80 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



The flying membrane of the bats, the subterraneous habits 

 of the insectivora, the sanguinary voracity of the beasts of 

 prey, the aquatic location of the amphibia, and the double 

 matrix of the marsupiata, would offer grounds for separating 

 each of these families into distinct orders with sufficient 

 precision and exactness ; but the same influential character 

 of dentition pervades them all — the analogy is general- 

 incisive teeth, canine and cutting cheek-teeth are found 

 throughout, varying in aptitude for carnivorous regimen, in 

 accordance with the degree of carnivorous impulse of the 

 several species. 



In zoological arrangement, as has been observed, the 

 most influential characters must be exhausted before those of 

 minor consequence are resorted to, and none is more im- 

 portant in its consequences than that of dentition*; what- 

 ever other discrepancies, therefore, may be observed be- 

 tween the different families of this order, principle requires 

 that apparent convenience should be sacrificed to real pro- 

 priety, and that all the animals with flesh-eating teeth 

 should be included in one order, for which the word car- 

 nassiers, as applicable to the character of the teeth, is equally 

 serviceable with any classico-barbarous appellation that 

 might be coined for the purpose. 



The animal kingdom, when viewed abstractedly in regard 

 to the carnivorous propensities of so very large a portion of 

 it, presents a painful and distressing picture, a picture the 

 eye of humanity could never bear to contemplate but for a 

 simultaneous consciousness and self-conviction of the mind, 

 of a propensity and practice in ourselves, which we revolt 

 from in inferior beings. In this instance it seems indeed ne- 

 cessary to suppress and stifle our better feelings, rather than 



* This remark is subject to some qualification. In the cheiro- 

 ptera, as we shall see, dentition is not always the most important 

 character. — P. 



