ZOOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION 



nice distinction is indulged in, that attempt is often 

 contemptuously refuted by Nature. The most that 

 can be done is to estimate all the characters that can 

 be ascertained, and then a given animal can be referred 

 to its place by a series of comparisons. For example, 

 the little Kanchil, which we describe later, is an Ungu- 

 late, although it possesses no horns, and has strong 

 canine teeth, which are often wanting in the group. 

 We arrive at this conclusion by the consideration of 

 the sum total of its anatomical structure. 



We find, for example, that the feet are arranged on 

 the plan of those of other horned and canine-toothless 

 Artiodactyle Ungulates, while the stomach has nearly 

 the complexity of that of those animals. The brain 

 and other organs point in the same direction ; and so, 

 in spite of lack of horns and strong development of 

 canine teeth, we put the Kanchil near to the deer and 

 their allies. This, however, is a simple instance which 

 admits of no question. It is quite otherwise with the 

 whales and dolphins ; no one has yet been able to put 

 before the zoological world convincing arguments as 

 to the place which the aquatic mammals occupy in the 

 system. In no structural feature is there irrefragable 

 evidence of the whale's place in Nature, though some 

 would put them near the order which we are now con- 

 sidering. 



Besides the possession of horns and hoofs and the 

 usual disappearance or rudimentary condition of the 

 canines, it will be noted that the Ungulata are practi- 

 cally entirely vegetable-feeding animals. It is true 

 that in certain northern regions cattle are fed, when 

 fodder is scarce, upon dried fish, and that there are a 

 few other instances of the development of a carnivorous 

 appetite in the group. But, on the whole, the Ungulata 

 are a more purely vegetarian group than is any other of 

 existing mammals. Related to this mode of feeding, 



Z.G. 49 E 



