38 



FIRST CLASS OF THE VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 



nature of their food; others agree with the Rodentia in these particu- 

 lars, and others again with the Edentata. 



THE tJNGULATED MAMMALIA. 



The animals with Hoors are less numerous, and at the same time less 

 various in their structure. 



7. Pachydermata, or Jumenta, comprise all the hoofed animals which 

 do not ruminate. The Elephant, though included in this class, would 

 properly form a class of itself, which is allied to the Rodentia by some 

 remote analogies. 



S. Ruminantsa. — The Ruminating animals form a very well-marked 

 order, from their cloven feet, their four stomachs, and the absence of 

 true Incisors in the upper jaw. 



THE sea-beasts. 

 9. Cetacea. — Finally, we arrive at the Mammalia altogether desti- 

 tute of hinder extremities. From their partaking of the form of the 

 Fishes, and their aquatic life, we should be led to constitute them a 

 separate class, did not the remainder of their economy resemble the 

 Mammalia in every respect. These are the Fishes with warm blood of 

 the ancients [the Sea-Beasts of the present day], which unite the strength 

 of the other Mammalia to the advantage of being sustained by the watery 

 element. It is accordingly in this class that the most gigantic animals 

 are found. 



The characters upon which these orders are founded will be seen more clearly in 

 the following Analytical Table: — 



DIVISION OF THE CLASS MAMMALIA INTO NINE ORDERS. 



CLASS I.— MAMMALIA. 



Limbs Four, 



With nails or claws. 



AVithout Marsupial bones, 



r r With two hands, 



I With three kinds of teeth, J With four hands, 

 (_ Without hands. 



CONTAININ'G MAN AND EEASTS, WITH WARM BLOOD; HEART WITH TWO VENTRICLES; FEIiIALES SUCKLING THEIR YOUNG WITH MILK, SECRETED IN BREASTS 

 oil MAMMiE; VIVIPAROUS, EXCEPTING THE MONOTREMATA, WHICH ABE EITHER OVIPAROUS OR OVO-VIVIPAROUS. 



Orders 



I. BiMANA. 



i I With three kinds of teeth, -^ With four hands, . . 2. Quadrumasa. 



3. -Carnassiers. 



. 4. Rodentia. 



5. Edentata. 



. 6. Marsupulia. 



7. Pachtdkemata. 



. 8. ruminantia. 



Limbs Two, . 9. Cetacea. 



Without canine teeth, 

 L Without incisors, 



L 



_With Marsupial bones, 



„^. , , ^ f With less than four stomachs. 

 With hoofs, J „,. , , 



\^ With four stomachs, 



GENERAL REVIEW OF THE MAMMALIA. 



External relations of the Mammalia to the other Classes, and to each other. — Usage 

 of the terms Mammaliai Beast^ Quadruped* Bimanous, Quadrumanous, and 

 Cetaceous. — Furthei- subdivision of the Mammalia into Fainilies and Tribes. 



In the preceding outlines, tlie internal organization of the Mammalia, and the leading 

 principles of their classification, have been briefly explained. We shall now proceed 

 to consider, in a general manner, their external relations to the remaining classes of 

 animals and to each other. 



In those superficial characters, which strike the observer most forcibly at first 

 sight, the Mammalia present many traits which ai'e to be found equally in the 

 o^er Classes, a fact which is not sufficiently adverted to in ordinary discourse. Thus, 

 by the term Beast or Quadruped, it is usual to understand an animal covered with 

 hair, and having four feet; and whenever a Bird or a Fish is referred to, the feathers 

 of the former and the scales of the latter offer themselves readily to the imagination. 

 Yet these external characters by no means serve to distinguish the several classes of 

 Vertebrated Animals. The property of having four feet, which is possessed by a 

 large and important portion of the ISIammalia, is not confined solely to them. Many 

 oviparous animals belonging to the Third Class (Reptilia) possess the same character- 

 istic; and in this respect the four-footed Beasts of the earth, which approach Man so 

 nearly in their other characters, and occupy so high a place in the economy of Nature, 

 are not superior to the Lizards and Frogs. Again, the Armadilloes (Dasypus), 

 instead of being covered v/ith hair, are armed with a solid covering like the Tortoises, 

 or even like the Crustacea. The animals of the genus Manis are covered with scales 

 not very diiferent from those of the Fishes, and the same structure is found in the 

 tail of the Beaver {Castor Fiber.) The Porcupines (Hystnx), and the Hedgehogs 

 rlHrinaceusJf are covered with a species of sharp quills, without feathery fibres on 

 the extremity, but having the tube very like that of Birds. The Cetacea, or Sea- 

 beasts, resemble the Fishes so forcibly in their external forms, that the uninformed 

 portion of mankind persist in calling them Fishes in opposition to the universal deci 

 sion of Naturalists. The "Whale, Dolphin, Grampus, and other animals of this order, 

 have nothing in common with the Fish, except the circumstances of their hvjng in 

 the same element, in being destitute of hair, and in possensing that external form 

 necessary for rapid motion in a fluid of considerable density. Yet the term Whale- 

 fishery will long preserve its usage among that numerous class of persons, who are apt 

 to reject the critical observations of Naturalists, from their apparent over-refinement. 

 ' Nature appears to evade, by the variety of her combinations, those obvious divisions 

 which a superficial examination would lead us to form; and the Mammalia appi-oach to 

 the Birds, the Reptiles, the Fishes, and even the Crustacea, in the character of their 

 external covering. This variety in the superficial appearance establishes clearly the 

 necessity of seeking, in their internal organization, for the principles of classification. 

 It has often been stated, that while Error lies on the surface. Truth must be sought 

 deeply in the hidden parts ; and this assertion, which is only made metaphorically in 

 reference to moral subjects, is literally true in Natural History. 



The Birds share their quills vrith the Hedgehogs and Porcupines; and their long 

 hills destitute of teeth, with their tongue, are imitated by the trunk and tongue of the 

 Ant-eaters {Myrmecophaga.) The Reptiles are not alone armed with a solid cover- 

 ing. The Fishes share their scales with the Beaver and Manis, and their fins with 

 the Seals (Paoca), the Slorse (Trichechus)^ the Manatus, and the true Ceta- 

 cey.. I'he Birds have their pov.-ers of flight assigned also to the Bat; the crawhng 



of the Reptiles and Eels is imitated in some degree by the slow movements of the Sloth 

 (Bradypus) ; and the Fishes share their powers of swimming with most Mammalia, 

 but more especially with the tribe Amphibia, and order Cetacea. 



As the meanings of the terms Beast, Bird. Fish, and Quadruped, are established by 

 popular usage alcne, they are necessarily destitute of that precision which should 

 characterize the language of science. The term Mammalia., which has been gene- 

 rally adopted by Naturalists, is much more wide in its signification than that of Quad- 

 ruped; it agrees more nearly with the word Beast than perhaps any other term, 

 although not exactly, as the latter term excludes Man, and the Cetacea are not always 

 understood by the vulgar to be really Sea-beasts. The term Quadruped is still more 

 improperly considered as synonymous with Mammalia^ with whicli, however, it is 

 often confounded. In the last-mentioned class Man is included as well as the Cetacea, 

 although he is a Biped, and they are altogether destitute of hinder limbs. The Ap« 

 tribes are possessed of four hands, and properly Quadrumanous. Even of those ani- 

 mals which are, strictly speaking. Quadrupeds, from their walking habitually on four 

 feet, many either frequent the water or are capable of supporting themselves in th« 

 air. The Seals and other Amphibia, although Mammalia, cannot properly be styled 

 Quadrupeds, and the same observation applies to the Bats. 



The true Quadrupeds live exclusively on the land; they may be said to divide it 

 with RIan, whose Nature they approach more nearly than that of the Birds, Reptiles, 

 or Fishes. But we must observe that the term quadruped strictly supposes that th» 

 animal walks on four feet. If it be destitute of feet Uke the I\Ianatus and true Ce- 

 tacea, if it be supphed only with arms and hands like the Ape, or if it possess wings 

 like the Eat, tlie term Quadruped ceases to be applicable. Man is the only Biped 

 and Bimanous animal, because he alone possesses two feet and two hands; the Mana- 

 tus is only Bimanous, and the Bat is a Biped, while the Ape is Quadrumanous or 

 four-handed. The Jerboas (Dipus^^ and Kangaroos (Macropus), cannot properly 

 be styled Quadrupeds, because they can walk only on their hind-feet, in consequence 

 of the fore-limbs being too short and weak. The signification of the term Quadru- 

 ped is further restricted by removing all those animals which are able to use their 

 fore-paws as a substitute for hands, such as the Bears (f/rsws), the Marmots (Arc^ 

 tomys), the Coatis (Nasua), the Agoutis {Basyprocta), the Squirrels (Seiurus)^ 

 and the Rats {Mils'); and those last-mentioned animals form a kind of intermediate 

 class between the Quadrupeds and the Quadrumanous tribes. The terra Quadruped is 

 thus applicable only to one half of the Mammalia: it is totally inapplicable to at least 

 one quarter, and is not strictly applicable, in its full extent, to the remainder. 



The Quadrumana fill up the link which would separate the form of IMan from that 

 of the Quadrupeds. Those animals, with true clavicles, form another subordinate link 

 between the Quadrumana and Quadrupeds; w^hile the Bipeds with wings lead us to 

 the Birds. None of the vague terms of ordinary discourse correspond exactly with 

 those nice distinctions which the philosophical student loves to trace in the works of 

 Nature. 



As it is the leading design of classification to assist the memory by a clear and 

 lucid arrangement of Natural objects, it frequently becomes necessary to multiply sub- 

 divisions in a few orders, which would be altogether superfluous in the remainder. By 

 this contrivance we are enabled to ai-rive at general views in every department of 

 Nature, and to remember avast mass of phenomena not otherwise attainable. These 

 subordinate divisions are termed Families or Tribes, and are determined either by 

 some general resemblance prevaihng throughout that whole department, or else br 

 some pai'ticular character possessed by all the individuals included therein. The 



