68 ON THE GEOGRAPHY OP ANIMALS. 



(95.) The islands dispersed in the great gulf, but 

 more particularly the Isthmus of Mexico, constitute 

 that intermediate region that " land debateable" 

 in which the Faunas of the two great divisions of 

 America meet, and imperceptibly blend into, each other. 

 Such are the harmonious transitions of nature through 

 all her works; ever varying, her laws are yet the 

 same, in whatever light her operations are studied. 

 To look for absolute divisions were a fruitless and a 

 hopeless task, for they can never be found ; and they 

 appear totally repugnant to the laws of creation. It is 

 immaterial, therefore, to our present purpose, at what 

 degree of longitude or of latitude we draw an imaginary 

 line of separation : whether, in short, we consider the 

 table land of Mexico as the southern confines of tem- 

 perate America, or view it as the northern limits of its 

 tropical portion. As a combination of circumstances 

 has drawn our attention to this hitherto unknown re- 

 gion, a more detailed notice on such of its animal pro- 

 ductions as have yet reached us, may prove interesting. 



(96.) On the quadrupeds of Mexico, our information, 

 indeed, is but scanty. The short and vague notices 

 given by Hernandez, who distinguishes them only by 

 the unutterable names of the Indians, affords no clue by 

 which we can comprehend their real nature ; and, un- 

 fortunately for science, the most intelligent and accom- 

 plished of our modern travellers in Mexico one who has 

 supplied us with a fund of most important and ster- 

 ling information on nearly every other topic had no 

 knowledge of natural history. Nevertheless, Mr. Ward * 

 occasionally alludes to some of the native quadrupeds. He 

 mentions herds of between fifty and sixty deer, as abound- 

 ing on the plains of the table-land t: he alludes to wolves 

 being caught by the lasso j and to a kind of fox or wild 

 dog, which is found in such numbers, that the hunting 

 parties, formed by the peasants, frequently kill great 

 numbers in one season.^ " The wild animals to be met 



* Mexico, by G. H. Ward, Esq. M. P. 2 vols. 8vo 2d ed. 

 f Vol. ii. p. 262. 4: See Ward's Mexico. 



