180 



INTRODUCTION. 



in common accordance : and in the assemblage of orders into a class, the 

 diagnostics are solely to be drawn from organs, and their functions. 



Now it is with the formation of genera, so that they shall be natural, 

 and with the disposal of these genera, according to their true affinities, or, 

 so as to display their affinities, that the systematic naturalist is especially 

 concerned ; for it need not be argued, that the value of a system depends 

 upon its being a transcript of Nature. It must not, however, be con- 

 cealed, that many difficulties lie in the way of all attempts to exhibit the 

 scheme of Nature's combinations. Chasms interrupt the investigator; 

 anomalous forms perplex him ; he is apt, on the one hand, to overrate 

 the importance of characters, or, on the other hand, to slight them. He 

 often mistakes analogy for affinity, and he is, also, influenced by pre- 

 conceived opinions. Hence it is, that naturalists, alike aiming at truth, 

 differ so widely in their views. They take one set of organs, by which 

 to be exclusively guided, and on which to construct a system, not, indeed, 

 valueless, but artificial, instead of natural. Such were the arrangements of 

 the earlier writers ; the results of an extended series of anatomical inves- 

 tigations were wanting, to guide them in the establishment of groups ; and 

 hence do the trivial characters upon which they are founded, lead to 

 unnatural combinations and strange disjunctions. It is not meant, by 

 these observations, to depreciate the merit of the earlier naturalists ; it is 

 no little to their praise, that they should have done what they have, con- 

 sidering the limited extent of the materials within their reach ; and, 

 let it be remembered, that to improve is easier than to originate. 



The following table presents the arrangement of " viviparous, hairy 

 animals, or quadrupeds," according to the system of Ray : 



UNGULATA. 



(ANIMALS HAVING HOOFS.) 



SOLIPEDA. Single-hoofed. As the Horse, Ass, and Zebra. 



BISULCA. Double, or cloven-hoofed. Primarily divisible into ruminants and non- 

 ruminants. 



Ruminating Bisulca again separable into two sub-divisions ; namely, those with per- 

 manent, and those with deciduous, horns. 



1. Those with permanent horns ; as the Ox, the Sheep, and the Goat. 



2. Those with deciduous horns ; as the Deer kind. 

 Non-ruminating Bisulca : as the Hog. 



QUADRISULCA. Four-hoofed. As the Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, &c. 



UNGUICULATA. 



(HAVING NAILS OR CLAWS.) 



BIFID (Ruminants). The foot cleft in two only. As the Camel. 

 MULTIFID. The foot cleft in several parts. 



With undivided fingers, cohering by a common skin, their extremities protruding only at 



the margin of the foot, and provided with obtuse nails, as the Elephant. 

 With the fingers somewhat separated ; and these are either, 



Wide-nailed, and anthropomorphous. As the Monkeys. Or, 

 Narrow- nailed. With fore or incisive teeth in each jaw. 



