ORDER CARNASSIER. 25 



But there is another order of phenomena, which deter- 

 mines in a great measure the local application of the orga- 

 nic system, and which a consideration of that system cannot 

 enable us previously to announce, though we can have little 

 doubt that it originated there. 



This order of phenomena consists in those innate moral 

 qualities, those invincible dispositions, which direct the 

 actions of animals in one channel rather than another, 

 and on which their preservation does not less depend, than 

 on their most prominent physical peculiarities. If the dif- 

 ferent species of the genus canis, for instance, were strip- 

 ped of all peculiar moral bias, and placed exclusively under 

 the influence of external circumstance, they would probably 

 cease to be different species and become virtually but one. 

 From that moment, the equilibrium of nature would be 

 broken, and till the re-establishment of order, their destruc- 

 tion would be inevitable. 



These intellectual qualities are often the only character- 

 istics of species, and it would appear that they form the 

 principal ingredient in the small portion of influence, which 

 the sarigues are destined to exercise upon earth. The 

 opossum, which our author has placed first in this sub- 

 division, is an animal by no means eminent for intelligence. 

 It digs a burrow or den, near thickets not too far removed 

 from the habitations of men, and sleeps there the live-long 

 day. Seeing but badly while the sun is above the horizon, 

 it is in the night that it proceeds in search of food, and of 

 the female during the season of its amours. It mounts 

 trees, penetrates into farm-yards, attacks the small birds 

 and poultry, sucks their blood, devours their eggs, and then 

 returns to conceal itself at the bottom of its retreat. It 

 frequently contents itself with reptiles and insects, and fruits 

 occasionally form a portion of its food. Though its mode 

 of life is very analogous to that of the Foxes and Weasels, 

 it is considerably less sanguinary and cruel. The Opossums 



