ANIMALS. Ui3 



multiply under the hand of the destroyer. On the otner h;iiHl, 

 it liiis as wisely been ordered by Providence, that the larger kinds 

 sLouKi produce but slowly ; otherwise, as they require jjropor- 

 tional supplies from nature, they would quickly consume their 

 own store ; and, of consequence, many of them would soon per- 

 ish through want ; so that life would thus be given ^^'ithout the 

 necessary means of subsistence. In a word, Providence has 

 most wisely balanced the strength of the great against the weak- 

 ness of the little. Since it was necessary that some should be 

 great and others mean, since it was expedient that some should 

 live upon others, it has assisted the weakness of one by granting 

 it fruitfulness ; and diminished the number of the other by iii- 

 fecundity. 



In consequence of this provision, the larger creatures, which 

 bring forth few at a time, seldom begin to generate till they have 

 nearly acquired their full growth. On the contrary, those which 

 bring many, reproduce betbre they have arrived at their natural 

 size. Thus the horse and the bull are nearly at their best before 

 they begin to breed ; the hog and the rabbit scarcely leave the 

 teat before they become parents in turn. Almost all animals 

 likewise continue the time of their pregnancy in proportion to 

 their size. The mare continues eleven months with foal, the 

 cow nine, the wolf five, and the bitch nine weeks. In all, the 

 intermediate litters are the most fruitful ; the first and the last 

 generally producing the fewest in number, and the worst of the 

 kind. 



Whatever be the natural disposition of animals at other times, 

 they all acquire new courage when they consider themselves as 

 defending tlieir young. No terrors can then drive them from 

 the post of duty ; the mildest begin to exert their little force, 

 and resist the most formidable enemy. Wiicre resistance is 

 liopeless, they then incur every danger, in order to rescue their 

 young by flight, and retard their own expedition by provi<ling 

 for their little ones. When the female oppossum, an animal of 

 Anicrica, is pursued, she instantly takes her young into a false 

 belly, with which nature has supplied her, and carries them off, 

 or dies in the endeavour. I have been lately assured of a she-fox, 

 which, when hunted, took her cub in her mouth, and run for 

 several miles without quitting it, until at last she was forced to 

 leave it behind, upon the approach of a mastiff, as she ran 



