. Cuvier's animal kingdom : arranged according to its organization. Animals. RODENTIA. 119 inferior value to that of the preceding-, and which occasionally turns white in winter * ; the Variable Hare (L. varia- bilis), a mountain species, larger than either of the foregoing, with still shorter ears and limbs than the Irish Hare, and brown fur in summer, which always changes to white at the approach of winter ; and the Rabbit (_L. cuniculiis), remarkable for its burrowing habits, and for bringing forth its young blind and naked, while the Leverets of the three others see and run from birth. Not
. Cuvier's animal kingdom : arranged according to its organization. Animals. RODENTIA. 119 inferior value to that of the preceding-, and which occasionally turns white in winter * ; the Variable Hare (L. varia- bilis), a mountain species, larger than either of the foregoing, with still shorter ears and limbs than the Irish Hare, and brown fur in summer, which always changes to white at the approach of winter ; and the Rabbit (_L. cuniculiis), remarkable for its burrowing habits, and for bringing forth its young blind and naked, while the Leverets of the three others see and run from birth. Not less than sixteen species of Lepus are already known in North America ; and many others exist in Asia and Africa.] The PiKAS {Lagomys, Cuv.)— Have ears of moderate length, the limbs nearly equal, the antorbital foramen simple, almost perfect clavicles, and no tail whatever. They often utter a very sharp cry. They have hitherto been found only in Siberia [since, however, at a considerable altitude on the Himmalayas, and in North America], and Pallas Mas the first to make them known. [The largest of them] Lepus alpimis, Pallas, is the size of a Guinea-pig, and yellowish-red. It inhabits the most elevated mountain summits, where it passes the summer in selecting and drying the herbage for its winter pro- vision. Its hay-stacks, which are sometimes six or seven feet high, are a valuable resource for the Horses of the Sable-hunters. Some fossil remains have been discovered of an unknown species of Pika, in the accumulations of osseous breccia in the island of Corsica. After the two genera of Porcupines and Hares, come the rodents which Linnœus and Pallas brought together under the name of Cavia, but for which it is impossible to assign an)' other constant and positive character than the imperfection of their clavicles, though the various species are not without analogy in the asjjcct of their body and manners. They are all from the New Continent. The Capybara {Hydrochœrus, Erxl
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, bookpublishe, booksubjectanimals
