120 



A HISTORY OF 



or their properties. But it is otherwise with 

 animals and vegetables ; these are endued 

 with life and vigour : they have their state of 

 improvement and decay ; they are capable 

 of reproducing their kinds ; they grow from 

 seeds in some, and from cuttings in others ; 

 they seem all possessed of sensation, in a 

 greater or less degree ; they both have their 

 enmities and affections ; and, as some animals 

 are, by nature, impelled to violence, so some 

 plants are found to exterminate all others, 

 and make a wilderness of the places round 

 them. As the lion makes a desert of the 

 forest where it resides, thus no other plant 

 will grow under the shade of the manchineel- 

 tree. Thus, also, that plant, in the West 

 Indies, called caraguata, clings round what- 

 ever tree it happens to approach : there it 

 quickly gains the ascendant; and, loading 

 the tree with a verdure not its own, keeps 

 away that nourishment designed to feed the 

 trunk; and, at last, entirely destroys its sup- 

 porter. As all animals are ultimately sup- 

 ported upon vegetables, so vegetables are 

 greatly propagated, by being made a part of 

 animal food. Birds distribute the seeds wher- 

 ever they fly, and quadrupeds prune them 

 into greater luxuriance. By these means the 

 quantity of food, in a state of nature, is kept 

 equal to the number of the consumers ; and, 

 lest some of the weaker ranks of animals 

 should find nothing for their support, but all 

 the provisions be devoured by the strong, 

 different vegetables are appropriated to dif- 

 ferent appetites. If, transgressing this rule, 

 the stronger ranks should invade the rights 

 of the weak, and, breaking through all regard 

 to appetite, should make an indiscriminate 

 use of every vegetable, nature then punishes 

 the transgression, and poison marks the crime 

 as capital. 



If, again, we compare vegetables and ani- 

 mals, with respect to the places where they 

 are found, we shall find them bearing a still 

 stronger similitude. The vegetables that grow 

 in a dry and sunny soil, are strong and vigo- 

 rous, though not luxuriant ; so, also, are the 

 animals of such a climate. Those, on the 

 contrary, that are the joint product of heat 

 and moisture, are luxuriant and tender ; and 

 the animals assimilating to the vegetable food, 

 on which they ultimately subsist, are much 



larger in such places than in others. Thus, 

 in the internal parts of South America and 

 Africa, where the sun usually scorches all 

 above, while inundations cover all below, the 

 insects, reptiles, and other animals, grow to 

 a prodigious size: the earth-worm of America 

 is often a yard in length, and as thick as a 

 walking cane; the boiguacu, which is the 

 largest of the serpent kind, is sometimes forty 

 feet in length; the bats, in those countries, 

 are as big as a rabbit ; the toads are bigger 

 than a duck ; and their spiders are as large 

 as a sparrow. On the contrary, in the cold 

 frozen regions of the north, where vegetable 

 nature is stinted of its growth, the few ani- 

 mals in those climates partake of the diminu- 

 tion ; all the wild animals, except the bear, 

 are much smaller than in milder countries ; 

 and such of the domestic kinds as are car- 

 ried thither, quickly degenerate, and grow, 

 less. Their very insects are of the minute 

 kinds, their bees and spiders being not half 

 so large as those in the temperate zone. 



The similitude between vegetables and 

 animals is no where more obvious than in 

 those that belong to the ocean, where the 

 nature of one is admirably adapted to 

 the necessities of the other. This element, 

 it is well known, has its vegetables, and its 

 insects that feed upon them in great abun- 

 dance. Over many tracts of the sea, a weed 

 is seen floating, which covers the surface, and 

 gives the resemblance of a green and exten- 

 sive meadow. On the under side of these 

 unstable plants, millions of little animals are 

 found, adapted to their situation. For, aa 

 their ground, if I may so express it, lies over 

 their heads, their feet are placed upon their 

 backs; and, as land animals have their legs 

 below their bodies, these have them above. 

 At land also, most animals are furnished with 

 eyes to see their food ; but at sea, almost all 

 the reptile kinds are without eyes, which 

 might only give them prospects of danger at 

 a time when unprovided with the means of 

 escaping it." 



Thus, in all places, we perceive an ob- 

 vious similitude between the animals and the 

 vegetables of every region. In general, how- 

 ever, the most perfect races have the least 



Linnrei Amccnitates, vol. v. p. 68. 



