ORDER RODENTIA. 229 



its leaps are inelegant. It rarely sits on its haunches, but 

 is fond of rubbing the face with the fore-paws, and scratch- 

 ing itself with the hind ; a habit induced, probably, by the 

 number of parasitical insects which infest its fur. 



From the small size of this animal, it might natu- 

 rally be suspected that it would be incapable of the inten- 

 sity of cold to which, in high latitudes and its elevated 

 habitations, it is obnoxious ; but that it is fitted for the 

 station and circumstances in which we find it, is ap- 

 parent, from the great heat of its blood, which will raise 

 Fahrenheit's thermometer to 104 degrees. In common 

 with the other species of this sub-genus, it is not known 

 to lethargize during winter, nor does its colour vary with 

 the season. 



D'Azara, with unusual forbearance in a zoological wri- 

 ter, describes, with minuteness and simplicity, the various 

 species of Mammalia which the province of Paraguay 

 offered to his notice. Classification and arrangement are 

 not his object. Amid all the barbarous proper names he 

 uses, by which the several species are known in their 

 native countries, we have no coining of classical com- 

 pounds, the further multiplication of which is much to be 

 deprecated. His essays, which include descriptions of many 

 animals new to Europeans, are highly illustrative, useful, 

 and unaffected. 



But let us not be misunderstood. Divisions of the sub- 

 ject are necessary evils in zoology, which must be tolerated 

 for their balance of utility, and divisions must have names ; 

 it is only when philological learning is displayed rather 

 to illustrate the describer, than the things described, that 

 it becomes obnoxious to censure and detrimental to the cause 

 of science. 



To speak well, however, of D'Azara, without qualifi- 

 cation, conveys no small censure on Buffon. The great 



