134 SPECIES AND BREEDS. 



CHAPTER X. 



SPECIES AND BREEDS. 



THERE remains but one more division of the 

 Animal Kingdom for our consideration, the most 

 limited of all in its circumscription, that of 

 Species. It is with the study of this kind of 

 group that naturalists generally begin their inves- 

 tigations. I believe, however, that the study of 

 Species as the basis of a scientific education is a 

 great mistake. It leads us to overrate the value of 

 Species, and to believe that they exist in Nature 

 in some different sense from the other groups ; as 

 if there were something more real and tangible in 

 Species than in Genera, .Families, Orders, Classes, 

 or Branches. The truth is, that to study a vast 

 number of Species without tracing the principles 

 that combine them under more comprehensive 

 groups is only to burden the mind with discon- 

 nected facts, and more may be learned by a faith- 

 ful and careful comparison of a few Species than 

 by a more cursory examination of a greater 

 number. When one considers the immense 

 number of Species already known, naturalists 



