XXXli INTRODUCTION. 



1. Cetacea, the Whale tribes, which, though viviparous, 

 breathing by means of lungs, and suckling their young by 

 mammas, are formed on a plan which fits them to live in 

 water. Some are formed like fishes, as the Porpoise and 

 the Dolphin, having a smooth and glossy skin without hairs, 

 and connected with the skin the fatty tissue termed blubber, 

 from which oil is obtained. The next in order are the true 

 Whales, of which some are the hugest creatures to which 

 life is given on this planet. They have no teeth, but they 

 have enormous mouths, which enable them to take in, along 

 with the water, shoals of worms, little shell-fish, and innu- 

 merable animalcules. It is when they rise to the surface to 

 breathe that they spout forth from their nostrils the water 

 which they had swallowed with their prey, in great jets. 

 They yield a vast quantity of oil, for which production they 

 are pursued in the seas which they inhabit, and harpooned 

 when they rise to the surface to breathe. 



2. Ruminantia, so named from the faculty possessed by 

 them of returning to the mouth the food which has passed 

 into the stomach, and subjecting it to a second mastication. 

 All the ruminantia live on vegetable food, have the feet 

 cloven, and defended at the extremities by horn. They con- 

 stitute an order of creatures of the highest interest, com- 

 prehending the Stag, the Antelope, the Giraffe, and others, 

 amongst the wilder races ; the Goat, the Sheep, the Ox, the 

 Camel, amongst those which have been subjected to human 

 control. Living on vegetables alone, they are never incited, 

 by the appetite for food, to prey on other creatures. Some 

 of them are fitted to save themselves from their enemies by 

 flight, and are amongst the fleetest of quadrupeds, as the 

 Elks, the Deers, the Gazelles, which delight the eye by their 

 graceful motions. Some dwell on the summits, and amid 

 the crags, of mountains, as the Ibex, the Chamois Antelope, 

 and the Wild Sheep. Some are supplied with organs placed 

 in the head, which can often be used with deadly effect for 

 protection or revenge. These arms are antlers, or horns, 



