186 CLASSIFICATION OP MAMMALIA. 



Ungulata *. Having only been able to seize Aristotle's sub- 

 divisions of this group, he lost the parallelism of analogy, and 

 fell, as I shall hereafter show, into very glaring mistakes. In 

 the ' Systema Naturae,' however, he has mentioned that very 

 striking analogy which appears between his groups of Grallce 

 and Brut a ; that is, according to the parallelism of analogy, 

 between the orders of Grallatores and Ungulata, since the 

 Bruta, as we have seen, do not form an order, but only a na- 

 tural subdivision of the Ungulata. That this analogy is de- 

 monstrably true, I deduce from the following facts. Of their 

 respective classes, the orders of Ungulata and Grallatores 

 contain examples of the longest legs in proportion to the 

 body, — witness Camelopardalis and Hcemantopus. Both 

 orders present us, in groups not exactly aquatic, with in- 

 stances of the toes soldered together, as in the Horse ; or con- 

 nected together by a web, as in the Flamingo. Both orders 

 present us with the greatest elongation of muzzle or facies, — 

 witness Myrmecophaga, or Antilope (particularly A. Bu- 

 balus L.), and Scolopax ; and also with the most depressed 

 form of muzzle, — witness Hippopotamus and Platalea, which 

 genera also afford us the truest specimens of Wading Verte- 

 brata. In both orders we have the most elongated claws, — 

 witness Megalonyx and Parra. Both orders afford us the 

 swiftest animals in running, — as the Horse and Tachydro- 

 mus ; and the most pugnacious on account of love, — as the 

 Bull and Machetes. The Bull moreover and the Butor (or 

 Bostaurus, for hence comes the bird's name,) afford us the 

 loudest and hoarsest voice of their respective orders : where 

 we have also the most remarkable instances of the upper and 

 under mandibles touching each other merely at their base and 

 point ; as Myrmecophaga, or the whole of the ru psv oux ocpipo- 

 lovrcc of Aristotle, and Anastomus Illig. Both orders exhibit 

 ornamental appendages to the head, — as the antlers of the 

 Stag and the crown of the Crane ; and both orders afford us 

 the only instances of true horns, — as Bos or Rhinoceros, and 

 Palamedea L. To see a hundred instances of resemblance, 

 it is only necessary to walk into a museum. I shall there- 

 fore only further say, that both orders contain polygamous 

 animals, are generally gregarious, and more graminivorous 

 than granivorous, being essentially inhabitants of marshes and 



* In making this assertion, Mr. MacLeay appears to have overlooked the 

 tabular arrangement prefixed by Linnseus to the more extended characters 

 of his Orders of Mammalia. The only fault in the construction of his 

 Ungulata, is the exclusion of the elephant from that division ; for with 

 respect to the edentate Bruta, it may be questioned whether Linnaeus and 

 Cuvier are not after all correct in placing them among the Unguiculate 

 Mammalia. 



