as Auxiliaries in Classification. 



11 



a couple of these vermin gamboling in a very frolicsome 

 manner. Without disturbing them, he returned hastily to 

 his house, got his gun loaded, and then went back to look 

 for his visitors. Approaching them cautiously from behind, 

 he was enabled to come within a very few yards of them. He 

 levelled his gun, but it missed fire. This occurred five or six 

 times, without a single spark being elicited from his flint ; and 

 notwithstanding all this hammering in their rear, the animals 

 never were in the least alarmed. Fortune, however, at last 

 favoured him, and he was enabled to obtain one of them ; but 

 the other made its escape. 



I was much puzzled with his recital of this circumstance ; 

 and could not in any manner satisfactorily account for it, till 

 I examined its skull minutely (having obtained it for a skele- 

 ton), and then discovered its auditory canal situated in the 

 position before mentioned. 



This investigation satisfied my mind, that though this ani- 

 mal may hear sounds behind it, yet they are only heard im- 

 perfectly ; otherwise it must have taken alarm at the many 

 attempts to fire the gun. Applying this analogy to the hare, 

 we may suppose that this animal, whose external tube is placed 

 backward, would not distinguish sounds very distinctly in 

 front of her. Many facts in the natural history of the hare 

 might be produced to support this idea, but one will suffice : 

 — A hare, pursued by greyhounds along a turnpike road, 

 was seen by a woman approaching her immediately in front : 

 she knelt down, and the hare ran fairly into her apron, which 

 was stretched out to receive him. This circumstance clearly 

 proves that poor puss was much more occupied from dangers 

 behind than those which so unfortunately were placed before 

 her. 



The next animal is one which, although predatory in its 

 habits, does not obtain its prey by pursuit, but steals upon it 

 unawares ; and, as such, is much indebted to the excellence of 

 its outward perceptions for the ease with which it seizes its 

 victims. 



This animal is the fox. On examination, we find the 

 external portion of his auditory structure {Jig. 5. a) is not 

 tubulated in a similar manner to the two former instances ; 



