XXXIV INTltODUCTIOX. 



supplied with a natural armour ; the Ant-eaters, and two re- 

 markable creatures of New Holland, the Duck-billed Water- 

 Mole, and the Porcupine Ant- Eater, which connect this order 

 with the Birds. 



5. Rodentia, or Gnawing animals, as the Mouse, the Rat, 

 the Hare, the Squirrel, the Beaver, and the Porcupine. These 

 creatures are some of them predaceous, and others live wholly 

 on vegetable food. There are several of them possessed of 

 wonderful instincts for constructing their dwellings, and 

 many of them remain torpid during the season of cold. Some 

 visit our dwellings, as the Rat and the Mouse, without sub- 

 mitting themselves to our power ; and the greater number 

 are timid, and shun the presence of man. 



6. Marsupialia, animals of diiferent orders, having a pouch 

 underneath the abdomen, where the young receive their milk 

 from glands, to which they attach themselves, as the Opos- 

 sum, the Kangaroo, and the Phalangers. 



7. Carnivora. or Ferae, animals especially destined to feed 

 on flesh, and which may be termed beasts of prey, comprehend- 

 ing, (1.) the Seals and Walruses, not less fierce and bloody in 

 the ocean than the others are on the land ; (2.) the Dog tribe, 

 comprehending the domesticated Dogs, the Wolves, the Jack- 

 als, the Foxes, and other wild Canidae ; (3.) the Ursidae, com- 

 prehending the Bears, the Raccoons, and other allied ani- 

 mals ; (4.) the Civet and Weasel tribes, as the Ichneumon, 

 the Polecat, the Ferret, the Badger, the Otter ; and, lastly, 

 the sanguinary family of Cats, the Lion, the Tiger, the Leo- 

 pard, the Panther, the Wild Cat, and others. 



8. Insectivora, animals that live chiefly on insects, and 

 which are, most of them, subterranean in their habits, as the 

 Hedgehog, the Shrew, the Mole. 



9. Cheiroptera, constituting the varied tribes of Bats, which 

 alone, of all the mammalia, are endowed with the power of 

 flight. To this end their anterior limbs are expanded into 

 broad membranes, and their posterior limbs are furnished 

 with hands, by which they hang from trees and the roofs of 



