VARIETJES OF THK HUMAN SFKCIES. 215 



of this locality are rendered stronger ; and the examples of 

 admirable conformity between the organic capabilities of 

 animals, and the circumstances of the regions which they 

 inhabit, are multiplied and strengthened. 



The peculiar adaptation of the camel to the sandy deserts 

 in which he is placed, strikes the most cursory observer. 

 The herds of antelopes and other ruminant animals, and the 

 great troops of solidungular quadrupeds, are not less suited 

 to the boundless plains of Asia and Africa ; the vast as- 

 semblages of elk and buffalo, to the uninhabited wilds of 

 America; the tiger, to the jungles and the thickets of the 

 East Indies ; and the troops of sapajous, with their prehen- 

 sile tails, to the lofty forests of Guinea and Brazil. 



Even when the external circumstances are nearly alike, 

 remote regions are occupied, in most cases, by distinct 

 genera or species. The lion, so common in Africa, is 

 hardly found in Asia, while the tiger is peculiar to the lat- 

 ter : the elephants and rhinoceroses of these two quarters 

 of the world are specifically distinct. 



The instances of America, New Holland, and some 

 other islands, afford unanswerable arguments against the 

 creation of all animals in one spot. None of the mam- 

 malia of the southern hemisphere, the torrid zone, or even 

 the two northern temperate regions, are common to the 

 two continents. When the Spaniards landed in the New 

 World, they did not find a single animal they were ac- 

 quainted with : not one of the quadrupeds of Europe, Asia, 

 or Africa. On the other hand, the puma ^, the jaguar f? 

 the tapir, the cabiai J, the lama ||, the vicugna §, the sapa- 

 jous, were creatures altogether new to them. No quadru- 



* Couguar (Felis discolor Lixx.). 



+ Felis on^a L. American tiger ; nearly a match in size and strength for 

 the royal tiger of Bengal. 



:*: Cavia capybara L. 



II Camelus Llacma L. the camel of Peru, and the only beast of burden in 

 the country at the time of the Spanish conquest. The guanaco is the wild 

 lama. 



§ Paco ; camelus vicunna, L., producing the fine soft and fawn-coloured 

 wool. 



