378 



QUADRUPEDS COVERED 



in many respects, related to the classes be- ! 

 neath them, and do not in every respect, pre- 

 serve their usual distinctions. Their first 

 character, which consists in having lour feet, 

 is common to the lizard kind as well as to 

 them. The second prerogative, which is that 

 of bringing forth living young, is found in the 

 cetaceous tribe of fishes, and also in insects 

 without number. Their third and last attri- 

 bute, which seems more general and constant 

 than the former, that of being covered with 

 hair, is yet found in various other animals, 

 and is deficient in quarupeds themselves. 

 Thus we must be cautious of judging of the 

 nature of animals from one single character, 

 which is always found incomplete; for it often 

 happens that three or four of the most gene- 

 ral characters will not suffice. It must be by 

 a general enumeration of the parts that we 

 can determine precisely of the works of the 

 creation; and instead of definitions, learn to 

 describe. Had this method been followed, 

 much of the disgust and the intricacy of his- 

 tory might have been avoided, and that time, 

 which is now employed in combating error, 

 laid out in the promoting of science. 



Were we to judge of nature from definitions 

 only, we should never be induced to suppose 

 that there existed races of viviparous quad- 

 rupeds destitute of hair, and furnished with 

 scales and shells in their stead. However, 

 nature, every way various, supplies us with 

 many instances of these extraordinary crea- 

 tures; the old world has itsquadrupeds cover- 

 ed with scales, and the new with a shell. In 

 both, they resemble each other, as well in the 

 strangeness of their appetites, as in their awk- 

 ward conformation. Like animals but par- 

 tially made up, and partaking of different 

 natures, they want those instincts which ani- 

 mals formed but for one element alone are 

 found to possess. They seem to be a kind 

 of strangers in nature ; creatures taken from 

 some other element, and capriciously thrown 

 to find a precarious subsistence upon land. 



THE PANGOLIN. 



THE pangolin, which has been usually call- 

 ed the scaly lizard, Mr. Buffbn verv judiciously 

 restores to that denomination by which it is 



known in the countnes wnere it is found. 

 The calling it a lizard, he justly observes, 

 might be apt to produce error, and occasion 

 its being confounded with an animal which it 

 resembles only in its general form, and in its 

 being covered with scales. The lizard may 

 be considered as a reptile, produced from an 

 egg; the pangolin is a quadruped, and 

 brought forth alive, and perfectly formed. 

 The lizard is all covered with the marks of 

 scales ; the pangolin has scales neither on the 

 throat, the breast, nor the belly. The scales 

 of the lizard seem stuck upon the body even 

 closer than those of fishes ; the scales of the 

 pangolin are only fixed atone and, and capa- 

 ble of being erected, like those of the porcu- 

 pine, at the will of the animal. The lizard 

 is a defenceless creature; the pangolin can 

 roll itself into a ball, like the hedgehog, and 

 presents the points of its scales to the enemy, 

 which effectually defend it. 



The pangolin, which is a native of the 

 torrid climates of the ancient continent, is, of 

 all other animals, the best protected from ex- 

 ternal injury by nature. It is about three or 

 four feet long; or, taking in the tail, from six 

 to eight. Like the lizard, it has a small head, 

 a very long nose, a short thick neck, a long 

 body, legs very short, and a tail extremely 

 long, thick at the insertion, and terminating 

 in a point. It has no teeth, but is armed 

 with five toes ou each foot, with long white 

 claws. But what it is chiefly distinguished 

 by, is its scaly covering, which, in some mea- 

 sure, hides all the proportions of its body. 

 These scales defend the animal on all parts, 

 except the under part of the head and neck, 

 under the shoulders, the breast, the belly, 

 and the inner side of the legs; all which 

 parts are covered with a smooth, soft skin, 

 without hair. Between the shells of this ani- 

 mal, at all the interstices, are seen hairs like 

 bristles, brown at the extremity, and yellow 

 towards the root. The scales of this extra- 

 ordinary creature are of different sizes and 

 different forms, and stuck upon the body 

 somewhat like the leaves of an artichoke. 

 The largest are found near the tail, which is 

 covered with them like the rest of the body. 

 These are above three inches broad, and 

 about two inches long, thick in the middle 

 and share at the edges, and terminated in a 



