Book II. ECONOMICAL USES OF ANIMALS. 299 



either above or beneath the surface of the ground ; from which they emerge, and again 

 become inhabitants of eartli and air as perfect winged insects. 



2010. The rapacity of carnivorous animals has been considered by some writers to have 

 had a considerable eflect on the distribution and even on the extinction of otliers ; but no 

 instance has yet been brought forward in support of this argument, nor does history 

 furnish us with any proof of such having been the case. The fossil remains of those 

 stupendous carnivorous animals which have been discovered of late years, and which 

 existed in the antediluvian world, might have suggested this idea as probable, and that 

 the destruction among a host of smaller animals which would alone have satisfied the 

 hunger of a brood of lizards (like the Plesiosaurus) forty feet long and six feet high, 

 would soon have extirpated whole tribes ; but it must not be forgotten that these gigantic 

 animals belonged to a different creation from that which now covers the earth ; and that 

 neither in Africa nor in India, where the present races of carnivorous animals are most 

 abundant, has any change or sensible diminution taken place in the proportion of those 

 upon which they principally feed. 



2011. Man alone has exercised, in various ways, a powerful influence on animals, and on 

 their distribution : these changes, however, are purely artificial ; they have caused the 

 total or partial extinction of some species, and the extension and domestication of others. 

 Against many, hostile to his interests, man carries on a war of extermination, which, as 

 population spreads, is at length effected in particidar countries. The wolf, once so 

 abundant in Britain that their heads were received as tribute by our Saxon kings, has for 

 centuries been extirpated from our forests; and a progressive decrease is continually 

 going on among the wild animals, not only of Europe, but of North America. Others, 

 inoffensive in their habits, but valued as food, have been driven from our island. The 

 eyret and crane, as British birds, are no longer known ; while the great bustard, which 

 may be called the ostrich of Europe, is now rarely seen ; and in all probability (unless 

 its name should be inserted in the game laws), will be totally lost to us in a few years. 

 In like manner that extraordinary bird the dodo (which was the ostrich of Asia) has 

 not been seen for more than a century, and may possibly be no longer in existence. 

 The benefits that have resulted, on the other hand, from the extension and domestication 

 of usefid animals are suflSciently known. All the various breeds of our domestic cock 

 have originated from the forests of India, which have likewise furnished Europe with 

 the pheasant and the peacock ; the pintado or guinea fowl is of African origin ; the 

 horse and domestic ox were unknown in the new world before its discovery by the 

 Spaniards ; and the vast island of Australia has been supplied with all its domestic 

 animals from Europe. The turkey is of American origin; and, although nearly 

 extinct in its native forests, is domesticated all over the world. There are doubtless many 

 other animals that might be domesticated, either for use or pleasure ; but in a country 

 like this, so variable in its climate, and where land is so valuable, it is much to be feared 

 the necessary experiments will not be made. 



2012. The local distribution of British animals, however interesting, is too confined a 

 subject to lead to any general or important conclusions regarding the geographic dis- 

 tribution of animals. It is, however, an enquiry that merits attention ; and although no 

 one has yet expressly written upon the subject, the observations of White, Montague, and 

 several others will furnish a great deal of valuable information. In arranging the 

 British fauna, all such birds as have been seen apparently as wanderers, and only at long 

 intervals of time, should be excluded, or at least distinctly noticed as accidental visitors ; 

 but to introduce the peacock, the domestic cock, and the turkey, into a natural history of 

 British birds, as some have done, is a manifest absurdity; for upon this principle we 

 should include the canary, the gold and silver pheasant, and all other exotic birds which 

 may have accidentally bred in our aviaries. 



Chap. VI L 



Of the Econom,ical Uses of Animals. 



2013. On the importance of animals in the arts, as labourers, and as furnishing food, 

 clothing, medicine, and materials for various manufactures, it is needless to enlarge. 



2014. As labourers the quadrupeds alone are employed ; of these the most generally 

 useful in this country are the horse, the ox, and the ass. The excellent carriage roads 

 through most parts of Europe have superseded the necessity, in a great measure, of beasts 

 of burden, although in the mountainous parts of Spain and Italy, and nearly throughout 

 the whole of Sicily, mules alone are employed to convey goods and produce. Such 

 likewise is the case throughout Mexico and Brazil. The camel in Northern Africa, and 



