The _Pacas_ form another genus belonging to the family of the cavies that may be also grouped with the hares and rabbits. They burrow like the common rabbit, and their food consists of nuts, fruits, and roots. Their flesh is excellent; and on this account they are hunted eagerly, both by the Indians and whites who dwell in the countries where they are found. There are several species of them in South America, and they were also very common at one time in the West India Islands; but on account of the persecution of many enemies--more especially of hunters-- they are now comparatively rare. With the hares and rabbits may be classed still another family of South American animals, and one of the most interesting of the whole group. These are the Chinchillas and Viscachas. The place assigned to them by some naturalists is with the hamsters, and therefore they are grouped with the rats; but an examination into the habits of these animals shows that they are in reality representatives of the hares and rabbits on the elevated table-lands of Chili and Peru, as also over the whole plain country of La Plata and Patagonia. There are several species known indifferently as Viscachas and Chinchillas; but the true Chinchilla, celebrated for its soft and beautiful woolly coat, is an inhabitant of the elevated plateaux of the Andes, where the climate is as cold as in Siberia itself. The natural history of these rodents is full of curious interest, and deserves to be given more in detail, if our space would only admit of it. CHAPTER THIRTEEN. ELEPHANTS. The Elephant is by far the largest of land animals, and for this reason one of the most interesting to the student of zoology; but even without this superiority, he possesses qualities that entitle him to rank among the curious objects of creation. In ages long gone by there were elephants upon the earth--or animals resembling elephants--as much larger than the existing species as these are superior in size to other quadrupeds. Such were the mammoths and mastodons, the skeletons of which are occasionally found buried beneath the surface of the soil in different parts of the world.