The word Llama, sometimes spelt Lama, is the name by which the Peruvians designated one of a small group of closely allied animals, which, before the Spanish conquest of America, were the only domesticated hoofed mammals of the country, being kept, not only for their value as beasts of burden, but also for their flesh, hides, and wool,—in fact, supplying in the domestic economy of the people the place of the horse, the ox, the goat, and the sheep of the Old World. The word is now sometimes restricted to one particular species or variety of the group, and sometimes used in a generic sense to cover the whole. Although they were often compared by early writers to sheep, and spoken of as such, their affinity to the camel was very soon perceived, and they were included in the genus _Camelus_ in the _Systema Naturæ_ of Linnæus. They were, however, separated by Cuvier in 1800 under the name of _Lama_, changed by Illiger in 1811 to _Auchenia_ (in allusion to the great length of neck, αὐχήν), a term afterwards adopted by Cuvier, and almost universally accepted by systematic zoologists, although there has been of late a disposition to revive the earlier name. In essential structural characters, as well as in general appearance and habits, all the animals of this genus very closely resemble each other, so that the question as to whether they should be considered as belonging to one, two, or more species has been one which has led to a large amount of controversy among naturalists. The question has been much complicated by the circumstances of the great majority of individuals which have come under observation being either in a completely or partially domesticated state, and descended from ancestors which from time immemorial have been in like condition, one which always tends to produce a certain amount of variation from the original type. It has, however, lost much of its importance since the doctrine of the distinct origin of species has been generally abandoned. [Illustration: FIG. 116.—Head of Vicugna, from an animal living in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London.]