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VII. Obfervatiom on the O economy of the Ichneumon Mamfejlator Linn, 

 By Thomas MarJJjam, Efq* Sec, L, S, 



Read July 2, 1794* 



THROUGHOUT the whole fyftem of animal Economy, there 

 is not perhaps a more ftriking and diilinguiihcd feature, than 

 the attention, care and forefight of every parent animal for the 

 protection and prefervation of its young. It is a property which 

 pervades every clafs of animals, and is equally manifeft in the molt 

 ferocious and the more timid, the larger! and the mod minute. 

 The methods employed by each clafs and order differ as much as- 

 the animals themfelves. In the higher orders of beings which are 

 viviparous, not to mention the human race, we find this care ex- 

 tended to a confiderable time after the birth of the voung, as in 

 quadrupeds, who nourifh their little ones with a delicate nutritious 

 fluid, copioufly iupplied by nature from their own bodies, and with 

 an anxiety and care evidently apparent to the mod common ob- 

 fervcr, until they are able to provide for themfelves. The feather- 

 ed tribes, which are oviparous, furnifh an extraordinary inftance of 

 fortitude and patience during the tedious time of incubation, and of 

 labour and unwearied diligence in fearch of food, after the young are 

 iiatched. As we defcend to the lower orders, which are in general 

 oviparous, we may readily difcern ftrong marks of fagacity or inftinct. 



Reptiles 



