i8o VESTIGES OF THE 



sub-kingdoins--tlie vertebrata, annulosa,* radiata, 

 acrita,t mollusca. Take, again, one of these sub-king- 

 doms, the vertebrata, and we find it composed of five 

 classes — the mammaUa, reptilia, pisces, amphibia, and 

 aves, each of the other sub-kingdoms being similarly 

 divisible. Take the mammalia, and it is in like manner 

 found to be composed of five orders — the cheirotheria, j 

 ferne, cetacea, glires, ungulata. Even in this numerical 

 uniformity, which goes down to the lowest ramifica- 

 tions of the system, there would be something very 

 remarkable, as arguing a definite and preconceived 

 arrangement ; but this is only the least curious part of 

 the Macleay theory. 



We shall best understand the wonderfully complex 

 system of analogies developed by that theory, if we start 

 from the part of the kingdom in w^liich they were first 

 traced — namely, the class aves, or birds. This gives for 

 its five orders — insessores (perching birds), raptores 

 (birds of prey), natatores (swimming birds), grallatores 

 (waders), rasores (scrapers). In these orders our natu- 

 ralists discerned distinct organic characters, of different 

 degrees of perfectness, the first being the most perfect 

 with regard to the general character of the class, and 

 therefore the best representative of that class ; whence 

 it was called the typical order. The second was found 

 to be inferior, or rather to have a less perfect balance of 

 qualities; hence it was designated the siih-typical. In 

 this are comprehended the chief noxious and destructive 

 animals of the circle to which it belongs. The other 

 three groups were called aberi-ant, as exhibiting a much 



* Corresponding to tlic articulata of (^ivicr. 

 t A new sub-kingdom, made out of part of the radiata of Cuvicr. 

 % This is a newly applied term, the reasons for which will be 

 explained in the sequel. 



