ORDERS OP THE CLASS MAMMALIA. 81 



Holland had not recently furnished us with a sort 

 of collateral chain, consisting of animals with 

 pouches. The different genera of these are con- 

 nected by a general similarity of organization, yet 

 one is found, to correspond with the Carnivora, 

 another with the Glires, and another with the Eden- 

 tata, by the form of their teeth, and the nature of 

 their food. 



The hoofed animals are less numerous, and 

 there is less irregularity in their conformations and 

 habits. 



Of these, the cloven foot, the upper jaw devoid 

 of genuine incisors, and the four stomachs distin- 

 guish one portion as a separate order named, from 

 their also chewing the cud, Ruminantia. 



The other hoofed mammalia may all be combined 

 into one order, (with the exception of the elephant, 

 which may well be considered as distinct, though 

 connected by some remote relations with it,) and 

 named from the thickness of their integument Pa- 

 chydermata. 



Last of all come those mammalia which have no 

 hinder extremities, and whose external conformation 

 and aquatic mode of life would induce us to form 

 them into a separate class, did not all the rest of 

 their economy decidedly mark them as belonging 

 to that now under consideration. They unite the 

 vigour of the other mammalia to the advantage of 

 being sustained upon the watery element, and ex- 

 hibit to our view the most gigantic forms to be found 



Vol. I. G 



