18(3 DlVISIdX I. VKKTEDUAL ANIMALS -CLASS I. MAMJLVLIA. 



tlie oul)s, aii<l sliot tliciii l)otli tleiid, nt the same time wounding tlie dam in 

 lier retreat, but not mortally. It would have drawn tears of pity from any 

 hut the most unfeeling, to have marked the affertionate concern expressed by 

 tJiis poor animal, in the d} ing moments of her ex[)iring young. Thoui;h 

 she was solely Wounded, and could but just crawl to the place where they 

 lay, she carried the liunp of flesh she had just fetched away, as she hud done 

 the others, tore it in pieces, and laid it down before them. 'When she saw 

 they refused to eat, she laid her pa\\ s first upon one, then upon the other, 

 and endeavored to raise them up, making, at the same time, the most pitia- 

 lile moans. Finding she e()uld not stir them, she went off, and when she 

 had got to some distance, looked back and moaned ; and that not availiuf 

 to entice them away, she returned, and, smelling romul (luin, began to lick 

 their wounds. .She went off a second time, as before, and lia\ing crawded a 

 few paces, looked again behind her, and for some time stood moaning. But 

 still her cubs not rising to follow, she returned to them anew, and, witli 

 signs ol' inexpressiljle fondness, went round, pawing them successively. 

 Finding, at last, that they were cold and lifeless, she raised her head towards 

 the ship, and growled a curse upon the destroyers, which they returned with 

 a \ollcv of nuisket-balls. She fell between her cubs, and died licking their 

 wounds." 



AJIPIIIBIA. 



The term (imjiliihiouf: is of Greek derivation, and literally designates an 

 animal wliich can li\e e(|ually in two elements, that is, in air and water; 

 and, until a recent ])eriod, it was generally l)elieved that the large and inter- 

 esting family we are about to describe was endowed with a breathing appa- 

 ratus, which ciiuld be exercised with etpial ease in both elements. This 

 belief, howe^■er, is proved to be ei'roncous, inasnnicli as the amphiliions 

 mammalians cannot breathe in the water at all, but are obliged, at frecpient 

 intervals, to come to the air, where they respire in a manner in no way 

 differing from that of strictly terrestrial animals. Naturalists, therefore, now 

 employ the word in a broader sense, and apjjly it to that portion of the Car- 

 nivorous Order, which has adaptations-to a life both in the sea and on the 

 land. But while it is true that the amphibians breathe in the same manner 

 as other animals, there is a dilFerence in the freipieney of the resjiirations. 

 Some mammalians Ijreathe twent}- times a minute, whereas many of the 

 ami)hibious tribes will not breathe once duriu;j; that lenirth of time. Xo 

 satisfactory reason has }et been gi\en to explain the dillerence, nor any 

 cause discovered to account fur their power to remain so long under the 

 water without respiring. 



