of certain Birds of Cuba. 37 



Cuvier* ; some, such as Dasyurus cynocephalus, having the den- 

 tition as well as habits of the Ferce ; while others, such as Fhas- 

 colomys, present us with the structure of a Rongeur. There is 

 also some sort of relation existing between the Glires and Cetacea, 

 as Hermannt mentions in alluding to the Beaver and Manati. 

 Hence we get two affinities of transultation or species of relation, 

 which are exactly parallel to those which we have seen existing 

 in Birds between the Raptores and Rasores, and between the 

 Rasores and Natatores. 



It is a fact as extraordinary in itself, as humiliating for the 

 modern zoologist, that not one of the principal groups of Birds, 

 as given to us in the Regne Animal, escaped the keen eye of 

 Aristotle ; nay, there is not one of the orders that has not been 

 named by him. It must still give us a more ample notion of 

 the ancient naturalist's skill in zoology to find, that not one of 

 Cuvier's principal groups of Mammalia was unknown to him, 

 except the Marsupiaux and EdentSs. And, independently of 

 these curious animals being principally natives of the New 

 World, we may conclude that he never saw an example of 

 either group ; else, from the attention he paid to the system of 

 generation and of dentition in the animals he has described, 

 these groups could not have escaped him. 



The Edentata have always been reckoned to be a very ano- 

 malous group of animals, and yet they appear essentially neces- 

 sary for the fulfilment of the general plan of Nature. These 

 interesting quadrupeds are divided by M. Cuvier into three 

 smaller groups, of which the types may be considered to be the 

 Sloth, the Armadillo, and the Duck-Bill or Ornithorhynchus of 

 New Holland. Now, with respect to the Bradypodce, Hermann 

 says, p. 64 : " Primatibus cognatum est genus Bradypodis mam- 

 mis pectoralibus et aliquali habitu ob quern quondam Linnaeus 



* mgne Animal, vol. i. p. 170. t Tab. Aff. p. 37. 



cum 



