CLASSIFICATION OK MAMMALIA. 185 



ranged by Mr. Vigors ; and to which definitions and arrange- 

 ment I have just applied so severe a test, only to corroborate 

 their accuracy, and to make them display additional harmony. 



"When we have heard the Parrot or Mainate speaking ; 

 when we have witnessed the former feeding itself as it were 

 with a hand j when, in short, we have reflected on the re- 

 markable intelligence and development of brain throughout 

 the whole order of Insessores, to which both birds belong, 

 — there has been no one, perhaps, dull enough not to com- 

 pare them to Primates .... I allow, indeed, that it is difficult 

 to follow the opinion of the great naturalist of France, who, 

 ignorant of the true nature of relations of analogy, imagined 

 that the Psittaceous tribe of Birds ought to occupy the first 

 step in the scale of nature below Man ; but we cannot help 

 adopting the notion of Linnaeus in the ( Systema Naturae, 9 

 that although not near him in construction, they are yet ana- 

 logous to him in various important respects. And, adopting 

 this notion, we must place the whole order of Insessores, to 

 which Psittacus belongs, opposite to the Primates, of which 

 Man forms the type. 



" The analogies existing between Birds of Prey and Carni- 

 vorous quadrupeds having been noticed by Aristotle, who 

 called both groups Gampsonucha, were enlarged upon by 

 Plutarch. Among a host of moderns who have been struck 

 with the resemblance, I may particularly mention Linnaeus, 

 who in his ' Systema Naturce' has expressly called his Ac- 

 cipitres " Peris analogi ' ' ; and Buffon, who has treated the 

 subject at length and with his usual eloquence. I conceive, 

 therefore, that no one can object to the propriety of my placing 

 the Ferce opposite to the Raptores. 



"The analogy between Aquatic Birds and Aquatic Mamma- 

 lia scarcely requires the mention of the authority of Linnaeus 

 to make it be granted. It is indeed so evident, that Hermann, 

 according to his custom, takes it for a relation of affinity. 

 In both orders the anterior appendages of the vertebral axis 

 dwindling into fins, and the two undivided posterior appen- 

 dages being placed so far behind on the axis as to show that 

 both were intended for motion in the water rather than on 

 land, are circumstances of themselves sufficient to authorize 

 the placing of the Cetacea opposite to the Natatores. 



" Two orders still remain in each class to be considered : 

 the Glires and Ungulata among the Mammalia ; and among 

 Birds, the Rasores and Grallatores. The relations of analogy 

 pointed out by Linnaeus between Mammalia and Birds are, as 

 Hermann has observed, not always correct ; and his errors 

 have arisen from the misfortune of his not detecting the na- 

 tural group of Aristotle and Ray, which the latter has called 



