ON ZOOLOGY. 121 



as these animals in their teeth and external struc- 

 ture approach the nearest to the human species, 

 they have been placed by Linnaeus in his first 

 order, which he has denominated primates. 



In our own species, which is destined to live 

 upon a mixed food, animal and vegetable, the 

 teeth are made up of incisors, grinders, and only 

 four canine teeth, two in each jaw ; and the sto- 

 mach is intermediate in its strength, size and 

 length, compared with those of the other two 

 descriptions of animals. 



To the bird species, part of which live upon 

 raw flesh, and the other part mostly upon vege- 

 table substances, we find no teeth have been 

 assigned, but in the place of them, bills, of which 

 those of the carnivorous birds have been made 

 sharp and hooked to enable them to tear to 

 pieces their food as done by quadrupeds of 

 prey, and like them also, very active stomachs, 

 to promote its rapid digestion. While in the 

 seminivorous birds, whose food, from consisting 

 of seeds and hard substances will not admit of 

 this early division, and therefore is swallowed 

 entire; its separation is effected in a thick, inus^ 

 cular bag, called the gizzard, whose rough inte- 

 rior acting upon small stones and other hard sub- 

 stances taken in by the animal, causes such a 

 trituration of the food received into its cavity, as 

 to render it fit for final digestion. 



TO further our illustration, had my time per- 



