216 AFFINITIES AND GEOGRAPHICAL 



the dolphin evinces a predilection for human society, and 

 charms the mariner by the gambols which it performs beside 

 his vessel. The first steps from this aquatic family are 

 perhaps not to be seen upon earth. It appears as if we had 

 to take up the lines in decidedly inland species the Monkeys 

 and Sloths, which are sylvan ; the Bats, which are partially 

 aerial ; and man, who is geographically universal. For the 

 Sloths alone, do we discern any trace of intermediate species. 

 These appear distinctly enough in the fossil megatherium and 

 megalonyx. 1 The want of the rest is not a formidable diffi- 

 culty, for it appears, generally, that the species hovering 

 between sea and land, or those adapted to live upon shores 

 and low grounds, are most liable to become extinct. Hence 

 it is that the tapirine and elephantine animals are visibly fading 

 from the face of the earth. Thus has the anoplothere perished, 

 while the llama survives. It cannot fail to be remarked that 

 the geological history of the mammalia is, as far as we obtain 

 from it any distinct ideas, in conformity with these views re- 

 garding their classification. The marsupials and aquatics 

 appear early, even before the cretaceous era. After the long 

 blank which that formation represents, what are the animals 

 found predominant in the beginning of the tertiary ? The 

 great pachyderms and cetacea, particularly manatidse. The 

 dog, horse, and other culminating species of the various lines, 

 come comparatively late, the sheep and goat not at all ; man 

 also is absent, till the most recent formations. 



We cannot but regard with profound interest the question 

 respecting our own immediate ancestry. The mind imme- 

 diately refers to the simial family, whose form, size of brain, 

 and general characters make so manifest an approach to our 

 own. Yet it may be doubted if the particular species whence 

 the human family was derived, has ever come under the atten- 

 tion of naturalists. It seems, judging from analogy, as if a 

 larger species than any as yet described, were required, for this 

 place in the tree of being. It may here be observed that of 



1 It was suggested that the megatherium might exhibit an alliance to 

 the armadillos by a bony armour. Mr. Newman (System of Nature) ex- 

 presses his dissent to this notion, because " the dorsal vertebrae want 

 those lateral processes so essential to the support of a weighty osseous 

 carapace. I should rather fancy him a sloth in all his characters, with 

 a round monkey-like face, an awkward gait, shaggy hair, pectoral 

 manimse, &c. Megalonyx, Mylodon, and (if distinct) Dr. Harlan's 

 Oryctotherium Missouriense, evidently approach Megatherium, and 

 unite in forming a group of animals, &c." 



