548 ZOOLOGY. 



newer region, we find a fauna the inferiority of which is still 

 more evident, for the class of mammals is there scarcely re- 

 presented by the marsupialia and the monotremes. 



With regard to the delimitation of the different zoological 

 regions which divide the globe, and to the composition of the 

 fauna peculiar to each of them, we cannot treat of it here 

 without passing beyond the limits prescribed by this course of 

 instruction, and we the less regret this necessity seeing that 

 in the actual state of the science these questions are far from 

 being solved. 



We shall even close here our zoological studies, for the 

 object we had proposed to ourselves was not the particular 

 description of each animal, nor the enumeration of the charac- 

 ters by which they might be known or grouped methodically ; 

 we only wish to give in this course ideas on the nature and 

 properties of these beings, to sketch rapidly the principal 

 traits of their history, and to furnish to our young readers 

 the general knowledge the most useful to all, and indispen- 

 sable to those who wish to study more deeply this branch of 

 the sciences of observation. 



