94 INTRODUCTION. 



the fingers of the anterior pair ; therefore, with- 

 out the thumbs free and opposable. Cuvier 

 had placed this order as a family of carnassiers, 

 to which it and the next are more or less allied. 

 Bats and flying cats. 



Order IV. Another dismemberment from carnas- 

 siers, the Insectivora, with the crowns of the 

 molar teeth conical; mostly with subterrene 

 habits, and therefore with small, indifferent, or 

 no sight. Moles, hedgehogs, and shrews. 



Order V. The Carnivora proper, feeding on flesh, 

 show molar teeth without conical crowns, no 

 opposable thumbs ; but plantigrade, like bears 

 and badgers; digitigrade, like weasels, dogs, 

 and cats ; web-footed, or pinnigrade, like seals 

 and walrus. 



Order. VI. The Cetacea (aberrant) without poste- 

 rior extremities, but furnished in lieu with an 

 zontal cartilaginous tail, fit for swimming; 

 divided into Cetacea proper, with Spiracles on 

 the head, like dolphins and whales, and Her- 

 bivora without spiracles, such as the Dugong 

 manatee. These are so fish-like in form, that 

 they might be regarded as a separate class, if 

 their economy was not, in every other respect, 

 the same as in the other orders of placental 

 mammalia. They are the warm blooded fishes 

 of the ancients, and residing in an element 

 which easily sustains their mass, include the 

 most gigantic forms that are to be found in 

 the whole animal creation. 



