li)l().] Scopoli, Erxleben. 37 



(4) He brings together M yrmecophaga, Manis and Das //pus; wlicreas 

 Linnjfius had put Dasi/piis in the Bestiae and joined the other Edentates 

 with the Elephant and Manatee. The only Edentate which Scopoli failed 

 to place correctly was Bradypiis, Avhich he associated with Vespertilio, 

 Lemur, Simia and Homo. 



Taking it all in all this classification is a pretty good one. It is a con- 

 servative and intelligent adaptation of the principles of Ray, Klein, Brisson 

 and Linnaeus, aA^oiding for the most part the more artificial and unnatural 

 of their groupings and only falling into one very bad grouping, the Aquatilia. 

 It is also the simplest and most easily remembered classification so far met 

 with. 



Scopoli' s Classification of J 777. 



Tribus XII. Kleinii, Mammalia. 

 Gens I Cetacea. 

 Gens II Quadrupedia. 

 Div. I Aquatilia. 



Manatus, Pusa [="Phoca fcetida Fabricius"], Phoca, Rosmarus, 

 Lutra, Castor, Hydrochcerus, Hippopotamus. 

 Div. II Terrestria. 



Ordo I Ungulata. 



* Non-ruminantia. 



Elephas, Rhinoceros, Tapirus, Sus, Equus. 

 ** Ruminantia. 



Camelus, Giraffa, Cervus, Antilope, Capra, Ovis, Bos, Moschus. 

 Ordo II Unguiculata. 



* Mammis quatuor et pluribus. 



a) Dentibus primoribus binis. 



Lepus, Cavia, Histrix, Erinaceus, Mus, Sciurvis, Sorex. 



b) Dentibus primoribus anticus senis excepta Didelphi. 



Talpa, Mustela, Viverra, Felis, Canis, Ursus, Didelphis. 



c) Dentibus primoribus nullis. 



Mirmecophaga, Manis, Dasypus. 

 ** Mammis duabus. 



Bradypus, Vespertilio, Lemur, Simia, Homo. 



ERXLEBEN, 1777. 



'Systema Regni Animalis. . . .Classis I INIammalia." Lipsiae. 8vo. 



Erxleben modestly announces his book as a new edition of the 'Systema 

 Naturae,' but he had contributed many new genera and species and had 

 compiled an extensive, critical and exact synonymy and bibliography of 

 names of mammals, covering the period from Aristotle to Tiis own time. 

 In commenting on the great difficulty of discovering a truly natural ordinal 

 classification of the mammals, after listing Linne's orders, Erxleben abandons 



