2G0 HISTORY or 



fishes, and also in insects without number. Their tiiird and 

 last attribute, which seems more general and constant than the 

 former, that of being covered with hair, is yet found in various 

 other animals, and is deficient in quadrupeds themselves. Thus 

 we must be cautious of judging of the nature of animals from one 

 single character, which is always found incomplete ; for it often 

 happens that three or four of the most general characters will not 

 suffice. It must be by a general enumeration of the parts that we 

 can determine precisely of the works of the creation ; and instead 

 of definitions, learn to describe. Had this method been followed, 

 much of the disgust and the intricacy of history might have been 

 avoided, and that time which is now employed in combating er- 

 ror, laid out in the promoting of science. 



Were we to judge of nature from definitions only, we should 

 never be induced to suppose that there existed races of viviparous 

 quadrupeds destitute of hair, and furnished with scales and shells 

 in their stead. However, nature, every way various, supplies us 

 with many instances of these extraordinary creatures ; the old 

 world has its quadrupeds covered with scales, and the new with 

 a shell. In both they resemble each other, as well in the strange- 

 ness of their appetites, as in their awkward conformation. Like 

 animals but partially made up, and partaking of diflferent natures, 

 they want those instincts vihich animals, formed but for one ele- 

 ment alone, are found to possess. They seem to be a kind of 

 strangers in nature, creatures taken from some other element, 

 and capriciously thrown to find a precarious subsistence upon 

 land. 



THE PANGOLIN. 



The Pangolin, which has been usually called the sculy lizard, 

 Mr Buffon very judiciously restores to that denomination by 

 which it is known in the countries where it is found. The 

 calling it a lizard, he justly observes, might be apt to produce 

 error, and occasion its being confounded with an animal which 

 it resembles only in its general form and in its being covered 

 with scales. The lizard may be considered as a reptile, produc- 

 ed from an e^g ; the pangolin is a quadruped, and brought forth 

 alive, and perfectly formed. The lizard is all over covered with 

 the marks of scales ; the pangolin has scales neither on the throat, 



