494 ZOOLOGY. 



to the air, all the rest of the animal remaining plunged under 

 water. 



We might also add, that in water, alimentation is possible 

 with instruments of prehension and of motion less prrfr.-t 

 than in air, in which the transport of foreign matters re- 

 quired by the animal is more difficult to accomplish. Thus, 

 under all its more essential relations, life is, in some measure, 

 easier to sustain in the bosom of the waters than on the sur- 

 face of the dry land ; it necessitates in the atmosphere phy- 

 siological instruments more complex and more perfect ; 

 therefore the waters are the natural element of the animals 

 placed lower in the scale of the zoological series ; and if the 

 productions of the creation have succeeded each other in the 

 same order of the transitory conditions through which each 

 animal passes during the period of its development, we may 

 conclude that it was in the middle of the waters that ani- 

 mated beings appeared first, a result which accords with the 

 observations of geologists and the assertions of scripture. The 

 physiologist may in this manner give an account of the actual 

 mode of distribution of animals between the two geological 

 elements which divide the surface of the globe, land and 

 water : but these fundamental differences are not the only 

 ones which we observe in the geographical distribution of 

 animated beings. If a naturalist, familiar with the fauna of 

 this country, visit distant regions, he sees, in proportion as he 

 advances, the earth peopled with animals new to him, and 

 these species next disappear in their turn to make room for 

 other species equally unknown to him. If quitting France 

 he lands in South Africa, he will find but a very small num- 

 ber of animals similar to those he had seen in Europe, and he 

 will observe, especially, the large-eared elephant, the hippopo- 

 tamus, the double-horned rhinoceros, the giralfe, innumera- 

 ble flocks of antelopes, the zebra ; the Cape buffalo, whose horns 

 cover by their large base all the forehead ; the black-maned 

 lion ; the chimpanzee, which, of all animals, most resembles 

 man ; the cynocephalus, or dog-faced ape ; peculiar species of 

 vultures ; a number of bright-plumaged birds, strangers to 

 Europe; insects equally different from those of the north, the 

 fatal termites, for example, which live in numerous societies, 

 and build of the soil habitations of considerable elevation 

 and most singular construction. 



626. If our zoologist quits the Cape of Good Hope and 

 penetrates into the large island of Madagascar, he will there 



