54 



first examined wanted little of its full growth. ' II n'e- 

 toit pas encore toiit-a-fait adultc.'* Yet he weighed 

 but 4G 1-211). and he fuimd afterwards,! that these ani- 

 mals, when full grown, vvei^^h JOOlb. He had sup^iosed, 

 from the examination of a jugar, | said to be two years 

 old, which vveii;hed hut lOih. 12oz. that when he should 

 have acquired his full growth, he would, not be larger 

 than a middle sized dog, Jjut a subsequent account § 

 raises his weight to 2001b. Further information will, 

 doubtless, produce furtber corrections. The wonder is, 

 not that there is yet something in tliis great work to 

 correct, but that there is so little. The result of this 

 view then is, that of 2(5 quadrupeds common to both 

 countries, 7 are said to be larger in America, 7 of equal 

 size, and 12 not sufficiently examined. So that the 

 first table impeaches the first member of the assertion, 

 that of the animals common to both countries, the 

 American are smallest, 'el cela sans aucune exce|)tion.' 

 It shows it not just, in all the latitude in which its 

 author has advanced it, and probably not to such a 

 degree as to found a distinction between the two coun- 

 tries. 



Proceeding to the second table, which arranges the 

 animals found in one of the two countries only, Mons. 

 de BufFon observes, that the taf)ir, the elephant of Ame- 

 rica, is i)ut of the size of a small cow. To preserve 

 our comparison, I will add, that the wild boar, the ele- 

 phant of Eui'Oj)e, is little more than half that size. I 

 have made an elk v»'ith round or cylindrical horns an 

 animal of America, and peculiar to it ; because I have 

 seen many of them myself, and more of their liorns ; 

 and because I can say, from the best information, that, 

 in Virginia, this kind of elk has abounded much, and 

 still exists in smaller numbers ; and 1 could never learn 

 that the palmated kind had been seen here at all. I 

 suppose this confined to the more northern latitudes. |! 



* XXV. 184. + Quad. IX. 132. J XIX. 2. ? Qiiacl. IX. 41. 



II The (ie!^ci■iptions of Theodat, Denys and La Hoiiton, cited 

 ty Mons. de Biiffon, under the article Elan, authorise the sup- 

 position, that the flat horned elk is found in the northern parts 



