PHYSIOPHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS. 345 



Bats and Whales are allied to one another and to other 

 Mammalia on account of the identity of the most charac- 

 teristic features of their structure. This important dis- 

 tinction cannot fail to lead to interesting results. Thus 

 far, however, it has only produced fanciful comparisons 

 from those who first traced it out. It is assumed, for in- 

 stance, by M'Leay, that all animals of one group must be 

 analogous to those of every other group, besides forming 

 a circle in themselves ; and in order to carry out this idea 

 all animals are arranged in circular groups, in such a 

 manner as to bring out these analogies, whilst the most 

 obvious affinities are set aside to favour a preconceived 

 view. But, that I may not appear to underrate the merits 

 of this system, I will present it in the very words of its 

 most zealous admirer and self-complacent expounder, the 

 learned William Swainson. 1 



"The 'Horse Entomologicae,' 2 unluckily for students, 

 can only be thoroughly understood by the adept, since the 

 results and observations are explained in different parts; 

 the style is somewhat desultory, and the groups, for the 

 most part, are rather indicated than defined. The whole, 

 in short, is what it professes to be, more a rough sketch 

 of the leading peculiarities of the great divisions of ani- 

 mals, and the manner in which they are probably con- 

 nected, than an accurate determination of the groups 

 themselves, or a demonstration of their real affinities. 

 More than this, perhaps, could not have been expected, 

 considering the then state of science, and the Herculean 

 difficulties which the author had to surmount. The work 

 in question has now become exceedingly scarce; and this 



1 SWAINSON (W.), A Treatise of the 2 M'LEAY (W. S.), Horae Entomo- 



Geography and Classification of Ani- logicas ; or Essays on the Annulose 



mals ; London, 1835, 1 vol. 12mo., Animals; London, 1819-21, 2 vols., 



p. 201-205. 8vo. 



