THE NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



. CLASS I. MAMMALIA. 



VIVIPAROUS, OR BRINGING FORTH THEIR YOUNG ALIVE. SUCKLE THEIR YOUNG BY MAMMjE OR 

 TEATS, AND HENCE THE NAME. FURNISHED WITH WARM RED BLOOD. HEART WITH TWO 

 AURICLES AND TWO VENTRICLES ; BREATHING BY LUNGS. BODY USUALLY COVERED WITH 

 HAIR, AND FURNISHED IN MOST CASES WITH FOUR FEET. 



The characters assigned to this class are sufficiently distinctive ; and yet, with the single 

 exception of suckling their young, none are absolute or invariable. Thus in the Manis and 

 Armadillo of South America, the body is covered with scales ; in the Manatus of Florida, 

 there are but two feet ; and these in the Whales, Po?~poises, &c. are reduced to the shape 

 and functions of fins. In the totality of the characters, however, we obtain a correct idea of 

 the class under consideration. 



According to the generally received arrangement of the animals of this class, it is divided 

 into seven orders.* The characters of two of these are derived from the number or structural 

 functions of their extremities ; of three, from the form, disposition or entire absence of their 

 teeth ; of the sixth, from the nature of the coverings of their feet ; and of the seventh, from 

 the form of their body, and the element in which they live, and the peculiar shape and arrange- 

 ment of their extremities. 



* From the time of Aristotle to the present day, Man has invariably been placed at the head of this class. There are not 

 wanting, however, many eminent naturalists, who are unwilling to see Man standing as a representative of a Genus, or even of 

 of an Order among his kindred brutes ; who are not disposed to admit that Man, created in the image of God, has any affinity 

 with the beasts that perish ; or that, because he possesses certain zoological characters which are entirely secondary and subor- 

 dinate, he should be classed with brutes, when his noblest attribute, reason, destroys every vestige of affinity, and places him 

 immeasurably above them all. 



Fauna. 1 



