56 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



Carnivora strike us as a very peculiar race of animals ; but 

 when we consider them in relation to the tribes which im- 

 mediately precede and succeed them, we find none of those 

 bars which should separate and mark distinct orders in the 

 living world. Habits, instincts, organization, and other 

 characters, proceed from one family to another with such 

 gentle gradations, with such slender shades of difference, 

 that we are furnished with no basis of sufficient breadth for 

 a high division of the animal kingdom. When we speak of 

 the Carnivora, we are apt in general to think only of Lions 

 and Tigers, of Wolves, of Bears and Hyaenas ; of creatures 

 of indomitable strength and surpassing ferocity. But it 

 should be remembered, how many members there are in 

 this mighty family, whose share in those distinguished at- 

 tributes is comparatively limited ; how many whose fierce- 

 ness is counteracted by deficiency of strength or of sagacity, 

 or whose carnivorous propensities are tempered by mild- 

 ness of disposition, or regulated by superiority of intellect* 

 All the Carnivora are not those " mighty hunters," which, 

 by their ferocity and destructive instinct, can create a 

 desert around them. Many of them are small, and feeble, 

 and timid, and by no means so superior to the species which 

 precede them as to be considered as belonging to a higher 

 or distinct order. 



Besides, were the Carnivora to be made a separate 

 order, the same thing must of necessity be done for the 

 Cheiroptera and Insectivora, and we have already seen that 

 they are not entitled to this distinction. 



The preceding arguments will equally apply to the Seals 

 and Morses. Should it be contended that their aquatic 

 life is a reason for separating them into a distinct order, it 

 is answered that they are not the only amphibious animals. 

 If amphibious habits be admitted as a principle of distinc- 

 tion for an order, we are reduced to this dilemma. We 



