NATURAL HISTORY OF CREATION. 185 



the head, and the absence, or shght development of the 

 feet. They partake of the predaceous and destructive 

 character of the adjoining sub-typical group, and the 

 means of their predacity are generally found in the 

 mouth alone. In the primary division of the animal 

 kingdom, we find the type in the radiata, not one of 

 which lives out of water. In the vertebrata, it is in 

 the fishes. In both of these, feet are totally wanting. 

 Descending to the class mammalia, we have this type 

 in the cetacea, which present a comparatively slight 

 development of limbs. In the aves, as we have seen, 

 the type is presented in the natatores, whose name has 

 been adopted as an appropriate term for all the corre- 

 sponding groups. An enumeration of some other 

 examples of the natatorial type, as the cephalopoda 

 (instanced in the cuttle-fish) in the mollusca; the 

 Crustacea (crabs, ttc.) in the annulosa ; the owl (which 

 often duck for fish) in the raptores ; the enaliosauria 

 (ichthyosaurus, plesiosaurus, (tc), among reptilia, will 

 serve to bring the general character, and its pervasion 

 of the whole animal world, forcibly before the mind of 

 the reader. 



The next type is that of meanest and most imperfect 

 organisation, the lower termination of all groups, as the 

 typical is the upper. It is called by Mr. Swainson the 

 suctorial, from a very generally prevalent peculiarity, 

 that of drawing sustenance by suction. The acrita, or 

 polypes, among the sub-kingdoms ; the intestina, among 

 the annulosa; the tortoises, among the reptilia; the 

 armadillo and scaly ant-eater, pig, mouse, jerboa, and 

 kangaroo, among quadrupeds ; the waders and tenui- 

 rostres, among birds; the coleoptera (bug, louse, fiea, 

 ttc.) among insects; the gastrobranchus, among fishes ; 

 are examples which will illustrate the special characters 



