MAMMALIA. 



243 



cult to follow the opinion of the great naturalist 

 of France, who, ignorant of the true nature of 

 relations of analogy, imagined that the Psitta- 

 ceous tribe of Birds ought to occupy the first 

 step in the scale of nature below Man ; but we 

 cannot help adopting the notion of Linnaeus in 

 the ' Systema Natura,' that although not near 

 him in construction, they are yet analogous to 

 him in various important respects. And, adopt- 

 ing this notion, we must place the whole order 

 of Insessores, to which Psittacus belongs, op- 

 posite to the Primates, of which Man forms the 

 type. 



" The analogies existing between birds of 

 prey and carnivorous quadrupeds having been 

 noticed by Aristotle, who called both groups 

 Gampsonucha, were enlarged upon by Plu- 

 tarch. Among a host of moderns who have 

 been struck with the resemblance, I may par- 

 ticularly mention Linnaeus, who in his ' Sys- 

 tema Nature ' has expressly called his Acci- 

 pitres ' Feris analogi ;' and Buffon, who has 

 treated the subject at length and with his usual 

 eloquence. I conceive, therefore, that no one 

 can object to the propriety of my placing the 

 Feree opposite to the Raptores. 



" The analogy between Aquatic Birds and 

 Aquatic Mammalia scarcely requires the men- 

 tion of the authority of Linnaeus to make it be 

 granted. It is indeed so evident, that Her- 

 mann, according to his custom, takes it for a 

 relation of affinity. In both orders the ante- 

 rior appendages of the vertebral axis dwindling 

 into fins, and the two undivided posterior ap- 

 pendages being placed so far behind on the 

 axis as to show that both were intended for 

 motion in the water rather than on land, are 

 circumstances of themselves sufficient to autho- 

 rize the placing of the Cetacea opposite to the 

 Natutores. 



" Two orders still remain in each class to be 

 considered : the Glires and Ungulata among 

 the Mammalia; and among Birds, the Rasores 

 and Grullatores. The relations of analogy 

 pointed out by Linnaeus between Mammalia 

 and Birds are, as Hermann has observed, not 

 always correct ; and his errors have arisen from 

 the misfortune of his not detecting the natural 

 group of Aristotle and Ray, which the latter 

 has called Ungulata.* Having only been able 

 to seize Aristotle's subdivisions of this group, 

 he lost the parallelism of analogy, and fell, as 

 I shall hereafter show, into very glaring mis- 

 takes. In the ' Systema Naturee,' however, he 

 has mentioned that very striking analogy which 

 appears between his groups of Gratia and 

 Bruta ; that is, according to the parallelism of 

 analogy, between the orders of Grullatores and 

 Unguluta, since the Bruta, as we have seen, 

 do not form an order, but only a natural subdi- 



vision of the Ungulata. That this analogy is 

 demonstrably true, I deduce from the following 

 facts. Of their respective classes, the orders of 

 Ungu/ata and Grallatores contain examples of 

 the -longest legs in proportion to the body, 

 witness Camelopardalis and HtEmantopus. Both 

 orders present us, in groups not exactly aquatic, 

 with instances of the toes soldered together, as 

 in the Horse ; or connected together by a web, 

 as in the Flamingo. Both orders present us 

 with the greatest elongation of muzzle or facies, 

 witness Myrmecophaga, or Antilope (particu- 

 larly A. Bubalus L.), and Scolofxi.r ; and also 

 with the most depressed form of muzzle, 

 witness Hippopotamus and Platalca, which 

 genera also afford us the truest specimens of 

 Wading Vertebrata. In both orders we have 

 the most elongated claws, witness Megalonyx 

 and Parra. Both orders afford us the swiftest 

 animals in running, as the Horse and Tachy- 

 dromus ; and the most pugnacious on account 

 of love, as the Bull and Machetes. The Bull 

 moreover and the Bntor (or Bost aunts, for 

 hence comes the bird's name,) afford us the 

 loudest and hoarsest voice of their respective 

 orders : where we have also the most remark- 

 able instances of the upper and under mandi- 

 bles touching each other merely at their base 

 and point ; as Myrmecopkaga, or the whole of 

 the ru fji.iv OVK aptpoSotrac, of Aristotle, and 

 Anastomus Illig. Both orders exhibit orna- 

 mental appendages to the head, as the antlers 

 of the Stag and the crown of the Crane ; and 

 both orders afford us the only instances of true 

 horns, as Bos or Rhinoceros, and Palamedea 

 L. To see a hundred instances of resemblance, 

 it is only necessary to walk into a museum. I 

 shall therefore only further say, that both orders 

 contain polygamous animals, are generally gre- 

 garious, and more graminivorous than granivo- 

 rous, being essentially inhabitants of marshes 

 and savannahs. Thus then, with Linnaeus, I 

 place the Bruta, or rather the whole order of 

 Ungulata to which they belong, opposite to the 

 Grullatores. 



" Four orders in each class being now dis- 

 posed of, it follows by parallelism of analogy, 

 that the Glires ought to be placed opposite to 

 the Rasores. But setting theory aside, is this 

 position true in fact ?* 



" Linnaeus, from the above-mentioned error 

 in his series of affinity, considered the Rasores 

 to be analogous to his group of Pecora. But 

 this group, according to Aristotle and Ray, is 

 only a subdivision of Ungulata, which have, I 

 consider, been now proved to be analogous to 

 the Grallatores. If, therefore, Linnaeus be 

 right in making his Brnta analogous to the 

 order of Wading Birds, it follows that his Pecora 

 must be so also. 



* In making this assertion, Mr. Macleay ap- 

 pears to have overlooked the tabular arrangement 

 prefixed by Linnaeus to the more extended charac- 

 ters of his orders of Mammalia. The only fault in 

 the construction of his Ungulata is the exclusion of 

 the elephant from that division ; for with respect to 

 the edentate Bruta, Linnxus and Cuvier correctly 

 interpreted nature in placing them among the Un- 

 guiculate Mammalia. 



* " The ancient name of Struthio Camelus, as 

 well as the form and habits of the Ostrich, show in- 

 deed a relation of analogy to the Camel; hut then 

 we are to recollect, in the first place, that the Os- 

 trich is at the osculant point or confinc-s of the 

 orders of Grallee and Rasores ; and secondly, that 

 such slight variations of the parallelism of analogy 

 often appear, although I think it possible that even 

 these are subject to rule." 



R 2 



