12 MAMMALIA. 



bcr that it implies only difference in the degree, not in the kind of intel- 

 ligence. Animals possess memory, can distinguish objects, have per- 

 ceptions of time, place, color and sound ; can learn, apprehend, judge 

 and conclude. Like man, they learn by experience, they perceive danger 

 and devise means to avoid it, they like and dislike, love their friends and 

 benefactors, hate their enemies and ill-doers ; they exhibit gratitude, 

 loyalty, respect and contempt, anger and gentleness, cunning and saga- 

 city, deceitfulness and honesty ; some think before they act, some stake 

 life and liberty to gratify their impulses. Animals comprehend the 

 benefits of association, and sacrifice themselves for the good of their 

 society ; they tend their sick, support the weak, divide their food with 

 the hungry ; they can subdue their desires and passions, and have an 

 independent will. They can recall the past, and forecast the future, for 

 which they save and provide. In character, too, animals differ widely. 

 They are daring or timid, bold or cowardly, open or sly, proud or hum- 

 ble, trusting or suspicious, docile or stupid, servile and tyrannous, lovers 

 of peace or lovers of strife, merry or sad, joyous or melancholy, fond 

 of or averse to society, friends to each otiier or foes of all the world. 



Their characters are altered and their faculties developed by educa- 

 tion. The horse, the dog, the ox, the elephant display, when tamed and 

 trained by man, powers which their wild kindred never exhibit. 



The Geographical distribution of animals has attracted much attention, 

 but any detailed classification of animals according to their location 

 would, we tiiink, be needless in this work. We may remark generally, 

 that the Quadniinana inhabit the Tropics, but the families in the Western 

 Hemisphere are different from those that dwell in the Eastern; the 

 Marsupials are most abundant in Australia, with some genera in America. 

 There are no Edentata in Europe, nor any nati\e Ruminant ia in Aus- 

 tralia. The Cheiroptera, Carnivora, Rodentia, and Cctacea are citizens of 

 the world. 



We have not yet spoken of the external covering of most tribes of 

 Mammalia. Their coats vary both in color and thickness according to 

 the dwelling-places and habits of the wearer; from the stripes of the 

 tiger to the white fur of the polar bear. This external coat consists of 

 hair, which in the sheep becomes wool, in the swine bristles, in the 

 liedgehog prickles, in the porcupine quills ; the scales, nails and horns 

 wiiich some orders possess are formed by the close contact of the roots 

 of the hair, whose horny filaments join firmly together and compose solid 



