124 GEOGRAPHY OF ANIMALS IN SOUTH DtVON. 



connection with ouij argument. In the warfare 

 conducted against the lower animals, we dis- 

 cover a way, wheieby their geographical ranges 

 become altered, and whereby that system of depen- 

 dance, which pervades organic nature, becomes 

 essentially infringed on. The reader has, ere this, 

 seen the inutility, indeed absurdity, of treating our 

 subject, as one involving only considerations of a 

 natural kind ; as one which involved no enquiries 

 into the operations and proceedinos of man : accord- 

 ingly, we shall not speculate on the appearance of 

 this county m its natural and original state, nor refer 

 to the nature and extent of its fauna, before the 

 dominion of man had been established in this island ; 

 suffice it, that a revolution has taken place, and that 

 a comparison could scarcely be instituted which 

 would be productive of any useful result : we shall 

 not stay to speak of the original fauna of Devon, 

 we shall not enumerate any of the extirpated kinds, 

 we shall not commiserate the unfortunate extinction 

 and extirpation which seem to await many more of 

 our native animals ; we propose to treat only of the 

 actual state of things as they are now found in the 

 south of Devon. 



When first I commenced writing this paper, I 

 intended to have illustrated the various positions 

 here assumed ; by the examples aflbrded amongst 

 our native animals, as I pioceeded with the subject. 

 I have however been betrayed into a different course, 

 and, having now entered into those arguments which 

 necessarily attach themselves to the enquiry, we 

 shall, in a second part of this treatise, enter on a 

 consideration of the animal productions of South 

 Devon, with reference to the laws and arguments 

 already mentioned. I beHevc however the subject 

 would have been rendered easier to the writer, and 

 more entertaining to the reader, by the adoption of 

 my tir&t intention : there now remain several me- 

 thods of treating this second division of the paper, 

 — we might be guided by the classified arrangements 



