford Street.

CONTENTS OF /ViOUl RV:

eee

OrpER—RODENTIA.

The Squirrels’; ° ° <
The Northern Gray and Black Squineél . :
The Malabar Squirrel . ° :

The Rocky-Mountain Flying Squirrel :

The Common Ground-Squirrel : 3 .
Parry’s Spermophile . . - : :
The Alpine Marmot. . - ‘ °
The Bobac . é , : . ° 2
The Quebec Marmot . ‘ : “ ,
Dormice . : :

The Common Dormouse : : ° ‘
The Garden Dormouse, or Lerot. . ; i
The Cape Graphiure . ‘ ° : Suh:
The Jerboas : . : : - .
The Egyptian Jerboa . : : : <
The Dark-banded Jerboa ° . ;

The Labrador Jumping Mouse ° : :
The Cape Leaping Hare : : F :
Burton’s Gerbille ; , $ :
Mitchell’s Gerboa 4 2 r ; :
The Common Mouse . : A . .
The Barbary Mouse. é Sv iae

Darwiu’s Mouse . . é ‘ ° :

iv CONTENTS.

The Long-tailed Field Mouse : .
The Short-tailed Field Mouse 4 :
The Harvest Mouse . ° >

The Hamster < ° ; :
The Cafire Broad-eared Rat 5 ; 4
The Hydromys . :

The Economist Mouse . ;

The Water-Rat . : : 4

The Beaver : 5

The Musquash : - d

The Mole-Rat . E ° 5

The Canada Sand-Rat . é - :
The Camas pouched Rat ‘ : 6
The Coast Rat . é F

The Rabbit Cercomys .

Cuming’s Octodon : .

The Tucutuco . , F

The Utia . ° ’ 3 ‘

The Coypu . ‘ ‘ : :

FamiIty—HISTRICIDZ.

The Common Porcupine : .

The Brazilian Poreupme .

FamIty—CHINCHILLIDZ.

The Chinchilla . °
Cuvier’s Lagotis . ,
The Viscacha or Biscacha of the pale

FamILty—DASYPROCTID.

The Dusky Paca . ‘ e ; :
The Agoutis : ; : . :

PaGE
62
63
66
69
74
uo
77
79
81
86
89
91
95
aT
98
§9

161
105
109

115
117

119
124
]238

137
139

CONTENTS.
The Common Agouti . : ° :
The Black Agouti ‘ . :
The Acouchi : ‘ . .
‘Phe Cavies . : : : . .
The Patagonian Cavy, or Mara. F . °

The Capybara . : ° - :

FamiLty—LEPORID A.

The Common Hare e é * : c °
The Rabbit . : : . E Z A

The Syrian Hare . : : . °

The Dwarf Pika . : : - .

eee

Orprer—EDENTATA.
Section I. LEAF-EATERS.

Famity—SLOTHS.
The Common Sloth, or Ai. “ :

Famrty—GRAVIGRADA.

Mylodon robustus ° : : . : 5
Scelidotherium . : : : . a
The Megatherium . °

Section II. INSECTIVOROUS EDENTATA.

Faminy—LORICA.

The Peba . : : A P A : ,
The Mataco : F : “ ; e ‘

vi CONTENTS.

PaGe
The Poyou, or Weasel-headed Armadillo : -/) 194
The Tatouay : : : . . . o1/ 196
The Great Armadillo . : . : : s§ 19%
The Pichiciago . : : . . : oS
The Aard-vark . : . . ° ; e 205

Famity—TOOTHLESS ANT-EATERS.
The Great Ant-eater, or Ant-bear . , ° - 208 |

The Tamandua . ‘ 5 3 : 5 <a) 2M
The Little Ant-eater . 4 ° 3 : eS
Genus Manis : 4 5 : ‘ aaah 2) 0
The Short-tailed Manis 3 4 4 : a 29
The Long-tailed Manis ° : ; ° s*4 S19

‘Temminck’s Manis > ‘ 4 . . a (219

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

AARAARDR AAO

Skull, Teeth, and Paws of Aplo-
Bertin oe ea t.

Malabar Squirrel. . 2. . .» 13
Teeth of Tamias. . . . . J4
Teeth of Sciurus. . . . . 15
~ 1 ing Squir-

eae Stil, omieny en
Parry’s Spermophile. . . . 19 Teeth of Hamster . .. .
Alpine Marmnotiiey «) 4 oa 02 Hamster ..

Etta er erry |e CAN og Teeth of Caffre Bruit! givedt Rat 7
Babs. see ent ag Caffre Broad-eared Rat . . .

Quebec Marmot. . . . « 24 | TeethofHydromys. . . .
Teeth of Dormouse . . . . 26 | Hydromys. . . . . . .
Common Dormouse. . . . 27 | Lleeth of Economist Mouse.
Ditto toe, ae ee Bee | economist Mice gn.) tars

Lerot, or Garden Dormouse . 29 | Water-Rat. . . . 2. 1 -

Barbary Mouse*? i 2724's
Darwin’s Mouse. . . «
Long-tailed Field Mouse.
Short-tailed Field Mice. . .
Harvest Mouse . . .

: Beaver. . . :

Cape Graphiure. . . . . 31 ° > .
Skull and Teeth of Dipus Teeth of } Musqnash el Sane
hirtipes ° e ° e 32 Musquash , . ° ° ° ° °

Skull and Teeth a Alnataea 27347 |) Mole-Rats <- + 5:
Egyptian Jerboa. . . . . 35 | Skulland Teeth of Canada Sand-

BRO Noe ec see ew ae Rat... areas
Ditto . . . . « 37 | Teeth of Canada Sana: Hat. s
Dark-banded Tera See eos 39 Canada Sand-Rats <n aters
Teeth of Labrador Jumping DEC) S sic sim ion Ode Ps pee

Mouse™ con sate ete bree 40) |b Camas pouchedRatheiit.) jsut
Labrador Jumping Mouse . . 41 | TeethofCoast Rat . . . .
Teeth of Cape Leaping Hare . 42 | CoastRat. . . 2. . « .
Cape Leaping Hare. . . 43 | Rabbit Cereomys. . . . . 9
Skull and Teeth of Burton’ s Teeth of Echymys . . . .100

Page Page

Gerbille. .-. « «© © « 45 | Skull of Cuming’s Octodon. . 101
‘Burton’s Gerbille . . . «. 46 | Cuming’s Octodon . . . .102
Maitchell’s;}Gerboawh t's, 2's | <a) 48in|) (Ducutucog. i ennetia ean ein eierat Oo
Teeth of Common Mouse . . 50 | Skullof Tucutueo . . . .104
Common Mouse. .. - . 53 | Muzzle and Paws of Utia . .106
WDIGEON simon fied Heal ee ints baie ae dO LO saa RE Rite Mn Pe ol a Hea Osaka LO

Vill

Page
Teeth of Coypu . . «. « .109
COXA 5 “Ge OPES) Gi o8 a SL ble
Meethiobeystrix.. » «| 2) ll?
Teeth of Erethizon . . . .113
Skull of Acanthion Javanicum 114
Skull of Common Porcupine . 114
Common Porcupine. . - 115
WDIttO te Vive ee Cee «se best oe 16
Brazilian Porcupine. . . .118
Chinchillage os0 6 ste) seuss) oe LZ
Ditto: % 3%... elie eae
Skeleton of Chinchilla Bie sou lenlioe?
SkulWohdittor Geagemke ee eaalos
Cuvier’s Lagotis i. 16 be.) se el 2d
Skeleton of ditto. . . «. «127
SKUMLOLGIttO: ci) © Was sh scans Les
WaSCaChiais. “se. « _« « mer li29
Skeleton and Skull of ditto lise
Skull ofsPaca 216 se) wee ne Se
Upper Jaw of ditto... . .. .135
Lower Jaw of ditto . . . .136
Mooth Of ditto). -je.16 te wer aresli SO
Dusky Hace so ©). waprenetopliot

MeethvoRA gouty fosy enats bs geen 40
Common Agouti <..:64 2.4.64,0 143

Black Agouti. 2 «| ¢,\iey, «144
COUCH The se 6 fe alton 4D
Teeth of Guinea-pig. . . .147
Teeth of Kerodon. . . . . 148
Patagonian Cavy. . . . .150
Teeth.of Capybaras . s)... 1). 158
Gapybara ly. 2. ve. See as la}
Teeth of Common Bens) Tain Wari
Wwarh Pika. .. Pla Ale?
Skeleton of Sloth. . ... .166
PElVIs\Ol Citto Mike wie vis as eG
Skeleton of Unau . + . .168
Slop) iio yc tee we: wells RESALOD
Sloth. Mode of progression .170

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page
Lower Jaw of Mylodon . . .176
Right branch of the above 3 ex-
termalwiew. sj. </ « «ltG
Tooth of Mylodon . . . 177
WMO Go A Bea GG alae
Remains of Skull of Scelido-
thenums <0.) «: «| @ arena
Dentition of Scelidotherium .179
WDMtON es 6 lie lie ci ete SO
Skeleton of Megatherium . .182
Pelvis and Hind Leg of ditto . 185
Ungueal Phalanx of ditto . . 186
Tooth ofidittd: ~~. %. ele LSo
TMelay fons.) eo Mee fer te recline

Matsed. 35 of5 te ee we erligS
Weasel-headed Armadillo . .195
Tatoliaty “~ s “- 5 ee melon

The Great Armadillo . . .198
Extremity and Tail of Pichi-

Clg. “7. ec som oumistcul
lene awEeINS SG 8 SG 5 tw
skullsofditto. ‘spn en ence
Upper view of ditto. . . . 202
Basal view of ditto , . . .202

Lower Jaw of ditto . .° . . 203

Cervical Vertebree of ditto. . 203
Pelvis seen from behind. . .203
Ditto seen from below. . .203
Skeleton of Pichiciago . . .204
Vertebre of Tail of ditto . . 204
ATU -VaE ge is i io to) wel tee Perea

Teeth of Gitton, 6.6 ete vereue

Great Amt-eater < (2) sb en e209
HELTER UOEM Memo hs. Vey eae
Little Ant-eaten)s ney cuts tae rout
Temminck’s Manis . .... 216
Skull of Short-tailed Manis . 217
Reet ioiedittose oct acca e sees
Pelvis of/dittopeie «menaeteaeD

SKETCH

OF THE

HISTORY OF THE MAMMALIA,

OrpER—RODENTIA.

Tue difficulty of instituting a natural arrangement (that
is, an arrangement exhibiting the multiform links and
affinities of different groups) is confessedly great; but
peculiarly so as it respects the component parts of the
present order. In itself, indeed, this order is definite,
and based upon characters which form a clear line of
separation between it and every other; but when we
come to investigate the species it embraces, we soon
feel ourselves perplexed among a multitude of forms,
and begin to hesitate at every step. Hence it is that no
two naturalists have arranged the Rodentia in the same
manner; nay, Cuvier himself, in the last edition of his
‘Reégne Animal,’ set aside the principles by which in
his earlier edition he was guided, and followed out other
views.

Among those naturalists who have lately devoted their
attention to the Rodentia, Mr. Waterhouse takes a fore-
most place ; and his arrangement, founded on the truest
philosophical principles, is a decided step in the advance-
ment of this department of Zoology. It would be out
of place, in a work like the present, to follow this natu-
ralist through his train of researches, but we may give
an outline of their results. Mr. Waterhouse considers

VOL, IV. B

6 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

that the Rodents resolve themselves into three great pri-
mary sections: first, the Murine section; secondly, the
Hystricine section ; and thirdly, the Leporine section.
Each of these sections embraces several families, each
of the latter comprehending several genera. The prin-
cipal genera contained in the Murine section are—Sciurus,
Arctomys, Spermophilus, Tamias, Myoxus, Dipus, Mus,
Arvicola, Geomys, and Castor. The principal genera
contained in the Hystricine section are—Bathurgus, Oryc-
terus, Poephagomys, Octodon, Abrocoma, Myopotamus,
Capromys, Echimys, Aulacodus, Histrix, Dasyprocta,
Chinchilla, Cavia, and Hydrocherus. The Leporine
section contains the genera Lepus and Lagomys.
Respecting a few genera, as Ctenodactylus, Helamys,
Otomys (Smith, not F. Cuvier), Akodon, and Heteromys,
Mr. Waterhouse has not been able to satisfy himself as
to their precise systematic classification; and with re-
spect to the genus Aplodontia (Fig. 1, skull and teeth),
though he places it in the squirrel family (Sciwride),
yet it differs, as he admits, in the absence of a post-
orbital process to the skull, and in the molar teeth being
rootless. We may here remark that the genus Aplo-
dontia contains a Rodent, called by Lewis and Clark the
Sewellel (A. deporina), and which inhabits the neigh-
bourhood of the Columbia river (N. America), where it
lives in burrows, and associates in small companies. The
head is large, the nose is thick and obtuse, covered with
a dense ccat of short fur; eye very small; ear resembling
the human in form. Body short, thick, and rabbit-like.
Legs very short, and covered down to the wrists and
heels with fur similar to that on the body: a little above
the wrist-joint, on the inner side, is a small tuft of stiff
white hairs. Fur like that of a rabbit out of season,
amber and chestnut-brown above, grayish or clove-
brown beneath ; lips whitish ; a rather large spot of pure
white on the throat ; some white hairs dispersed through
the fur. Tail slender, cylindrical, hardly half an inch
long. ‘The figure (1) represents the skull, teeth, and
paws: 1, anterior half of skull with lower jaw, profile ;
2, anterior half of skull seen from below; 3, the same

I

RODENTIA.

f 1,—Skull, Teeth, and Paws of Aplodontia.

seen from above ; 4, lower jaw with right condyle broken,
seen from above ; 5, upper molar tooth; 6, 7, fore foot,
upper surface; 8, sole of hind foot.

The Rodentia, as the name implies, have the teeth
constructed for gnawing, paring, or scraping down the
substances on which they feed. ‘The teeth are only of
two kinds, incisors and molars. ‘There are no canines ;
and between the incisors, which project from the very
apex of the jaws, and the molars, which are situated far
back, there intervenes an unfilled space of considerable
extent. The incisors are universally two in number in

B2

8 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

each jaw (if we except the hares and rabbits, in which
two minute incisors rise at the back of the large perma-
nent ones): these are strong, compressed, and somewhat
curved, with sharp chisel-shaped edges. It is only their
anterior surface that is covered with a thick layer of
enamel, and this layer forms the cutting edge, as does
the layer of steel on softer metal composing a common
chisel. Their insertion into their sockets is very deep,
but the inserted part is not a true root: these incisors
spring from a pulpy germ at their base, from which they
are perpetually growing, and this growth bears a due
proportion to the rapidity with which their cutting edges
wear away by use. So imperative is this law, that, where
One incisor is lost by accident, its opposite, hving no
countercheck, keeps increasing, till it acquires an enor-
mous development, to the annoyance, and often the de-
struction, of the sufferer. With regard to the molars it
may be observed that they differ in number in different
species: they are, however, generally characterised by
a flat surface ; traversed transversely by ridges of enamel,
their structure being composed of perpendicular folds of
this substance, compacted together by intervening osseous
matter; but further than this, we find in different spe-
cies a structural distinction of physiological importance :
in some, as the Arvicolide, they resemble the incisors,
having no true solid roots, but are perpetually growing
“as their surface wears away ; in others, on the contrary
(as the squirrels), at a certain period they gain truly
formed roots, and after this cease all further growth.
In the Rodentia the upper lip, which is cleft longitudi-
nally, is in many species an organ of prehension; or at
least is of great importance in gradually transmitting the
food into the mouth, as may be seen when we offer the
rabbit a leaf or a stalk of clover or dandelion. The pha-
rynx, or back of the mouth, is contracted, and in some
species funnel-shaped, and capable of being closed by a
circular muscle, in order that the food may pass gradu-
ally, as it becomes duly ground to pulp between the
molars. The structural organisation of the Rodents, as
evidenced by the characters of the skull, the bird-like

RODENTIA. 9

condition-of the brain, and by other points, is at a low
par, and the ratio of their intelligence is in a parallel de-
gree. We may tame them, but we cannot educate them.
They are all timid and feeble, and trust for self-protec-
tion to flight or concealment. The prey of ferocious
beasts and birds and reptiles, their fertility, by a wise
provision, counterbalances their annual diminution.
Spread over the earth, from the equator to the coldest
latitudes, they tenant rocks and mountains, plains and
woods, feeding on grain and vegetables, and often de-
vastating the cultivated domains of man. To avegetable
diet some few, as the rat, add animal food also, Most
are nocturnal or crepuscular in their habits; many dwell
in burrows, some conceal themselves amidst herbage,
some amongst the foliage of trees, and some build for
themselves habitations which have excited the interest
and admiration of man.

In noticing the numerical abundance of the Rodentia,
throughout the different quarters of the globe, it should
be observed that in Australia six or eight species are all
that we are acquainted with belonging to that region ;
Europe, North America, and South America are nearly
equal as to the number of species they contain. India and
Africa are also nearly equal, but they contain fewer
species than either of the other provinces. The squir-
rels, rats, porcupines, and hares are the only groups
found in all the provinces; all the rest of the groups
are respectively confined to their own particular geogra-
phical province. The naturalist will find some import-
ant observations on the Rodentia by Mr. Waterhouse,
in the ‘ Zool. Proceeds.,’ for 1839; in the ‘ Zool. of the
Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle ;’ and in the ‘ Mag. of Nat.
Hist,’ New Series, 1839, p. 90. _

THE SQUIRRELS (Family Sciuride).

These elegant animals are found in every quarter of the
world, Australia excepted. The general characters of
the true squirrels (Sciurus), as exhibited by our well-
known British species, are familiar to all: its fine full

10 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

eyes, its light contour, its activity, its deep soft fur, and
long bushy tail, have contributed to render it a general
favourite. They are furnished with proper clavicles, or
collar-bones, and possess the use of the fore-arm and
paws in a high degree of perfection; the toes are four,
with the rudiment of a thumb, on the anterior feet; five
on the hind feet; the claws are sharp and hooked. Mo-

[eae

lars, Ears often tufted with a pencil of long

hairs. In feeding, these animals sit up on the haunches,
and hold their food (nuts, &c.) not between the fingers
of their joined fore paws, but between the rudimentary
thumbs, while they work at it with their teeth.

Tuer Nortruern Gray AND BiAck SQUIRREL

(Sciurus leucotis).

It is to Dr. Bachman, D.D., President of the Lit.
and Phil. Soc., Charlestown, S. Carolina, that we are
indebted for clearing up the maze of confusion in which
the squirrels of America have been involved.

It appears from this author that several black squirrels
exist, totally distinct from each other, and that of these
some are mere varieties. Of the genuine species he no-
tices the large Louisiana black squirrel (S. Audubonii),
the black squirrel (Scirus niger, Linn., not Catesby),
and the dusky squirrel (S. nigrescens). There is a black
variety of the fox squirrel (S. capistratus), and a black
variety of the Northern gray squirrel, the species figured.
The gray squirrels are numerous, and perplexing to the
naturalist. ‘The Northern gray squirrel has been, for
instance, confounded with the Carolina gray squirrel,
from which it is distinct. The Northern gray and black
squirrel is a very common species, and exceedingly
active and sprightly. It is spread through the Northern
and Middle states: it is abundant in New York and in
the mountainous parts of Pennsylvania, and extends as
far north as Hudson’s Bay: southwards, it occurs in
Virginia, and perhaps still farther south.

NORTHERN GRAY AND BLACK SQUIRREL. Il

Like all the true squirrels, this species is arboreal in
its habits, quick, and alert :—it rises with the sun, and
continues industriously engaged in search of food during
four or five hours in the morning, running over logs,
ascending trees and playfully coursing from limb to limb.
During the warm weather of spring it prepares its cradle
or nest on the branch of a tree, constructing it of dried
sticks which it breaks off, or, if these are not at hand, of
green twigs as thick as a finger, which it gnaws from the
boughs. ‘These it lays in the fork of a tree or of some
large branch so as to make a framework: it then lines
this framework with leaves ; and over these again spreads
a layer of moss. In the preparation of this nest, a pair
is usually engaged for an hour in the morning, during
several successive days, and the noise they make in cut-
ting the branches and dragging the leaves may be heard
at some distance. In winter they reside entirely in
holes of trees, where their young in most instances are
brought forth. The young are from four to six in num-
ber; and in a few weeks are sufficiently advanced to
leave their nest. It is generally believed that this
squirrel lays up a great hoard of food as a winter supply,
but Dr. Bachman doubts the fact, though he admits that
other northern species do, Further he states that the
species which inhabit the southern portion of the United
States, where the ground is seldom covered with snow,
derive in winter a precarious subsistence from seeds, in-
sects, and worms, which are scratched up among the
leaves. We may here observe that, singularly enough,
no one has noticed the fact, excepting Mr. C. Coward
(‘ Mag. Nat. Hist.,” New Series, June, 1839, p. 311),
of our common British squirrel being carnivorous as well
as frugivorous; such is, however, the case: it attacks
young birds and greedily devours them, nor is even the
wood-pigeon safe from its assaults. ‘The Northern gray
squirrel feeds on nuts and various seeds, but it seems to
prefer the shell-bark (Carya aiba) and the several spe-
cies of hickory to any other food. Green corn and
young wheat suffer greatly from its depredations, and
hence a war of wholesale destruction is everywhere

12 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

waged against it. In Pennsylvania an old law existed
offering threepence a head for every squirrel destroyed,
and in 1749 the enormous sum of 8000/. was paid out of
the treasury for the destruction of these depredators.
The extensive migrations which are undertaken by this
species, either from a scarcity of food or from some other
inexplicable cause, have often excited not only wonder,
but apprehension. ‘They generally take place in autumn,
but by no means with regularity. It would appear that
in the far north-west multitudes congregate in different
districts, forming scattered troops, which all bend their
way instinctively in an eastern direction, collecting into
larger bodies as they proceed; neither mountains nor
rivers stop their progress : onward they come, a devour-
ing army, laying waste the corn and wheat fields of the
farmer ; and as their numbers are thinned by the gun,
others fill up the ranks: few, perhaps none, ever return
westwardly ; those that escape the carnage take up their
abode in the forests of their newly-explored country.
The gray squirrel has many enemies; the fox, the lynx,
the weasel, hawks, and owls are all eager to seize it:
when attacked by the red-tailed hawk, its most formid-
able foe, it is amusing to see the skill and dexterity ex-
ercised by both, in the attack, and in the defence; often,
indeed, the squirrel, by dodging and twisting round the
branches and large limbs of the tree, foils and wears out
his antagonist; when, however, a pair of hawks combine,
the squirrel has no chance.

Tor Mavapar Squirrex (Sciurus maximus).

Of the Indian squirrels, one of the finest is the Ma-
Jabar squirrel, measuring fourteen or fifteen inches in the
length of the head and body, and somewhat more in that
of its full bushy tail. (Fig. 2.) This species is found
in Malabar, and also in Ceylon. Like the rest of its
tribe, it is eminently arboreal, tenanting the summits of
palm-trees, and feeding to a great extent upon the cocoa-
nut, to the milk of which it is said to be very partial.
We have seen several specimens in captivity. They

THE ROCKY-MOUNTAIN FLYING SQUIRREL. 13

-—Malabar Squirrel.

soon become tame and familiar, but are not to be trusted
too far: their bite is very severe. General colour above,
rich chocolate, deepening about the shoulders into black ;

under parts abruptly pale reddish yellow; ears tufted
with a long full brush.

Tue Rocxy-Mountar Frying Squirrer
(Pteromys Alpinus, or Pt. Sabinus, var. B, Richardson).

The flying squirrels (Pteromys, Geoftr. ; Sciuropterus,
F. Cuv.) agree in the general characters of their denti-
tion with the rest of the family (see Fig. 3 for the teeth
of Zamias, and Fig. 4 for the teeth of Sciurus). The

5—5
incisors are laterally compressed: the molars, i
4—4 ce
rarely ay wr equal in size or nearly so, excepting
2

?

——.

Bo

14 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

the anterior molar of the upper jaw, where they are
5—5, which is smaller than the rest. The series of
molars on each side are widely separate and parallel. It
is in the possession of a lateral fold of skin, forming,
when extended, a parachute, enabling them to take long
sweeping leaps, that the flying squirrels are distinguish-
able from the ordinary group. ‘These expansions are

3.—Teeth of Tamias.

fully clothed with soft fur; and they usually project in
a pointed form from each wrist, being there supported by
a long slender osseous stylet. In some species, as the
one figured, this is either reduced to a mere tubercle or
wanting. (Fig. 5.)

The flying squirrels are conspicuous for the rapidity
of their evolutions: they ascend the trees with such ve-

THE ROCKY-MOUNTAIN FLYING SQUIRREL. 15

locity that the eye can scarcely follow them; and they
skim from one tree to another, or precipitate themselves
to the ground, with singular agility. In their habits they
are nocturnal.

4.—Teeth of Sciurus.

These elegant animals are respectively natives of the
northern regions of Europe, the north of Asia, the north
of America, and the glowing islands of the Indian Ar-
chipelago. The present species is one of the American
flying squirrels, and was discovered by Mr. Drummond
on the Rocky Mountains, where it lives in dense pine-

16 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

5.—Rocky-Mountain Flying Squirrel.

THE COMMON GROUND-SQUIRREL. 17

forests, seldom venturing from its retreat except in the
night. Dr. Richardson received specimens from the
Elk river, and also from the south branch of the Mac-
kenzie. Whether it is a mere variety of the Pt. Sa-
brinus or a distinct species is not clear.

Its general colour is yellowish-brown above. ‘The tail
is flat, longer than the body, and blackish-gray. Total
length fourteen inches three lines, of which the tail, in-
cluding the fur, measures six inches three lines.

Tue Common GrounD-SQUIRREL
(Tamias striatus).

Unlike the true squirrels, the ground-squirrels are
chiefly terrestrial in their habits, and are furnished with
cheek-pouches, in which they carry food to their retreats,
forming magazines for winter. ~They live in burrows,
but do not appear to become torpid. ‘Their fur is shorter
and closer, and the tail less bushy, than in their arboreal
relatives. These animals are chiefly spread through
the northern and temperate regions of Europe, Asia,
and America. The palm-squirrel of India, and the
Barbary squirrel, though associated by some authors
with the ground-squirrels, occupy an intermediate si-
tuation between the latter and the true arboreal species.

The common ground-squirrel is a native of the north-
eastern part of Europe and the north of Asia. It is the
Ecureuil Suisse of the French, so called because its
striped back has some resemblance to a Swiss doublet.
According to Pallas, these striped squirrels dig their
burrows in woody places, in small hummocks of earth,
or near the roots of trees; but never, like the common
squirrels, make their nests in the trunk or branches,
although when scared from their holes they climb with
facility, and make their way from branch to branch with
great speed. A winding passage leads to their nest, and
they generally form two or three lateral chambers to
store their food in. ‘The striped squirrel in its manners,
and from having cheek-pouches, is allied to the hamster
and citillus (type of the genus Spermophilus), and is

18 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

likewise connected with the latter by its convex nose,
proper for an animal accustomed to dig. In its whole
habit it differs from the squirrels which live in trees, and
forms, with other striped squirrels, a division of the
genus. It has a longer head than the common squirre! ;
rounded ears, not tufted; a roundish, hairy tail, which
it less frequently turns up; a slender body, and shorter
limbs. The fur likewise is very short, and less fine.
Yet in its diurnal habits, and in not becoming torpid in
winter, it comes near the squirrels: it is difficult to
tame.

Parry’s SPERMOPHILE (Spermophilus Parryt).

The genus Spermophilus is intermediate between the
eround-squirrels and the marmots. Besides possessing
cheek-pouches, the Spermophiles are distinguished by
the closeness of the ears, the slender form of the body,
which is squirrel-like, and the narrowness of the paws.
(Fig. 6.)

Two species are natives of eastern Europe, viz. the
Souslik of the Volga, and the Zizel or Suzel of Hun-
gary, Poland, &c., which are, perhaps, mere varieties.
Many species are American, one of which, Parry’s
Spermophile, is the species figured.

Colour of the body above, a mixture of white thickly
spotted on a gray or black ground ; face chestnut; under
parts rust-brown; tail with a narrow white margin, and
black at the extremity. This, according io Dr. Rich-
ardson, who first named the species, is the Ground-
Squirrel of Herne ; the Quebec Marmot of Forster; the
Seek-Seek of the Esquimaux; the Thee-thiay (Rock
Badger) of the Chepewyans ; and the Arctomys Alpina
of Parry’s ‘Second Voyage.’

Dr. Richardson states that it inhabits the Barren
Grounds skirting the sea-coast from Churchill in Hudson’s
Bay round by Melville Peninsula, and the whole northern
extremity of the continent to Behring’s Straits, where
specimens precisely similar were procured by Captain
Beechey. It is abundant in the neighbourhood of Fort

PARRY 'S SPERMOPHILE. 19

gaat’
AOS ‘
at
AN

Oa <9 eC Ee
OEE”
a ae

. 22

6.—Parry’s Spermophile.

Enterprise, near the southern verge of the Barren
Grounds, in lat. 65°, and is also plentiful on Cape Parry,
one of the most northern parts of the continent. It is
found generally in stony districts, but seems to delight
chiefly in sandy hillocks amongst rocks, where burrows,
inhabited by different individuals, may be often ob-
served crowded together. One of the society is generally
observed sitting erect on the summit of a hillock whilst
the others are feeding in the neighbourhood. Upon the
approach of danger he gives the alarm and they in-
stantly hurry to their holes, remaining however chattering

20 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

at the entrance until the advance of the enemy obliges
them to retire to the bottom. When their retreat is cut
off, they become much terrified, and, seeking shelter in
the first crevice, they not unfrequently succeed only in
hiding the head and fore part of the body, whilst the
projecting tail is, as is usual with them under the influ-
ence of terror, spread out flat on the rock. Their cry,
in this season of distress, strongly resembles the loud
alarm of the Hudson’s Bay squirrel, and is not very un-
like the sound of a watchman’s rattle. The Esquimaux
name is an attempt to express this sound. Herne states
that they are easily tamed, and very cleanly and playful
when domesticated. They never come abroad during
the winter. Their food appears to be entirely vegeta-
ble; their pouches being generally filled, according to
the season, with tender shoots of herbaceous plants,
berries of the alpine arbutus, and of other trailing shrubs,
or the seeds of grasses and leguminous plants. They
produce about seven young at a time.

The true marmots (Arctomys) are thicker, more ro-
bust, and less elegant in figure than the Spermophiles ;
the head is broad and flat, and the muzzle obtuse; the
limbs are short, and there are no cheek-pouches.

Tue Atprne Marmot (Arctomys marmota).

This well-known species is common in the high moun-
tain districts of Europe, where it takes up its abode just
below the line of perpetual snow, excavating a deep
burrow, to which it has recourse on every appearance of
an enemy. In this, which it lines with dried grass,
moss, &c., it hybernates during the severity of the season.
The burrows of the marmot are always constructed in
dry situations, and mostly on declivities exposed to the
south or south-east. They are of considerable extent,
and are worked out and tenanted by families consisting
of from five to fifteen individuals. They begin by a
passage which runs for about six feet, and is just capable
of admitting the animal’s body. From the farther end

THE ALPINE MARMOT. 21

7.—Alpine Marmot.

of this gallery two others bifurcate, one of which, ac-
cording to Desmarest, leads to a sort of chamber in the
form of an oven, from three to seven feet in diameter ;
the other ends abruptly, and serves as a storehouse for
dried grasses, &c. According to some, these passages
are not always to be met witli, and MM. Geoffroy and
F. Cuvier assert that the cell is at the end of the first
gallery. During the summer months groups of these
animals may be seen feeding and sporting on the moun-
tain-side. (Fig. 7.) They never wander to any great
distance from their burrows, and have always one or
more of their number posted as sentinels, which by
a piercing cry give warning of danger. About the

22 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

middle of September they betake themselves. to their
winter dormitories, and close the entrance with earth
and the dried grass which they have accumulated: here
they sink into a profound repose, from which they do
not awaken till the return of April. Though timid and
inoffensive, these animals defend themselves resolutely
when driven to an extremity, and their powerful incisors
inflict severe wounds. They lift their food to their
mouths while sitting squirrel-like, and will walk om their
hind feet. On retiring for the winter they are at first
very fat, and numbers are taken at this season, partly for
the sake of their skins, and partly for their flesh, which
is eaten by the mountaineers. The young are easily

S SYK
\\ N

i 8.—Alpine Marmot. =

THE BOBAC. 93

tamed, and are often carried about by Savoyards for the
purpose of exhibition. The marmot produces from three
to five at a birth.

This species is of about the size of a rabbit. Its
general colour is yellowish-gray, passing into hoary about
the cheeks, and blackish-gray on the top of the head;
the tip of the tail is black. (Fig. 8.)

§.—Bobac.

Tuer Bopac (Arctomys bobac).

This species inhabits the regions of Poland through
which flow the Dnieper and its tributary streams, whence
it ranges through a great part of Northern Asia, It
gives preference to hills of moderate elevation, where it
chooses a dry locality in which to construct its burrows.
These are carried to a great depth, and are tenanted bv
families consisting of twenty or even forty individuals.

24 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

Tt accumulates in its retreat a quantity of dried herbage
for use, before the severity of the season commences,
and for early spring consumption, as well as for the sake
of warmth. General colour of the fur grayish-yellow
mingled with brown, which latter forms transverse undu-
lations on the upper parts. Under parts rust-brown.
Length of head and body sixteen or seventeen inches ;
of the tail six inches. (Fig. 9.)

THe Qurepec Marmor (Arctomys empetra).

This species is one of the American marmots, and is
a native of Canada and the neighbourhood of Hudson’s
Bay. Itis the Quebec Marmot of Pennant and God-
man; the Common Marmot of Langsdorff; the Thick-
wood Badger of the Hudson’s Bay residents; the Siffeur
of the French Canadians, who apply the same name to
the other species of marmot and to the badger ; ‘T'arbagan
of the Russian residents on Kodiak (?); Weenusk of
the Crees; Kath-hilla-Kooay of the Chepewyans ;
Mus Empetra of Pallas; and Arctomys Empetra of Sa-
bine and others.

Dr. Richardson, who gives the above synonyms, states
that the Quebec marmot inhabits the woody districts
from Canada to lat. 61°, and perhaps still farther north.

10.—Quebec Marmot.

THE COMMON DORMOUSE. 25

He says that it appears to be a solitary animal, inhabits
burrows in the earth, but ascends bushes and trees, pro-
bably in search of buds and other vegetable productions
on which it feeds. (Fig. 10.) Mr. Drummond killed
two, one on some low bushes, and the other on the
branch of a tree. According to Mr. Graham it burrows
perpendicularly, selecting dry spots, at some distance
from the coast, and feeding on the coarse grass which
gathers on the river sides. The Indians capture it by
pouring water into its holes. Its flesh is considered
delicate when the animal is fat, but its fur is valueless.

DORMICE (Myozide).

The dormice seem to connect the squirrels, on the one
hand, to the murine groups on the other. They are
arboreal in their habits, and clothed with fine soft fur.-
The toes are four on each fore foot, with the vestige ot
a fifth ; the hind feet have five toes. The dentition (Fig.

2 4—
12) is as follows :—Incisors, 53 molars, re Incisors

laterally compressed; molars unequal in size, rooted ;
the series on each side of each jaw widely separated and
parallel.

Tur Common Dormovuse (Myoxus avellanarius).

This elegant little creature is the Muscardin, Croque
Noix, and Rat d’Or of the French; Moscadino of the
Italians; Liron of the Spanish; Rothe Wald-maus,
Hasel-maus, and Hasel-schlifer of the Germans ; Skogs-
mus of the Swedes; Kassel-muus of the Danes; and
Pathew of the ancient British. It has been supposed
by some that it was this species which the Romans fat-
tened in their Gliraria for the table: but that animal
was most probably the loir (WZ. Gls), which is common
in the woods of Italy, and which approaches a squirrel
in size.

Though common in the southern and midland counties
of England, the dormouse is not so abundant in France

26 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

12.—Teeth of Dormouse.

as the Jerot (MZ. nitela, Fig. 15), yet its distribution is
very extensive. It ranges from the south of Europe as
far north as Sweden. ‘The favourite resorts of this little
animal are dense thickets, low woods and coppices of
hazel, bushy dells, and tangled hedgerows. It creeps
about the branches with a quick but gliding sort of
movement, and with singular facility. It leaps nimbly,
and makes its way so quickly through intertangled brush-
wood, that it cannot be easily captured. (Fig. 13.) The
dormouse appears to be in some degree gregarious, or
at least to colonize favourite spots, and ten or a dozen of
their nests have been seen at no great distance apart in

THE COMMON DORMOUSE. 7 f

Ns
\ \

Wis

\

\\ Hi
Wy Wi

YW)

“YS

\ \\\
Wi

13.—Common Dormouse.

the shrubs of a thicket. These nests are made of leaves,
grass, &c.: they are of a rounded form, about six inches
in diameter, with the aperture at the top. It isin these
that the young are brought forth and reared. The
number of the young is about four: they are born blind :
in a few days, however, their eyes are opened; and ina
short period they are capable of providing for themselves.
Corn, haws, hazel-nuts, and fallen acorns constitute the
food of the dormouse. It eats sitting up like a squirrel,
holding the food between its paws; and often it hangs
suspended by its hinder feet, in which position it feeds
as easily as in its ordinary attitude.

Mr. Bell states that the name Avellanarius is not well

28 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

chosen, and that he never saw any dormouse that could
gnaw through the shell of that nut when fully ripe.
We ourselves, however, have frequently seen the dor-
mouse open with its teeth the hard shell of a nut, and
clear it out with great address. The dormouse hybernates,
and hoards up a store of provision in holes, and the cre-
vices about the roots of trees, &c., to which to have re-
course in the winter; for its torpidity is not without
interruption. A midday gleam of sunshine rouses it up
in its snug retreat, and invites it forth, when it takes a
little food; on the diminution of the temperature it be-
takes itself to its dormitory, and, rolling up itself into a
ball, sinks into a profound slumber. In this condition it
may be handled, or rolled about a table, if not exposed to
the influence of warmth, without being roused from its
trance. It is not until the spring has fairly set in that

14.—Common Dormouse,

THE GARDEN DORMOUSE. 29

the dormouse regains its full activity, and it is at this
period that its magazine is of the greatest service: for,
without astore thus providently accumulated, it would,
for some time at least, be straightened for food.

The head of this species is proportionably large; the
eyes are large, black, and prominent; the ears are broad ;
the fur soft ; the tail long, fringed with hair on each side,
and somewhat tufted at the end; the body plump; the
limbs short. General colour cinnamon red, passing
into pale yellow below. The young are of a mouse-gray.
Length of the head and body two inches eight lines; of
the tail, two inches six lines. (Fig. 14.)

Tue Garpen Dormovuss, or Leror
(Myoxus Nitela).

The greater Dormouse of Shaw. This species is a
native of the whole of the temperate portions of conti-

We

ZL
(a)
=

y
y)
)

&
H

es
gh fy : q pr Mi

Z I, Ss
Ga
=
15.—Lerot, or Garden Dormouse,
VOL. IV. c

30 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

nental Europe, and indeed it is found as high north as
Poland and Prussia. In France it is very common, gardens
and orchards being its favourite abode; it makes sad havoc
among wall-fruits, attacking peaches, apricots, pears,
&c. with great avidity. (Fig. 15.) Its winter store,
however, consists of nuts, peas, beans, and the like,
which are collected in great abundance, and stowed
away in some convenient recess, where eight or ten in-
dividuals assemble to pass away the colder season in
sleep. The summer nest of the lerot, in which it rears
its young, is built in the holes of walls or the chinks of
aged trees. The young are four or five in number.
The colour of this pretty but annoying creature is reddish
gray ; beneath, white; a black patch surrounds the eye,
and spreads behind the ear. ‘The tail is covered with
short black hair, except at the end, which is tufted
with white. Length of head and body four inches and
a half; of the tail, four inches.

Tur Care Grapaiwre (Graphiurus Capensis).

The genus Graphiurus is scarcely to be separated from
Myoxus; it is represented by the Cape Graphiure, a
native of South Africa, This species is about the size
of the lerot, which it much resembles in the style of
its colouring, the general tint above being of a deep
brownish gray; the muzzle and sides of the face reddish
white; under parts grayish white, with a tinge of red;
tail brown, the tip, which is not tufted, reddish white ;
a band of blackish brown extends from the eyes to the
base of the ears. (Fig. 16.)

THE JERBOAS (Dipus).

The Jerboas constitute a group of the great murine
section of Rodents, and termed by Mr. Waterhouse
Dipodide, of which, he observes, the genera Dipus,
Alactaga, and Meriones are examples.

All the animals of this tribe are remarkable for the
shortness of the fore-limbs, the development of the
hinder limbs, and the length and slenderness of the

THE JERBOAS. 31

16.—Cape Graphiure,

metatarsus ; they resemble in these points the kangaroos.
They bound along on their hind limbs with great rapidity,
and appear almost to skim, like birds, the flat plains or
sandy wastes where they take up their abode. In an
elaborate memoir by M. F. Cuvier on the Jerboas and
Gerbilles, he divides these animals into different genera.
The Jerboas (Dipus) have only three toes on the hinder
feet, and these, as in birds, are articulated to asingle
elongated metatarsal bone, commonly known as the
canon-bone. In the Alactagas there are five toes; of
these the three central are articulated to a single meta-
tarsal bone, while the other two have each their own
slender metatarsal bone.

In Meriones and Gerbillus the toes are five, each with

c2

oe SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

their own distinct metatarsal bone. The incisors of the
Alactagas are simple, whilst those in the upper jaw of
the Jerboas are divided longitudinally by a furrow.
The molars of the latter genus are complicated in form,
and but little resemble those of the former. They are
four in number in the upper jaw, and three in the

17.—Skull and Teeth of Dipus hirtipes.

lower; but the first in the upper is a small rudi-
mentary tooth, which probably disappears in aged indi-
viduals. After a detailed account of the structure of
the ginding teeth, M. Cuvier observes that the general
structure of the head of the Alactagas and Jerboas is

THE EGYPTIAN JERBOA. 33

evidently the same, and is characterized by the large
size of the cranium, the shortness of the muzzle, and,
above all, by the magnitude of the suborbital foramina.
The cranium of the Jerboa is distinguished by its great
breadth posteriorly, resulting from the enormous deve-
lopment of the tympanic bone, which extends beyond
the occipital posteriorly and laterally, as far as the zygo-
matic arch, which is by no means the case in the Alac-
tagas, where all the osseous parts of the ear are of mode-
rate dimensions. Another differential character between
the two genera is presented by the maxillary arch, which
circumscribes externally the suborbital foramina, and
which in the Alactagas may be said to be linear, pre-
senting a very limited surface for the attachment of
muscles. He then notes a difference in the relative
development of the jaws, the lower being comparatively
much shorter in the Alactagas than in the Jerboas.
Having described a new species of Alactaga, a native
of Barbary, under the name of Alactaga arundinis, M.
F. Cuvier proceeds to consider the characters and affi-
nities of the genera Gerbillus and Meriones, and enters
into a critical examination of all the species referred to
those genera, and comes to the conclusion that they have
a closer affinity with the true Muride, than with the
Jerboas and Alactagas. Fig. 17 represents the skull
and teeth of Dipus hirtipes: a, skull, profile; b, the
same seen fromabove ; c, the same seen from below; d,
e, the teeth.

Fig. 18 represents the skull and teeth of Alactaga:
a and 6, the cranium, one-third larger than the natural
size; c and d, the teeth, five times enlarged.

Tue Eayrtran Jersoa (Dipus Agyptius).

In the true Jerboas the head is large, and not unlike
that of a rabbit in form ; the ears are long and somewhat
pointed; the eyes are full and prominent ; the tail is
very long, cylindrical, and covered with short hair,
except at the extremity, which is tufted. The fur of
the body is soft and delicate; the whiskers are long ;
the fore-feet are very small, and have four toes, and the

34 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

18.—Skull and Teeth of Alactaga.

THE EGYPTIAN JERBOA. 5)

rudiment of a thumb, furnished, however, with a nail.
In the hind-feet of these animals we behold palpable
evidences of their express adaptation to the deserts
where they habitually reside. Not only is the metatarsal
portion of the foot extremely elongated, but the toes are
clad on the under surface with long bristly hairs, which,
while they add to their span, and give firmness and se-
curity to their tread on a loose and yielding surface,

defend the foot from the heat of a glowing waste beneath
a fervid sun,

19,.—Egyptian Jerboa.

The Egytian Jerboa is found in Egypt, Barbary,
Nubia, and the warmer parts of Syria and Arabia. It
lives in troops, which colonize the most arid parts of the
desert, where, on hillocks of sand or the crumbled heaps
of ruins, they work out long burrows in which to dwell.
In these burrows they make their nest and rear their
young. So powerful are their teeth, that they not only
gnaw in a short time through the hardest wood, but, a
Sonnini affirms, through thin layers of stone beneath the
sand. According to some, these animals are nocturnal

35 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

in their habits, stealing forth to feed and sport when
evening begins to close. They are, however, not alto-
gether nocturnal, for Sonnini observed them in broad day
playing around the mouths of their subterranean habi-
tations, and he particularly noticed that those which he
kept delighted to bask in the sun, and were always lively
in that situation. The Jerboas are very timid creatures
and hasten to their burrows for security on the least
noise: if intercepted, they trust to their speed, and seem
to fly across the plain; so great indeed is the rapidity
with which they bound along, that a greyhound has
some difficulty in the chase. In making each leap they
spring from the hind-feet, the impulse being given by
the powerful muscles of the thighs, while the tail serves
as a balance and rudder. (Fig. 19.) In the act of
springing the fore-paws are pressed close to the chest ;
they descend, however, upon them, but such is the
quickness of the leap, and the celerity with which they
recover their due posture and spring again, that the eye
is completely deceived, for it appears as if they never

AL)
sah SHE
hada yi

Venue oan S
aN we Sis:
Sot VB eens

Nn.
~ WAY -

“

20.—Egvptian Jerboa.

THE EGYPTIAN JERBOA. 37

used the fore-paws at all, but alike sprang from and
alighted on their Jong slender hind-legs alone. (Fig. 20.)
When undisturbed, their common attitude is that of
sitting upon the haunches; and the fore-paws are used
in the same manner as in thesquirrels and marmots.
(Fig. 21.) The food of the Jerboa consists principally
of bulbous roots which the animals dig up with the fore-
paws; they also devour grain and other vegetable
matters. It would appear that the Jerboa hybernates,
but the duration of its torpor cannot be very protracted,

21.—Egyptian Jerboa.

The flesh of these animals, though unsavoury, is eaten
by the Arabs and Egyptians, who contrive to capture
them by stopping up all the openings of their subter-
ranean retreat except one, which is netted.

Few animals, if we may judge from our own observa-
tions, bear confinement so impatiently as the Jerboas:
they sedulously exclude themselves from observation,
and when they come forth from their retreat in the
evening, they are restless and distrustful in the extreme.

In size this species is equal to a large rat; the general
colour is pale tawny yellow, passing into a lighter tint

c3

38 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

beneath; the terminal tuft of the tail is black, merging
at the tip into white; a white or whitish strip appears
on each of the buttocks below the base of the tail.

Ture Dark-BANDED JERBOA.
OF this Jerboa, which is figured by Shaw under the

name of ‘‘ the Jerboa,” we have never seen an example.
It is neither noticed nor figured by Lichtenstein, who
has published the best monograph of these animals that
has yet appeared. For ourselves we have no doubt but
that the original figure was taken from a specimen of
the Egyptian Jerboa, in which the abrupt border to the
white mark was darker than usual; for in some instances
the back is washed with a dusky tint, which has a ten-
dency to assume wavy transverse bands, one of which,
on the haunch, as it is said, is occasionally distinct.
(Fig. 22.)

With regard to the Alactagas, to’ which we have
alluded, the typical species, the Siberian Alactaga (Dipus
Jaculus, Gmel.; the Alactaga, Buff.; the Siberian
Jerboa, Pennant), is distributed from Arabia, through
Persia, Tartary, and Turkey, and as far north as the
Volga and Irtish, It inhabits the plains and flat districts,
where it makes extensive burrows; in general habits it re-
sembles the common Jerboa of Egypt, but is of larger size.

Its food is stated to consist not only of vegetable but
also of animal substances, as small birds and insects ; and,
as we learn from Pallas, it spares not even its own species.
The subterranean habitations of these animals are ex-
tremely capacious, and formed about half a yard below
the surface of the ground. ‘The passage leading to them
is of great length, and pursues a circuitous course, having
at intervals additional shafts or openings upwards, afford-
ing extra facilities for escape in the event of danger.
During the winter they hybernate ; retiring to their sub-
terranean chambers, they shut up the openings, and sink
into a complete state of lethargy. It is affirmed by
Gmelin, that when their burrows are opened at this

THE DARK-BANDED JERBOA. 39

NY
N\\\
Ih,

\N
\
ATI

5 Yj \
\\

y |

22.—Dark-banded Jerboa.

season, a quantity of grain, dried shoots, and herbs are
found within them; on the contrary, Pallas affirms that
they collect no stores of provision for the winter. It
is possible that both these naturalists, who had ample
opportunities of investigating the habits of the Alactaga
in a state of nature, may be correct, and that in the
more northern districts of its range it may accumulate a
store of provision, for use in the spring, when it first rouses
from its torpidity. The Alactaga is more numerous and
fertile in the warmer than in the colder latitudes ; but it
is nowhere to be seen in such numbers as the Egyptian
Jerboa. From its large size and the superior flavour of
its flesh, it is more sought after, as food, than that animal,
and is chased, and also taken by stratagem, by the Arabs
and 'Tartars. Such is its swiftness that it appears to
skim the plain without touching the ground; even a

40 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

mounted horseman on a fleet steed can scarcely overtake
it. The fur of the Alactaga is extremely soft and fine ;
on the upper parts it is of a pale fawn-yellow, clouded
with grayish brown on the lower part of the back; a
white crescentic line extends on each side of the crupper,
below the root of the tail. ‘The under parts of the body
and inside of the limbs are white; the tail is brown,
except the tuft at the extremity, which is black tipped
with white, ;

ed

TIS
~ SS

24.—Teeth of Labrador Jumping Mouse.

Tue Lasrapor Jumpine Mouse
(Meriones Labradoricus),

This species appears to be the Labrador Rat of Pennant ;
the Gerbillus Hudsonius of Rafinesque ; Mus Labradorius
of Sabine; Gerbillus Labradorius of Harlan; the La-

THE LABRADOR JUMPING MOUSE. 41

brador Jumping Mouse of Godman; and Katse (the
Leaper) of the Chepewyan Indians.

The genus Meriones in dental formula differs in some
points from Dipus. The upper incisors, of a deep orange-
colour, are marked with a longitudinal furrow; the
molars are four on each side above, and three below;
the first above is very small; the surfaces of the rest in
both jaws are marked with irregular winding lines of ena-
mel. (Fig. 24.) The muzzle is narrow and elongated;
the ears rounded, the hind-limbs considerably developed ;
the tail long, ringed with scales, and thinly covered with
short hair.

The Labrador Jumping Mouse, which was first de-
scribed by Pennant in his ‘ Arctic Zoology,’ is very

25.—Labrador Jumping Mouse.

42 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

common in the fur countriesof North America, as far north
as the Great Slave Lake, and perhaps farther; but_of its
habits we have no precise details. Its general colour is
brownish-yellow, merging into white beneath. The
length of the head and body is about five inches, that of
the tail five and ahalf. (Fig. 25.) Dr. Richardson
remarks respecting the jumping mice, of which there
are, it would appear, several species, that those inhabiting
different districts in America require to be compared
with each other before the true number of species and
their geographical distribution can be ascertained.

26.—Teeth of Cape Leaping Hare.

Tre Care Leaping Hare

(Pedetes Capensis, Il.; Helamys Capensis, F. Cuvier ;
Grande Gerboise, Buffon; Spring Haas of the Dutch
Colonists; Cape Gerboa, Pennant).

This curious animal, the only known example of the
genus Pedetes, occupies an indeterminate situation among

THE CAPE LEAPING HARE. 43

the Rodents; but is most probably the most nearly re-
lated to the true Jerboas, which it resembles in external
appearance. ‘The molars are four on each side, in each
jaw, of simple structure, with two amine; the incisors
are large, strong, and broad. (Fig. 26.) The anterior
limbs are short, but very strong, furnished with five toes
armed with powerful claws. ‘The hind-limbs are deve-
loped and muscular, four-toed, the toes armed with long

SIF WHY
oa

27. ~Cape Leaping Hare.

44 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

pointed and somewhat hoof-like claws. ‘Tail long.
The leaping hare equals our common hare in size: the
fur is soft, and of a dark fawn or brownish-yellow, pass-
ing into white beneath; the tail is hairy and tufted at
the extremity with a pencil of black. The head is large,
the ears are long and pointed, and the eyes full and dark.
Native country, South Africa. (Fig. 27.)

The leaping hare is a burrowing animal, making its
holes in the soft sandy ground, which it digs up with its
fore-paws, spurting it backwards with its hind-feet, as is
done by the rabbit. In these burrows it sojourns during
the day, secure from the attacks of the various carni-
vorous animals which infest the precincts of its retreat.
Night is the season of activity : it steals forth on the close
of daylight to feed; and in some districts where it
abounds the depredations which it commits in the fields
of grain are very serious. It proceeds in the same
manner as does the jerboa, by a sesies of bounds; and
when the animal is pursued, each bound it makes clears
a space of twenty or thirty feet. It eats sitting nearly
upright, and using its fore-feet in the manner of a squirrel,
to bring the food to the mouth. It also sleeps in the
same attitude, excepting that the head is bent down
between the hind-limbs, while the fore-paws cover the
eyes and ears. "

The leaping hare gives preference to the sides of steep
and craggy mountains, and in some places they colonize a
considerable extent of ground, making it a complete
warren. Mr. Burchell, on his second journey to
Asbestos Mountain, observed their burrows in abundance.
Whether this animal lays up a store of winter provision,
or whether it hybernates during a part of the year, does
not appear to be ascertained ; but it is very certain that,
in the localities it frequents, it is not only subject to a low
temperature during the cold season, but that it will also
experience a scarcity of its usual food.

The voice of the leaping hare is a kind of inarticulate
grunt.

The Caftres esteem these creatures for food, and expel
them from their burrows by pouring water into the
entrances, when they issue forth and are easily taken.

BURTON’S GERBILLE. 45

Burton’s Gereitie (Gerbillus Burtoni).

The Gerbilles belong to the family Muride (and not
to that of the true jerboas). The contour of the skull
and the characters of the teeth are confessedly murine
(see Fig. 28: a, the skull, profile; 6, the same seen

lu
88.—Skull and Teeth of Burton’s Gerbille.

46 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

from above; c, the same seen from below; d, e, teeth
of the same). Though the gerbilles have the posterior
limbs developed, their development is by no means to
the same extent as in the jerboas; and there is a far
more equal proportion between them and the anterior
pair; hence these animals run as well as leap. ‘They
are active, elegant little creatures, living in burrows,
which they excavate to a considerable depth, and are
nocturnal in their habits. F. Cuvier enumerates eight
species, respectively natives of Egypt, and other parts
of Africa, and India. The species figured (Fig. 29)
has been recently described by F. Cuvier (see ‘ Trans.
Zool. Soc.’ vol. ii.). Of its peculiar habits we know
nothing definite, but they in all probability agree with
those of the Indian gerbille, so well described by

= SS

RQ s 5 or
SNe OO ues
ES SS <S

ara

=
Ss ——

29.—Burton’s Gerbille.

BURTON’S GERBILLE. 47

General Hardwicke in the eighth volume of the ‘ Linn.
Trans.’ The Indian gerbille is common in Hindustan,
and seems to be gregarious, great numbers associating
together. ‘‘ These animals are very abundant about
cultivated lands, and are particularly destructive to wheat
and barley crops, of which they lay up considerable
hoards in spacious burrows near the scenes of their
plunder. They cut the culms of the ripening corn just
below the ears, and convey them thus entire to one com-
mon subterraneous repository, which when filled they
carefully close, and do not open for use till supplies
abroad become distant and scarce. Grain of all kinds is
their favourite food, but in default of this they have re-
course to the roots of grass and other vegetables. About
the close of day they issue from their burrows, and tra-
verse the plains in all directions to a considerable distance ;
they run very fast, but oftener leap, making bounds of
four or five yards at a time, carrying the tail extended
in a horizontal direction. When eating, they sit on
their hind-legs like a squirrel, holding the food between
their fore-feet. ‘They never appear by day, neither do
they coinmit depredations within-doors. I have observed
their manners by night, in moonlight nights, taking my
station on a plain, and remaining for some time with as
little motion as possible. I was soon surrounded by hun-
dreds at the distance of a few yards, but on rising from my
seat the whole disappeared in an instant, nor did they
venture forth again for ten minutes after, and then with
much caution and circumspection.

‘* A low tribe of Hindoos called Kunjers, whose occu-
pation is hunting, go in quest of these animals at proper
seasons to plunder their hoards of grain ; and often within
the space of twenty yards find as much corn in the ear
as could be crammed into a common bushel. They in-
habit dry situations, and are often found at the distance of
some miles out of the reach of water to drink. In con-
finement this animal soon becomes reconciled to its situa-
ation, and docile: sleeps much in the day, but when
awake feeds freely at night. The Hindoos above men-
tioned esteem them good and nutritious food.”’

The Indian Gerbille is of the size of a common rat;

48 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

its eyes are full and black; the ears are large, rounded,
and almost naked. ‘Ihe general fur is bright bay,
variegated on the back with pencil-like strokes of dark
brown ; the under parts are white; the tail is cylindrical,
thickly covered with short hair, except at the tip, which
is somewhat tufted, and of a dark brown.

Mircuet’s Gerpoa.

This animal, a native of Australia, and described by
Mr. Ogilby under the name of Dipus Mitchell (‘ Linn.

) ps \.

a) sad I, -
BD i SSS ea
A EWS SSS

30.—Mitchell’s Gerboa.

THE COMMON MOUSE. 49

Trans.,’ vol. xvili.), belongs, as we have every reason
to believe, to the genus Hapalotis (Lichtenst., ‘Siugt.’
pt. vi., 1829). It seems to take the place, on the open
plains of Australia, of the jerboas and gerbilles of the
deserts and plains of Africa and Asia; or of the jumping
mice of North America. This singular species was found
on the reedy plains near the junction of the Murray and
Murrumbidgee, on the northern boundaries of Australia
Felix. The cut is taken from the figure in Sir T.
Mitchell’s account of ‘Three Expeditions into the In-
terior of Eastern Australia.’ (Fig. 30.) Sir T. Mitchell
states that the fore and hind legs of this animal re-
sembled in proportion those of a kangaroo; and it used
the latter by leaping on its hind-quarters in the same
manner. It was not much larger than a common field-
mouse, but the tail was longer in proportion than even
that of a kangaroo, and terminated in a hairy brush
about two inches long. We may here remark that the
genus Hapalotis is the same as Conilurus, Ogilby
(‘ Linn. Trans.,’ xviii., pt. i., p. 124, 1838), and must
be retained, according to the law of priority.

Tur Common Movss (Mus musculus).

The genus Mus, which includes the true rats and
mice, is typical of the extensive family Muride. The
characters of this genus may be thus summed up: incisors
of the usual number ; those of the lower jaw compressed
and pointed ; molars on each side, both above and below,
three, with true roots, anda transversely tuberculated
surface, the ridges varying in number in each tooth;
the anterior molar is the largest, the posterior the
smallest. (Fig. 31.) The muzzle is elongated and
sharp; the ears are oblong or rounded, and almost naked.
The toes of the anterior feet are four, with the minute
rudiment of a thumb; those of the hind-feet are five.
The limbs are short; the tail is long, cylindrical, taper-
ing, and annulated with scales of epidermis, from between
which emerge short hairs, forming a scanty covering.
The fur is soft, but traversed by long outer hairs of a

50 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

31.—Teeth of Common Mouse.

stiffer quality than those composing the under-coat. All
these animals are of small size, yet many are among the
greatest pests to man. Although vegetable aliment, as
grain, peas, &c., forms their principal food, still to a
certain extent they are carnivorous. We know the
partiality of the mouse to cheese, butter, lard, tallow,
&ec., and of the brown rat to raw flesh. The stronger
and larger species often prey upon the smaller, and
in times of scarcity they will attack and devour each

THE COMMON MOUSE. 5d

other. All are nocturnal, and most, if not all, subter-
ranean in their habits, and also gregarious. Some
frequent the fields and woods, some the gardens,
and some the abodes of man, undermining floors and
walls, and breeding within the precincts of his habitation.
They are spread through every quarter of the globe;
and the common mouse and the brown rat have been in-
troduced by the indirect agency of man, even into the
remotest and most desolate islands. (See ‘ Zoology of
the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle—Mammalia,’ No. ii.
of pt. ii., p. 31, et seq.) With respect to the brown
rat (Mus decumanus), sometimes erroneously called the
Norway rat, it appears to have been originally transported
from Persia or India into Europe ; its place was previ-
ously occupied by the black rat (Mus ratius), a smaller
and more timid animal, and in some districts now quite
extirpated by its more powerful rival. ‘lhe brown rat
was not known in England before 1730, nor in France
before 1750. According to Pallas, it did not appear in
Russia and Siberia till 1766; and Dr. Harlan states that
it did not make its appearance in North America till
1775. When Dr. Richardson wrote his ‘ Fauna Boreali-
Americana,’ it was common in Lower Canada, but
had not advanced much beyond Kingston in Upper
Canada. He did not observe it inthe fur countries, and
believes, if it exists there, that it is only at the mouth
of the Columbia river or at the factories on the shores
of Hudson’s Bay. Mr. Darwin found it at Buenos
Ayres, Valparaiso, East Falkland Island, and Keeling
Island. With respect to the black rat, even that is in
all probability of foreign origin. It was not known in
Western Europe before the middle of the sixteenth
century, and Gesner was the first who described and
figured it.

In the Island of Ascension, in the Atlantic Ocean,
Mr. Darwin found two varieties, as he and Mr. Water-
house consider, of the black rat (Mus rattus). These
two animals differ in the colour of the fur, one being of
a grizzled brownish colour, the other black, with more
soft or glossy fur. ‘* The specimen which has a black
and glossy fur frequents the short coarse grass near the

o2 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

summit of the island, where the common mouse likewise
occurs. It is often seen running about by day, and was
found in numbers when the island was first colonized by
the English a few years since. The other and browner
coloured variety lives in the outhouses near the sea-beach,
and feeds chiefly on the offal of the turtles slaughtered
for the daily food of the inhabitants. If the settlement
were destroyed, I feel no doubt that this latter variety
would be compelled to migrate from the coast. Did it
originally descend from the summit? and, in the case
first supposed, would it retreat there ? and if so, would
its black colour return? It must, however, be observed
that the two localities are separated from each other by
a space, some miles in width, of bare lava and ashes.
Does the summit of Ascension, an island so immensely
remote from any continent, and the summit itself sur-
rounded by a broad fringe of desert volcanic soil, possess
asmall quadruped peculiar to itself ? or more probably, has
this new species been brought by some ship from some
unknown quarter of the world ? Or, Iam again tempted to
ask, as I did in the case of the Galapagos rat, has the com-
mon English species been changed by its new habitation
into a strongly marked variety ?—D.” (‘ Zool. of Voyage
of Beagle,’ p. 36.)

This zoological problem is one of the many so difficult
to solve. Mr. Waterhouse remarks, ‘‘ It appears as if the
brown and black rats (M/Z. decumanus and M, rattus), and
likewise the common mouse, all of which follow man in
his peregrinations, and which to a certain degree are
dependent upon man, and may therefore be termed semi-
domestic animals, are, like really domestic animals, sub-
ject to a greater degree of variation than those species
which hold themselves aloof from him.”’ (Ibid.)

The common mouse is undoubtedly indigenous in
Europe; and has been known from the earliest times:
it is the Anglo-Saxon Mus, the German Maus, the
Danish Muys, the Latin Mus, and the Greek Mis. In
Spanish its name is Rat; in Portuguese, Ratinho; in
Italian it is called Sorice; and in French, Souris: from
the Latin sorex, employed by zoologists to designate
the Shrews.

THE COMMON MOUSE. 53

This elegant but troublesome little animal needs no
description ; all are well acquainted with it. (Fig. 32.)
‘¢ Domestic in its habits,’ says Mr. Bell, ‘‘ nourished
by almost every article of human food, and finding
effectual shelter in the secret recesses of the habitations
which human art has raised, it has accompanied man in
all his adventures for colonization, and identified itself
with every new territorial occupation of our race.”” The
mouse is easily tamed, and it is interesting to observe it

SER SS = = 35
aN m—

\
)

32.—Common Mouse.

sitting up holding its food between its paws, or cleansing
with them the sides of its face and the back of its ears,
its black eyes glistening with animation. An albino
variety (white, with red eyes) is not uncommon (Fig.
33), and often kept in cages for the sake of its beauty.
It breeds freely in captivity, perpetuating a white race,
which, born and bred in captivity, are gentle and familiar,
VOL. IV. D

54 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

33.—Common Mouse.

and when allowed to run about a room never attempt to
escape.

The common mouse produces young to the number of
five or six, several times during the course of the year.
In about a fortnight they leave the mother, and obtain
their living independently.

To this species Mr. Waterhouse (see ‘ Zool. of
Beagle’) refers six specimens in Mr. Darwin’s collec-
tion: ‘* Two were found living in the short grass near
the summit of the island of Ascension, where the
climate is temperate. Two others were procured on
a small stony and arid island, near Porto Praya, the
capital of St. Jago, in the Cape de Verde Islands,
where the climate is very hot and dry. Excepting during
the rainy season these little animals can never taste fresh
water, nor does the island afford any succulent plant.
A specimen was also procured on a grassy cliff on East
Falkland island, at the distance of a mile from any habi-

THE BARBARY MOUSE. 55

tation. It is singular that so delicate an animal should
be able to subsist under the cold and extremely humid
climate of the Falkland Islands and on its unproductive
soil.” — Darwin. 'It must be observed that all these speci-
mens are rather less than full grown individuals of the
same species procured in England: in other respects they
do not differ.

The sixth specimen is from Maldonado, where it is
common in the houses of the town, and is similar in habits
to its European relative. The Maldonado mouse is
considerably less than British specimens of the common
mouse, and is of a richer and brighter colour ; the head is
smaller, the muzzle shorter in proportion, whilst the
tarsi are even longer than in a large specimen of Mus
musculus. These points of dissimilarity induced Mr.
Waterhouse to regard it as a distinct species, and to
apply to it the name of “ brevirostris.” But upon subse-
quent re-examination, he was induced to change his opi-
nion. ‘The teeth indicate that it is not an adult specimen.

Mr. Darwin (‘Journal and Remarks’) observes that
mice and other small Rodents subsist in considerable
numbers in very desert places, as long as there is the
least vegetation. In Patagonia, even on the borders of
the Salinas, where a drop of fresh water can never be
found, they swarm. Next to lizards, he adds, mice ap-
pear to be able to support existence on the smallest and
driest portions of the earth, even on the islets in the
midst of great oceans. He believes it will be found
that several islands, which possess no other warm-blooded
quadruped, have small Rodents peculiar to themselves.
Sir Woodbine Parish (‘Buenos Ayres,’ &c.) states,
that after the great drought of 1830, 1831, and 1832,
there was a prodigious increase of all kinds of vermin,
especially field-mice, myriads of which overran the
country, and entirely destroyed the maize-harvest of
1833.

Tue Barsary Mousr (Mus Barbarus).

In size this beautiful species is intermediate between
the common mouse and rat, It is found in Barbary,
D2

56 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

34.—Barbary Mouse.

where the natives term it Phar Azeph, the Palmetto
mouse. Some time ago three individuals were living in
the vivarium of the Zool. Soc., Lond.; and were de-
scribed and figured by Mr. Bennett, who may be said
to have really introduced this species to science: for,
since the time of Linnzeus, who first described the ani-
mal in the addenda to the twelfth edition (the last pub-
lished by himself’) of his ‘Systema Nature,’ no naturalist
appears to have seen it. So completely, indeed, had it
escaped the researches of later zoologists, that M. Des-
marest ventured to suggest a doubt of its existence.
(Fig. 34.)

‘‘'The ground-colour of the Barbary mouse is dark
brown, marked on each side with five or six yellowish

THE BARBARY MOUSE. 57

stripes, about half as broad as the intervening spaces,
extending along the whole length of the body, and be-
coming confused towards the under parts, which are
nearly white. On the fore-feet only three of the toes
are at first visible, and this circumstance, mentioned in
the specific character given by Linnzus, has led many
subsequent naturalists to doubt whether the Barbary
mouse really belonged to the genus with which it was
associated. Linnzeus himself had, however, stated in
his description of the species, that rudiments of a thumb,
and also of a fifth toe, were observable on closer inspec-
tion; and this statement has been fully confirmed by an
examination of the specimens in the Zool. Gardens”’
(‘ Gardens and Menagerie delineated,’ p. 31).

Of the native habits and manners of the Barbary
mouse we have no definite information. Those in con-
finement, to which we have alluded, resembled the rat
in actions and disposition. Their carnivorous propensi-
ties indeed were amply evinced on the death of one of
their number, by the two survivors having commenced
devouring the body.

It may be observed that the specimens examined by
Linnzeus were very young, for he describes them as
being smaller than the common mouse.

A beautiful striped mouse, termed the Cape striped
mouse (Mus pumilio), is peculiar to the districts of the
Cape of Good Hope. It was first described by Sparr-
man, who gives a figure of it in his ‘ Travels in Africa,’
taken from a young individual. The general colour is
brownish-gray, with four black stripes along the back ;
the upper surface of the head is black. Another species,
the Indian striped mouse (Mus striatus), of which a
few years since little was known, may also be noticed.
Specimens of this animal have been kept alive in the
vivarium of the Zool. Soc. The general colour is gray
with a tinge of reddish or yellow, and the back is marked
with a dozen longitudinal rows of small white spots dis-
tinct from each other, forming so many interrupted
stripes; the under parts are whitish.

58 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

Darwiy’s Mouse (Mus Darwinit).

Among the numerous small Rodents belonging to the
family Muride collected by Mr. Darwin (see ‘ Zool. of
H.M.S. Beagle’), is a small group, the species of
which, Mr. Waterhouse observes, though very closely
allied to the genus Mus, offer some slight modification
not only in their external form, but also in the structure
of the teeth.

‘They have the fur soft and silky; the head large;
and the fore-legs very small and delicate ; the tarsus
moderately long, and bare beneath. In the number and
proportion of their toes they agree with the true rats;
the tail is moderately long and more thickly clothed with
hair than in the typical rats. The ears are large and
clothed with hair. Like the true rats, they have twelve
rooted molars; the folds of enamel, however, penetrate
more deeply into the body of each tooth, and enter in
such a way that the crowns of the teeth are divided into
transverse and somewhat lozenge-shaped lobes of a tri-
angular form. In the front molar of the upper jaw the
enamel enters the body of the tooth twice, both in the
outer and inner sides; and in the second and _ posterior
molars, both of the upper and under jaws, the enamel
penetrates but once externally and internally in each.
In the front molar of the lower jaw the enamel enters
the body of the tooth three times internally and twice
externally ” (‘ Proc. Zool. Soc.,’ 1837, p. 27). These
murine animals Mr. Waterhouse regards as constituting
a subgenus, for which he proposes the name of Phyllotis.
Darwin’s mouse, Mus (Phyllotis) Darwintt, was found
in dry and stony places at Coquimbo in Chile. The fur
above consists of cinnamon-coloured and blackish hairs
intermixed ; the space before the eyes is of a grayish
tint; the sides of the face and body are of a pale cin-
namon colour. The under parts and limbs white; the
ears are large; the tail as long as the head and body,
brownish above, white beneath. Length of head and
body six inches. (Fig. 35.)

Besides the subgenus Phyllotis, Mr. Waterhouse cha-

_ DARWIN'S MOUSE. 59

racterizes the following as subgeneric sections of the
genus Mus, all peculiar to South America, and of which
specimens were collected by C. Darwin, Esq., at various
localities, viz., Coquimbo, Valparaiso, Port Desire, Mal-
donado, Bahia Blanca, &c.: Scapteromys, Oxymyc-
terus, Abrothrix, Calomys, Reithrodon, and Abrocoma.
(‘ Proc. Zool. Soc.’ 1837.) ‘The two latter, indeed, he
considers as valid genera.

35.—Darwin’s Mouse.

In North American there are two interesting genera
of the Muride, which may here be noticed, namely,
Neotoma and Sigmodon, both established by Say and
Ord in the ‘Journal of the Acad. Nat. Soc.,’ Phila-
delphia. To the first genus belongs the Florida rat
(Neotoma Floridana), larger than the ordinary rat, with
soft velvety fur of a lead colour, with yellowish and
black hairs intermixed. The specimen described by
Say and Ord was discovered in a log granary situated
in a ruined and deserted plantation in East Florida.

60 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

‘‘ When first aroused it ran a short distance, then re-
turned, and stood close by us, allowing us to touch it
with a gun before it again retreated. It was mild, or
without that suspicious and cunning air so remarkable in
the common brown rat. We have reason to think that
the species is not uncommon in Florida, as several indi-
viduals were seen by Mr. Say, in an old mansion, but
he was unprovided with the means of capturing them,”
Specimens are preserved in the Museum of the Zool.
Soc. A second species was discovered by Mr. Drum-
mond in the Rocky Mountains, and is described by Dr.
Richardson under the title of WV. Drummondii. This
animal ‘‘ makes its nest in the crevices of high rocks, and
seldom appears in the daytime. Its food most probably
consists of herbage of various kinds, and of small branches
of pine-trees, because there is generally a considerable
store of those substances laid up in the vicinity of its
residence. It is very destructive. In the course of a
single night the fur-traders who have encamped in a
place frequented by these animals have sustained much
loss by their packs of furs being gnawed, the blankets
cut in pieces, and many small articles carried entirely
away. Mr. Drummond placed a stout pair of English
shoes on the she!f of a rock, and as he thought in perfect
security, but on his return after an absence of a few
days he found them gnawed into fragments as fine as
saw-dust.”’ ‘This species is nine inches in the length of
the head and body, its tail being seven inches and a half.
Its general colour is yellowish brown above, and white
beneath: the fur is full and soft, and the tail is bushy
and densely hairy, instead of being round, tapering, and
thinly covered with hair, as in the Florida rat. (Speci-
men in Museum of Zool. Soc.) With respect to the
genus S7gmodon, the dentition of which is characterized
by the flexures which the folds of enamel on the molar
teeth present, one species only is described, viz., the
rough-haired Sigmodon (S. hispidum). ‘This animal is
very numerous in the deserted plantations lying on the
river St. John in East Florida, particularly in the
gardens. Its burrows are seen in every direction.

DARWIN’S MOUSE. 61

Emigrants to that section of the country will find the
species a great pest in rural economy. General colour,
pale dirty ochre mixed with black; under surface ashy
gray. Length of head and body, six inches; of the tail,
four inches. (Specimen in Museum of Zool. Soc.)
Closely allied to the genus Neotoma is a species termed
the white-footed mouse (Mus leucopus), found in Cali-
fornia, and on the borders of the Columbia river. The
habits of this elegant little creature are well described
by Dr. Richardson, who observed it as far north as the
Great Bear Lake. ‘‘ The gait and actions of this little
animal are so much like those of the English domestic
mouse, that most of the Europeans resident at Hudson’s
Bay have considered it to be the same species, altogether
overlooking the obvious differences of their tails and
other peculiarities. This American mouse, however,
has a habit of making hoards of grain or little pieces of
fat, which I believe is unknown of the European domestic
mouse; and what is most singular, these hoards are not
formed in the animals’ retreats, but generally in a shoe
left at the bedside, the pocket of a coat, a nightcap, a
bag hung against the wall, or some similar place. It
not unfrequently happened that we found barley, which
had been brought from a distant apartment, and in-
troduced into a drawer, through so small a chink, that it
was impossible for the mouse to gain access to its store.
The quantity laid up in a single night, nearly equalling
the bulk of a mouse, renders it probable that several
individuals unite their efforts to form it. This mouse
does considerable mischief in gardens, and in a very few
nights will almost destroy a plantation of maize, by
tracing the rows for the purpose of collecting the seeds,
and depositing them in small heaps under the loose rnould,
generally by the side of a stone or piece of wood. From
the facility with which it seems to transport the sub-
stances it preys upon, I suspected that it had cheek-
pouches, but none were found on examination. The
Ermine is a most inveterate enemy to this species, and
pursues it even into the sleeping apartments of houses.”
The colour above is fine dark brown; the under part
v3

62 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

and feet are white. (Specimens in Museum of Zool.
Soc.)

Tux Lone-taitep Fierp-Movussr (Mus sylvaticus).

Eyes full, black, and bright ;—colour above reddish
brown, beneath whitish; ears more than half the length
of the head; tail somewhat shorter than the head and
body. Length of head and body three inches eight lines.
It is Le Mulot of Buffon. (Fig. 36.)

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36.—Long-tailed Field Mouse.

This beautiful but mischievous little animal is spread
over the whole of temperate Europe. It frequents
woods, plantations, parks, orchards, and gardens, where
it commits great devastations. In some places it multi-
plies in hosts, and instances are on record of young
plantations covering acres having been totally destroyed

THE SHORT-TAILED FIELD MOUSE. 63

by their depredations. They strip the bark and shoots
from off the sapling trees, and root up the newly-planted
acorns ; nor are they less injurious in wheat-fields. Each
individual lays up in its hole or burrow a winter store of
food, consisting of grain, acorns, nuts, peas, &c.; and
hence-it is not only from what they devour at the time,
but also from what they carry away that they cause such
injuries. In the kitchen garden, as we can personally
testify, they are not a little annoying, digging up peas
and beans when newly sown or when beginning to ger-
minate. One of their natural enemies, and one of the
most efficient agents in their destruction, is the short-
eared owl (Otis Ulula). Latham informs us that in
certain districts which have been infested with these
mice, the ‘‘ owls have collected in large troops, and at-
tacked the depredators, to their utter extermination.”
It is not exclusively to vegetable matters that these mice
confine their diet; young birds become their prey, and
when food is scarce they will attack each other, the
younger or weaker falling victims to the more powerful.

The field mouse, though extremely timid, is easily
tamed and rendered familiar, and its manners are very
engaging. It is free from the unpleasant odour which
renders the common mouse a nuisance. ‘The field mouse
breeds twice in the year, producing from six to ten=young
atatime. It is easy, therefore, to calculate the rapidity of
its multiplication, and to account for the sudden appear-
ance of swarms in spots where few had been previously
observed. Bufton states that by means of a single trap
two thousand three hundred were killed in twenty-three
days, in a single field of about forty acres in extent. In
some parts of our own country their numbers have been
incalculable and their devastations frightful.

Tue SHort-TAILED Finny Mouse

(Arvicola agrestis ; Campagnol, Buffon ; Arvicola arvalis,
Selys-Longchamps).

The short-tailed field mouse (or Field-vole of Bell) is
one of those Rodentia from which we often receive ex-

64 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

tensive injury, proving how necessary it is that, in order
to keep their numbers within due bounds, an incessant
warfare be maintained against them,—a warfare to which
birds and beasts of prey are appointed.

This species is a native of the greater part of Europe,
and is common in our island, where its depredations (and
in France and in other parts of the Continent the same
may be said) have rendered it notorious. It is exclu-
sively a tenant of woods, plantations, corn-fields, and
meadows; and not unfrequently appears in enormous
multitudes. Often is the farmer disappointed of his crop
of wheat, the newly-sown grain having been all rooted
up and devoured by an army of these “‘ wee cowerin’
creepin timorous beasties,”’ formidable not from their in-
dividual size, but their numbers. Whole plantations of
young trees have in like manner been destroyed, the root
of every sapling being eaten, or the bottom of the stem
barked around. In the years 1813 and 1814 the ravages
of these animals in the New Forest and the Forest of
Dean were so great as to create an alarm lest the whole
of the young trees in those extensive woods should be
destroyed by them. In the first vol. of the ‘ Zool.
Journal ’ is a letter from Lord Glenbervie to Sir Joseph
Banks, entering into a detailed account of the devasta-
tions committed. Mr. Jesse, in his ‘Gleanings,’ re-
ferring to the plantations in these forests, says, that soon
after their formation ‘‘a sudden and rapid increase of
mice took place in them, which threatened the destruc-
tion of the whole of the young plants: vast numbers of
these were killed, the mice having eaten through the
roots of five-year-old oaks and chestnuts, generally just
below the surface of the ground. Hollies also, which
were five or six feet high, were barked round the bottom,
and in some instances the mice had crawled up the tree
and were seen feeding on the bark of the upper branches.
In the reports made to government on the subject, it ap-
peared that the roots had been eaten through wherever
they obstructed the runs of the mice.”

Various plans were adopted for their destruction ; and
in holes. dug purposely to entrap them, in the Dean

THE SHORT-TAILED FIELD MOUSE. 65

WN IA

Forest alone 30,000 mice were caught in about three
months, and a much greater number destroyed by stoats,
weasels, kites, hawks, owls, crows, &c., and also by cats
purposely turned out. In the New Forest about the same
number were also destroyed, and it was calculated that
the total destruction, including those caught in pits and
traps, and those killed by other animals, and by their
own species (for when their food fell short they attacked
and devoured each other), amounted in the two forests
to more than 200,000.

66 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

The field-vole measures four inches one line in the
length of the head and body, and one inch three anda
half lines in that of the tail. The fur is reddish brown
above, gray beneath. (Fig. 37.) A distinct species,
the Bank-vole (Arvicola pratensis, Baillon ; A. riparica,
Yarrell; A. rufescens, Selys-Longchamps) is found on
the Continent, and in some parts of England. It is less
than the former species, with a longer tail, and differs in
several particulars in its internal anatomy.

Tue Harvest Mouse (Mus messorius).

Of all our British mammalia the harvest mouse is the
smallest. ‘This beautiful little species was first disco-
vered in our island by Gilbert White, and described in
his ‘ Natural History of Selborne.’ Yet it is by no
means uncommon in the corn counties, and especially in
Hampshire, though so long overlooked by British natu-
ralists. It is found in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, De-
vonshire, and Cambridgeshire, and occurs in France,
Germany, Russia, and Siberia. It is the Mulot nain
and Rat de moissons of F. Cuvier; the Mus minutus of
Pallas, and the Mus pendulinus of Hermann.

The harvest mouse is a lively, active, playful little
creature: its eyes are dark; its general colour above is
delicate reddish-fawn; the under parts are abruptly
white ; the ears are short and rounded ; the tail is rather
shorter than the body. Length of head and body two
inches six lines. (Fig. 38.)

This animal lives entirely in the fields, resorting in
the winter to burrows of its own construction, or to corn-
ricks, into which it penetrates, and there finds food and
shelter. The asylum in which it rears its young is an
artful and beautiful nest of a spherical figure, consisting
of the split leaves and panicles of grasses artificially in-
terwoven together, and suspended among the stalks of
standing corn, on thistles, or other plants, to which it is
secured, and of which the leaves will shroud it from no-
tice. (Fig. 39.)

According to Dr. Gloger, the entrance to the nest is

THE HARVEST MOUSE. 67

rather below the middle, on the side opposite to the
stems, and is scarcely observable; the parent closes it
when she leaves the nest, and probably while she re-
mains herself within. The inside is warm, smooth, and
neatly rounded. One nest examined by Dr. Gloger
contained five young, another nine.

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38.—Harvest Mouse.

It would appear that the harvest mouse is insectivorous
as well as granivorous, and this fact was first noticed by
the Rev. W. Bingley, who obtained a female, which
after its capture produced eight young, but being dis-
turbed by a conveyance of several miles, she killed them,
as the rabbit is frequently known to do, ‘‘ One evening,”

68 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

59,—Harvest Mouse.

he observes, ‘‘as I was sitting at my writing-desk, and
the animal was playing about in the open part of its cage,
a large blue fly happened to buzz against the wires ; the
little creature, although at twice or thrice the distance
of her own length from it, sprang along the wires with
the greatest agility, and would certainly have seized it
had the space between the wires been sufficiently wide

THE HAMSTER. 69

to have admitted her teeth or paws to reach it. I was
surprised at this occurrence, as I had been led to believe
that the harvest mouse was merely a granivorous animal.
I caught the fly, and made it buzz in my fingers against
the wires. The mouse, though usually shy and timid,
immediately came out of her hiding-place, and running
to the spot, seized and devoured it. From this time I
fed her with insects whenever I could get them, and she
always preferred them to every other kind of food that I
offered her.” The same writer observed that the tip of
the tail possessed a prehensile power, and that the ani-
mal used it while climbing about the wires of its cage.
We have seen the harvest mouse in captivity tolerably
tame, and reconciled to its prison. ' It often sits erect,
and feeds itself, holding grain between its paws, which
it also uses in dressing its soft fur. It drinks by lapping
the water with its tongue, and sleeps rolled up into a
ball.

Tue Hamster (Cricetus vulgaris).

Fortunately for England the hamster is not indigenous
within the precincts of the island. It inhabits the whole
tract of countries extending between the Rhine and the
Ural Mountains, and between the German Sea and Bal-
tic to the north and the Danube to the south, wherever
it finds a congenial soil. It is very common in Thu-
ringia. Its proper soil isa deep alluvial mould with a
substratum of clay; in dry, strong-soiled, or stony dis-
tricts, it is not often found. ‘The teeth of the hamster
closely resemble those of the rat. (Fig. 40.) The tail
is short and hairy. There are large cheek-pouches, as
in some of the monkeys, in the form of sacs, which serve
for carrying home food: they extend from the inside of
the cheeks beneath the skin, along the sides of the neck,
even over the shoulders. The general figure is thick :
the limbs are short; there are four toes and a small
thumb on the anterior feet ; five toes on the hind-feet ;
the head is large, the muzzle abruptly pointed, the ears
rounded. The general colour is as follows: head and
upper parts reddish-gray, verging to yellow on the face ;

70 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALTA.

40.—Teeth of Hamster.

under parts black, with the exception of the throat and
feet, which are white. Three large distinct spots of
white are also disposed on each side, one on the cheeks,
one on the shoulder, and one on the ribs. Black varie-
ties are not unfrequent: in these the nose and feet are
white. ‘There are two oblong spaces on the skin, situ-

THE HAMSTER. 71

ated one on each side of the spine, at a short distance in
front of the thighs, which, instead of having the usual
fur, are covered with short, brown, stiff hairs. ‘These
patches, which are about an inch long, are not always
directly perceptible, being obscured by the surrounding
long fur, which must be blown aside to show them. ‘The
adult male measures from nine to twelve inches, exclusive
of the tail, which is about three inches long. The
weight is sometimes more than a pound. ‘The female is
smaller by one-fourth, (Fig. 41.)

41.—Hamster.

The hamster is nocturnal in its habits: during the day
it lies rolled up in its burrow ; at night it issues forth to
ramble in quest of food; after midnight it returns to its
burrow and rests till about an hour before sunrise, when
it takes a second ramble till the morning fairly dawns.
Its movements are slow and creeping: it often utters
short growling tones, but when irritated its voice is a
shrill yelling cry. In collecting food, as beans, peas,
wheat, &c., it uses its paws to press the grain backwards
to the bottom of the pouches, in order to make room for
the entrance of more. When these are well filled, it
returns to its burrow to unload them, in which act it
again uses its paws. In summer it feeds upon green
fodder and the leaves of many plants; but the hamster

72 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

is also carnivorous, attacking and devouring rats, mice,
birds, lizards, insects and their larvee, and the weaker of
their own species. Even the two sexes live in harmony
only during the few days of each breeding-season. The
hamster fights obstinately, and will jump with equal fury
at a waggon-wheel or at a horse if he tread near it; and
when two rival males meet, they engage in a desperate
conflict till one retreats or perishes. In these paroxysms
of fury the cheek-pouches become distended with air,
the animal at the same time blowing and uttering at in-
tervals its shrill ery.

In the construction of its burrows the hamster displays
great ingenuity. ‘They are in some respects modified
according, to age, sex, and, soil; for each individual
has its own exclusive burrow. Each burrow has at least
two openings, one descends obliquely, the other per-
pendicularly. The former is termed the ‘‘ creeping-
hole,” and this is excavated from without,—but the per-
pendicular passage, termed the ‘‘ plunging-hole,” is
worked out from one of the chambers, that is, from within
the subterranean domicile, and is often four feet deep.
The distance of these two holes from each other varies
from four to ten feet, and between the termination of
these two passages are the chambers. The creeping-
hole is not in such constant use as the other, and in an
inhabited burrow it is regularly found stopped with earth
at the distance of about a foot from the mouth. The
chambers are more or less oval, and of large size: that
nearest the creeping-hole is the smallest, and is well
lined with a bed of soft fine straw : it has three openings,
one into the creeping-passage, one into the plunging-
passage, and one communicating with the store-chambers,
of which there are several, at least in the burrows of
the old male. Each chamber is filled in the autumn
with provisions, and sixty-five pounds of corn or a hun-
dredweight of horse-beans have been found in the maga-
zines of a single hamster. The burrow of the female
has from three or four to eight plunging-holes, ali ter-
minating in her nest-chamber. Here she produces her
litter, from six to eighteen in number. ‘The young are

THE CAFFRE BROAD-EARED RAT. 73

born blind and naked, but in eight or nine days their
eyes are opened: they grow rapidly, and in about a fort-
night begin ‘to dig small burrows, each making its own.
The female has several litters in the course of the year.
About the middle of October, the hamster retires for
good to its retreat, stopping up first the creeping-holes,
then the plunging-holes ;—after this the animal keeps
awake (though underground) for about two months,
living on its store, and becoming very fat. When the
cold of winter has fairly set in and reached it, it sinks
into a complete state of torpor, which continues till the
middle of February. About the middle of March it
begins to open its passage and re-visits the fields : it now
abandons its old burrow, and begins to form a new one.
The flesh of the hamster is said to be very good ; the

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42,.—Teeth of Caffre Broad-eared Rat.

74 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

fur is also esteemed,—and the hamster-hunter, who
trades in the skins, usually opens the burrows after the
corn has been reaped, for the sake of obtaining the grain
which the hamster has accumulated.

Tue Carrre BrRoap-FARED Rat
(Euryotis unisulcatus).

This species of rat is a native of South Africa, whence
it was brought by M. Delalande. It forms the type of
the genus uryotis of Brands, to which title that of
Otomys, proposed by F. Cuvier, must give place. Dr.
A. Smith has appropriated the term Otomys to another
group of Rodents. In its dentition (Fig. 42) this ani-

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43.—Caffre Broad-eared Rat.

THE HYDROMYS. 15

mal closely approximates to the true rats, as also in
general form and structure: the eyes are large ; the ears
are ample and broad, and furnished with an internal pro-
jecting membrane, which when its edges are approxi-
mated entirely shuts the entrance of the auditory opening.
The fur is thick and soft, and the general tone of colour-
ing is a clouded yellow tint, becoming yellowish-white
on the under parts. Length of head and body about six
and a half inches; of tail, nearly three inches. (Fig.
43.) Of the habits and manners of this animal we have
no definite information.

Tur Hypromys
(Hydromys leucogaster and chrysogaster).

Though we refer the genus Hydromys to the Muride,
it differs in dentition from the other members of that

44.—Teeth of Hydromys.

76 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

_45.—Hydromys.

family. There are only two molars on each side above
and below ; the first above is three times the size of the
second, and is composed of three irregular portions, each
portion being depressed in its centre, which is sur-
rounded by a ridge of enamel; the second molar is com-
posed of two unequal parts: the first molar below is
twice the size of the second, and both are composed of
two parts. (Fig. 44.) The Hydromys is an aquatic
animal, and well adapted for swimming: the head is flat ;
the body otter-like, elongated, and covered with close
glossy fur: on the fore-feet there are four toes and the
rudiment of a thumb: on the hind-feet there are five
toes united by webs. The tail is long and cylindrical,
covered with close stiff hairs; the ears are short and
rounded ; the upper surface is brown, the extremity of
the tail for about a third of its length white; the under
surface varies from white to a fine deep orange-yellow.
(Fig. 45.) Some writers have regarded these varieties

THE ECONOMIST MOUSE. Ge

as distinct species ;—we have seen specimens with the
colour of the under surface in intermediate stages between
white and yellow. Length of head and body about
twelve inches ; that of the tail nearly as much. The
Hydromys is anative of Van Diemen’s Land and various
small islands in D’Entrecasteaux Channel; but of its
habits we have no detailed accounts.

The family Arvicolide.—In this family are compre-
hended the Water-Rat, the Lemming, and other Rodents,
termed Campagnols, Voles, &c., distinguished from the
Muride by having rootless molars, by having the angle
of the lower jaw raised, and by certain peculiarities in
the structure of the cranium.

Tue Economist Mouse (Arvicola economus).

3—3
In the genus Arvicola the molars are

composite

with flat crowns, presenting angular enamelled lamine.
(Fig. 46.) The ears are moderate, the muzzle obtuse,
the tail shorter than the body, and hairy. The Econo-
mist mouse is a native of the northern sweep of Siberia,
and Kamtchatka. It would appear that the same ora
closely-allied species inhabits Iceland. It is a burrowing
animal, and constructs beneath the turf narrow galleries
which lead to a chamber, in the form of an oven, com-
municating with another used as a magazine, in which it
stores up food for winter consumption. This consists of
bulbous roots, and various grains and berries; and the
quantity of provision amassed is often very considerable.
‘hese animals breed several times in the year, producing
three or four at a birth. Like the lemming, from some
unknown cause, these mice, at irregular periods, but
always in the spring, perform extensive migrations.
Multitudes assemble together, forming an army myriads
strong. In Kamtchatka their progress is westward ;
neither rivers, nor lakes, nor even arms of the sea stop
them ; thousands are drowned or destroyed by birds and
beasts of prey,—but onwards the army marches,—pur-
VOL. IV, E

78 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

suing their course, until they have crossed the river
Penshim, when they bend their way towards Judoma
and Ochot, which they usually reach about July: they
return to Kamtchatka in October, but sadly reduced in
numbers by the accidents of flood and field. _ According
to Dr. Henderson the Economist mouse of Iceland dis-

46.—Teeth of Economist Mouse.

plays great sagacity in conveying home and stocking its
provisions; and he corroborates the account of MM.
Olafsen and Povelsen respecting their mode of conveying
them across such streams as they may meet with in their
foraging expeditions. ‘‘’The party, which consists of

THE WATER-RAT. 79

47.—Economist; Mice.

from six to ten, select a flat piece of dried cow-dung, on
which they place the berries in a heap in the middle ;
then by their united force they bring it to the water’s
edge, and, after launching it, embark and place them-
selves round the heap with their heads joined over it,
and their backs to the water, their tails pendent in the
stream serving the purpose of rudders.” (Fig. 47.)
The truth of this fact he says was confirmed by the tes-
timony of two credible witnesses, the clergyman of
Briamsloek, and Madame Benedictson, of Stickesholm.
He further states that they make a drainage from their
burrow, leading into a deep hole, intended for the re-
ception of the water.

Toe Warer-Rat
(Arvicola amphibia; Rat d’eau, Buff.).

The water-rat is by many regarded as a variety of that
destructive animal the common rat, which, as is well
known, often takes up its quarters in drains and ditches,
and the banks of canals, especially near houses, farms

E2

80 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

stables, &e., making deep burrows in which to rear its
young. From this pest the water-rat is totally distinct.
It frequents the borders of large ponds, reservoirs,
streams, and rivers, dwelling in burrows of considerable
extent, to which there are generally two or more outlets.
The main outlet is in most instances close to the water’s
edge, so that during floods it is not unfrequently below
the surface, but the gallery, sloping upwards as it pro-
ceeds in the bank, terminates in a chamber which the
water does not reach. Here, in a snug bed of dried
grass and vegetable fibres, the female rears her young.
Nocturnal or crepuscular in its habits, it is chiefly as the
dusk of evening steals on that the water-rat emerges from
its retreat, but it seldom ventures far from the margin of
the pond or river, into which when alarmed it imme-
diately plunges, and swims under the cover of overhanging
roots and herbage to its burrow. ‘Though not web-
footed, it is at home in the water, and dives with great
ease. There are few persons who have not noticed its
waymarks on the surface of stagnant ponds or ditches
mantled over with a thick crop of chickweed. These
tracks are made during the night, the season in which it
wanders in search of food or its fellows. The roots of
aquatic plants, especially the typha, the stems of equi-
setum, buds and bark, &c., constitute the diet of this
species: it has been affirmed that it feeds also upon insects,
small fishes, frogs, &c., but for this assertion there is
not the slightest foundation. It would appear that the
water-rat hybernates during some portion of the winter,
and also lays up a store of food. Mr. White says, ‘‘ As
a neighbour was lately ploughing in a dry chalky field,
far removed from any water, he turned out a water-rat
that was curiously laid up in an hybernaculum artificially
formed of grass and leaves. At one end of the burrow
lay above a gallon of potatoes regularly stowed, on which
it was to have supported itself for the winter.” It must
be acknowledged that there are some points in the his-
tory of this species to be cleared up. Insize this animal
equals the common brown rat, but the head is thicker
and more obtuse, the muzzle being blunt and short; the

THE BEAVER. 81

ears are scarcely apparent, being buried in the fur; the
eyes are small and black ; the tail is little more than half
the length of the body, and thinly covered with short
hairs. The fur is thick and close; its colour on the
upper parts is dark reddish-brown mixed with gray ; om
the under surface brownish-white : a black variety some-
times occurs. (Fig. 48.) The species is spread over
most parts of Europe.

48,—Water-Rat.

Tur Beaver (Castor Fiber).

The Beaver is not exclusively confined to the northern
portions of the’ American continent. Erman (see
‘ Journey round the Earth,’ &c.) informs us that it
‘*abounds in the Obi, and is taken, not for the sake of

82 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

its fur, but for its musk, which bears a very high price.”
It is common.along the Euphrates, and a skin sent home
by Col. Chesney is in the possession of the Zool. Soc.
Lond. The beaver occurs also along some of the larger
rivers of Europe, as the Rhéne, the Danube, the Weser,
and the Nuthe, near its confluence with the Elbe. It
was formerly an inhabitant of our own island, and Gi-
raldus Cambrensis gives us a short account of their man-
ners in Wales; but in his time (1188) they were only
found in the river Teify. By the laws of Hoel-dda, the
price of a beaver’s skin was fixed at 120 pence, a great
sum in those days. Whether the European, Asiatic,
and American beavers are specifically identical or not,
yet remains to be determined. Certain it is that’ the
European beaver, as proved by the little colony in the
Nuthe, displays the same manners and building propen-
sities as its transatlantic brethren ; and per contra, the
thinly scattered beavers, near the settlements in America
are solitary animals, dwelling in burrows like the scat-
tered few along the Rhodne, though it must be observed
that one from the latter river in captivity exhibited as
marked a constructive disposition as any American beaver
under the same restrictions. ‘The mode of building as
conducted by the beaver of America is described by
Hearne with great clearness and the absence of the or-
dinary exaggeration. ‘The situation chosen is various :
where the beavers are numerous, they tenant lakes, rivers,
and creeks, especially the two latter, for the sake of the
current, of which they avail themselves in the transport-
ation of the materials. They also choose such parts as
have a depth of water beyond the freezing-power to
congeal at the bottom. In small rivers or creeks in
which the water is liable to be drained off when the
back-supplies are dried up by the frost, they are led by
instinct to make a dam quite across the river, at a con-
venient distance from their houses, thus artificially pro-
curing a deep body of water in which to build. The
dam varies in shape: where the current is gentle, it is
carried out straight; but where rapid it is bowed, pre-
senting a convexity to the current. ‘The materials used

THE BEAVER. 83

are drift-wood, green willows, birch, and poplars, if they
can be got, and also mud and stones; these are inter-
mixed without order, the only aim being to carry out
the work with a regular sweep, and to make the whole
of equal strength. Old dams by frequent repairing be-
come a solid bank, capable of resisting a great force of
water and ice, and as the willows, poplars, and birches
take root and shoot up, they form by degrees a sort of
thick hedge-row, often of considerable height. Of the
same materials the houses themselves are built, and in
size proportionate to the number of their respective in-
habitants, which seldom exceeds four old and six or eight
young ones. The houses, however, are ruder in struc-
ture than the dam; the only aim being to have a dry
place to lie upon, and perhaps feed in. When the
houses are large, it often happens that they are divided
by partitions into two or three or even more compart-
ments, which have, in general, no communication, except
by water; such may be called double or treble houses,
rather than houses divided. Each compartment is in-
habited by its own possessors, who know their own door,
and have no connexion with their neighbours, more than
a friendly intercourse, and joining with them in the ne-
cessary labour of building. So far are the beavers from
driving stakes, as some have said, into the ground when
building, that they lay most of the wood crosswise, and
nearly horizontal, without any order than that of leaving
a cavity in the middle; and when any unnecessary
branches project inward, they cut them off with their
chisel-like teeth, and throw them in among the rest to
prevent the mud from falling in. With this wood is
mixed mud and stones, and the whole compacted toge-
ther. The bank affords them the mud, or the bottom of
the creek, and they carry it, as well as the stones, under
their throat by the aid of their fore-paws; the wood they
drag along with their teeth. They always work in the
night, and have been known during the course of a single
night to have accumulated as much mud as amounted to
some thousands of their little handfuls. Every fall they
cover the outside of their houses with fresh mud, and as

84 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

late in the autumn as possible, even when the frost has
set in, as by this means it soon becomes frozen as hard as
stone, and prevents their most formidable enemy, the wol-
verene or glutton, from disturbing them during the winter.
In laying on this coat of mud they do not use their broad
flat tails, as has been asserted—a mistake which has
arisen from their habit of giving a flap with the tail when
plunging from the outside of the house into the water,
and when they are startled, as well as at other times.
The houses when complete have a dome-like figure, with
walls several feet thick, and emerging from four to six
feet above the water. The only entrance is deep under
water, below a projection called the ‘‘angle” by the
hunters, and beyond the reach of the frost: near this,
also under water, is laid up their winter store, a mass of
branches of willows and other. trees, on the bark of
which they feed. These they stack up, sinking each
layer by means of mud and stones, and often accumulate
more thana cartload of materials. Besides these winter-
houses, in which they are shut up during the severities
of the season, they have always a number of holes in the
banks which serve them as places of retreat when any
injury is offered to their houses, and in these they are
generally taken. The entrance to these holes is deep
below the water, which fills a great part of the vault
itself. When the hunter forces the houses of the beaver
in winter (the hunting season), the animals swim beneath
the ice to these retreats, the entrances of which are disco-
vered by striking the ice along the banks with an iron
ice-chisel, the sound indicating to practised ears the
exact spot: they cut a hole in the ice and surprise their
booty. During the summer the beavers roam about at
pleasure, and it is during this season that they fell the
wood necessary for repairing their houses and dams, or
for building others, commencing the latter about the end
of August. Such is the strength and sharpness of their
teeth, that they will lop off a branch as thick as a walk-
ing-stick at a single effort, and as cleanly as if cut with a
pruning-knife. Larger stems they gnaw all round, taking
care that their fall shall be towards or into the water.

THE BEAVER. 85

They rapidly fell a tree the shaft of which is as thick
or thicker than a man’s thigh, or from six to ten inches
in diameter ; and places of more than three acres in front
of the river and one in width have been seen with the
timber all felled by these animals, though many of the
‘ trees were as thick as a man’s body.

The beaver does not attain its full growth before three
years, but it breeds before that time. It produces from
two to six at a birth. The flesh of this animal is es-
teemed by the Canadian hunters, and by the natives, as

49,—Beaver.

a great delicacy, and we need not say how valuable its
fur is as an article of commerce. It is from certain
glandular sacs in the beaver that the substance called
castor, or castoreum, used in medicine, is obtained, and
which (procured from the European variety) was well
known to the ancients.

ES

86 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALTA.

In captivity the beaver soon becomes familiar and so-
ciable, and, if permitted, will even in a room exercise
itself in attempts to build, using brushes, baskets, boots,
sticks, and in short anything it can get hold of for the
purpose.

The fine fur of the beaver varies from glossy brown
to black; the tail, or caudal paddle, used as a rudder in
diving or in ascending, is flat, scaled, and oarlike. The
length of the head and body of a full-grown animal is
about forty inches ; of the caudal paddle, one foot. The
feet are all five-toed ; those of the hind-feet are united
by a broad palmated expansion; the nails are strong,
and that of the second toe of the hind-feet consists of
two portions. On land the gait of the beaver is awk-
ward and shuffling, owing in part to the outward tour-
nure of the hind-feet, which fits them for aquatic pro-
gression, and in part to the thick and clumsy configuration
of the body. (Fig. 49.) The genus Castor is some-
what isolated, and may be regarded as the type of a
subfamily.

Tue Musquasu

(Ondatra Zibethica; Fiber Zibethicus, Sabine; Musk-rat,

. Godman ; Ondathra of the Hurons; Musquash, Watsuss,
or Wachusk, and also Peesquaw-Tupeyew (‘‘ the animal
that sits on the ice in a round form”) of the Cree
Indians). *

The dentition of this animal (Fig. 50) presents a close
affinity to that of the water-rat and other species of Ar-

vicola, as in Fig. 46. Molars, avr

The musquash is a native of North America, and in
its general form it resembles the common water-rat, size
excepted. In the length of the head and body it mea-
sures about fourteen inches, that of the tail being eight
or nine. The fur, which is much like that of the beaver,
is dark umber brown passing into brownish yellow on
the under parts: pied and even white varieties are some-
times seen The hind-feet are not webbed; the tail is

THE MUSQUASH. 87

compressed laterally, broadest in the middle and covered
with a thin sleek coat of short hairs; longer hairs run
along the acute margins. (Fig. 51.)

The range of this animal is from lat. 30° as high north
as 69°. Small grassy lakes or swamps, or the grassy
borders of slow streams, are its favourite haunts. Vege-
table matters are its principal food, as roots, tender
shoots, the leaves of various carices, &c.; to which it
adds fresh-water mussels (Unio). ‘The musquash swims
and dives well, plunging into the water on the least

50,—Teeth of Musquash.

alarm, and diving instantaneously on perceiving the flash
ofa gun. This animal builds winter habitations, but far
less solid and durable than those of the beaver.’ These
habitations are thus described by Dr. Richardson :— In
the autumn, before the shallow lakes and swamps freeze
over, the musquash builds its house of mud, giving it a
conical form, and a sufficient base to raise the chamber
above the water. The chosen spot is generally amongst

88 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

51.—Musquash.

long grass, which is incorporated with the walls of the
house from the mud being deposited amongst it, but the
animal does not appear to make any kind of composition
or mortar by tempering the mud and grass together.
There is, however, a dry bed of grass deposited in the
chamber. The entrance is under water. When ice
forms over the surface of the swamp, the musquash
makes breathing-holes through it, and protects them from
the frost by a covering of mud. In severe winters, how-
ever, these holes freeze up in spite of their coverings,
and many of the animals die. It is to be remarked that
the small grassy lakes selected by the musquash for its
residence are never so firmly frozen nor covered with
such thick ice as deeper and clearer water. The Indians
kill these animals by spearing them through the walls of
their houses, making their approach with great caution,

THE MOLE-RAT. 89

for the musquashes take to the water when alarmed by a
sound on the ice. An experienced hunter is so well ac-
quainted with the direction of the chamber and the pos
tion in which its inmates lie, that he can transfix four or
five at a time. As soon as, from the motion of the spear,
it is evident that the animal is struck, the house is broken
down, and it is taken out. The principal seasons for
taking the musquash are the autumn, before the snow
falls, and the spring, after it has disappeared but while
the ice is still entire. In the winter time the depth of
snow prevents the houses and breathing-holes from being
seen. One of the first operations of the hunter is to
stop all the holes with the exception of one, at which he
stations himself to spear the animals that have escaped
being struck in their houses and come hither to breathe.
In the summer the musquash burrows in the banks of
the lakes, making branched canals many yards in extent,
and forming its nest in a chamber at the extremity, in
which the young are brought forth. When its house is
attacked in the autumn, it retreats to these passages, but
in the spring they are frozen up. The musquash may
be frequently seen on the shores of small muddy islands,
sitting in a rounded form, and not easily to be distin-
guished from a piece of earth, until, on the approach of
danger, it suddenly plunges into the water. In the act
of diving, when surprised, it gives a smart blow to the
water with its tail. Its flesh is eaten by the natives,
though it has a strong musky flavour. ‘The fur is used
for hat-making, and between four and five hundred thou-
sand skins are annually imported into Great Britain.
The musquash breeds three times in the year, producing
from three to seven at a birth.

Tur Mouz-Rat

(Aspalomys Typhlus, Laxmann ; Spalax typhlus, Guldenst. ;
Aspalazx typhlus, Desm.; Zemni, Rzaczinski; Slepez,
Gmelin; Podolian Marmot, Pennant).

This strange animal (which forms the type of a dis-
tinct family) is expressly organized as a miner. ‘The

90 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

body is mole-shaped and covered with close fur, the
limbs are short and thick, with strong short claws. The
head is broad and flat, with a lateral margin or ridge
running from the great naked nose to the ears, and indi-
cated by a line of white stiff hairs. Breadth of head
across, 23 inches; length the same. ‘Total length eleven
inches. Tail wanting. Teeth white: general colour
pale sandy ash-gray ; the hairs pale lead-colour at the
base. The specimen from which these notes were made
(in the Paris Museum) was brought from Russia (‘‘le
pays des Cosaques du Donn’’): a second specimen, from
Syria, was smaller; eight and a half inches long, with
bright orange teeth, and the lateral ridge of the head
not fringed with white hairs; its colour also was darker.
(Fig. 52.)

52.—Mole-Rat.

THE CANADA SAND-RAT. 91

The mole-rat is a native of Asia Minor, Syria, Meso-
pent and Southern Russia between the Tanais and

olga. The Russians term it Slepez, or the blind ; and
the Cossacks, Sfochor Nomon, which has the same
meaning. It is generally supposed to be the domadrat
(Aspalax) of Aristotle; but asa species of mole inha-
biting Europe (Zalpa ceca) has the eyes also rudi-
mentary, this point is doubtful. In the mole-rat the
eye is a minute black grain lying beneath the skin,
which passes over it, and is besides covered with the fur;
it is evident that the sense of vision is denied to this
creature ; but by way of amends its internal organs of
hearing are largely developed, and the external orifice is
wide, though the conch of the ear is almost obsolete.
The mouth is small; the tip of the nose is largely bare and
cartilaginous, with the nostrils wide apart and placed
below. The mole-rat has much of the manners of our com-
mon mole: it is gregarious, and its burrows are clustered
together. Rich level plains are its favourite localities. Its
burrows consist of galleries at a little distance below the
surface of the earth, which communicate with chambers
sunk to a greater depth. From its galleries it drives lateral
passages in search of roots, particularly of the bulbous
Cherophyllum, on which it feeds. According to Rzac-
zinski, it also devours grain, of which it amasses a store in
its burrow for winter consumption. Its actions are sudden
and quick, but irregular; and it moves along with equal ease
both forwards and backwards. It burrows very expe-
ditiously. In the morning it often quits its retreat and
basks with its mate in the sun. At the least noise it
raises its head to listen, and in a menacing attitude;
when attacked, it snorts and gnashes its teeth, and de-
fends itself resolutely, inflicting severe wounds. There
is a superstition among the people of the Ukraine, that
the hand which has suffocated one of these animals is
gifted with the virtue of curing scrofulous affections.

Tue Canapa Sanp-Rar
(Geomys bursarius ; Mus bursarius, Shaw).

Fischer regards, and perhaps correctly, the genera
Saccophorus, Pseudostoma, Diplostoma, and Saccomys,

92 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

f é | HE Tet tings

hy \

bi

po as

53.—Skull and Teeth of Canada Sand-Rat.

as synonymous with the genus Geomys of Rafinesque,
and which is represented by the Sand-Rat, distinguished
by large cheek-pouches, which when full have an oblong
form and nearly touch the ground, but when empty are
retracted for three-fourths of their length. Their inte-
rior is very glandular, particularly the orifice that opens
4—4
into the mouth. ‘The incisors are .

Fig. 53 repre-

sents the skull and teeth of Geomys, as given by Dr.
Richardson: 1, 2, 3, skull, natural size, in different

THE CANADA SAND-RAT. 93

views: 4, lower jaw; 5, palate and upper teeth’; 6,
upper grinder magnified, Fig. 54 represents the teeth
of Geomys (Saccomys, F. Cuv.) enlarged.

The skull is large and depressed, the nose short, the
nasal and frontal bones are in the same plane; the palate
is very narrow, and the zygomatic arch is but little de-
pressed below the upper surface of the skull.

He
4] ligne?

/
)

f /

54,.—Teeth of Canada Sand-Rat.

The nostrils are somewhat lateral ; the mouth is con-
tracted; the pendulous cheek-pouches are thinly clothed
with short hairs, and sometimes almost naked—they open
into the mouth by the side of the molar teeth ; auditory
openings large, external ear almost obsolete ; eyes small
and far apart; body cylindrical ; tail of moderate length,
round, tapering, and more or less hairy. Limbs short;
toes, five on each foot, with strong claws. (Fig. 55.).

94 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

55.—Canada Sand-Rat.

Dr. Richardson observes that the sand-rats burrow in
sandy soils, and feed on acorns, nuts, roots, and grass,
which they convey to their burrows in their cheek-
pouches (Fig. 56); they throw up little mounds of
earth, like mole-hills, in summer, but are not seen abroad.
in the winter season; speaking of the Columbia sand-
rat, he observes, that when in the act of emptying its
pouches it sits up like a marmot or squirrel, and squeezes
the sacks against its breast with its fore-paws and chin.
These animals commit great havoc on the potato-fields.
The Canada sand-rat is known only from Dr. Shaw’s
description (in the ‘ Linnean Transactions,’ vol. v., p.
227) of a specimen in Mr. Bullock’s Museum, and which
afterwards passed into the hands of M. Temminck.
There is no specimen in any of our museums; nor did
Dr. Richardson see the animal in his expedition. It

THE CAMAS POUCHED RAT. 95

=

TAN A
(Us
vals,

f (ie
A)
Ay

\

56.—Canada Sand-Rat.

may, however, possibly prove to be identical with one
of the species he has described. This animal is stated to
be about the size of a common rat, and of a pale grayish
brown. A specimen of the mole-like sand-rat (G. tal-
poides) is preserved in the collection of the Zool. Soc.
It is a native of the borders of the Saskatchewan.

Tur Camas Poucuep Rat (Diplostoma bulbivorum).

The animals of this genus differ from those of the
genus Geomys, in having cheek-pouches which open ex-

96 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

ternally at the sides of the mouth, and are carried inwards
and downwards along the side of the lower jaw; these
pouches are not pendulous ; the mouth is a vertical fissure
nearly an inch long, entirely exposing the incisors; and
the lateral fold of skin before the opening of the pouch
is covered internally and externally with fur. ‘The body
resembles that of a great mole with a large clumsy head.
(Fig. 57.)

The animals of this genus were termed ‘‘ Gauffres ”
by the early French travellers: there appear to be se-
veral species.

The Camas pouched rat iscommon in N. America, on
the banks of the Columbia river, and the Multnomah,
where it is known under the name of Camas rat, because
the bulbous root of the Quamash or Camas-plant (Scilla
esculenta) forms its favourite food. It is eleven inches
long, and of a chestnut-brown colour. These animals

Y es.
Z SS
ZL
——

SEL oO

57.—Camas Pouched Rat.

THE COAST RAT. 97

are excessively voracious, and they are very destructive
to beets, carrots, and similar vegetables. They live
almost exclusively under ground, working their way
like a mole, and are said to fill their cheek-pouches with
the earth by means of their paws, and to empty them
of their contents at the mouth of the burrow.

58.—Teeth of Coast Rat.

Tuer Coast-Rar (Bathiergus maritimus).
The dental form of Bathiergus ( Orycterus, F. Cuv.)
4— 4

is as follows: Molars
4—4

(see Fig. 58). In this genus

98 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

are comprehended several species of mole-like Rodents
peculiar to Africa, the whole form and organization of
which fit them for an underground existence. ‘The most
remarkable is the coast rat, or sand-mole of the downs.
This species is a native of Southern Africa, frequenting
sandy tracts along the coast. On the surface of the
ground it proceeds slowly, but it burrows with great ra-
pidity, and works out long galleries, throwing up hillocks
as does the mole. In some districts these are extremely
numerous, rendering it dangerous to pass over them on
horseback, and not pleasant even on foot, the earth,
where excavated, suddenly giving way. This animal is
about a foot in length, exclusive of the tail, which is

59.—Coast Rat.

about three inches. (Fig. 59.) The incisors are of
enormous size, and those above have a deep longitudinal
furrow down the front; and a hairy palate extends be-
hind them. The general colour is grayish ash.

Tue Rapsit Crercomys.

This animal, which in shape resembles a rat, represents
the genus Cercomys, closely allied to that of Echymys,

CUMING’S OCTODON. 99

60.—Rabbit Cercomys.

4
containing the spiny rats. The molars are Zi rooted,
The general colour of this species is deep brown above,
paler on the sides and cheeks; all the under parts are
whitish; the tail is long, like that of the rat; ears and
eyes large. (Fig. 60.) It isa native of Brazil, but of
its habits we have no detailed accounts. The teeth of
the genus Echymys (a South American group) are fi-
gured in 61.

Cumine’s Ocropon
(Octodon Cumingit ; Dendrobius Degus, Meyen).

The family Octodontide is established for a few allied
genera peculiar to South America, of which that termed

4—4
Octodon is the type. Molars . The antorbital
4—4

foramen is as large as the orbit, or nearly so. The de-

100 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

scending ramus of the lower jaw is deeply emarginated
behind, and the posterior angle acute. Fig. 62 repre-
sents the skull of Octodon in different views; and the
skull of an allied genus, Ctenomys, is given in Fig. 65.

-Cuming’s QOctodon in size and shape resembles a
water-rat. General colour brownish gray clouded with
dusky black; under surface dusky gray ; base of the tail
beneath nearly white. (Fig. 63.)

61.—Teeth of Echymys.

These animals are exceedingly abundant in the central
parts of Chile. They frequent by hundreds the hedge-
rows and thickets, where they make burrows which
communicate with one another. In the neighbourhood
of Valparaiso multitudes may be seen together feeding
fearlessly in the day-time. Sometimes they ascend the
lower branches of small shrubs, but not often. They
are very destructive to fields of young corn. On being dis-

CUMING’S OCTODON. 101

turbed, they all run like rabbits to their burrows. When
running they carry their tails raised up, more like squir-
rels than rats; and they also sit up like those animals.
According to Molina they lay up a winter store of food,
but do not become dormant. The Octodon is the Degu
of that writer: he says that the Indians used formerly to
eat them with much relish. Piebald and albino varieties
are not uncommon. The greatest enemy of these active
little creatures is a species of horned owl, which feeds
chiefly upon them,

\
\\ / ‘ S, ,
ca ‘ YY
Q\..” ‘ LA \"
NY" H 7
‘
{
{
‘
4 .
' \

Te Gx
i | ys |

62.—Skull of Cuming’s Octodon.

Tue Tucutuco (Ctenomys Magellanicus).

General colour brownish gray tinged with yellow and
slightly varied by a blackish tint; under parts paler;
chin and throat pale fawn. J.ength of head and body

VOL. Iv. F

102 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

NS
morn,

\

/ \
3 } L
fe ae » AXT
SS RLM

63.—Cuming’s Octodon.

about seven inches; of the tail about two inches and a
quarter. ‘Toes, asin Octodon, five on each foot. (Fig.
64.) ‘The skull in different views is shown in Fig. 65.

Locality. —The east entrance of the Strait of Magal-
haens at Cape Gregory and the vicinity. (King.) The
wide plains north of the Rio Colorado are undermined
by these animals; and near the Strait of Magalhaens,
where Patagonia blends with Tierra del Fuego, the
whole sandy country forms a great warren for them.

Mr. Darwin (‘ Journal and Remarks’) gives a circum-
stantial account of this curious animal, which he well
describes as a Rodent with the habits of a mole. ‘‘ The

THE TUCUTUCO. 103

tucutuco,” says that author, ‘is extremely abundant in
some parts of the country, but is difficult to be procured,
and still more difficult to be seen when at liberty. It
lives almost entirely underground, and prefers a sandy
soil with a gentle inclination. The burrows are said not
to be deep, but of greatlength. They are seldom open ;
the earth being thrown up at the mouth into hillocks,
not quite so large as those made by the mole. Conside-
rable tracts of country are so completely undermined by
these animals, that horses, in passing over, sink above
their fetlocks. The tucutucos appear, to a certain de-
gree, to be gregarious) The man who procured speci-
mens for me had caught six together, and he said this

64.—Tucutuco.

104 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

i yr
ag

ye Lee “
A XR

Hy

“=,

65.—Skull of Tucutuco.

was acommon occurrence. They are nocturnal in their
habits; and their principal food is afforded by the roots
of plants, which is the object of their extensive and su-
perficial burrows. Azara says they are so difficult to be
obtained, that he never saw more than one. He states
that they lay up magazines of food within their burrows.
This animal is universally known by a very peculiar noise
which it makes when beneath the ground. A _ person,
the first time he hears it, is much surprised ; for it is
not easy to tell whence it comes, nor is it possible to
guess what kind of creature utters it. The noise consists

THE UTIA. 105

in a short, but not rough nasal grunt, which is repeated
about four times in quick succession ; the first grunt is
not so loud, but a little longer, and more distinct than
the three following: the musical time of the whole is
constant, as often as it is uttered. The name Tucutuco
is given in imitation of the sound. In all times of the
day, where this animal is abundant, the noise may be
heard, and sometimes directly beneath one’s feet. When
kept in a room, the tucutucos move both slowly and
clumsily, which appears owing to the outward action of
their hind-legs; and they are likewise quite incapable of
jumping even the smallest vertical height. When eating
they rest on their hind-legs and hold the piece in their
fore-paws ; they appear also to wish to drag it into some
corner. ‘They are very stupid in making any attempt to
escape ; when angry or frightened, they utter the tucu-
tuco. Of those I kept alive, several, even the first day,
became quite tame, not attempting to bite or to run
away ; others were alittle wilder. The man who caught
them asserted that many are found blind. A specimen
which I preserved in spirits was in this state. When
the animal was alive I placed my finger within half an
inch of its head, and not the slightest notice was taken :
it made its way, however, about the room nearly as well
as the others.”

Tue Utia
(Capromys Furniert ; Isodon Pilorides, Say).

Mr. Waterhouse considers the genus Capromys as
one of those included in the Histricine section of Ro-
dents. The anterior paws have four toes and a rudimen-
tary thumb ; the hind-feet are thick, broad, and strong,
and five-toed ; the claws are strong; the soles of all the
feet are naked, and covered with a coarse granular black
skin, divided into pads by deep fissures. ‘The muzzle is
obtuse ; the nostrils are open, oblique, edged externally
with an elevated rim, and separated by a medial furrow,
running to the fissure of the upper lip. ‘The whiskers
are long; the tail is annulated with a scaly epidermis,

106 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

with short thinly-set hairs from between each scale.
(Fig. 65*: a, muzzle; b, portion of tail; c, under part
of fore-foot ; d, under part of hind-foot.) The ears are

moderate, erect, almost rounded. Molars ,» with

the crown traversed by folds of enamel. Eyes small.
This animal is a native of Cuba, where it is known by
the name of Utia. It appears to have been described by
Bomare and Oviedo three hundred years ago. The ge-
neral colour of the utia is glossy brown grizzled with
yellowish gray; the muzzle, chest, and under parts

65*.—Muzzle and Paws of Utia.

grayish white; the fur of a coarse texture ; length about
two feet two inches, of which the tail is eight inches.
(Fig. 66.)

With respect to the habits of the utias in a wild state,
it is only known that they are found in the woods, that
they climb trees with great facility, and that they live on
vegetables. From observations on those kept in a do-
mesticated state, M. Desmarest gives the following de-

THE UTIA. 107

66.—Utia.

tails :—‘‘ Their intelligence appears to be developed to
as great a degree as that of rats and squirrels, much more
so than that of rabbits and guinea-pigs. They have, in-
deed, a great share of curiosity. .At night they are very
wakeful, and the form of the pupils is indicative of noc-
turnal habits. The sense of hearing does not appear to
be so acute as that of rabbits or hares. Their nostrils
are incessantly in motion, especially when they smell
any new object. ‘Their taste is sufficiently delicate to
enable them to distinguish and reject vegetables which
have been touched by animal substances, to which they
manifest the greatest repugnance. ‘They agree perfectly
well together, and sleep close by each other. When
they are apart they call each other by a sharp cry, dif-
ferring little from that of a rat. ‘Their voice, when

108 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

they express pleasure, is a low soft kind of grunting.
They scarcely ever quarrel except for food—as when
one piece of fruit is given between both; in that case
one seizes and runs away with it, until the other is able
to take it from him. ‘They sometimes play for a long
time together, holding themselves upright in the manner
of kangaroos, firmly supported upon the broad soles of
their hind-feet and the base of the tail, and striking each
other with their paws, until one of them, finding a
wall or some other body against which to support him-
self, acquires an additional power, and gains an advan-
tage; but they never bite each other. Towards other
animals they manifest the greatest indifference, paying
no attention even to cats. ‘They are fond of being ca-
ressed, and particularly of being scratched under the chin.
They do not bite, but slightly press with the incisor
teeth the skin of those who caress them. ‘They do not
ordinarily drink, but occasionally suck up water as squir-
rels do. Their food consists of vegetables exclusively,
such as cabbage, succory, grapes, nuts, bread, apples, &c.
‘They are not very difficult in the choice of their food,
but still have a particular fondness for strong-flavoured
herbs and aromatic plants, as wormwood, rosemary, ge-
raniums, pimpernel, celery, &c. Grapes pleased them
much, to obtain which they would instantly climb up a
long pole, at the top of which the fruit was placed.
They are also fond of bread steeped in aniseed or even
wine. ‘These animals are plantigrade: their movements
are slow, and their hinder parts are embarrassed when
they walk, as is observable in the bear. They leap oc-
casionally, turning suddenly round from head to tail like
the field-mouse. When they climb, which they do with
the greatest ease, they assist themselves with the base of
their tail as a support, and the same in descending. In
certain positions, on a stick for example, the tail serves
as a balance to preserve their equilibrium. They often
raise themselves to a listening attitude, sitting erect,
with the paws hanging down, like rabbits and hares.
In eating they employ sometimes only one, sometimes
both their fore-paws ; the former is the case when tlie

THE COY?PU. 109

substance they are holding is small enough to be held
between the fingers and the tubercle at the base of the

thumb.”
Tue Coyrru

(Myopotamus Coypus ; Quoiya, D’Azara; Coui, Molina ;
Hydromys Coypus, Geoff. ; Mus Castorides, Burrow).

The coypu is common in certain districts of South
America, as Chile, Buenos Ayres, and Tucuman. The
head is large; the muzzle obtuse; the ears small and

i
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1% y

Sis i
~y Hl yi ty
Wy Nay

Ml

\ i

67.—Teeth of Coypu.

round; fore-feet with a rudimentary thumb and four

toes, all free: hind-feet plantigrade, with five toes, of

which the outermost only is free, the rest palmated.

Tail strong and scaly, and sprinkled with scattered hairs.
F3

110 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

68,—Coypu.

4
Molars

i increasing in size from the first to the last,

with winding folds of enamel. (fig. 67.) The eyes are
small, approximating to each other, and placed high in
the head. Behind the upper incisors there is a hairy
palate or space, a peculiarity noticed also in Bathiergus.
The body is clothed with two sorts of hair, an under-
garment of fine close fur almost water-proof, and an
upper layer of long, shining, straight hairs of a rich
brown, which is the general colour, the muzzle being
dirty white. The limbs are short, but strong; and the
movements of the animal on land are slow and crawling.

(Fig. 68.)

HISTRICID Z. Et

The coypu remained unknown to the scientific world,
while thousands of its skins, under the name of Racoonda,
for more than forty years had been annually imported
into Europe, for the sake of the fine under-fur, which,
like that of the musquash and beaver, is extensively used
in the manufacture of hats.

_ This animal is gregarious and aquatic, residing in
burrows which it excavates along the banks of rivers:
and in these burrows the female produces and rears her
young, from three or four to seven in number, to which
she manifests great attachment. In the Chonos Archi-
pelago, according to Mr. Darwin, ‘ these animals, instead
of inhabiting fresh water, live exclusively in the bays or
channels which extend between the innumerable small
islets of that group.”’ ‘‘ The inhabitants of Chiloe, who
sometimes visit this archipelago for the purpose of fish-
ing, state that these anifnals do not live solely on vege-
table matter, as is the case with those inhabiting rivers,
but that they sometimes eat shell-fish. The coypu is
said to be a bold animal, and to fight fiercely with the
dogs employed in chasing it. Its flesh when cooked is
white and good to eat. An old female procured on these
islands weighed between ten and eleven pounds.” An
extensive trade in the skins of these animals is carried
on at Buenos Ayres, where they are improperly called
‘* Nutrias,”’ or otters. In captivity the coypu soon be-
comes gentle and attached ; and is evidently pleased with
marks of attention from those with whom it is familiar.
Length of adult male, one foot eleven inches, exclusive
of the tail, which is one foot three inches.

Famity—HISTRICIDZ, (or Porcurinss).

The porcupines, a spine-clad family, are divided into
the genera Hystriz, Erethizon, Synetheres, &c., and are
respectively distributed over Europe and North Asia,
Africa, India and its islands, and North and South
America, All the porcupines have the molars four in
each jaw on each side; nearly equal in size, and fur-
nished with distinct roots; when worn the surfaces

112 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

69.—Teeth of Hystrix.

present tortuous folds of enamel (see Fig. 69, the teeth
of Hystriz, and Fig. 70, the teeth of Erethizon). ‘The
tongue is rough with papille, like those of the cats; the
head is short and blunt; the nostrils large and open;
the ears and eyes comparatively small; and the general
form thick and clumsy.

HISTRICID&. 113

Two figures of skulls (Fig. 71 and 72) represent the
skull of a species termed, by F. Cuvier, Acanthion
Javanicum, and that of the common porcupine by way
of comparison, With respect to the genus Acanthion,
founded by F. Cuvier on the characters of two skulls,
one of which was brought from Java, we are strongly
inclined to consider it identical with the genus Atherura
of Baron Cuvier, though the latter, in his ‘ Régne

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Animal,’ makes no allusion to the genus proposed by his
brother. Fischer gives the Acanthion Javanicum ot
F. Cuvier as identical with the fasciculated porcupine
(Atherura fasciculata), and is probably correct. The
fasciculated porcupine has been long known to science,
and is figured by Buffon as the ‘* Pore-épic de Malacea ;”’
but since his time, till within the few last years, no
specimen had reached Europe. In 1828 M. Diard sent
a skin and skeleton to France, from India, and about the

70.—Teeth of Erethizon.

114 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

same time a living individual was brought to England by
Lieut. Vidal, and presented to the Zool. Soc. Lond. It
was described and figured by Mr. Bennett, and now
forms a part of the riches of the museum. ‘This indi-
vidual, however, was not brought from India or its islands,

72.—Skull of Common Porcupine.

but from Fernando Po, where it is stated to be in such
abundance as to furnish a staple article of food to the in-*
habitants. Whether it be truly indigenous there, or
was originally brought by the early Portuguese settlers
to that island from India or Java, and has become
naturalized, are points unsettled.

‘THE COMMON PORCUPINE, TH5

Tux Common Porcupine ( Hystriz cristata),

Pore-épic of the French: Istrice of the Italians; Sta-
chelschwein, Dornschwein, and Porcopick of the Ger-
mans. This spine-covered animal is found in Italy,
throughout Africa, in Southern Tartary, the borders of
the Caspian Sea, Persia, and India: it was observed by
Mr. Hodgson inhabiting the central and lower regions
of Nepal. When full-grown it is upwards of two feet
in length; but the specimens from Italy are generally
smaller than the African, and have shorter quills. (Fig.
73.) It would appear that in Italy it is not indigenous,
but has become naturalized.

73.— Common Porcupine.

‘The porcupine is a nocturnal animal, of quiet and se-
cluded habits, passing the day in its subterranean retreat,
for the digging of which its muscular limbs and stout
claws are well adapted. At night it steals forth to feed ;
roots, bark, fruits, and vegetables constitute its die

116 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

Aa a Se ae
eae “L227 UU cag tats — Ss. Se
vn “ev =

ve + a

a ee

74.—Common Porcupine.

In winter it appears to undergo a partial hybernation.
Sluggish and timid, the porcupine is yet enabled, clothed
in his array of spears, to repel the assault of enemies :
when driven to act on the defensive, he bends his head
down, turns his back towards his assailant, erects his
spines, and receiving the rash assault, pushes them forcibly
by the action of the whole body against the aggressor.
(Fig. 74.) The wounds thus inflicted are very severe,
and do not heal readily. ‘The spines of the porcupine
are of two sorts: one sort being long, slender, and bend-
ing ; the other spines, concealed beneath the former, are
short, thick in the middle, and tapering to a sharp point;
they are ringed black and white. The length of the
short spines, which are the true effective weapons, is
from four to ten inches, and the point, which consists
of flint-like enamel, is somewhat compressed with two
slightly raised and opposite ridges, which when minutely
examined are found to be finely jagged. There is an-
other sort of furniture on the tail, namely a number of

THE BRAZILIAN PORCUPINE. 117

dry, hollow, open quills, of considerable circumference,
and supported upon long and very slender stalks, which
vibrate with every motion. When the porcupine clashes
these together they produce a rustling noise. ‘The ap-
paratus by which the spines and these hollow rattles are
clashed and raised consists of a strong muscular expansion
underneath, and adherent to, the thick skin. From the
raising and clashing of the spines, and perhaps the acci-
dental falling of one looser than the rest (about to be
shed naturally), has arisen the belief that the animal was
capable of darting his spines, like a javelin, point fore-
most—an error we need not stay to confute.

Tue Brazirran PorcuPine

(Synetheres prehensilis ; Cuandu of Marcegrave ; Coendu,
Buffon; Prehensile Porcupine of Pennaut).

In North America the porcupines are represented by
the Hairy or Canada Porcupine (£rethizon dorsatum),
which is in a great degree arboreal in its habits. In
Brazil we are presented with the species termed Cuandu,
more decidedly organised as a climber, having a pre-
hensile tail resembling that of the opossum. ‘The
muzzle is broad and short ; the head convex in front, the
spines rather short; the tail very long, and naked for
half its length. The feet have only four toes. The
length of this species is about two feet, exclusive of the
tail, which is about eighteen inches; the nose is covered
with brownish hair ; the ears are nearly naked; the body
is covered above with spines: the longest (on the lower
part of the back) are about three inches in length; those
on the sides and base of the limbs are the shortest. All
are sharp, and barred near their points and roots with
white ; brown in the middle. The basal half of the tail
is clad with short spines; the breast, under parts, and
lower portion of the limbs with dark brown bristles.
(Fig. 75.)

The Brazilian porcupine appears very much to re-
semble the Canada porcupine in its habits, living in
woods, sleeping by day, and feeding on fruits, &c. by

118 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

75.—Brazilian Porcupine.

night. Marcgrave states that its voice is like that or
a sow. ‘The quills are stated to have the same pene-
trating and destructive quality as those of the Canadian
species. It is a sluggish animal, climbing trees very
slowly, and holding on with its prehensile tail, especially
in its descent. It grows very fat, and the flesh is said
to be white and well-tasted. Our cut is taken from a
specimen in the garden of the Zoological Society.

Col. Sykes regards the porcupine of the Dukhun,
called ‘‘sayal” by the Mahrattas, as distinct from the
ordinary species. It is nearly a third larger, and all the
spines and tubes of the tail are entirely white ; the spines

OO

THE BRAZILIAN PORCUPINE. 119

are also so long as to reach the insertion of the tail.
The ears are much less rounded, and the nails shorter
and stronger. We have compared skulls of the common
Indian and African porcupines together, in the Paris
Museum, and other bones of the skeleton, and we per-
ceived a marked difference in many details. ‘io the
Indian species or variety Col. Sykes has given the title
H. Leucurus; it is very abundant, and good eating.
Like the African porcupine, when alarmed or irritated
it shakes the tubes and spines of its tail violently, pro-
ducing a startling noise. It stamps also with great
energy, and when it assails an adversary it runs obliquely
backwards, transfixing the foe with its spines. (See
‘Cat. Mamm. of Dukhun,’ p. 10, and ‘ Zool. Proceeds.’
1831, p. 103.)

Famity—CHINCHILLID.

To the animals of this family, of which the beautiful
chinchilla is the type, the attention of English naturalists
was first called by Mr. Bennett, whose admirable paper
on the subject will be found in the first volume of the
‘Trans. Zool. Soc.’ In this paper three genera are
clearly and fully characterized, viz.: Lagotis, Benn. ;
Chinchilla, Benn.; and Lagostomus, Breokes. The
Chinchillide are all peculiar to South America, and are
burrowing and gregarious in their habits. Their food is

4—4
desti-

exclusively vegetable. The molar teeth are

tute of true roots.

Tue Cuarncuiiia (Chinchilla lanigera).

The characters of the genus Chinchilla, as established
4—4

iy crossed
obliquely on their surface by three lines of enamel.
Toes, on the fore-feet, five; on the hind-feet, four.
Tail of moderate length, and hairy ; ears broad, rounded,

by Mr. Bennett, are as follows :—Molars,

120 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

and nearly naked ; eyes large and full; fur long, thick,
close, soft, and woolly.

The chinchilla appears to have attracted in very early
times the notice of travellers, though the accounts scat-
tered in their works have been but little regarded by
naturalists. In 1824 Schmidtmeyer, in his travels over
the Andes into Chile, notices the chinchilla as a ‘* woolly
field-mouse which lives underground, and chiefly feeds
on wild onions. Its fine fur is well known in Europe ;
that which comes from Upper Peru is rougher and larger
than the chinchilla of Chile, but not always so beautiful

76.—Chinchilla.

in its colour. Great numbers of these animals are caught
in the neighbourhood of Coquimbo and Copiapo, gene-
rally by boys with dogs, and sold to traders, who bring
them to Santiago and Valparaiso, from whence they are
exported. ‘Ihe Peruvian skins are either brought to
Buenos Ayres from the eastern parts of the Andes or
sent to Lima. The extensive use of this fur has lately

THE CHINCHILLA. 14 |

77.—Chinchilla.

occasioned a very considerable destruction of the animals.”
From this passage it would appear that there are two or
more species of chinchilla, respectively Chilian and Pe-
ruvian, and hence we suspect is to be accounted for the
difference in the colour and quality of the chinchilla fur
which we have frequently observed. Our examination
of specimens in the Paris Museum also leads us to the
same conclusion. (Figs. 76 and 77.)

A native of the valleys in the high mountain districts
of South America, where the cold is often very severe,
the deep woolly coat of the chinchilla is well calculated
for preserving warmth. Whether in the winter season
the animal hybernates or not yet remains to be discovered.
Of its manners, indeed, we know little. In captivity it
is quiet, inoffensive, and cleanly: it feeds sitting up on
its haunches like a squirrel, holding its food between its
fore-paws. Its ratio of intelligence is on the same par

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

SSS

“ETLMOUTY) JO UOJOLOYS — “BL

sg 44
Cin’ WG
i

THE CHINCHILLA. y23

with that of the rabbit or guinea-pig: hence it displays
no indications of attachment to those who feed it, nor
much animation or playfulness. In its alpine valleys it
associates in numbers, excavating burrows, in which it
resides. The female breeds twice a year, producing
from four to six young at a birth. Various roots, espe-
cially those of bulbous plants, constitute the diet of the
chinchilla, The colour of the fur of this species is clear
gray above, but varying in depth, and passing into white
on the under parts: its quality is exquisitely fine, and
its length renders it well adapted for spinning. Indeed,
Molina informs us that ‘‘the ancient Peruvians, who
were far more industrious than the modern, made of this

79.—Skull of Chinchilla. ~

wool coverlets for beds, and valuable stufis.” The tail
is covered with long bushy hairs, and usually kept
turned up towards the back. In length the chinchilla
measures about nine inches, exclusive of the tail, which
is five inches. The fore-limbs are comparatively short :
the head has much resemblance to that of a young, full-
haired rabbit; the muzzle is short and blunt, and fur-
nished with long whiskers ; the eyes are black ; the ears
are ample. The skull is remarkable for the size of the
antorbital foramen and the amplitude of the tympanic
bulla. ‘The general skeleton is slightly built, and the
bones are slender; the ribs are thirteen on each side.
Fig. 78 represents the skeleton of the Chinchilla

124 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

Lanigera; and Fig. 79 the skull: a, skull seen from
above; b, the same seen from below ; c, the lower jaw.

Cuvier’s Lacotis (Lagotis Cuvieri).

Of the genus Lagotis two species were described and
figured by Mr. Bennett (see the ‘Trans. Zool. Soc.,’
vol. i.). In this genus the toes of the anterior as well
as posterior feet are four. The hind-limbs are consider-
ably developed ; the muzzle is somewhat elongated and
narrow, and furnished with long whiskers; the eyes are
moderate, but prominent ; the ears are elongated, rounded
at the tip, and rolled inwards at the edges. The fur is
soft, long, and downy, and but loosely attached to the
skin. The tail of tolerable length, and bushy, with
long, stiff, wiry hairs. General contour rabbit-like.
(Fig. 80.)

M. Desmarest was the first to suggest that a viscacha
observed by Feuillée in Peru, and, as he says, often
domesticated in the houses at Lima, was a distinct species
from the viscacha of the Pampas; and a careful exami-
nation of the scattered notices published by travellers
respecting the viscachas of the eastern and western sides
of the Andes led Mr. Bennett to form the same opinion,
which was confirmed by the acquisition of a living ani-
mal regarded as the Peruvian viscacha of the older
writers. The references to the Peruvian viscacha by
various of the early travellers in South America are by
no means limited, and in collating them Mr. Bennett
evinced aspirit of laborious research. He refers to Pedro
de Cieca, 1554; Acosta, 1590; Garcilago de la Vega,
1609 ; Nieremberg, 1635 ; Feuillée, 1725; and Antonio
de Ulloa, 1772. The last writer, in his ‘ Noticias
Americanas,’ gives a correct account of the habits and
manners of the animal in question. Mr. Bennett’s
translation is as follows :—‘‘ Taking the place of the
rabbit, which is wanting in Peru, there is another kind
of animal, called viscacha, which is not found? in
Quito. In form and in the colour of the fur it is similar

hr
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CUVIER’S LAGOTIS, ]

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os
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os
28

VOL. IV. G

80.—Cuvier’; Lagotis.

126 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

to the rabbit, but differs from it in having a long tail
furnished with tufted hair, which is very thin towards
the root, but thick and long as it approaches the tip.
It does not carry its tail turned over the head like the
squirrel, but stretched out, as it were, in a horizontal
direction : its joints are slender and scaly. These animals
conceal themselves in holes of the rocks, in which they
make their retreats, not forming burrows in the earth
like rabbits. There they congregate in considerable
numbers, and are mostly seen in a sitting posture, but
not eating : they feed on the herbs and shrubs that grow
among the rocks, and are very active. Their means of
escape do not consist in the velocity of their flight, but
in the promptitude with which they run to the shelter
of their holes. This they commonly do when wounded ;
for which reason the mode of killing them is by shooting
them in the head ; as, if they receive the charge in any
other part, although much injured, they do not fail to go
and die in the interior of their burrows. They have this
peculiarity, that as soon as they die their hair falls off;
and on this account, although it is softer, and somewhat
longer and finer, than that of the rabbit, the skin cannot
be made use of for common purposes. The flesh is
white, but not well flavoured, being especially distasteful
at certain seasons, when it is altogether repugnant to
the palate.” Molina speaks of the employment of its
wool among the ancient Peruvians, adding, that the
Chilians of the present day (his work was originally
published in 1782, and reprinted with additions in 1810)
use it in the manufacture of hats.

The general colour of the viscacha of the western ac-
clivities of the Peruvian Andes, or Cuvier’s lagotis (Z.
Cuvier’), is grayish ash, clouded here and there with a
tint of brown. The hairs of the tail are mingled black
and white. ‘The ears equal the head in length. The
body measures sixten inches, including the head; the
tail, about twelve inches. Fig. 81 represents the skele-
ton, and Fig. 82 the skull of the ZLagotis Cuvieri: a,
skull seen from above; 0, the same seen from below ; c,

CUVIER'S LAGOTIS.

G2

81,- Skeleton of Cuvier’s Lagotis.

bo
~I

128 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

lower jaw ; d, crown of the two anterior molar teeth of
the lower jaw, enlarged ; e, crowns of the two posterior
molar teeth of the upper jaw, enlarged.

i
4

82.—Skull of Cuvier’s Lagotis.

Tur ViscacHa or BiscAcHA OF THE PAMPAS

(Lagostomus trychedactylus, Brookes ; the Marmot Diana
of Griffith).

Generic characters :—the molars consist of two ob-
lique lamella, excepting the posterior one in the upper
jaw, which consists of three ; anterior feet with only
four toes, hinder feet with only three; tail moderate.
Of this genus (Lagostomus) we know but one species,
of which the earliest notice to be found is in Dobrizhoffer’s
‘ Historia de Abiponibus,’ 1784. He informs us that it
is called by these people Nehelaterek, and that it re-
sembles a hare with the tail of a fox. (Fig. 83.) ‘It
digs its burrows on the more elevated parts of the plains
with so much art, that no aperture is left by which the
rain can penetrate, and these burrows are divided into
distinct settlements, numerous families inhabiting the
same locality. On the surface of the ground are several
entrances into the burrow, at which, towards sunset, the
animals may be seen seated in crowds, diligently listen-
ine for the sound of any person approaching. If every-
thing remains quiet, they venture forth by moonlight to
feed; and commit sad havoc on the neighbouring fields,

THE VISCACHA, 129

83.—Viscacha.

for they devour both European wheat and Indian corn
with great avidity, despising grass when either is to be
obtained. Hence the stations of the biscachas are seldom
to be met with in the desert plains, but indicate with
certainty the proximity of Spanish settlements; and it
has often been a matter of surprise to me that I have
never seen the biscacha in the territories (though well
covered with crops of all kinds) either of the Abipones
or the Guaranis. They are in the habit of heaping
up at the entrances of their burrow dry bones, chips
of wood, and refuse articles of every sort which fall in
their way. The purpose, however, for which these
things are collected is beyond conjecture. The Spanish
colonists occasionally spend an idle hour in hunting them ;

130 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

they pour buckets of water into the subterranean retreats
of the creatures, which to avoid being drowned issue
forth into the plain, where, without any means of escape,
they are killed with sticks. heir flesh, unless they are
very old, is not considered despicable even by the
Spaniards.”” In 1789 the Abbé Jolis wrote a work, which,
however, appears not to have been completed, entitled
‘An Essay on the Natural History of Granchaco’
(Saggio sulla Storia Naturale della Provincia del Gran-
chaco), and in this he gives, from long observation, a de-
scription of the Pampas biscacha, which differs in some
particulars from that of Dobrizhoffer. ‘‘ They resemble,”
he says, ‘‘ our hares, but have the body somewhat more
arched. They live in society, in burrows underground,
which they form for themselves, excavating in all direc-
tions to the extent of a mile in circumference, with various
exits and separate retreats, in which the old live distinct
from the young. ‘The soil in which these are usually
made is that which is hard and barren, and destitute of
everything, but with bushes (boscag/ie) at no great dis-
tance, and pasture of tender grass, roots, and the bark of
trees. They collect around their retreats bones, dried
leaves, and whatever they find in the neighbourhood ; if
anything is missing in their districts, it is to be found
with certainty piled up in these situations the following
day. As they are animals that avoid the light, having
little power of vision, they are not to be seen in the
daytime, unless at dawn, or towards evening after sunset.
The night, and especially when the moon shines, is the
proper time for seeking their food. Fierce and coura-
geous, they defend themselves with all their might against
the dogs, and sometimes even attack the legs of the
hunters.”

But neither of those authors mentions the somewhat
anomalous companions with which the biscachas are as-
sociated ; and we select, from the travels of Proctor,
Head, Miers, and Haigh, the account of the first-named
traveller, which, as Mr. Bennett observes, gives nearly
all the particulars which are to be found in the rest.
‘‘ The whole country from Buenos Ayres to San Luis de

THE VISCACHA. 131

la Punta is more or less burrowed by an animal between
a rabbit and a badger, called the biseacho, which renders
travelling dangerous, particularly by night, their holes
being so large and deep that a horse is almost sure to
fall if he steps into one of them. ‘The biscacho never
ventures far from its retreat, and is seldom seen till the
evening, when it comes out to feed, and hundreds may
be observed sporting round their holes, and making a
noise very similar to the grunting of pigs. Their flesh
is much liked by the people, and they are remarkably
fat, and on that account, when caught at any distance
from their holes, are easily ran down; they will, how-
ever, defend themselves from a dog a considerable time.
The holes of these animals are also inhabited by vast
numbers of small owls, which sit, during the day, gazing
at the passing travellers, and making a very ludicrous ap-
pearance. ‘The parts of the road most frequented by the
biscacho are generally overrun by a species of small wild
melon, bitter to the taste ; whether it thrives particularly
on the manure of the animal, or whether the biscacho
chooses its hole near this running plant, does not seem
to have been ascertained.”’

The viscacha of the Pampas of Buenos Ayres and
Paraguay is, when fully grown, as large as our common
badger. Above it is of a blackish gray, beneath white.
The head is large and obtuse, and a whitish band begin-
ning on the nose passes across the face beneath each eye
to the root of the ear, producing a sort of crescent-
shaped mask when the face is viewed in front. The
sides of the lips are furnished with a tuft of thickly-set
whiskers, composed of long black bristles ; and from the
angles of the mouth across the cheeks, below the white
band, extends a brush of black bristles, stouter than those
of the whiskers, but shorter, the lowermost being sharply
pointed. This brush reaches the angle of the jaw, form-
ing a beard: it does not, however, end here abruptly,
but may be traced by bristly hairs intermingled with the
fur across the shoulders as far as the middle of the back.
The ears are moderate and rounded ; the fore-legs are
rather slender and short; the hind- legs are long, and the

132 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

84.—Skeleton and Skull of Viscacha.

DASYPROCTIDZ&E. 133

metatarsal portion reminds one of the same part in the limb
of the kangaroo, though it is not so disproportionally
elongated. At the heel there is along naked callous
sole or pad, before which is a part covered with hair: the
toes are three in number, of which the middle is the most
elongated : all are furnished with strong hoof-like nails,
and with naked pads beneath. ‘The tail is rather short,
and covered with grayish brown hairs, of which the
longest form a fringe on the upper surface; it is gene-
rally kept retroverted on the back. The incisor teeth
are remarkably large and strong. Fig. 84 represents
the skeleton and skull of the Pampas viscacha: a, under
view of skull; 0, lower jaw; c, crown of the second
molar tooth of the left side of the lower jaw; d, crown
of the last molar tooth of the right side of the upper
jaw.

Mr. Brookes’s paper on the anatomy of this animal
was read before the Linn. Soc. in June, 1828, and pub-
lished in the Linn. Trans. for the year following.

Famiry—DASYPROCTID&.

A small family of the Histricine section, which may
be termed Dasyproctide, next claims our notice. It em-
braces two genera, Celogenys and Dasyprocta. In

these genera the molars are ——,, rooted, and bear much

resemblance to those of the porcupines ;_ they are crowned
with distinet tubercles, which, wearing down with use,
give place to winding lines of enamel, set in the interior
bony cement.

The genus Celogenys includes two, or perhaps three,
distinct species of Rodents, termed Pacas (a corruption
of the word Pag of the Brazilians, or Paig of the natives
of Paraguay; and Pakiri of some of the tribes of
Guiana).

These animals, the pacas, are remarkable for a curious
structural peculiarity in the skull, which imparts a sin-
gular aspect to their physiognomy. We give a sketch of

G3

134 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

the skull of the fulvous paca (Celogenys fulvus), in pro-
file (Fig. 85), and as viewed on its palatal aspect (Fig.
86). The peculiarity in question is the immense deve-
lopment of the zygomatic arch, forming an expansive
shield of bone, almost concealing the lower jaw, rough
and convex externally, and deeply concave within. This
broad projecting convex plate has its concavity lined by
a continuation or reduplicature of the skin of the face,
constituting a sort of pouch, with a narrow linear opening
just below the angle of the mouth, and having its edges,
from which the pouch leads directly upwards, almost if
not quite destitute of hair.

85.—Skull of Paca.

Notwithstanding this narrow orifice, the sac or pouch
is so closed, that it cannot be serviceable as the recep-
tacle for food, for neither is the orifice dilatable, nor the
pouch, enclosed as the latter is within walls of unyielding
bone. ‘The use of this sac is not ascertained: perhaps a
secretion of some kind may take place from the subzygo-

THE PACA, 135

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86.—Upper Jaw of Paca.

matie fold of skin, but this remains to be determined.
Besides the sac described, the pacas have true cheek-
pouches of considerable extent, opening from the mouth,
and extending down the sides of the neck and below the
inferior margin of the zygomatic shield.

The lower jaw, which is almost concealed, is shown at
Fig. 87. The characters of the molar teeth, worn by
use, are well depicted. Fig. 88 represents the germ of
the first molar, before the tooth is completely developed,
in three views, namely, the outer aspect, the inner aspect,
and the crown with its tubercles. ‘The pacas are animals
of considerable size, and of a heavy clumsy figure, having

136 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

a thick muzzle, with the upper lip deeply cleft ; a large
inelegant head ; prominent eyes, rounded ears, and stout
limbs, of which the hinder pair exceed in length the an-
terior—but as the greater portion of the tarsus rests ha-
bitually on the ground, the body sinks even lower at the
haunches than at the shoulders. The fore-feet are di-
vided into five toes, of which the innermost is a mere

87.—Lower Jaw of Paca.

Coy
be ie
ad

wn

&8.—Tooth of Paca.

rudiment, seated high, and furnished with a small claw.
The hind-feet have also five toes, but of these the outer-
most on each side is small, and seated high: the three
central are large, strong, and furnished with powerful
hoof-like nails. The tailis wanting. The body is clothed
with short, stiff, wiry hairs.

THE DUSKY PACA, 137

Tue Dusky Paca.

This species, according to Cuvier, is identical with
the fulvous paca; but we have examined the skulls, and
find them different. In the dusky paca the bones of the
skull are smooth, and the zygomatic arches less inordi-
nately developed. The general colour of the dusky paca
is brownish black, with four lateral rows of white spots,
which begin on the shoulders and terminate on the but-
tocks. ‘The lowest line is almost confounded with the
white of the under surface. The sides of the lower jaw,
the throat, and chest are also white. Total length of
head and body, about two feet; average height fourteen

89.—Dusky Paca.

inches. (Fig. 89.) These animals are natives of the
whole of the eastern portion of South America, from
Surinam to Paraguay, and formerly existed also in some
of the islands of the West Indies. Forests in the vici-
nity of water; wooded, marshy places; and borders of
rivers, are their favourite localities : they inhabit burrows,

138 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

which they excavate, but so superficially, that they are
apt to give way beneath the foot of a person passing over
them, no less to his annoyance than that of the animal,
which thus suddenly finds itself in open daylight. These
burrows have, as it is asserted, three openings, which the
animal conceals with dry leaves and branches. In order
to capture the paca alive, the hunter stops two of these
apertures, and proceeds to work at the third, till he
arrives at the chamber to which the avenues lead. Driven
to an extremity, the paca makes a desperate resistance,
often inflicting very severe wounds.

When not disturbed, the paca often sits up and washes
its head and whiskers with its two fore-paws, which it
licks and moistens with its saliva at each ablution, like a
cat; and with these fore-paws, as well as with the hind
ones, it often scratches itself and dresses its fur. Though
heavy and corpulent, it can run with a good deal of ac-
tivity, and often takes lively jumps. It swims and dives
with great adroitness, and its ery resembles the grunting
of a young pig. Its food consists of fruits and tender
plants, which it seeks in the night, hardly ever quitting
its burrow in the day, the strong light of which, as is
the ease with other nocturnal animals, is oppressive to
its eye: the planter often rues the visits made by these
midnight foragers to his sugar-canes. The female is said
to bring forth at the rainy season, and to produce but a
single young one, which stays a long time with the mo-
ther. The pacas are very cleanly creatures in all their
habits, and keep their subterranean dwelling in a state
of the utmost purity.

It appears that these animals root in the ground with
their nose—a circumstance which, taken in conjunction
with their voice, a pig-like grunt, the bristly character
of their hair, and the flavour of their flesh, probably gave
rise, as Mr. Bennett observes, to the comparisons made
by the older writers between them and the tenant of the
sty. Those which we have seen in captivity were gentle,
but certainly not intelligent; and so far we agree with
M. F. Cuvier, who observes that, when the animal is
offended, it throws itself violently at the object which

THE AGOUTIS. 139

has displeased it, and then makes a kind of grumbling,
which at length breaks out into a sort of bark. The
greater part of the day it passes in repose, delighting in
a soft bed, which it forms of straw, hay, and similar ma-
terials, collecting the materials with its mouth, and
making a little heap, in the centre of which it lies down.
M. Buffon gives a detailed account of one of these ani-
mals, which he kept alive in his house for some time,
and which was gentle and very familiar.

The flesh of these animals is in great estimation and
in some districts is in ordinary consumption, but as it is
fat and rich it is apt to cloy. It is prepared for cooking
by being scalded like a sucking-pig and roasted. The
fur is of no value, but the skin might be useful if con-
verted into leather. M. F. Cuvier thinks that it would
be possible to introduce this animal into our European
rural establishments, and that once naturalised it would
form no despicable acquisition in the department of do-
mestic economy.

THE AGOUTIS
(Dasyprocta, Illig.; Chlormys, F. Cuv.).

These animals differ from the pacas in the formation
of the skull and the conformation of the feet and toes.
With respect to the former, the zygomatic arch presents
nothing of that strange development so remarkable in
the pacas. ‘The toes are distinctly four on each of the
anterior feet: of these the outermost toe on each side is
small and seated high, while the two middle are long,
and armed with stout claws. ‘The hind-feet are divided
into three toes, furnished with claws of a hoof-like cha-
racter, and of considerable strength. The limbs are
slender, and the hinder pair considerably exceed in length
the anterior: hence the pace of these animals is tolerabl
rapid for a short distance, though they seldom trust to
speed for safety, but seek shelter and security in the first
hollow tree they meet with, or under a rock. Here
they allow themselves to be captured without offering
any resistance, only uttering a sharp plaintive note of

140 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

90.—Teeth of Agouti.

alarm. The head of the agoutis is large, the forehead
convex, the nose swollen; the ears round, short, and
nearly naked ; the eyes large and black ; the tail is very
short, generally indeed a mere tubercle. The hair is
glossy and of a wiry character, and annulated in different
degrees with black, yellow, or white, and olive green.

The molars are

a nearly all of the same size, and

THE AGOUTIS. 141

when worn presenting winding folds of ename! on the
fiat crowns. It is impossible to convey by mere de-
scription an idea of the figures which these convolutions
assume, and which vary in@proportion to the wearing
down of the tooth: we therefore refer to Fig. 90, where
a and b represent respectively the upper and lower jaws.
No. 1 represents the teeth when much worn down; 2,
the same in an intermediate state ; 3, the same when the
tubercles are just effaced, and the surface smoothed down
to a level.

The flesh of the agoutis is in some districts highly es-
teemed, being white and tender.

The agoutis use the fore-paws as hands to convey their
food to the mouth, and usually sit upright on their
haunches to eat: they frequently also assume the same
position in order to look around them, or when they are
surprised by any unusual sound or occurrence. ‘Their
food is exclusively of a vegetable nature, and consists
most commonly of wild yams, potatoes, and other tube-
rous roots; in the islands of the different West India
groups they are particularly destructive to the sugar-
cane, of the roots of which they are extremely fond.
The planters employ every artifice for destroying them,
so that at present they have become comparatively rare
in the sugar islands, though on the first settlement of the
Antilles and Bahamas they are said to have swarmed in
such countless multitudes as to have constituted the prin-
cipal article of food for the Indians. ‘They were the
largest quadrupeds indigenous in these islands upon their
first discovery. ‘The same rule of geographical distribu-
tion holds good generally in other cases, viz. that, where
groups of islands are detached at some distance from the
mainland of a particular continent, the smaller species of
animals are usually found spread over both, whilst the
larger and more bulky are confined to the mainland alone,
and are never found to be indigenous in the small insu-
lated lands.

Though the agoutis use the fore-paws as described,
yet they are incapable of climbing trees; and though
the nails are strong, they do not burrow, but conceal

142 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALTA,.

themselves in hollow trees, among fallen logs and timber
in the forest, and similar places of concealment. Here
they produce and rear their young, which are born with
the eyes closed: they soon become capable of shifting
for themselves.

Tue Common Acouti (Dasyprocta acuti).

This species is very abundant in Brazil and Guiana,
and occurs also in Paraguay, where it was observed by
D’Azara, who informs us that the Guarinis term it
Cotia: in size itis about equal to a rabbit, but it rarely
if ever makes a burrow. It frequents densely-wooded
districts in preference to open lands, and geuerally takes
up its residence in the hollow trunks of decayed trees,
where it remains concealed during the day. This retreat
usually serves for several individuals, for it appears to be
gregarious, associating in small troops consisting of
eighteen or twenty individuals. Its movements are
rapid, active, and abrupt, and when chased it bounds
along, like a hare, to gain its accustomed hiding-place :
itis, however, seldom seen except during the night, or as
evening begins to sink into twilight. (Fig. 91.)

In Brazil and Guiana the agouti is exposed to whole-
sale destruction for the sake of its flesh, which is said to
be intermediate in flavour between the hare and rabbit ;
but in Paraguay, according to D’Azara, no one eats it,
and M. Moreau St. Méry observes that it has a strange
sort of flavour, and is a dish of little relish to the palate.
The latter writer also informs us that the agouti is com-
mon in the island of St. Lucia, and also inhabits others
of the West India group; and that in 1788 several were
taken in St. Domingo, which had made a hollow tree
their domicile. It is said to breed several times in a
year, and to produce from three to six at a birth. The
general colour of the agouti is grizzled reddish brown,
tinged on the neck, chest, and under surface with yellow.
The hairs of the upper and fore parts of the body are
annulated with brown, yellow, and black, which gives
the animal a speckled yellow and green appearance on

THE COMMON AGOUTI. 143

esa

PEE

91.—Common Agouti.

the neck, head, back, and sides: on the croup, however,
they are of a uniform golden yellow, much longer than
on any other part of the body, and directed backwards,
concealing the tail, which is a mere naked stump; the
moustaches and feet black. The general length of the
hair on the upper and anterior parts of the body is about
an inch, that of the croup is upwards of four inches long,
and all, excepting the short coarse fur of the legs and
feet, and that on the breast and belly, is of a stiff, harsh
nature, partaking more of the quality of bristles than of
simple hair.

The golden agouti differs from the common species
principally in its brighter colouring.

144 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

Tur Brack Acoutt (Dasyprocta cristata).

This species, to which the term crested (cristata) is
ill applied (since the hairs of the head and neck are
not longer than those of the shoulders), is smaller than
the common species, but its general proportions and form
are the same : it differs, however, in colour, for the hairs
of the back and sides, instead of being annulated with
various tints, as in that animal, are nearly of a uniform
black, whilst the long hairs of the croup are perfectly so.
A specimen we regarded as the black agouti, in the Paris
Museum, might be thus described :—black, beautifully
freckled with pure white, especially about the cheeks
and sides, each hair on those parts being once ringed
with white; length twenty inches. (Fig. 92.)

POSS \

WAN NY

UBmMONLE |), sk ASN
War's

92.—Black Agouti.

Tue Acoucut (Dasyprocta acuchi).

This animal differs from the agouti in being of a much
smaller size, lighter make, and deeper colour, and espe-
cially in having a much longer tail, this appendage mea-
suring two inches: it is very slender, being not much
thicker than a crow- quill, and covered with short scattered

THE ACOUCHI. 145

hairs. (Fig. 93.) Its manners resemble those of the
agouti, and it also inhabits the woods of Guiana, but is
not by any means so common as that animal. M. D’Azara
was mistaken in asserting the acouchi to be identical
with the agouti; and it is very obvious that he never
saw the former, for, if he had, the distinction could not
have escaped his notice ; indeed it does not appear to be
a native of Paraguay. Specimens of the acouchi, as well
as its skeleton, are in the museum of the Zool. Soc.

93.—Acouchi.

Two living individuals (now the museum specimens
alluded to) were described in the ‘ Proceeds. Zool. Soc.’
1830, by T. Bell, Esq., who obtained them from Guiana.
‘* Both individuals,” he observes, ‘‘ are mild and gentle
in their dispositions, but somewhat timid: they are, how-
ever, familiar with their master, and run to him when-
ever he enters the room in which they are kept, and
about which they are allowed to range during the day.
Their food is entirely vegetable; they are especially
partial to nuts and almonds ; they drink but very little.
They are extremely cleanly, and take great pains to keep
their fur in order, in cleansing which they mutually assist
each other. They leap occasionally in play to a con-
siderable height, and frequently, in springing from the

146 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

ground to an elevation of two feet, descend on the spot
from which they rose. ‘Their voice is a short, rather
sharp, plaintive pur. The individuals, male and female,
show great attachment to each other. They frequently
agitate their tails with a quick tremulous motion.” Mr.
Bell observes that he had never before the arrival of
these individuals seen a specimen of the acouchi, nor
was he aware of the existence of even a preserved skin
in any English collection, It is the Olive Cavy of
Pennant. The general colour is olive mixed with
yellow and black: the hairs of the croup are not so
long as in the agoutis, and black.

THE CAVIES (Fam. Cavide)

Constitute a group (embracing the genera Cavia, Doli-
chotis, Kerodon, and Hydrocherus) which is one of the
most distinctly marked in the class Rodentia, and which
should not be confounded with that of the pacas and
agoutis, the difference being very great, both as respects
the conformation of the skull and the characters of the
teeth. The molars, as seen in the teeth of the guinea-
pig or aperea (Cavia cobaia), Fig. 94, and of the kero-
don, Fig. 95, may be compared with those of the agouti,
Fig. 90, and the wide distinction will be at once appre-
ciated

7
The molars are wee lamellose, and composite ; the

folds of enamel enclose triangular or cordiform inter-
spaces. A projecting ridge always occurs on the outer
side of the ramus of the lower jaw. In the genus Cavia
the anterior feet have four toes, the posterior three; the
nails are short and robust; there is no tail. Asan ex-
ample of this genus we may take the common guinea-
pig, or aperea, the domestic descendant of a species still
common in a wild state in various parts of South America.
Mr. Darwin, who met with the wild aperea abundantly,
states it to be ‘‘ exceedingly common in the neighbour-
hood of the several towns which stand on the banks of
the Rio Plata. It frequents different kinds of stations,

THE CAVIES, 147

such as hedgerows made of the agave and opuntia, or
sand hillocks; and again marshy places covered with
aquatic plants, the latter appearing to be its favourite
haunt. Where the soil is dry it makes a burrow, but
where otherwise it lives concealed amidst the herbage.
These animals generally come out to feed in the evening,
and are then tame ; but if the day be gloomy they make
their appearance in the morning. They are said to be

QTD

Ui,

94.—Teeth of Guinea-pig.

very injurious to young trees. An old male killed at
Maldonado weighed 1 lb. 3 oz.” Mr. Darwin observed
that in this animal the attachment of the fur to the skin
is very slight. Possessing but little intelligence and
very timid, the aperea is nevertheless tamed without any
difficulty. Azara, who kept one, remarks that, though
he took no pains to make it familiar, it manifested no
fear when in his presence, and seemed quite unconcerned.

148 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALTA.

It is to this ease with which the wild aperea becomes
domesticated that we owe the introduction of it into
Europe, for, excepting that it is a very pretty creature,
there is nothing to render it a valuable acquisition. It

95.—Teeth of Kerodon.

KERODONS. SS

is however eaten by the native tribes of Paraguay, who
sometimes capture it by hundreds when, driven from the
lowlands by sudden inundations, it retreats for safety to
the adjacent hilly grounds, where it finds neither shelter
nor concealment.

Of the genus Kerodon we may notice the Rock Ke-
rodon (Kerodon moco, F. Cuv.; Cavia rupestris, Pr.
Max.). It is a native of the rocky mountain districts in
the interior of Brazil. It is less than the aperea, and
its fur is very thick and short. The colour is gray
mixed with black, and reddish-brown above, the under
parts being white. A second species, King’s Kerodon
(Kerodon Kingii), was introduced to science by the late
Mr. Bennett. It was found by Captain King at Port
Desire, on the eastern coast of Patagonia. In size it is
less than the aperea, being about nine inches long. Its
colour is more uniform than that of the rocky kerodon,
and of a deeper tint; a slight dash of white is perceptible
behind each ear, and a line of the same tint marks the
_ edge of each branch of the lower jaw. Mr. Darwin
states that this kerodon “is common at intervals along
the coast of Patagonia, from the Rio Negro (lat. 41°) to
the Straits of Magellan. It is very tame, and commonly
feeds by day. It is said to bring forth two young ones
at a birth. At the Rio Negro it frequents in great
numbers the bottom of old hedges. At Port Desire it
lives beneath the ruins of the old Spanish Buildings.
At the Strait of Magellan I have seen amongst the Pata-
gonian Indians cloaks for small children made with the
skins of this little animal. And the Jesuit Falkner says
that the people of one of the southern tribes take their
name from the number of these animals which inhabit
their country. The Spaniards and half-civilized Indians
call the kerodon ‘ conejos,’ or rabbit, and thus has the
mistake arisen that rabbits are found in the neighbourhood
of the Straits of Magellan.”

VOL. IV. H

159 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

Tue Paracontan Cavy, on Mara

(Dolichotis Patachonica, Desm.; Cavia Patachonica,
Shaw).

This large cavy is rare in European museums. A
fine specimen, however, is preserved in the British Mu-
seum and the Museum of the Zoological Society. It isa
beautiful animal, standing high on the legs, with much of
the port of some of the bush antelopes of Africa. Its
height at the shoulder is about a foot and a half. Its
length is about two feet six inches, including the tail,
which is nearly two inches long. (Fig. 96.) It lives

96.—Patagonian Cavy.

on the Pampas south of Buenos Ayres, and especially
in Patagonia. It is noticed by Narborough, Wood, and
Byron as being very abundant at Port Desire, and also
at Port St. Julian, where, however, it does not now appear
to exist. It is only where the country has a desert cha-
racter that this species is common; and in the wilds of
Patagonia little groups of two, three, or four may be
continually seen hopping after each other in a straight

PATAGONIAN CAVY. 151

line, over plains of gravel thinly clothed with a few
thorny dreary bushes and a withered herbage.
According to Azara, this cavy does not range higher
north than latitude 35°: bnt in this statement he appears
to be mistaken, for Mr. Darwin observed that near the
coast of the Atlantic its northern limit is formed by the
Sierra Tapalguen, in latitude 37° 30’, where the plains
rather suddenly become greener and more humid; and
he remarks that its limit there certainly depends on this
change, since near Mendoza, 33° 30’, four degrees far-
ther northward, where the country is very sterile, this
animal again occurs. Azara states that this cavy never
excavates its own burrow, but always uses that of the
viscacha or biscacha; and Mr. Darwin considers that
where that animal is present Azara’s statement is doubt-
less correct, but that on the sandy plains of Bahia Blanca,
where the biscacha is not found, this cavy, as the Spa-
niards maintain, is its own workman. ‘The same thing,
he adds, occurs with the little owls of the Pampas (noctua
cunicularia), which have been described by travellers as
standing like sentinels at the mouth of almost every
burrow; for in Banda Oriental, owing to the absence
of the biscacha, these birds are obliged to hollow out
their own habitations. Azara moreover states that,
except when pressed by danger, this cavy does not have
recourse to its burrow for safety, but crouches on the
plains, or trusts to its speed ; adding, however, that it is
soon run down. On the contrary, Mr. Darwin asserts
that at Bahia Blanca he repeatedly saw two or three
animals sitting on their haunches by the mouths of their
holes, which they quietly entered as he passed by at a
distance. He remarks, however, that, different from
most burrowing animals, they wander, commonly two or
three together, to miles or even leagues from their home,
and he was not able to ascertain whether or not they re-
turned at night. This species is diurnal in its habits,
roaming about by day. It is very shy and watchful,
seldom squats after the manner of a hare, and cannot run
fast, so that indifferent dogs easily overtake it. ‘The
female breeds in her burrow, generally producing two
: H

KZ SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

young onesata birth. The flesh of this animal is white,
but dry and insipid. The skin with the fur on is in
esteem, being used for rugs, and is beautiful from the
character of the hair, which is full and soft, and from
the tasteful arrangement of the marking. The colour of
the back is brown, grizzled with white, verging into
yellow on the sides of the body and on the limbs, but
becoming black as it approaches the haunch: this dark
hue is there abruptly interrupted by a white band_pass-
ing transversely above the root of the tail, and spreading
on the back and sides of the thighs. The appearance of
this white mark is very striking. The chest, inside of
the limbs, and under part of the body are also white.
The ears are three inches and a half in length, erect and
pointed. Full-grown individuals weigh between twenty
and twenty-six pounds. ‘The young, it is said, may be
easily domesticated.

Tur CAPyBARA
(Aydrocherus Capybara; Cabiai, Buff.).

The capybara (the only known species of the genus
Hydrocherus) is the largest of all the Rodentia; and
its size, its massive heavy proportions, its thick head,
and the bristly character of its hair, give it a degree of
resemblance to some of the Pachydermata. Marcgrave
regards it as a sort of aquatic hog; Fermins, in his
‘History of Surinam,’ 1775, terms it Porcus fluviatilis,
or river-hog; while Pennant gives it the title of thick-
nosed tapir. It is also the cochon d’eau of Des-
marchais; the Sus mazimus palustris of Barrére ; and
the Sus hydrocherus. Pig-like as the capybara may be
in its external aspect, it is nevertheless a genuine Rodent,
as much so as the hare or agouti. Its dentition consists
of the usual incisors, which are of prodigious size and
strength; those in the upper jaw have a deep longi-
tudinal furrow on their outer surface. The molars are
four on each side, above and below; and consist of a
series of obliquely transverse parallel laminze of enamel
(Fig. 97), presenting acute lateral projections in the
first three teeth: these projections are on the outer edge

THE CAPYBARA. 153

97.—Teeth of Capybara.

of the upper teeth and the inner edge of the lower. The
spaces enclosed by the layers of enamel are filled in with
osseous matter, and the whole is united into a single mass
by intervening cortical matter, or crusta petrosa. ‘The
molars of the capybara are in fact analogous to those of
the elephant.

We have stated that in some Rodents the fauces, or
back of the mouth, is continued funnel-shaped, opening

154 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

into the cesophagus through a small orifice surrounded
by a muscle of circular fibres, allowing only the gradual
transmission of food which has been previously reduced
to a thorough pulp. ‘This structural peculiarity was first
pointed out in the capybara by Mr. Morgan (‘ Linn.
Trans.’ vol. xvi.), but we meet with it also in the coypu,
the capromys, and the beaver. (See ‘ Proc. Zool. Soc.,’
1832, p. 73; 1835, p. 175.) In the capybara the head
is large, the muzzle thick and blunt, the upper lip deeply
fissured; the eyes are moderately large; the ears small
and rounded. ‘The naked patch of the size of half a
crown occupies the cheek a little below each eye. The
fore-limbs are short and muscular, the toes being four,
furnished with strong claws; the hind-limbs are also
thick, but longer than those before, and the whole of
the sole, which is covered with naked rough skin, is
applied to the ground. The toes are three in number,
having strong large hoof-like nails, and being partially
connected together by intervening membranes. The
tail, a mere rudiment, is scarcely to be perceived. ‘This
animal exceeds three feet six inches in length, and its
body, which is more than three feet in girth, owing to its
bulk and the shortness of the limbs, almost touches the
ground. ‘It is covered with long, coarse, thinly-set hairs
of a sandy or brownish gray. (Fig. 98.) A fine speci-
men, recently living, is preserved in the Museum of the
Zoological Society.

The capybara is a gregarious animal, frequenting the
rich and wooded borders of the lakes and rivers in Brazil,
Guiana, and Paraguay. Mr. Darwin states that it is
common, wherever there are large rivers or lakes, over
that part of the South American continent which lies
between the Orinoco and the Plata, a distance of
nearly 1400 miles. They are not generally supposed to
extend south of the Plata, but he heard that there were
capybaras (provincially termed Laguna carpincho) high
up the Salado, and presumes that they have sometimes
been seen south of the former river. This animal lives
usually in small companies, which remain concealed
among: the thickets and dense herbage of the borders of

THE CAPYBARA. 155

the water during the day, and wander forth at night to feed.
When alarmed, the capybara utters a loud cry like the
vowel sounds a-pé, and immediately makes for the water,
into which it plunges, swimming with great ease and
quickness, little more than its nose appearing above the
surface. If hard pressed or wounded, it dives in order
to baffle its pursuers, and then endeavours to gain a more
secure place of concealment. It is eagerly hunted for
the sake of its flesh, which is accounted good, though of
a musky flavour: the hind quarters are made into hams.
Of its natural enemies the terrible jaguar is the most for-

98,.—Capybara.

midable: this powerful beast steals upon the capybara
by surprise, and destroys numbers. The food of the
capybara consists exclusively of grass and vegetables, as
water-melons, gourds, &e. Azara does not believe that
these animals ever frequent salt-water: Mr. Darwin shot
one in the bay of Monte Video, an old female, measuring,
from the tip of the snout to the end of the stump-like
tail, three feet eight and a half inches, in girth three
feet two inches, and weighing 98 Ibs. Several also were
seen by the officers of the Beagle on the island of Guritti,

156 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

off Maldonado, where the water is nearly as salt as in the
sea.

On the banks of the A pure Humboldt saw the capybara,
which he calls Chiguira, in troops of fifty or sixty. He
notices the ease of the capybara in the water ; and states
that he saw with surprise the animals, affrighted by the
approach of a boat, dive and remain from eight to ten
minutes under water. On the Apure, Arauco, &c., and
in the vast savannahs of the Llanos, the animal is said to
be often seen in droves of a hundred. They there browse
upon a sort of grass called chiguirirero.

The common posture of the capybara when at rest is
sitting upon the haunches, the soles of the hind-feet
being applied flat to the ground, like the agouti, the
viscacha, and many others of the Rodents. The female
breeds once in a year, and brings forth from four to six
or seven at a birth, having prepared a snug bed of dried
herbs and grasses.

Famity—LEPORIDZE.

Tur family Zeportde contains the hares and rabbits
(Lepus), and the pikas (Zagomys). This family is well
marked in its characters, comprehending only two genera,
of which one, the genus Lepus, is widely distributed,
though it has the most representatives in North America,
where the number of species already discovered is equal
to that of all the rest found in the other portions of the
globe taken together.

Tue Common Hare (Lepus timidus).

Aayas (Lagos) of the Greeks; Lepus of the Latins ;
Lepre and Lievora of the modern Italians; Liebre and
Lebratello of the Spaniards ; Lebre and Lebrimho of
the Portuguese; Liévre, French ; Has, Haas, and Hase
of the Germans; Haas and Haze of the Danes; Hara of
the Swedes; Hara of the Anglo-Saxons; Ysgyfarnog
Ceinach of the Ancient British.

In the genus Zepus, behind the ordinary incisors of
the upper jaw are two more of a much smaller size: the

THE COMMON HARE. 157

molars, the small posterior one excepted, are composed
of two vertical plates soldered together. Dental formula:

4 6—
—Incisors, as molars, é (Fig. 99.) The ears are

long ; the eyes large ; the tail short and turned upwards ;
five toes before, four behind ; feet and toes hairy beneath.
Few animals are better known than our common hare,

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158 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

which is spread over a great portion of Europe, and
appears to be indigenous in our country ; but the ancient
Britons abstained from eating its flesh on _ religious
grounds. This species probably extends into Asia. Mr.
M‘Clelland states that it occurs in Assam, but is of de-
generate size, measuring only from seventeen to nine-
teen inches, instead of twenty-one. ‘It is not esteemed
there an article of food. The ears are more uniformly
gray than in the European variety ”’ (‘ Proc. Zool. Soc.,’
1839). We suspect the Assam hare to be a distinct
species. Timid and defenceless, and surrounded by
numerous enemies, the hare is yet well endowed with
the means of self-preservation. It is watchful and swift;
and its brown fur assimilates in colour with the russet
herbage among which it most makes its form. All are
acquainted with the external characters of the hare, and
with its habits, of which it is useless to give minute details.

The hare swims well, and takes fearlessly to the water.
We have known them cross a broad and rapid stream ;
and Mr. Yarrold (see ‘Loudon’s Magazine,’ vol. ei)
gives an account of one which in the morning at hig
water came down to the sea-shore, and crossed over to
an island a mile distant from the mainland.

Wild and timid as the hare is, it isnot unsusceptible
of domestication. The poet Cowper, as is well known,
kept tame hares; and many other instances might be
enumerated.

The hare breeds when about a year old, and produces
two or three broods in the course of the spring and
summer; but the males and females do not form per-
manent associations. The female, after about thirty days’
gestation, brings forth from three to five young. These
are born covered with fur, and with the eyes open; and
in about a month they leave their parent and shift for
themselves. The leverets, as the young are termed, are
the prey of stoats, weasels, polecats, owls, and hawks.

Besides the common hare, the Alpine or varying hare
inhabits certain districts of our island, namely, the
northern parts of Scotland. This species (Zepus varia-
bilis) is common in the mountain districts of Sweden,

THE RABBIT. 159

Norway, Lapland, and in the Alps. It is occasionally
seen on the mountains of Cumberland.

The Alpine hare is intermediate in size between the
rabbit and the English hare. In Sutherlandshire and
other parts of the Scottish highlands it tenants the
summits of the mountains, hiding in the clefts of rocks
or among rocky fragments. During the winter lichen
is its staple food. At this season it descends to a lower
and less exposed station; and its fur, gradually losing
the light fulvous gray of summer, becomes of a snowy
white, the tips of its ears (which are shorter than the
head) remaining black.

The common hare of Ireland (Lepus Hibernicus) is
again distinct from the common hare of England. The
distinguishing characters between the two were first
pointed out by Mr. Yarrell. (See ‘Proc. Zool. Soc.’
1833, p. 88.)

Though somewhat larger than the English species, its
head is shorter and more rounded, its ears still shorter
than its head, and its limbs less lengthened. The fur
also differs greatly in its quality from that of our common
hare, and is useless as an article of trade.

Tue Rassitr (Lepus Cuniculus),

Coney, Anglicé; Coneglio of the Italians; Conejo,
Spanish; Coelho, Portuguese ; Koniglein and Kaninchen,
German; Konin, Dutch; Kanin, Swedish; Kanine,
Danish ; and Cwningen of the Welsh. “

Size excepted, the rabbit closely resembles the hare
in all its principal characters. It may, however, be at
once distinguished by the comparative shortness of the
head and ears, as well as of the hinder limbs; the ab-
sence of a black tip to the ears; and by the brown colour
of the upper surface of the tail. Its habits and general
economy are totally opposite to those of the hare ; and
its flesh, instead of being dark and highly flavoured, is
white, and, though delicate, somewhat insipid, especially
that of the tame breed. ‘The flesh of the latter is indeed

160 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

preferred by some, but we agree with M. Ude in think-
ing it very inferior.

It would appear that the rabbit is not an aboriginal of
our island, but the date of its introduction is unknown,
In the year 1309, at the installation feast of the Abbot
of St. Austin’s, six hundred of these animals were pro-
vided, at the then great cost of 15/.; the price of each,
sixpence, being that ofa pig. It is generally believed
that the rabbit was first introduced into Spain from
Africa by the Romans, whence it gradually spread, na-
turalising itself in temperate climates.

This animal is eminently gregarious ; and, as is well
known, makes extensive burrows, in which it habitually
dwells and rears its young. Sandy soils, with a super-
ficial layer of fine vegetable mould clothed with thyme,
fine grass, and other herbage, which at the same time
afford food and are easily mined, are favourable spots for
the increase of the rabbit, ‘They delight in steep sand-
banks overhung with brushwood and furze ; and we have
remarked that where the old red sandstone crops out and
is rendered friable, or somewhat decomposed by the
action of the atmospheric elements, rabbits are very nu-
merous, burrowing with great facility. They abound
also in woods, especially such as clothe the declivities of
hills, whence, like the hare, they make incursions into
the adjacent corn-lands. A rabbit-warren, that is, a
wide sandy heath, or extensive common, devoted to their
increase and feeding, when visited at the close of day or
by moonlight, affords an amusing spectacle. Hundreds
may be seen of all sizes, gambolling and sporting, and
chasing each other with astonishing rapidity. When
alarmed, they take to their burrows, disappearing as if
by magic.

The temale is capable of breeding at six months old;
and four or five litters, consisting each of about five
young, are annually produced. We have stated that the
hare produces her young clothed, capable of seeing, and
soon in a condition to shift for themselves. With the
rabbit circumstances are widely different. The young
are born blind, and naked, and totally helpless. The

THE DWARF PIKA. 161

female forms a separate burrow, at the bottom of which
she makes a nest of dried grass, lining it with fur taken
from her own body. In this nest she deposits her young,
carefully covering them over every time she leaves them.
It is not until the tenth or twelfth day that the young
are able to see ; nor do they leave the burrow till four or
five weeks old.

The wild rabbit is undoubtedly the origin of our va-
rious domestic breeds. ‘Tame rabbits indeed easily re-
sume their natural state of freedom, and return to their
instinctive habits. Albinoes are common in a state of
domestication, and it often happens that one or two ap-
pear in a litter when neither of the parents are so.

Tue Syrtan Hare.

According to Desmarest, the common hare of Europe
exists in Greece, Asia Minor, and Syria. It is, how-
ever, very probable that the Egyptian hare (Lepus
“Egyptius) extends into the latter region. It ditters
from the European species principally in the greater
proportionate length of its hind limbs and ears.

Tue Dwarr Pica (Lagomys pusillus).

The Calling-Hare of Pennant ; Semlanoi Saetshik, or
Ground Hare, of the Russians about the Volga; ‘T’schat-
schat or Ittsitskan, Barking Mouse, of the Tartars ;
Rusla of the Calmucs.

In the genus Lagomys the muzzle is acute, the ears
short and somewhat rounded, and the soles of the feet
hairy; the tail is wanting. The dental formula ap-

proaches that of the genus Lepus :—Incisors, 5; molars,
5—5

ae The genus Lagomys is widely distributed, though
the species described are not numerous. About five are
known, and of these three are natives of the rocky de-
serts of Tartary and Siberia; the fourth is a native of
the Himalaya Mountains; a fifth of the Rocky Moun-

162 SKETCH OF THE MISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

tains in the high northern regions of America, from lati-
tude 52° to 60°.

The pikas are pretty little animals, with something of
the manners of our rabbits, and dwell in burrows, which
are artfully concealed.

The dwarf pika, or calling-hare, measures little more
than six inches in total length. It has the head longer
than usual with hares, and thickly covered with fur, even
to the tip of the nose ; numerous hairs in the whiskers ;
ears large and rounded; legs very short; soles furred
beneath ; its whole coat very soft, long, and smooth,
with a thick, long, fine down beneath, of a,brownish lead-
colour; the hairs of the same colour, towards the ends
of a light gray, and tipped with black ; the lower part
of the body hoary; the sides and ends of the fur yel-
lowish. Weight from three and a quarter to four and a
half ounces; in winter scarcely two and a half ounces.
(Fig. 100.)

The dwarf pika, or calling-hare, is found in the south-
east parts of Russia, and about the mountain ridge

100.—Dwarf Pika.

2

THE DWARF PIKA. 163

spreading from the Ural chain to the south ; it also fre-
quents the borders of the Irtish and the west part of the
Altaic chain, but occurs nowhere in the east beyond the
Oby.

These animals delight in sunny valleys and the decli-
vities of hills, where food is plentiful, and especially
where woods or forests afford them a refuge in time of
danger. They dig deep and intricate burrows, the open-
ings of which are not above two inches in diameter, and
are usually formed beneath the concealment of a bush,
in situations abounding with thickets and underwood,
and with the various shrubs and grasses upon which they
feed. ‘They lead for the most part a solitary life, sleep
during the day with unclosed eyelids, like the hare, and
emerge from their retreats at night, in search of food,
which principally consists of the bark of the young
bushes, flowers, buds, and grass. They form no winter
store, but, during the inclement portion of the year, still
continue to seek out, by excavating tracks beneath the
snow, their accustomed fare, and they are frequently
subjected to severe privations, and even death, in conse-
quence of a deficiency of their favourite plants. They
drink often when they happen to be near water, but
can exist with very little. ‘The females produce at each
litter five or six young, which are born blind, helpless,
and without fur; but in eight days they acquire sight,
ae covered with hair, and begin to enjoy the use of their
imbs.

The most obvious peculiarity of these pikas is their
voice, from which they have acquired their trivial name.
Its tone is so like that of a quail, that itis often mistaken
for it even by the inhabitants of their native districts.
It is heard only in the morning and evening, except in
dark and cloudy weather, and is repeated five or six
times by each animal at regular intervals, and is loud
and sonorous. Both the male and female utter this note,
but the latter is silent for some time after she has
brought forth her young, which takes place in the month
of May.

The pikas are exceedingly gentle. Pallas states that

164 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF. MAMMALIA,

they will acquire confidence and become tame in the
course of a day after captivity. They sit in a crouching
posture, like the chinchilla, and are extremely cleanly,
frequently rubbing their faces with their fore-paws after
the manner of rabbits, and scratching their fur with their
hinder claws. They run by short leaps; and sleep
stretched out at full length.

ORDER EDENTATA, Cov.

(Bruta, Linn.).

Tuts order, which contains the Sloths, the extinct Me-
gatherium and Mylodon, the Armadillo, the Pangolin,
and the Ant-eater, appears at a first glance to be less
natural than upon careful analysis it is proved to be.
Several important links indeed, the absence of which left
voids in the chain, have fortunately been recovered, their
fossil relics restored, and the species assigned to their
true place. In this philosophic labour Professor Owen
has rendered to science the most important service, and
his work, entitled ‘ A Description of the Skeleton of an
extinct gigantic Sloth,’ but which is in fact an elaborate
analysis of the structure and affinities of the megatherioid
quadrupeds in general, is amonument of research and
acumen.

With respect to the term Edentata (toothless animals),
it must be taken in a qualified sense. The ant-eaters
and pangolins are indeed destitute of teeth, but the other
genera possess these organs with certain limitations as to
number, and of peculiar structure, wanting both the
neck part and enamel. Without further preface we may
observe that the Edentata resolve themselves into two
great sections, namely, Leaf-eaters, and Insect or Flesh
eaters. These sections, from their respective habits,
have been termed by Desmarest Zardigrada, or slow-
paced, and £ffodientia, or diggers: but to these terms,
as they are not universally applicable to the species they
include, there are some objections.

THE COMMON SLOTH. 165

Sxcrion I, LEAF-EATERS.
Famity—SLOTHS
( Tardigrada, Owen; Bradypolide, Auct.).

Genus Bradypus, Linn. (Acheus, F. Cuv.)—Claws on the
fore-feet, three.

Tur Common Stortu, or Ai
(Bradypus tridactylus, Linn.),

The Sloths are creatures as extraordinary in their
habits as in their organization, the one having a mutual
relationship to the other. They are exclusively arbo-
real; the trees afford them at once their needful food
and their permanent abiding-place: and for the trees
alone are they structurally adapted. It is not long since
that the sloth was condemned as a degraded miserable
being, slow and embarrassed in all its movements, and
wretchedly framed, as if Nature had bungled in its crea-
tion. Inconsistent with philosophy, aud presumptuous
in the extreme, is such an opinion. ‘The tall giraffe and
the sinewy-limbed antelope are not more directly organ-
ized for their respective requirements than is the sloth
for its appointed place in the scale of creation. Were
it a terrestrial animal, then indeed might we call its
structure defective ; but, its mode of life taken into con-
sideration, we view it in another light, and perceive
that it affords a marked example of design and purpose.

Buffon’s eloquent misrepresentation of the sloth need
not detain us, but we cannot avoid expressing our sur-
prise that the great Cuvier not only quotes the words of
that naturalist, but even follows up his ideas. The only
excuse is, that the habits of the animals till recently were
very imperfectly understood; yet might we not expect
that a philosopher would pause before concluding that
in the works of nature there occurred exceptions to the
laws of harmony by which the whole is governed ?

A few observations on the organization of the sloth
may not be unacceptable.

Fig. 101 represents the skeleton of the common three-

“"YIOIS JO UOP[OYS—“ 101

THE COMMON SLOTH. 167

toed sloth; Fig. 102 the pelvis of the same; Fig 103
the skeleton of the unau, or two-toed sloth.

In the skeleton of the sloth we are struck at once with
the great length of the fore limbs, which are twice as
long as the hinder pair, and with the huge hook-like
claws by which all four are terminated: we perceive,
too, that the pelvis is bird-like in its conformation and
of great breadth, separating the thigh-bones to an unusual
distance from each other; added to this, the thigh-bones
are directed obliquely outwards, while the limb from the
knee downwards has an inward inclination; and the
structure of the wrist and ankle is such that the palm or
sole, instead of being directed to the surface of the
ground, asin other animals, is turned inwards towards
the body in such a manner as to render it impossible for
the sloth to place the sole of its foot straight down on a
level surface, but to compel it under such circumstances
to rest upon the external edge of the foot (see skeleton,
Fig. 101). The hip-joint, as in the orang-outan, is

102.—Pelvis of Sloth.

168 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

103. —Skeleton of Unau.

destitute of the ligamentum teres, whence the head of
the thigh-bone is endowed with greater freedom of mo-
tion. In the ai (three-toed sloth) the neck consists of
nine vertebree, instead of seven, the ordinary number in
mammalia, and the two tables of the skull in all the spe-
cies are separated by large air-cells, so that the small
bird-like brain is defended by a double case, a provision
against accidental falls, should the branch to which the
animal is clinging give way.

Professor Owen observes, respecting the sloths, that
‘¢ they illustrate the affinity or tendency to the oviparous
type, by the supernumerary cervical vertebre, supporting
false ribs, and by the convolution of the windpipe in the
thorax, in the three-toed species; by the lacertine
(lizard-like) character of three-and-twenty pairs of ribs
in the unau; and by the low cerebral development, by
the great tenacity of life, and long-enduring irritability
of muscular fibre in both species.”” ‘The muscles of the

THE COMMON SLOTH. 169

sloth, indeed, are endowed with the most astonishing
energy ; their force is, indeed, almost incredible, and
harmonizes with the arboreal design of the skeleton, of
which the limbs alone sufficiently indicate the creature’s
habits. Who can mistake the meaning of the solid
hook-like structure of the paws, or the design of the long
arms, or of the security of the union of the clavicle
to the large scapula? We might here enter into
minute details, but we refrain, only observing that Na-
ture in these points aimed at rigid unyielding strength,
and has obtained the result she wished ; the long arms
of the sloth being thus furnished with strong hooks,
which are drawn to the palm (and the same observation
applies to the claws of the hind-feet) by means of elastic

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104,—Sloth.

170 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

105.—Sloth: mode of progression.

ligaments, it can reach to a distant branch, and there fix
itself with facility, or, while clinging to one branch, can
draw towards itself another loaded with buds, fruits, or
leaves, which offer a grateful repast. (Fig. 104.) Rigid
as its paw is, it can use it as a hand, and with great
address convey food to its mouth.

Unfitted then for the ground, along which he can only
drag himself by applying the claws of the fore-feet to
any rough projection within reach, the sloth is emi-
nently qualified for the branches of the forest, and that
rather for their upper than their under surface ; clinging
to them, he rests and travels suspended, yet in perfect
security ; here his awkwardness disappears, and he tra-
verses the branches or passes from tree to tree in the
dense forest with considerable celerity, either in quest of
food or in order to escape his enemies. Stedman, in his
‘ History of Surinam,’ has an engraving of a sloth in this
position, which we have copied as illustrating its singular
mode of progression. (Fig. 105.) But the arms of the
sloth are also his weapons of defence, and weapons of no
little force: when attacked on the ground, he throws
himself on his back, fixes his claws on his adversary, and
grasps him with enormous power ; in this manner he has

THE COMMON SLOTH. I7E

been known to strangle a dog, holding him all the while
at arm’s length; and in this manner he grapples with
snakes of large size, to the attacks of which he is said to
be subject.

Mr. Burchell (says Professor Buckland, in an inte-
resting paper on these animals in the ‘ Linn, Trans.’
1835) observed that ‘‘ his captive sloths assumed during
sleep a position of perfect ease and safety on the fork of
a tree, their arms embracing the trunk, their backs rest-
ing on the angle of a branch, and their head reclining
on their own bosom. The animal is thus rolled up
nearly in the form of a ball; the entire vertebral column,
including the neck, assumes a nearly circular curve, and
not only is the weight of the whole body maintained in
an attitude of ease and safety, but the head is supported
between the arms and chest, and the’ face lies buried in
the long wool which covers those parts, and is thus pro-
tected during sleep from the myriads of insects which
would otherwise attack it.”” According to Mr. Burchell,
the buds and young shoots of a species of Cecropia form
the principal food of the sloth. These trees grow only
in damp places, and rise with a slender stem to the height
of thirty or forty feet, giving off horizontal branches,
hollow internally, except at the extremities, Along
these branches it travels, and the young cling round the
body of the mother. It would appear that the moisture
of leaves or buds suffices the sloth for drink, as none kept
by Mr. Burchell took liquid in any other way. In the
aspect of the sloth there is an expression of profound
melancholy ; it seldom utters any cry ; it notices nothing
with any positive mark of attention, except perhaps the
trees to which unerring instinct draws it, nor by any
action evinces much intelligence.

The dental system of the sloths is the most simple
that can well be conceived. They have no incisor teeth,
but canines and molars only; and in the ai the canines
are diminutive, and in all respects very similar to the
other teeth. The molar teeth are universally eight in
the upper jaw and six in the lower, four and three on
either side respectively. ‘Their construction is most

172 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

simple; they are cylindrical, unrooted, consisting, as
Professor Owen has demonstrated, of a centre of vascular
dentine surrounded by unvascular dentine or ivory, the
whole enveloped by a layer of coementum, characterised
by numerous minute calciferous cells. II] fitted for
grinding the food, the teeth merely bruise it or break
down the tender structure of the buds or leaves, their
deficiency in this point being most probably compensated
by the singular complication of the stomach, which is
sacculated.

The sloths bring forth and suckle their young like or-
dinary quadrupeds. They have two mammez, which are
situated on the breast; and the young sloth, from the
moment of its birth, adheres to the body of its parent till
it acquires sufficient size and strength to shift for itself.
The head of the ai is short, the face small and round
like that of the American monkeys, the ears concealed
in the long hair which surrounds them, the eyes small
and deeply sunk in the head, and the tail a mere rudi-
ment. The Indians like its flesh, and are in continual
pursuit of it.

Naturalists reckon two distinct species of the ai, and
three or four varieties, some of which may probably be
found to be specifically different, when they come to be
dissected and carefully compared with one another. 1.
The Common Ai (Bradypus tridactylus, Linn.) has a
short round head, furnished with coarse shaggy hair,
disposed on the crown in verging rays, like that of the
human species ;_ the face is of a yellowish colour, covered
with very short hair, whilst that of the body and extre-
mities is universally Jong and shaggy; the eyes are en-
circled by a brown ring; the hair of the body varied
with irregular patches of dark and light brown, or silvery
white : between the shoulders there is an oval patch of
short orange-coloured hair, of a finer quality than that
found on other parts of the body, and divided in the
centre by a longitudinal black stripe ; the throat and breast
are frequently of a light straw-colour. The texture of
the hair is altogether peculiar, and more nearly resembles
dry hay, or grass shrivelled and withered by the sun,

|

COLLARED Al- 173

than the hair of ordinary quadrupeds. It is coarse and
flattened at the extremity, but as small at the root as the
finest spider’s web; and its dry and withered appearance
forms the ai’s principal security against its pursuers, as
it renders it extremely difficult to detect it whilst at rest
among the branches covered with bark and moss of the
same colour; it is only when in motion that it can be
readily distinguished from the trunk beneath which it
hangs suspended. In other respects, different individuals
of this species differ considerably from one another, in
the shade and disposition of their colours, and in the in-
tensity of the mark between the shoulders; some even
want this latter mark altogether, others are of a uniform
ash-colour over the whole body, and there are others still
which have the hair of the head parted in the centre
and hanging down upon each side.

Length of the adult about seventeen or eighteen
inches.

The Collared Ai (Bradypus collaris) is a very distinct
species, even in the bony structure of its cranium. Its
face is naked and of a black colour ; the hair of its body
less flattened and withered-looking than in the common
species ; the forehead, temples, chin, throat, and breast
covered with reddish or rust-coloured hair, slightly
frizzled ; on the crown of the head it is long and yellow,
and on the rest of the body pale orange: but the most
distinguishing mark ef the species is a large black collar
which completely surrounds the neck, and from which its
specific name of collaris is derived. Beneath this outer
coat there is an inner one of very fine fur, which is of a
dark-brown colour on the collar, but gradually dimi-
nishes in intensity towards the croup, where it is entirely
white.

Both these species feed upon the leaves of trees, and
bring forth but a single young one at a birth. When in
motion in the forests, they emit a feeble plaintive cry,
resembling the word Ai, and which is the origin of the
name they bear among the Europeans settled in America.
They are extremely retentive of life, and have been seen
to move their legs, and exhibit other symptoms of viva-

VOL. IV. I

174 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

city, a full half-hour after being deprived of the heart
and other viscera.

The Unau, or two-toed sloth, of which we figure the
skeleton (Fig. 103), is placed by Illiger in a distinct
genus, under the title of Cholepus. It is the Bradypus
didactylus of Linnzus. In its manners it closely resem-
bles the ai, which it exceeds in size.

In beth genera the skull is rounded, and the muzzle
short, but more especially in the ais. The zygomatic
arch is very bold and stout, but is incomplete in the
centre. The malar bone is much developed, and gives
off a descending branch reaching over the lower jaw, but
its zygomatic process does not reach the corresponding
process of the temporal bone ; hence the arch, as we
have said, is imperfect. The orbits are nearly circular,
but incomplete behind. The lower jaw is large and
strong.

In the two-toed sloth there are no pro-dorsal or super-
numerary vertebrae in the neck; the feet are far less
universally consolidated together.

Famity—GRAVIGRADA, Owen.

Fret short, very strong, equal or subequal ; fore-feet
with five or four toes, of which one or two of the outer-
most are unarmed, fit for support and progression; the
rest are armed with huge claws. Zygomatic arch com-
plete, clavicles perfect ; tail moderate or stout, acting as
a fulcrum or prop.

Such are the characters of this family, as laid down
by Professor Owen. It contains the following genera:—
Megalonyz, Megatherium, Mylodon, Scelidotherium,
Calodon, and Sphenodon ; of these genera ali the species
are extinct, and only known from their fossil relics.

MyYLopon ROBUSTUS.

From the skeleten of this extinct giant, now preserved
in the Royal College of Surgeons, we see that, except
that it was formed for tearing down the trees of the
forest, and not living in their branches, it was closely

MYLODON ROBUSTUS. 175

related to the comparatively pigmy sloths of the present
day. Conceive of a sloth of the size and bulk of a
rhinoceros or hippopotamus, but with bones infinitely
more massive, muscles infinitely more voluminous and
powerful, with a thick tail acting as a support, and forming
with the hind-limbs a firm tripod, while the animal, thus
raised upright, and exerting its enormous strength, sways
the tree to and fro, and lays it at last prostrate ;—and
our reader will have a good idea of what this mighty
devastator of the primitive forests of South America must
have been.

The skeleton in question was discovered, as we are
informed by Professor Owen, ‘‘in the year 1841 by M.
Pedro de Angelis, seven leagues north of the city of
Buenos Ayres, in the fluviatile deposits constituting the
extensive plain intersected by the great Rio Plata and
its tributaries, and which has been raised during a recent
geological epoch above the level of the sea.

‘¢ In this formation, and most probably anterior to its
elevation, the animal must have been buried entire, and,
if the present heat of the climate prevailed, soon after
its death, for the parts of the skeleton were found little
disturbed, and the very few bones that are wanting are
such as would be likely to escape the search of the most
diligent collector.

‘¢ About the same time and near the same place a tes-
selated osseous carapace of some large quadruped like an
armadillo was exhumed, and information of this discovery
having been communicated to the Royal College of Sur-
geons by Sir Woodbine Parish, late Her Majesty’s
Chargé d’ Affaires at Buenos Ayres, both this carapace
and the above-mentioned skeleton were purchased by
the College. They arrived in November, 1841, in
many pieces, fragile from the loss of the animal matter ;
but having been restored in some measure to their ori-
ginal tenacity, the parts of the carapace were re-united,
the skeleton was articulated, and both are now placed in
the museum.”

We may here observe that the tesselated carapace
belongs to a large extinct armadillo, to which the largest

12

176 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

living species, the Dasypus gigas, is ;but a pigmy ; it is
termed by Professor Owen Glyptodon clavipes.

With respect to the fossil genus Mylodon, Professor
Owen describes three distinct species, viz. M. Darwin,
M. Harlani, and M. robustus, which far exceeds the
others in size.

We regret that want of space prevents us from follow-
ing Professor Owen through his elaborate examination
of the skeleton of Mylodon robustus, which to the scien-
tific is replete with interest, nor enter into the affinities
of the mylodon to the megatherium, megalonyx, and
other extinct Edentata, which are rigidly scrutinized.

Fig. 106 represents the lower jaw of mylodon: Fig.

107.—Right branch of the above; external view.

MYLODON. 177

108.—Tooth of Mylodon. 109.—Tooth of Mylodon.

107, the external view of the right branch of the lower
jaw of mylodon. Figs. 108 and 109, the simple teeth
of mylodon, showing the depth of their implantation.
The cavity at the base of the tooth is seen at a, Fig.
108. Asin the sloth, the megatherium, and megalonyx,
these teeth, formed for crushing leaves, are composed of
a central pillar of coarse ivory, immediately invested
with a thin layer of fine dense ivory, and the whole sur-
rounded with a thick coating of cement.

From the structure of these teeth it is evident that the

178 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

mylodon fed on leaves, like the sloths of the present
day. But, notwithstanding Dr. Lund’s opinion, it was
certainly not adapted for climbing trees; besides, what
trees could bear its weight? How then did it obtain
its food? The whole of its osseous conformation suggests
the answer—it was formed to uprend the trees that bore
its sustenance. ‘The enormous expanse of the pelvis,
the great bulk and strength of the hind-legs, the so-
lidity of the tail, to which its evidently vast muscles were
attached, enabling it with the hind-limbs to complete a
firm tripod of support, the proportions of the fore-limbs,
unequalled for massiveness by those of any existing or
extinct animal, the size and strength of its claws,—in
short the whole mechanism of the colossal frame be-
comes intelligible only on the ground of the herculean
labour to which the animal was appointed. Perhaps it
commenced the process of prostrating the chosen tree by
scratching away the soil from the roots, and then pro-
ceeded to grapple with it thus partially undermined, and
apply the surpassing strength of its limbs and body, the
muscles of the trunk and extremities being animated by
the influence of the unusually large spinal chord.

It may here be stated that the skull of the specimen
described by Professor Owen had at some time or other
been fractured and had healed ; the animal living long
afterwards : and it will at once occur to the reader that
these animals must have been unusually liable, from their
habits, to blows from heavy falling bodies; to meet
such accidents the skull was peculiarly constructed, its
outer and inner table being separated by extensive air-
cells, so that the fracture of the outer table might occur
without injury to the brain. It was by virtue of this
structure that the subject of the Professor’s memoir
appears to have been saved.

ScELIDOTHERIUM.

Our Figures represent—Fig. 110, the remains of the
skull; Figs. 111, 112, the dentition of an extinct animal,
to which Professor Owen has given the title of Scelido-
therium. Figs. 113, 114, show the depth of the im-

SCELIDOTHERIUM. 179

——— — —- SS

110.—Remains of Skull of Scelidotherium.

plantation of the teeth and their structure: e, the crown
of a tooth seen from above.

This animal was evidently allied to the mylodon and
megatherium, and belongs to the same family.

The fossil remains, viz. a cranium, several vertebrz,
the scapulz, and various bones of the limbs, were dis-
covered by Mr. Darwin at Punta Alta, in northern
Patagonia, and in the same bed of partly consolidated
gravel as that wherein the lower jaws of toxodon and a
species of mylodon were imbedded. All the parts were

180 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

discovered in their natural relative position, indicating,
as Mr. Darwin observes, that the sublittoral formation in
which they had been originally deposited had been but
little disturbed. This beach is covered at spring-tides,
and many portions of the skeleton were encrusted with
Jjlustre. Small marine shells were lodged within the
crevices of the bones.

The teeth in structure resemble those of the mylodon ;
there are neither incisors nor canines; the molars are
five on each side above, and four below. According to
Professor Owen, of all the Edentata the Cape Ant-eater,
or Aard-vark, most nearly resembles the scelidotherium in
the form of the skull; and next to the aard-vark may
be cited the great armadillo (Dasypus gigas).

‘¢ Although the Scelidothere, like most other Edentals,
was of low stature, and, like the megatherium, presented
a disproportionate development of the hinder parts, it
is probable that, bulk for bulk, it equalled, when alive, the
largest existing pachyderms not proboscidean. There
is no evidence that it possessed a tesselated osseous coat
of mail.”

MEGATHERIUM. 181

Tue MeGatHerRiIuM.

_ The relics of this colossal beast, of which Fig. 116
represents the skeleton, have been discovered only in
South America, of which continent, at some remote
period, it was an inhabitant.

The affinity of this animal to the sloths and other
Edentata was pointed out by Cuvier, but many points
required elucidation ; in fact zoologists have been led,
not without apparent grounds, into some errors, recently
corrected.

For along time the museum of Madrid afforded the
only relics of the megatherium in Europe; but the
skeleton they compose is deficient in several of its parts :
fortunately the recent acquisition by the Royal College
of Surgeons of a great portion of the bones of this animal
has tended to supply the defects, at least to a considerable
extent.

These splendid and valuable remains form the subject
of an interesting paper from the pen of Mr. Clift, in the
third vol., p. 3, of the ‘Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond.,’ ac-
companied by an improved figure of the skeleton, and
figures of various detached parts, together with a map of
that part of the province of Buenos Ayres in which the
places where the bones in question were found, and also
those of the Madrid specimen, are marked down.

The acquisition of these remains by the Royal College
of Surgeons is due to the zeal and liberality of Woodbine
Parish, Esq. ‘‘’They were found in the river Salado,
which runs through the flat alluvial plains to the south
of the city of Buenos Ayres. Their discovery was owing
to a succession of unusually dry seasons in the three pre-
ceding years, which lowered the waters in an extraordi-
nary degree, and exposed part of the pelvis to view as it
stood upright in the bottom of the river. It appears
that this and some other parts of the skeleton, having
been carried to Buenos Ayres by the country-people,
were very liberally placed at Mr. Parish’s disposal by
Don Hilario Sosa, the owner of the property on which
they were found. In the hope of obtaining the other

13

116.—Skeleton of Megatherium.

MEGATHERIUM. 183

parts of the skeleton, an intelligent person was subse-
quently sent to the same spot, who succeeded, after con-
siderable difficulties, in getting out of the mud forming the
bed of the river the remainder of the collection. Further
inquiry led Mr. Parish to suppose that similar remains
might be met with in other parts of the provinces of
Buenos Ayres, and he applied to the local authorities to
assist him in making further search. ‘This was given
by the governor, Don Manuel Rosas, and the remains of
the other two skeletons were found on his Excellency’s
own properties of Las Averias and Villanueva, one to
the north, the other to the south of the Salado, but at
no great distance from the place where the first had been
discovered, In the latter instance the osseous remains
were accompanied by an immense shell, or case, portions
of which were brought to this country.” A fragment
of this shell, or osseous shield, is figured by Mr. Clift ;
its external surface is rough, and it appears to consist of
anassemblage of smaller parts, like rosettes in sculpture.
united together by sutures; the sutures being plainly
marked on the under surface, which is smooth. By M.
Blainville, Dr. Buckland, and indeed by most naturalists,
this buckler or carapace was regarded as belonging to
the megatherium, whose colossal bulk it was regarded
as having protected, as is the case in the armadillos, to
which it was believed to be closely related, not only in
structure and habits, but also food.

It has, however, been recently demonstrated by Pro-
fessor Owen, and we believe to the entire satisfaction of
Dr. Buckland himself, that the tesselated carapace found
with the Salado remains did not belong to the mega-
therium, but to a large armadillo-like animal, to which
Professor Owen assigned the title of Glyptodon, and
whose hind-feet, like the fore foot, appear to be so modi-
fied as to form the bases of columnar limbs destined to
support an enormous incumbent weight. Moreover, from
a rigorous examination of the details of the skeleton of
the megatherium, into which we forbear to enter, he
proves the incompatibility of such ashield with its osseous
structure, which differs in marked essentials from that of

184 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

the armadillo, in which latter animal the skeleton is
expressly modified for the armour which covers the back
and head.

In his paper on the Glyptodon, wherein the claims of
the megatherium to this armour are discussed, Professor
Owen gives a tabular account of the discovery of twelve
skeletons of [the megatherium, and in no instance did
any portion of bony armour occur with or near the bone;
and in a note the writer of the article ‘ Megatherium’ in
the ‘ Penny Cyclopedia’ states as follows :—

‘‘ Sir Woodbine Parish has just now (May 29, 1839)
kindly communicated to us a letter received by him,
viving information of the discovery of an almost entire
skeleton of an adult megatherium on the banks of the
Rio de la Matanza, with all the vertebrae of the body,
all the ribs, all the teeth, the head and the legs, in short,
with the whole of the bones except the tail and one foot.
Close to it was the skeleton of a ‘tatou gigantesque’
(glyptodon probably), with its bony armour complete.
‘There was also found a very smali and perfect mega-
therium, which must have been only just born at the
epoch of destruction. No mention is*made of any traces
of bony armour or shell about the megatheria. In the
old animal only one foot is wanting. It has been sug-
gested that the so-called young megatherium may pos-
sibly be a skeleton of scelidotherium.”

It is then to the armadillo-like glyptodon, and not to
the megatherium, that the strong bony armour belongs ;
of this latter animal relics have been found on the left
bank of the Pedernal, near Monte Video, and are pre-
served in the Museum of that town. Portions of bony
armour also have been obtained in the Rio Seco and
Banda Oriental, similar in structure to the specimen of
the Pedernal.

‘‘The collection of fossils,” says Professor Owen,
“brought to England from South America by Mr. Dar-
win, has enabled me to add the following facts to the
history of the megatherium. Its teeth, for example, do
not differ in number from those of the sloths, there
being five on each side of the upper jaw. Microscopic

MEGATHERIUM. 183

Fi | |

|

Scale of 2 Feet. N )

WN
SS \

117.—Pelvis and Hind Leg of Megatherium.’

examination having demonstrated a marked difference
in the intimate structure of the teeth of the sloths
and armadillos, I have ascertained by this mode of in-
vestigation that the teeth of the megatherium have the
same texture and composition as those of the sloth. And
if from identity of dental structure in two different

186 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

119.—Tooth of Megatherium.

animals we may predicate a similarity in their food, a
glance at the bony framework of the megatherium 1s
sufficient to show that it must have resorted to other
means of obtaining its leafy provender than that of climb-
ing for it, whereby the necessity of inferring a propor-
tionate magnitude of the trees which nourished the
megatherium is obviated.” It would appear that, like
the mylodon, the megatherium uprooted the trees, on
the leaves of which it fed, and was furnished with a
small proboscis as an adjunct to the tongue in stripping
off the smaller branches of the prostrate tree ; its skull,
moreover, has the two tables separated by cells, as in the
mylodon. Fig. 117 represents the pelvis and hind-leg
of the megatherium in the Royal College of Surgeons;

ARMADILLOS. 187

Fig. 118 the ungueal phalanx; Fig. 119 the teeth ef
megatherium.

With respect to the megalonyx, it was an ‘animal
closely related to the megatherium, and doubtless of the
same habits, but of inferior size, not exceeding the size
of an ox, though more solidly and heavily built. Its
relics are apparently more rare than those of the mega-
therium, at least-fewer have been recovered.

Section II. INSECTIVOROUS EDENTATA.
Famity—LORICATA (or ARMADILLOs).

Tus family group includes the true armadillos (Dasypus),
the chlamyphorus, and also the aard-vark, or African
ant-eater, which, though not covered with armour, ap-
proaches in its structure nearer to the armadillos than to
the American ant-eaters (Myrmecophaga), with which
animals it was formerly associated, and which it resem-
bles very closely in manners and food.

The armadillos (Dasypus) are divided by Cuvier
into five minor groups, or subgenera, according to the
number of the teeth and fore-claws; viz. Cachichames,
Apars, Encouberts, Cabassous, and Priodontes.

The Cachichames have four toes on each foot, and
seven teeth on each side above and below. The Apars
have four toes on each foot, and nine or ten teeth in each
side in both jaws. The ncouberts have five toes on the
fore-feet, and nine or ten teeth on each side above and
below, with two incisor teeth in the upper. The Cabas-
sous have five toes, but those of the fore-feet are disposed
obliquely, and in such a manner that the thumb and
index finger are small, the middle and fourth toes armed
with tremendously large trenchant claws, and the fifth
very small: teeth nine or ten on each side above and
below. ‘The Priodontes, in addition to the unequal toes
and enormous claws of the Cabassous, have from twenty-
two to twenty-four small teeth on each side in each jaw.

The armadillos are exclusively confined to the warmer
portions of the American continent, and the species are
tolerably numerous, none, however, attaining to a very

188 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

large size excepting the Dasypus gigas, which itself is
but a pigmy to the extinct glyptodon.

These animals are burrowing in their habits, with thick,
short, powerful limbs, and a flattened, broad, stout body,
covered above with plates and bands of horny armour.
The head is broad between the eyes, whence it runs to
a pointed muzzle; the mouth is small: the teeth are
cylindrical, feeble, destitute of true roots, set apart from
each other, and mutually fit, when the jaws are closed,
into the intervals. The tongue is smooth, slender, and
moderately extensible: it is most probably endowed with
the sense of taste in a high degree, as we have observed,
especially in one species, the Dasypus peba, the animal
touched with it whatever was presented by way of food ;
and we know that it is lubricated abundantly with a glu-
tinous fluid, poured out chiefly from the submaxillary
gland. (See ‘ Zool. Proceeds.’ for 1831, p. 144.)

The portions of armour which cover these animals
consist of a triangular or oval plate on the top of the
head, or rather on the chaffron, its posterior margin pro-
jecting over the neck ; a large buckler over the shoulders,
and a similar buckler over the haunches; while between
these solid portions there intervenes a series of transverse
bands overlapping each other’s edges, and allowing to
the. body due freedom of motion. Each of these sepa-
rate portions consists of a multitude of small parts, alk
consolidated together, giving the idea of what is termed
mosaic-work, especially on the head and shoulders, the
pattern differing in different species. ‘The limbs, which
are short and thick, are almost entirely concealed by the
edges of this armour, but the feet, which are unprotected
by it, are covered by a hard tuberculated skin. ‘The tail
is covered with a series of calcareous rings; the skin of
the under surface of the body is very rough and _ beset
with long scattered hairs; and from between the joints
of the rings and plates of the dorsal armour there issue
hairs of the same kind, more numerous in young than
adult individuals. In some species, however, as the
mataco (Dasypus apar), whose armour is peculiarly
thick and solid, no hair is to be discovered.

ARMADILLOS. 189

The eyes of the armadillos are small and lateral ; the
ears, varying in size in the different species, are firm, and
covered with tuberculated skin. Most of the species are
nocturnal in their habits, remaining concealed in their
burrows during the day ; these are of considerable extent,
dipping at an inclination of about 45 degrees ; they have
one or two sharp turns, and are very narrow, just ad-
mitting the passage of their occupier. The animals
make these burrows with great expedition, and can only
be forced out by smoke or water ; such is their strength
and the tenacity of their hold, that they have been known
to leave their tail in the hands of the hunter, on his
attempt to drag them forth.

When alarmed during their excursions, the first en-
deavour of these animals is to gain their burrows, to
which they run with a degree of celerity little to be ex-
pected from their clumsy appearance. Most of the
species will easily outstrip a man; their movements, how-
ever, resemble those produced by mechanism, for, as the
spinous processes of the vertebral column are all inclined
the same way, viz. towards the tail, there being no
central points to which those of the upper and those of
the lower portion mutually converge, so the motions of
the limbs are unaccompanied by corresponding inflexions
of this column, as is the case in other animals whose pro-
gressive motions are free and unconstrained.

When hard pressed and unable to gain their burrow,
they either attempt to dig a temporary place of refuge,
or they gather up their limbs beneath their coat of mail,
bend down their head, assume a partially rolled-up figure,
and wait the event. ‘The mataco, which does not burrow,
and is by no means swift, can roll itself up completely.
They never attempt to bite or otherwise defend them-
selves. ‘The food of the armadillos consists principally
of fallen fruits, roots, and worms ; but they do not reject
carrion, and have been known to penetrate into graves,
when not properly protected by stones or brick-work,
Azara informs us that ants are never found in the districts
inhabited by the armadillos, and that these animals break
into the ant-hills, and devour the insects as greedily as

190 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

the true ant-eaters. Nature, it is true, has not provided
them with the same apparatus for this purpose, but the
armadillos may, notwithstanding, destroy vast quantities
of ants, though it is probable that they expel them from
their own peculiar districts as much at least by destroying
the habitations as by actually devouring the insects them-
selves. The ordinary food of the armadillos consists
chiefly of the roots of the manioc, of potatoes, maize, and
other similar substances of a vegetable nature, though,
as already observed, without rejecting animal substances
naturally soft or so far decomposed as to be easily torn
without the help of canine teeth. They are also very
destructive to the eggs and young of such birds as build
their nests on the ground, and greedily devour worms,
frogs, small lizards, and, M. Azara says, even vipers.
The chief animal food of the armadillos, however, is de-
rived from the immense herds of wild cattle which cover
the plains and savannas of every part of South America.
These are rarely slaughtered but for the sake of the hide
and tallow; and as the carcases ,are left to rot on the
pampas, or plains, the smell soon attracts vast crowds of
carnivorous animals of various species, and, among others,
great numbers of armadillos, which greedily devour the
half-putrid flesh, and soon become extremely fat and cor-
pulent. In this condition, notwithstanding the filthy
nature of their food, their flesh is esteemed a great deli-
cacy, both by the native Indians and by the Portuguese
and Spaniards of America. ‘The animal is roasted in its
shell, and considered one of the greatest dainties which
the country produces.

The armadillossee butindifferently, particularly in bright
sunshiny weather ; but their sense of hearing is extremely
acute, and amply compensates for any imperfection of
sight. When alarmed by any unusual or strange sound,
they prick up their ears, stop for a moment to satisfy
themselves of its distance and direction, then commence
a precipitate retreat to their burrow, or, if that be too
remote, begin to construct anew one. Smell is, however,
by far the most acute of their senses.

It is generally believed that the female armadillo

THE PEBA. 191

brings forth but once during the year, but she produces
at a birth frequently six, eight, or even ten young ones:
yet she has never more than four teats, and, according
to the report of M. Azara, the most accurate and exten-
sive observer who has written upon the history of these
animals, in some species only two—an anomaly, with
respect to the number of young and the number of teats,
which appears to contradict the general rule observable
among other mammals.

It may here be observed that one of the weasel-headed
armadillos (D. encoubert) in the Zoological Gardens
. produced only two at a birth: when first born they were
quite blind, about four inches in length, soft, and white,
but the skin presented all the furrows and mosaic-work
which characterize it when indurated and solid. The
growth of these animals was not a little surprising; in
six or eight weeks they attained nearly to the size of
their parents. One born on the 3rd of September, 1831,
and which died on the 16th of November of the same
year, had increased in weight during that short period
52 ounces 2 drams, and measured 113 inches from the
nose to the root of the tail. ‘The young are far more
hairy than the adults.

Tue Pepa (Dasypus peba). —

The Tatouhou, or Black Tatu, of the Guaranis, is an
example of Cuvier’s group of Cachichames, which, ac-
cording to Gumilla, is the general name of the armadillos
on the banks of the Orinoco. In zoological catalogues
we find it under the ambiguous names of Dasypus sep-
temcinctus, D. octocinctus, and D. novemcinctus ; three
different species being thus made out from the erroneous
supposition that the number of moveable bands on the
back was invariable in the same species: whereas the
truth is that the number of bands is subject to a certain
degree of variation; thus in the mule armadillo there
are six or seven bands, in the peba from six to nine. It
appears also that the young have not the full complement
of bands, by one or two, which become developed after-
wards. The peba (Fig. 120) is a native of Guiana,

192 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALTA.

120.—Peba.

Brazil, and Paraguay, and is timid. and nocturnal; it is
<olerably rapid in its movements, and very expert in
burrowing.

It is never found in woods, but frequents the open and
‘cultivated plains, and is much hunted by the inhabitants
on account of its flesh, which, when roasted in the shell,
is said to be extremely delicate, resembling that of a
sucking-pig.

The length of the head and body is about sixteen
inches ; of the tail, which is slender and tapering, four-
teen inches. The muzzle is greatly elongated, straight
and pointed ; the ears are rather large and the eyes small ;
the tongue long, narrow, pointed, and extensible. The
general colour of the shell is dusky black.

THE MATACO. 193

Allied to the peba is the mule armadillo (Dasypus
hybridus, Desm.), called M. Courigua, or Mule ‘Tatu,
by the Guaranis, in allusion to its long upright ears. It
is of smaller size than the peba, and its tail is compara-
tively shorter. It wanders by day over the plains, feed-
ing on beetles, larva, roots, &c.; differing from the
peba in being diurnal in its habits. It is common on
the pampas of Buenos Ayres.

Tue Maraco (Dasypus apar).

This species is an example of Cuvier’s group of apars.
The Mataco, or Bolita (little ball) as it is sometimes
called, has its shell of defence extremely hard and solid,
forming an admirable coat of mail. It has only three

12].—Mataco.

194 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

bands on the back. Of all [the armadillos, the mataco
is the only one which can assume the complete figure of
a ball, enclosing the head and legs; and this faculty,
together with the strength of the skull, appears the
more necessary, as it does not burrow, its limbs being
feeble, and its claws little adapted for scratching up the
ground. It is diurnal in its habits, and slow in its move-
ments. It is anative of the pampas of Buenos Ayres ;
the tail is short, not much exceeding two inches in Jength,
while the head and body measure nearly fifteen inches.
(Fig. 121.) Rolled up in its tesselated shell, it is safe
from the attacks of dogs ; “‘ For the dog,” says Mr. Dar-
win, ‘‘not being able to take the whole in its mouth, tries
to bite one side, and the ball slips away.: The smooth
hard covering of the mataco offers a better defence than
the sharp pines of the hedgehog.” A _ shell of this
species, which formed the cup of a cacique, is in the
Mus. Zool. Soc.

Tue Poyrov, on WEASEL-HEADED ARMADILLO

(Dasypus encoubert, Desm.).

This Armadillo belongs to Cuvier’s section termed
Encouberts; it is very common in Paraguay, and bur-
rows in the ground with almost incredible celerity.
Its strength and activity are very remarkable, and, not-
withstanding the shortness of its legs, few men can over-
take it. Itis of a restless unquiet disposition, inquisitive,
and ‘confident; and when any noise is made at the
entrance of its burrow, it is said to come fearlessly forth
to investigate the cause. Its voice is a low grunt, like
that of a young pig. These animals live solitary or in
pairs, and haunt wooded districts, where they excavate
very deep burrows; when danger threatens, they carry
on their mining operations, rendering it difficult to dig
them out. ‘They feed upon melons, potatoes, and other
vegetables ; but also to a great extent upon carrion; the
natives nevertheless eat the flesh of this species without
any repugnance. When it stops or rests on the ground,
it has a habit of squatting like a hare in her form, and

THE POYOU. 195

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122.—Weasel-headed Armadillo.

in this situation the great breadth of the body is very
apparent. The head is large, flat, and nearly triangular ;
the face short, and the muzzle blunt; the ears are mo-
derate.

Several individuals of this armadillo have at various times
lived in the menagerie of the Zoological Society. They
appear to have little fear, and soon become familiar even
with strangers: when running about their enclosure,
during warm or sunny weather, they turn up the turf
rapidly with their noses, apparently in search of worms
or insects; bread and milk is the diet on which they are
fed: their actions are prompt and rapid. The poyou
measures about sixteen inches in the length of the head
and body; the tail is about six or seven inches long.
(Fig. 122.)

Another example of this section is the Pichiy, or

196 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

Pichy (Dasypus minutus). It is extremely abundant
on the arid plains near the Sierra Ventana, and likewise
in the neighbourhood of the Rio Negro. ‘‘ At Bahia
Blanca,”’ says Mr. Darwin, ‘‘ I found, in the stomach of
this armadillo, coleoptera, larva, roots of plants, and
even a small snake of the genus Amphisbeena,

‘‘The pichy prefers a dry soil; and the sand-dunes
near the coast, where for many months it can never taste
water, are its favourite resort. In the course of a day’s
ride near Bahia Blanca several were generally met with.
The instant one was observed, it was necessary, in order
to catch it, almost to tumble off one’s horse: for if the
soil was soft, the animal burrowed so quickly, that its
hinder quarters almost disappeared before one could
alight. The pichy likewise often tries to escape notice
by squatting close to the ground. It appears almost a
pity to kill such nice little animals; for, as a Gaucho
said while sharpening his knife on the back of one, ‘ Son
tan mansos’ (They are so quiet).”’

The pichy measures only ten inches in the length of
the head and body, and about four inches in that of the
tail. It is diurnal in its habits.

Tue Tatrovay (Dasypus tatouay, Desm.).

This species is an example for Cuvier’s section
Cabassous. ‘The Tatouay, or wounded Armadillo, is so
called by the Indians in allusion to its tail, which is
naked, or as it were rudely deprived of the crust or bony
tube which covers this organ in all the other species.
The whole length of the tatouay, as given by Azara, is
twenty-six inches and a half, including the tail, which is
seven inches and a half, round, pointed, and naked, with
the exception of a few round scales or crusts on the under
surface of the third nearest to the extremity, which fre-
quently trails along the ground when the animal walks:
the rest is covered with soft brown fur, interspersed with
a few stiff short hairs on the superior surface. The head
is longer, narrower, and more attenuated than that of
the poyou, though considerably less so than in the peba
and mule armadillo ; the ears are unusually large, being

THE GREAT ARMADILLO. 197

nearly two inches long, and in figure forming a seg-
ment of a circle; the body is round; the claws of the
fore-feet, particularly that of the middle toe, are exces-
sively large. ‘The bucklers of the croup and shoulders
are composed of ten and seven rows of scales respectively,
each scale forming an oblong rectangle; the moveable
bands are thirteen in number, composed of scales much
smaller than those of the bucklers, and of a nearly square
figure. (Fig. 123.) The habits of this species are alto-
gether unknown. It inhabits Guiana and Brazil, and is
rarely found so far south as Paraguay.

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123.—Tatouay.
Tue Great ArmapiLyo (Dasypus gigas).

This armadillo is an example of Cuvier’s group Prio-
dontes. The Great Armadillo measures nearly three
feet three inches in length, from the nose to the origin

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124.—The Great Armadillo.

of the tail ; the head is seven inches and a half long, the
ears an inch and three-quarters, and the tail one foot
five inches. Its superior size is alone sufficient to dis-
tinguish this species from all the other known armadillos,
but it possesses numerous other characters not less re-
markable. Its head is proportionately smaller than in
the other species, the forehead is more protuberant, and
the face, from the eyes downwards, assumes a tubular
cylindrical form, like that of the peba; the ears are of a
moderate size, pointed, and habitually crouched back-
wards; the bucklers of the shoulders and croup are com-
posed of nine and eighteen rows of plates respectively,
and separated by movéable bands to the number of twelve
or thirteen, formed of rectangular scales, about half an
inch square. The tail is thick at the root, being upwards
of ten inches in circumference: it is gradually attenuated
towards the tip, covered with plates disposed in rings at

THE PICHICIAGO. 199

the base, and forming spiral or crescent-shaped lines
throughout the rest of its length. The claws are large
and powerful, but in their relative form and dimensions
differ little from those of the tatouay already described.
(Fig. 124.)

This species inhabits Brazil and the northern parts of
Paraguay. It is never found in the open country, but
keeps close to the great forests, and burrows with sur-
prising facility. Those who are employed in collecting
the Jesuits’ bark frequently meet with it in the woods,
and report that, when any of their companions happen to
die at a distance from the settlements, they are obliged
to surround the body with a double row of stout planks,
to prevent it from being scratched up and deyoured by
the great armadillo,

Genus Chlamyphorus :
Tue Picuiciraco (Chlamyphorus truncatus).

This extraordinary little creature, though scarcely six
inches in length, is formed on the plan of the utmost
strength and solidity, being destined for burrowing habits.
It is a native of Chili, where, like a mole, it works out
galleries in the rich soil of the valleys, living for the
most part underground in quiet seciusion. So rare is
this animal, that it is regarded by the natives as a curio-
sity. Its food, so far as we are assured by its dentition
and the imperfect accounts collected, consists of insects
and larve: night probably is the season of its activity,
and of its unfrequent visits to the ‘‘ upper world.”

The appearance of the pichiciago reminds us of the
armadillos, for it is covered above by a shell, not how-
ever of very hard consistence, nor very thick, but of a
texture between horn and leather. ‘This shield-like
plate commences on the head and extends over the back
and haunches, over which latter, it dips down quite
abruptly and perpendicularly, so as to make it seem as if
the body was cut off abruptly at its hinder part. It is
divided by intersecting furrows into a series of bands or
strips, each strip being itself made up of fifteen or twenty
plates of a square form, except on the head, which is

K 2

200 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

125.—Extremity and Tail of Pichiciago.

covered with a single plate composed of a mosaic-work
of rounded and irregular portions, and the perpendicular
haunch-plate, which is also tesselated. This horny
covering or shield is not fixed by the whole of its inferior
surface to the integuments beneath, as is the case with
the armadillo; but merely rests on the back, free
throughout, ‘‘ excepting along the spine of the back and
top of the head ; being attached to the back, immediately
above the spine, by a loose cuticular production, and by
two remarkable bony processes on the top of the os
frontis (bone of forehead), by means of two large plates
which are nearly incorporated with the bone beneath ;
but for this attachment, and the tail being firmly curved
beneath the belly, the covering would be very easily de-

THE PICHICIAGO. 201

tached.” The extremity of the tail is formed like a paddle.
(Fig. 125.) ‘‘ The whole surface of the body and under-
side of the shield are covered with fine silk-like hair (of
a delicate straw colour), longer and finer than that of
the mole, but not so thick. The anterior of the chest is
large, full, and strong; the anterior extremities short,
clumsy, and powerful.” The hand, which is amazingly
thick and compact, is furnished with five powerful but
compressed nails, which, arranged together in their na-
tural situation, constitute one of the most efficient scrapers
or shovels which can be possibly imagined; and ex-
pressly adapted for progression underground, but in an
equal ratio ill fitted for celerity on the surface. The
hind-legs are comparatively weak, the feet being long
and plantigrade, the toes being furnished with small flat-
tened nails. (Fig. 126.) Sight is but a secondary sense
as regards its importance in the economy of an animal
living in darkness beneath the ground. The organs of
vision, therefore, are very minute, and buried in the silky
fur by which the circular orifices of the ears are com-

126.—Pichiciago.

202 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

pletely concealed. The head is almost conical in figure,
going off from a broad base toa pointed muzzle fur-
nished with an enlarged cartilage, somewhat as in the
hog, and doubtless for the purpose of grubbing and bur-
rowing for food,

In accordance with the details of external configura-
tion, the skeleton is equally indicative of the animal’s
habits. ‘The skull is firm, and prevented from being
pressed upon by the shield, which rests on the two pro-
jections. ‘The bones of the fore-limbs are short, thick,
and angular; the scapule broad and strong; the ribs

a OMT oo To

THE PICHICIAGO. 203

thick, and capable of resisting great pressure. The hip-
bones are of singular construction, and admirably formed
for protecting the internal organs from injury. Such is
an outline of the structure and habits of the chlamy-
phorus, an animal which, though bearing in some points
a resemblance to the armadillos, yet possesses characters
so exclusively its own as to render it one of the most
interesting discoveries in zoology, Of this rare animal
two specimens alone exist, one in the Museum of Phila-
delphia, the other, with its skeleton, in the Museum of
the Zoological Society, London.

For an account of the structure of this animal, see Mr.
Yarrell’s paper in the ‘ Zoological Journal.’ Fig. 127

204

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

134.—Skeleton of Pichiciago.

135,

THE AARD-VARK. 205

represents a lateral view of the skull of the pichiciago ;
Fig. 128, an upper view ; Fig. 129, a basal view of the
same; Fig. 130, lower jaw ; Fig. 131, the cervical ver-
tebre, and first bone of the sternum, with parts of the
first and second ribs seen from below. Fig. 132, pelvis
seen from behind ; Fig. 133, same seen from below : Fig.
134, the skeleton; Fig. 135, vertebree of tail.

Genus Orycteropus :—
Tue AARD-vARK (Orycteropus Capensis).

This animal, known to the colonists of the Cape of
Good Hope by the name of aard-vark, or earth-hog, is
the sole example, as far as ascertained, of the genus
Orycteropus. The aard-vark is essentially burrowing in
its habits, and insectivorous in its diet. Its proportions
are thick and strong, though the generai contour is

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136.—Aard-vark.

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206 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA,

elongated and the limbs short. It is neither protected

by plates nor scales, but the skin is thick, tough, and

coarse, and covered with stiff hair, resembling bristles in

quality, and somewhat scantily disposed, especially on

the head. The muzzle is elongated, narrow, and hog-
137. 138.

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137-139.—Teeth of Aard-vark.

THE AARD-VARK. 207

like at its apex; the mouth small, and the tongue exten-
sible; the eyes are rather small; the ears large, long,
and pointed; the tail tapering from a very stout base ;
the limbs are short, thick, and very muscular; the fore-
feet have four stout toes armed with large solid nails,
resembling hoofs in appearance, and admirably adapted
as scrapers of the dry hard ground of an African desert.
The hind-feet are long and plantigrade, having five toes
armed with nails of the same character as those of the
fore-feet. (Fig. 136.)

The teeth consist of seven molars on each side above, of
which the first is minute and distinct from the rest, and
six on each side below. Fig. 137 gives the teeth of the
upper jaw in two views; Fig. 138, those of the lower
jaw; Fig. 139, the teeth of both jaws together.

The aard-vark attains to a considerable size, measuring,
when fully grown, upwards of five feet in total length,
of which the tail is one foot eight or nine inches. Its
food consists exclusively of ants, which it takes by means
of its long glutinous tongue, after effecting a breach in
the dome-like houses of solid indurated mud-work which
those insects construct, and which are very abundant in
certain districts. These hillocks are from two to three
feet high, and their structure is irregularly cellular, not
unlike volcanic honeycomb-stone, exhibiting a maze of
passages opening into each other. In demolishing these
buildings for the sake of their multitudinous inmates,
which are devoured by wholesale, the aard-vark employs
the active portion of its existence. ‘The dwelling of the
aard-vark itself is a burrow at a little distance beneath
the surface of the ground, out of which it comes forth
only during the night, for in its habits it is entirely
nocturnal; hence during the day it is seldom seen, but
may be observed as the dusk approaches creeping from
its hole intent upon its prey. These burrows, where
numerous (as they are in some districts, where also in-
numerable ant-hills cover the plain), are dangerous to
waggons travelling over the country; and cattle and
horses occasionally break through the surface of the
ground into them, and thus suddenly stumble or fall.

208 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

They are often very extensive, and it is incredible with
what despatch the animal makes them, and with what
rapidity it mines onwards when endeavouring to elude
the search of persons attempting to dig it out of its
retreat ; hence it is not captured without difficulty. The
flesh of the aard-vark, and especially the hind-quarters
when made into hams, are accounted excellent.

The aard-vark is a connecting link between the arma-
dillos and the next section.

Famity—TOOTHLESS ANT-EATERS.
Genus Myrmecophaga.

The genus Myrmecophaga, as established by Linnzus
and retained by Desmarest and others, is not strictly
natural. Perhaps we should hardly be justified in sepa-
rating the Tamandua from the Tamanoir (Great Ant-
bear, or Ant-eater); but with respect to the little two-
clawed ant-eater it certainly forms the type of a distinct
genus.

Tue Great ANT-EATER, OR ANT-BEAR
(Myrmecophaga jubata).

The Tamanoir of Buffon. This species, a native of
Guiana, Brazil, and Paraguay, is characterized by the
total absence of teeth,’a narrow head with an extremely
slender elongated snout, contrasting strangely with the
clumsy massive contour of the limbs and body. The
mouth is a small slit at the extremity of the snout; the
eyes are small, and the tongue long, cylindrical, and pro-
tractile, constituting an organ for obtaining insect food,
and is lubricated by a gummy saliva; the limbs are short,
but of great thickness, furnished with huge hook-like
claws well adapted for making forcible entrance into the
solid dwellings of the termite ants. The claws of the
fore-feet are four in number, the inner one being the
smallest; of the hind-feet five. Those of the fore-feet,
in a state of repose or when the animal is walking, are
doubled inwards on a rough callous pad, and the outer
portion only of the fore-feet is applied to the ground.

THE GREAT ANT-EATER. 209

The claws of the hind-feet are short, and the sole is a
naked protuberant pad. The ears are short and round ;
the tail is of great thickness at the base, whence it nar-
rows to the apex, being laterally compressed, but its
form is hid beneath a profusion of long, coarse, flowing
hair, which hangs like a full plume or fringe. The hair
of the head is short and close, but over all the rest of the
animal it is long and shaggy, particularly on the top of
the neck and along the back, where it forms a kind of
Jong mane, and on the tail, where it is a foot in length,
and hangs down on each side, sweeping the ground when
the ant-bear walks. (Fig.140.)

The prevailing colour on the head, face, and cheeks

- 140.—Great Ant-eater,

910 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

of the ant-bear is a mixture of gray and brown; that on
the upper parts of the body and tail is deep brown, mixed
with silvery white. A broad black band, bordered on
each side with a similar one of a white or light grayish
brown colour, commences on the chest, and passes ob-
liquely over each shoulder, diminishing gradually as it
approaches the loins, where it ends in a point. The
sides, arms, and thighs are silvery gray, with a slight
mixture of brown, marked with two deep black spots,
one on the carpus, and the other on the toes; the hind
legs are almost perfectly black, and the breast and belly
of a deep brown, almost equally obscure,

The following is an abstract of the habits of this
animal, as observed by Dr. Schomburgk (see ‘ Zool.
Proceedings,’ 1839, p. 21) :—

Dr. Schomburgk observes, that at a distance the ant-
bear appears to be a much taller animal than it really is,
owing to the elongated and nearly erect hair of the mane,
and also the erect manner in which it carries its large
bushy tail. When walking, the outer portion of the
fore-foot is applied to the ground, and the long claws are
then doubled inwards. It runs with a peculiar trot, and
is not, as has been represented, slow in its movements
and easily overtaken; for when chased, it will keep a
horse in canter, and does not tire readily. White ants,
or termites, constitute its chief food. When the ant-bear
meets with one of the tumuli constructed by the white
ants, it immediately pulls the fabric down by means of
its large strong claws, and when the ants are thus exposed,
its long slender tongue is thrust out to collect them. The
movements of the tongue, alternately being protruded and
retracted, are so rapid, says Dr. Schomburgk, that it is no
longer surprising how so large an animal ean satiate its
appetite with such minute insects. The ant-bear is,
however, an economist, and does not destroy more than
he wants. When he finds that the termites diminish on
the surface, and every one seeks to escape in the nume-
rous galleries of the ruined edifice, he uses his left foot
to hold some large lumps of the nest, whilst with the
right he leisurely pulls them to pieces.

THE TAMANDUA, 211

With the termites he swallows a considerable quantity
of the material of which the ants’ nest is constructed. Of
this fact Dr. Schomburgk assured himself by dissection,
and he is of opinion that the substance of the nest serves
as a corrector.

‘Tt has been generally thought,” says Dr. Schomburgk,
‘* that the ant-bear lives exclusively on ants; this, how-
ever, is not the case. In one which I dissected a year
ago a species of julus was found; and the avidity with
which an adult one now in my possession swallowed fresh
meat, which was hashed up for it, makes me believe that
even in the wild state it does not satisfy itself exclusively
with ants, and, provided the food is of such a size that it
can take it up with its moveable upper lip, it does not
despise it.”” According to the same authority the great
ant-eater makes no burrow, its tail serving as a sufficient
protection: the female produces a single offspring, which
she carries on her back; she defends herself by striking
with her fore-feet, while raised on her haunches, or
throws herself on her back, dealing blows with both her
claws. The young soon become tame and familiar,
growl like a puppy, or utter a plaintive whine. The
sense of smell is exquisite; and the animal is directed
more by this than by sight. The teats of the female are
two and pectoral. The young remains with its parent
for the space of a year.

Dr. Schomburgk domesticated an adult female ant-eater,
which he found capable of climbing with great facility
and also of taking up objects with its paws. It ate beer,
and even fish cut small. When not asleep, it rested on
its haunches ; but in feeding kneeled as goats and sheep
often do. Its height was three feet ; the length of the
head one foot three inches; of the back three feet seven
inches ; of the tail three feet six inches.

Tue TaMANDUA
(Myrmecophaga tamandua, Cuv.; the Middle Ant-eater,
Shaw ; the Cagouaré of Azara).

This species is a native of Brazil and Paraguay. In
the general plan of its osteology the tamandua agrees

212 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

141.—Tamandua,

with the tamanoir, but the bones of the muzzle are
shorter than the cranial portion, instead of being twice
as long: hence the whole head is more abbreviated :
the snout is also more conical, and presents a less tubular
appearance. Independently, however, of this difference,
the tamandua is easily distinguished from its congener.
It is far inferior in size, and its tail, instead of being fur-
nished with full flowing hair, is a long, taper, thinly
covered organ of prehension, nearly naked indeed at the
tip, though well covered at the base. The fur of the
body is thick, dense, and harsh, and on the hinder
quarters of tolerable length, but on the head and fore-
quarters it is short, wiry, upright, and glossy, and radiates
from an areola between the shoulders; the point of the
muzzle is bare ; the eyes are small; the ears of a mode-
rate size and rounded ; the mouth is small, and the nostrils
are lateral slits. (Fig. 141.)

In the structure of the limbs it closely resembles its
larger congener. The tamandua when fully grown
measures about two feet in the length of the head and
body, and sixteen or seventeen inches in that of the tail.

THE LITTLE ANT-EATER. 213

A young specimen before us measures nineteen inches in
the body, and thirteen in the tail; its colour on the
head and fore-quarters is yellowish white ; the sides of
the body, the haunches, and the under surface, together
with the base of the tail, being black, and a black stripe
passes along each shoulder.

M. Geoffroy regards as distinct species one altogether
black, which he terms Z. nigra, and another with a
double shoulder-stripe, which he has named 7°. bivittata.
They are, however, most probably only varieties ; at
least Cuvier states, in his ‘Ossemens Fossiles,’ that,
however these animals may vary in colour, they present
no difference in their proportions, nor in the details of
their skeletons, though he has rigidly compared them
together. Azara tells us that he once found dead a ca-
gouaré thirty-seven inches and three-quarters long, which
was of an universal yellowish white ; whence he con-
cludes that the perfect livery is not gained until the
second year. The young are of an universal pale cin-
namon colour.

In its manners the tamandua agrees with the
tamanoir, with this difference, that it often climbs trees,
aiding itself by its prehensile tail, which, however, is
much inferior as a prehensile organ to that of the little
two-toed ant-eater, and its claws are also less calculated
for arboreal habits. Azara suspects that it feeds much
upon honey and bees, which, he adds, are here (in
Paraguay) destitute of stings, and take up their abode
in trees. When reposing, the tamandua doubles its
head on its chest, lies on its belly, places its fore-limbs
along its sides and.its tail over its body. It smells
strongly of musk, and the odour, when the animal is irri-
tated, is very disagreeable, and may be perceived at a
great distance. The female produces one at a birth; it
is, says Azara, very ugly, and is carried by the mother
on her shoulders.

Tae Lirrite AntT-EATER
(Myrmecophaga didactyla, Linn.).
The distinguishing characters of this species consist

214 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALTA.

142.—Little Ant-eater.

in the shortness of the muzzle, which is conical ; in the
number of the claws, which are two on each fore-foot,
of hook-like shape, compressed laterally and very sharp,
the outer one being considerably the largest ; in the ob-
lique position of the hind-feet, which are armed with
four short compressed claws ; and lastly in the strongly
prehensile power of the tail, which is very long and
covered with fine silky fur, like that of the body, except
for three inches of the under surface at the tip, where, .
as in the spider-monkey, it is perfectly naked. The claws
of the fore-feet, which resemble those of the sloth, are
folded down on a callous pad, and with these the little
creature can cling to a branch, while the inward tournure
of the hind-limbs combines with the prehensile structure
of the tail to fit it for its arboreal residence. It may be
observed that the animal possesses clavicles, which do
not exist in the great ant-eater, the tamandua, nor yet
in the pangolins. The eyes are small, the ears close
and buried in the fur ; the mouth is small, and the tongue
long and vermiform. The fur is exquisitely fine, soft,

MANIS. 215

curled, and silky; the general colour is delicate golden
straw, with a brownish mark on the back, often wanting.
Length of head and body, ten inches ; of the tail, ten
inches and a half. (Fig. 142.)

The little ant-eater is a native of Guiana and Brazil,
where it tenants the forests, suspending itself by its
long tail, as well as clinging by means of its claws: it
searches for insects among the fissures of the bark, and
attacks the nests of wasps, the nymphe of which it pulls
out with its fore-claws or nippers, and eats them while it
sits up like a squirrel. In defending themselves, these
animals strike with both the fore-paws at once, and with
considerable force. In their habits they are nocturnal,
sleeping with the tail twisted round their perch. They
utter nocry. The female is said to breed in the hollows
of trees, making a bed of leaves, and producing one only
at a birth. There isa pale variety, regarded by some
as a distinct species.

Genus ManlIs.

The American Ant-eaters are represented in India
and Africa by the Pangolins, or Scaly Ant-eaters, which
constitute the genus Manis of Linneus. These singular
animals may at once be known by the armour of dense
horny scales, or triangular plates, overlapping each other,
by which every part of the body, except the middle line

“of the under surtace, is completely invested. The body
is depressed, rounded above, long and low; the head is
small and conical, the eyes are minute, there are no ex-
ternal ears, the mouth is small, and the tongue long and
extensible ; the tail is long and broad, and covered above
and below with hard imbricated scales; the limbs are
very short and thick, and mailed like the rest of the
body; no distinct toes are apparent beyond the claws,
which on the fore-feet are five in number, the three
central ones being of enormous size, arched, thick, and
bluntly pointed. The first and the last claw are very
small. The large claws fold down on a thick coarse pad,
as in the ant-eater, and the mode of progression in both
cases is the same. The hind-feet have five short, thick,

216 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

143.—Temminck’s Manis.

blunt claws, edging a pad-like sole covered with coarse
granular skin, and so protuberant, that the claws do not
fairly touch the ground. ‘The ungual phalanges, or last
joints of the toes (both of the fore and hind feet), which
are sheathed by the claws, are remarkable for being
bifurcated at their extremity, a peculiarity found in no
other of the Edentata. It is evidently a conformation
intended to give the claws a more secure attachment.

The osseous framework in general is moulded upon the
same plan as that of the ant-eaters. Slow in their
motions, and unfurnished with weapons of offence, the
manis defies the assaults of almost every foe: when
attacked, it rolls itself up into a ball, wraps its tail over
the head, and raises all its pointed and sharp-edged
scales in serried array, and, thus invulnerable, conquers
by passive resistance. The food of the manis consists of
termites and ants, which it takes in the same manner as
the American ant-eaters. It dwells in holes which it
burrows out in the ground,

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MANIS. 219

Tue SHort-Taitep Manis (Manis brachyura, Erxl.).

This species is a native of India, and is very common
in the Dukhun, living on termite ants. The specimen
before us measures about four feet in total length. A
second Indian species is from Jaya; it is the Manis
Javanica of Desmarest. A third species has recently
been discovered by Mr. Hodgson in Nepal.

Tur Lone-TAILED M Anis

(Manis longicaudata, Geoffroy).

This is the best known of the African species, and
attains to a large size, measuring about two feet in the
length of the body, and about three feet in the length of
the tail.

Temmincx’s Manis (Manis Temminckii, Smuts).

The present pangolin is a native of South Africa.
Mr. Bennett observes that the most remarkable features
of this animal are the shortness of the head, the breadth
of the body, and the breadth of the tail, which is nearly
equal to that of the body, and continues throughout the
greater part of its extent of nearly the same width, taper-
ing only slightly towards the end, where it is rounded
and almost truncate. (Fig. 143.) Mr. Bennett further
remarks that a peculiarity in the distribution of the scales
of Manis Temminckii is the cessation of the middle
series of them at a short distance anterior to the ex-
tremity of the tail, so that the last four transverse rows
consist of four scales each, each ‘of the preceding rows
having five. (‘ Zool. Proc.,’ 1834.)

Habits, Food, §c.—Dr. Smith relates that, when.
Manis Temmincki is discovered, it never attempts to
escape, but instantly rolls itself up into a globular form,
taking especial care of its head, which is the only part
that is easily injured. Ants constitute its chief and
favourite food, and these it secures by extending its pro-
jectile tongue into holes which may exist in the habi-
tations of these insects or which it may itself form; and
when, by means of the glutinous matter with which its
tongue is covered, a full load has been received, a sudden

920 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA.

retraction of the retractor muscles carries both into its
mouth, after which the ants are immediately swallowed.
(‘ Illustrations of the Zoology of South A frica.’)

It is a rare species, the natives having a prejudice
against it, and burning every individual they find, so

that it is almost extirpated in many places. Fig. 144
represents the posterior view of the skull of the short-
tailed manis; Fig. 145, the skull seen from above; Fig.
146, ditto seen from below: Fig. 147, ditto profile;
Fig. 148, the fore-foot; Fig. 149, the hind-foot; Fig.
150, the pelvis.

END OF VOL. IV.

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