169 



toos, parrots, birds of paradise, humming birds, 

 and other splendid varieties, are proper to the 

 torrid regions ; while the eagle, the eider-duck, 

 the albatross, and numerous other tribes, are 

 confined to districts more or less cold. The 

 majority of reptiles again, and other cold-blood- 

 ed animals are met with only or chiefly in hot 

 climates ; and it is of these, accordingly, that the 

 deadly rattle-snake and cobra -de-capello, and 

 the formidable crocodile and alligator, are inha- 

 bitants. In like manner many of the most re- 

 markable fishes, as the flying-fish, the electrical 

 fish, &c., occur only in tropical waters ; while 

 some few only, as the cod, inhabit the frigid 

 waters of the north. Of insects, lastly, the 

 hordes of splendid butterflies and fire-flies, of 

 mosquitoes and white ants, which inhabit hot 

 districts, are known to every body ; while cold 

 districts, on the contrary, are comparatively des- 

 titute of them. 



But it is not climate alone which produces 

 these differences ; for, of all the animals which 

 I have above enumerated, scarcely any one is 

 the inhabitant indiscriminately of any hot or of 

 any cold climate, but each has its own specific 

 locality, in which alone it arrives at perfection. 

 Nay, many districts appear to have their own 

 peculiar tribes of animals almost independently 

 of the climate, as is particularly the case with 

 regard to America. When America was first 

 discovered, no quadrupeds corresponding to our 

 horses were found there ; neither was our spe- 



