474 Mr. N. A. Vigors on the Natural Affinities 



the highest authority, that of M. Cuvier*, to offer no decidedly- 

 distinctive characters by which they may be kept apart ; and 

 certainly, on considering the two divisions as they are distin- 

 guished from each other, the Linnean mode of grouping them 

 appears at first sight to be perfectly arbitrary. Is it then to an 

 accidental coincidence that we have to ascribe the singular con- 

 formity that thus presents itself between the views of Linnaeus 

 and those which are disclosed in the foregoing table of affinities ? 

 Or may we infer that this great inquirer into Nature had on this 

 occasion pursued somewhat of a similar mode of consulting 

 her, had obtained a glimpse of the same affinities by which 

 she unites her groups, and of the same contiguous stations in 

 which she disposes them — and that he drew his line of demarca- 

 tion accordingly ? I dwell with the more satisfaction on this 

 point, as it confirms the views which I entertained when I ven- 

 tured to differ from that great authority in uniting his two orders 

 into one ; and proves that my decision originated in no theo- 

 retical desire of limiting the orders of the class to five. I re- 

 frained, at the time I originally hazarded that opinion, from 

 dwelling with any particularity on the chief reason that swayed 

 me ; I mean the necessity of preserving in one inviolate series 

 the relations of affinity by which the entire of the group seemed 

 united. I may now urge that argument with more consistency 

 and more effect. What would then have been but mere asser- 

 tion, has now somewhat of the authority of proof. And the 

 reader who casts his eye over the foregoing table will acknow- 

 ledge, that to withdraw any important department from the 

 group, to make any material subdivision that would affect its 

 integrity, would create a chasm in the now uninterrupted chain 

 of affinities by which Nature seems to have brought her families 

 together — would disturb the beautiful symmetry in which she 



* See p. 403, Note *. 



has 



