44 MAMMALIA, 



consisting of animals with pouches, the different genera of 

 which are connected by a general similarity of organization ; 

 some of them, however, in the teeth and nature of their diet 

 corresponding to the Carnaria, others to the Rodentia, and a 

 third to the Edentata. 



The hoofed animals are less numerous, and have likewise 

 fewer irregularities. 



The RUMiNANTiA, by their cloven foot, the absence of true 

 incisors in their upper jaw, and their four stomachs, form an 

 order that is very distinct. 



The remaining hoofed animals may all be united in a single 

 order, which I shall call pachydermata or jumenta, \\\t Ele- 

 phant excepted, which might constitute a separate one, and 

 which is remotely connected with that of the Rodentia. 



In the last place, we find those of the Mammalia which 

 have no posterior extremities, whose piscatory form and aqua- 

 tic mode of life would induce us to form them into a particu- 

 lar class, were it not that in every thing else their economy is 

 similar to that in which we leave them. These are the hot- 

 blooded fishes of the ancients, or the cetacea, which, uniting 

 to the vigour of the other mammalia the advantage of being 

 sustained by the watery element, present to our wondering 

 sight the most gigantic of animals. 



ORDER L 

 BIMANA. 



Man forms but one genus, and that genus the only one of its 

 order. As his history is the more directly interesting to our- 

 selves, and forms the point of comparison to which we refer 

 that of other animals, we will speak of it more in detail. 



We will rapidly sketch every thing that is peculiar in each 

 of his organic systems, amidst all that he shares in common 

 with other mammalia; we will examine the advantages he 



