ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR TRAILL. XXXVI 
mate is seen with the Monkey of tropical regions; the Bunting and 
the Titmouse nestle near the Parrot and the Trogon; the Phalarope 
of the North seeks its food on the same beach as the Jacana and the 
Boatbill of Brazil. 
Dr. Richardson states, that though colonization has, in America, 
restricted the range and modified the migrations of wild animals, we 
have no evidence that a single species has been there lost within the 
records of history. The Quadrumana, or Monkeys, of America are 
peculiar to that continent. None of them have what may be called 
a perfect hand, with the thumb opposed to the fingers. Their thumbs 
are small, sometimes only rudimentary, or even wholly wanting. Not 
a single Ape—not one true Baboon is to be found among them; but 
many are furnished with prehensile tails, admirably adapted for ani- 
mals moving among thick forests, and almost as serviceable for grasp- 
ing as the proboscis of the Elephant. 
_ Almost all the Mammifera, considered as common to the New and 
Old Worlds, belong to the order of Carnivora; yet it is by no means 
improbable, that a minute examination of species now considered as 
the same, may detect specific differences among them. I would par- 
ticularly recommend attention to the skulls of animals. My late in- 
genious young friend, Robert Jameson, of Edinburgh, had acquired 
great tact in discriminating the Carnivora, in particular, by the form 
and position of the sutures uniting the bones of the face, which differ 
much in each species. It is believed by many naturalists, that the 
proportions of the skulls of Indian birds, in other respects similar to 
our own, as compared to their bodies, differ from those of Europe. 
Similar differences may occur in other parts of the skeletons of qua- 
drupeds, which have escaped the superficial examiner, yet sufficient to 
constitute specific characters. This would be particularly valuable in 
determining the species of weasels and amphibious Carnivora, which, 
at present, are very perplexing to the naturalist. 
All the existing Marsupial animals are confined to America, Au- 
stralia, and some other South Sea Islands: yet, at one period, animals 
of this order must have been very generally distributed over the earth, 
as their bones occur everywhere in a fossil state, and are formed in the 
oldest deposits of mammiferous remains. 
The number of Rodentia in North America is great, and all seem to 
be peculiar to the New World: of the Edentata, one only is found in 
North America. Two or three species occur in Africa and India; all 
the rest are South American. It is singular, that of the existing Pa- 
chydermata, two species only are considered as indigenous to Ame- 
