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INTRODUCTION. 



plain all ; and a publication of a quinarian arrangement of this same 

 family (alluding to the Laniadae, or Shrikes), nearly at the same time, but 

 essentially different from my own, shewed me the necessity of looking 

 much deeper into the subject. Convinced that truth, if it was to be dis- 

 covered, would result only from minute and patient analysis, I entirely 

 abandoned the synthetic method, as the rock upon which others were split- 

 ting ; while the mutual dependance of one natural group upon another, led, 

 almost insensibly, from the analysis of the Laniadae, to that of the vast 

 order of Insessores." 



With respect to the Mammalia, Mr. Swainson observes (see his His- 

 tory and Classification of Quadrupeds ; Cabinet Cyclop.} : " The primary 

 types, under which all quadrupeds appear to arrange themselves, may thus 

 be concisely defined. In the first (Man being excluded) the extremities of 

 all the four limbs perform the office of hands, one of the toes being op- 

 posable to the others, and acting as a thumb, capable of free motion : hence 

 they have been judiciously named, by M. Cuvier, Quadrumana. In the 

 second, this prehensile structure of the foot is not seen, the thumb being 

 upon the same plane with the other toes ; the claws, also, are mostly retrac- 

 tile. Like the Quadrumana, they possess three sorts of teeth, well deve- 

 loped, but the canines are particularly large ; and from this character, 

 which indicates their carnivorous habits, Linnaeus has termed the order 

 Ferae, and M. Cuvier, Carnivora. The third, or aberrant, group, is chiefly 

 distinguished by its imperfect and variable dentition ; the under jaw is with- 

 out, generally, canine teeth, properly so called ; or, they exist merely in an 

 abortive or rudimentary state. Like all other aberrant groups, in the animal 

 kingdom, this, likewise, contains three subordinate sections, thus named : 

 1. The Ungulata, or hoofed order. 2. The Glires, or gnawing order. 

 3. The Cetacea, or aquatic order. These divisions evince a strong ten- 

 dency to unite into a separate circle of their own, by the Hippopotamus, 

 or River Cow, in the first ; and by the Manatus, or Sea Cow, in the last. 



** The general course of the mammiferous circle may be thus stated ; 

 although there is strong presumptive evidence to believe, as will be seen 

 hereafter, that the aquatic type of the Quadrumana is either extinct or 

 undiscovered. Commencing, then, with the Ferae, Nature appears to quit 

 them, for the Lemurs, by such animals as the Arctitis, Temm., and the 

 Potto (Cercoleptes). The Lemurs naturally lead us to the Monkeys with- 

 out cheek-pouches (Cebidae) ; and these, to the genuine Simiadae. The 

 hiatus, just alluded to, occurs, therefore, between the Quadrumana and the 

 Ungulata, which we enter by means of the Rhinoceros, and quit by the 

 Anoplotherium. Arriving thus among the Glires, by means, most pro- 

 bably, of the Kangaroos, the Beaver evinces an affinity to the more aquatic 

 animals belonging to the Cetacea, which order is again left, through the me- 

 dium of the Manatus. The intimate connexion between this latter animal 



