114 THE WEASEL-HEADED ARMADILLO. 



nothing of our arbitrary characters, and astonishes us still 

 more by her exceptions than by her laws. Quadrupeds, 

 which should be regarded as constituting the first class of 

 animated nature, and are, next to man, the most conspicuous 

 creatures in this world, are nevertheless neither superior in 

 every respect, nor separated by permanent characters or at- 

 tributes from all other beings. The first character, that of 

 having four feet, and from which their name is derived, is 

 found among the lizards, frogs, &c, which differ so much 

 from quadrupeds in every other article, that they have, with 

 propriety, been thrown into a distinct class. The second 

 general property, that of being viviparous, belongs not ex- 

 clusively to quadrupeds, but is common to them and the ceta- 

 ceous animals. In fine, the third attribute, that of being 

 covered with hair, which appears to be the least equivocal, 

 because it is the most conspicuous, is wanting in several spe- 

 cies which cannot be retrenched from the order of quadrupeds; 

 since, with the exception of this character alone, their re- 

 semblance to each other is complete. And as these seeming 

 exceptions of nature are in reality but the shades she em- 

 ploys to connect beings of the most remote kinds, we ought 

 to seize these singular relations as often as they present them- 

 selves. The armadillos, instead of hair, are covered, like the 

 turtles, lobsters, &c, with a solid crust. The manis is 

 armed with scales similar to those of fishes. The porcupine 

 carries a kind of prickly feathers, without vanes, but having 

 quills like those of birds. Thus, in the class of quadrupeds 

 alone, and in the most constant and apparent character of 

 these animals, that of being covered with hair, nature varies 

 by making them approach the three very different classes of 

 birds, fishes, and the crustaceous tribes. Hence we ought 

 never to judge of the nature of beings by a single character, 

 for it will always be found imperfect and fallacious. Even 

 two or three characters, though extremely general, are often 

 insufficient \ and, as I have frequently remarked, it is only 

 by the union of all the attributes, and an enumeration of all 

 the characters, that a judgment can be formed concerning the 

 permanent and essential qualities of the productions of nature. 

 Accurate descriptions, without any attempt toward defini- 

 tions, a more scrupulous examination of the differences than 

 of the similarities, a particular attention to the exceptions, 

 and even to the slightest shades, are the true guides, and, I 

 will venture to affirm, the only means we possess of investi- 

 gating nature. If the time lost in framing definitions and 

 methodical arrangements had been employed in making good 

 descriptions, we should not at this day have found Natural 



