THE MAMMALIA— MAN AND BEASTS 



59 



viduals are brought with the nails entire ; the first view then seems abundantly con- 

 . finned; perhaps even we applaud our own sagacity, and our extensive knowledge of 



1 final causes, of those ends and uses for whioh the Creator designed the various parts 



of the animal world. Finally, another young individual is imported with all the cha- 

 ■ racters of the original specimen, thus proving it not only to have been a distinct 

 -species, but entitling it to the rank of a separate genus — the Aonyx, or Nail-less 

 J Otter of M. Lesson: and one more instance is afforded of the inexhaustible variety 

 in the works of Nature. When we find that even the possession of Claws is not 

 always indispensable to the subsistence of the Carnassier, we may thence derive the 

 salutary caution, not to confide too implicitly in analogical reasoning, if we wish to 

 ' ;form correct views regarding new or unknown natural objects. 



GENERAL REVIEW OF THE MAMMALIA CONTINOED. 



Supposed Degeneration of Species — Theory of Original Stocks proposed hy LinncErus 

 and Buffon — Lamarck's Theory of ike Transition of Species. 



, Since the supporters of the permanent characters of Species thus find it difficult to 

 fix any very definite rule for determining them, and as the characters themselves are 

 , often seen to run into innumerable varieties, two very different theories have been pro- 

 posed, Linneeus and Buffon asserted that only a small number of stocks were originally 

 created, from which all the existing species have degenerated and diverged, from the 

 influence of climate, food, and domestication, aided by a promiscuous intercourse, 

 which has been limited only by their progeny ceasing to produce fertile races. On 

 the other hand, Lamarck considered that the form of the body, and all the characters 

 of species, were the consequence of the habits, the manner of living, and other cir- 

 cumstances, which have, in the course of time, given rise to the form of each species. 

 Further, that Man, and each higher animal, has originally arisen from some lower 

 Division of the Animal Kingdom, by the gradual transition of the characters of 

 one species into another, but always from the lower to the higher, with the trans- 

 mission of such commuted characters to their posterity. These theories both a^n-ee 

 in denying the fixed character of species. That of Linnaeus and Buffon would re- 

 move the chai-acter of durability from the species to fix it in some original stock, the 

 type of the Genus, the Family, the Tribe, or perhaps even of the Order. That of 

 Lamarck would overturn the permanent character of all forms. The first asserts 

 the degeneration, the second the gradual development and perfectibility, of species. 

 While the one reposes chiefly on the phenomena of Variation, the other rests upon 

 ^ those general analogies among species, which have led Bonnet to form his universal 

 chain of existence, and later writers their circular theories. 



It is to Linnffius that we must assign the merit of relieving Systematic Botany 

 from those accidental varieties which spring up daily in our gardens, and had been 

 improperly raised by Tournefort and other former Botanists to the rank of species. 

 But the zeal of this great NaturaUst in bringing down Varieties from their imdue ele- 

 vation, led him to conjecture that many of those Plants which had been discovered 

 since the time of Tournefort might have been produced, during the intervening period, 

 by the intermixture of species. From the impregnation of one kind of Plant with 

 the pollen of another, he was induced, not only to suspect that Nature now produced 

 new species by this means, but that, even at the origin of things, there had been 

 , created only a certain number of simple genera, tho continual crossing of which 

 has given rise to the immense number of species at present known. This hypothesis, 

 . which originated from the consideration of Plants, was afterwards extended by 

 Linnaeus even to Animals, and however plausible it may at first sight appear from 

 contemplating those races, by which Natme has so infinitely varied some species in 

 different parts of the globe, it seems, on a further consideration, to be wholly untenable. 

 Contrivance and ingenuity, on the part of Man, are always seen to be necessary to 

 bring about the production of a Hybrid or cross between two different species. There 

 is further an impossibility of perpetuating these crosses as species or distinct races, 

 arising either from their absolute or relative want of fecundity, or from that deo-ene- 

 ration and deterioration to which their issue is subject. They always require the 

 assistance of one of their primitive stocks, to prevent the new race from becoming 

 wholly extinct. Further, in those genera and classes where the objects are very 

 numerous, we often see two or more species formed evidently upon the same model, 

 which may be more or less varied, yet they always remain distinct from each other. 

 Examples of this are not wanting from the Quadrumana and Cheiroptera to the lowest 

 species of Zoophytes. We also see that those peculiarities which serve to charac- 

 terize the several species, genera, or even natural families, continue to exist without 

 there ever appearing before our eyes new Unks between alUed species. For nearly 

 two centuries. Animals and Plants have been observed with great care, yet there has 

 not been one authenticated instance of a distinct and constant species, which has yet 

 been proved to be of modern origin. Finally, those fossil Shells and Bones found 

 in earthy strata, deposited during the earUer ages of animal life, exhibit the same 

 variety, not only of those forms which are found at the present day, but also of many 

 others now wholly extinct. These facts are opposed by a mere probability or con- 

 jecture, and we are hence compelled to consider species, although very nearly resem- 

 bling each other, to have been so formed at the origin of things. 



Buffon has carried these views regarding the Degeneration of species amono- 

 animals to a much greater extent than Linnaeus did in respect to Plants. After 

 reducing the numerous races of domestic animals to certain original stocks, he 

 grouped the allied species of quadrupeds into races or natural families. Assuming cer- 

 tain species to be the primitive stocks from which the numerous allied species at 

 present existing have descended, he thence attempted to explain their degeneration, 

 partly by their close affinities, but chiefly by those causes which are suflficient to vary 

 the domestic animals. He thought that species, such as now are commonly admitted, 

 did not formerly exist, and that we must seek for their characters in those natural 

 groups which have served to form genera or families. The degeneration of species, 

 according to Buffon, was one which preceded all history, and formed the most ancient 



of their changes. It appeared to arise in each family, or in each of those genera 

 under which nearly-allied species are usually comprised. Only a few isolated kinds, 

 he remarked, formed, Hke Man, at once the species and the genus. The Elephant, 

 Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, and Camelopard, according to him, composed simple 

 genera and species which were continued in a direct line, and without any collateral 

 branches , while all the others appeared to form families, in which a chief and com- 

 mon stock might generally be observed, from which there seemed to proceed different 

 offsets, increasing in number according as the individuals in each species were smaller 

 and more fertile. Buffon on these principles reduced all the species of quadrupeds 

 then known to thirty-eight families. He admits that this state of Nature has not 

 come down to us, but is, on the contrary, the remnant of a former state of things, 

 and that we can only acquire a knowledge of it " by inductions and relations nearly 

 as fugitive as the time, which seems to have obliterated all traces of its existence." 



Notwithstanding the opinion which M. F. Cuvier has hazarded upon this theory, 

 *' that it even now presents an appearance of the greatest probability," it is one to 

 which we can by no means subscribe. After making due allowance for the influence 

 of climate, food, and the numerous accidents to which all the individuals are subject, 

 these causes are wholly insufficient, however long we may suppose them to operate, 

 to change the entire forms of animals, their proportions, and even their internal 

 structure, to such a degree as this hypothesis would require. We see that those 

 domestic animals which Man has transported to the most opposite climates, have only 

 changed the quality of their hair or their colour. The influence of pasture can only 

 alter the height, the proportion of the horns, or perhaps add some lumps of fat to tho 

 body. But a small number of generations spent on anotlier soil are sufficient to over- 

 turn whatever this race may have acquired during ages of cultivation. Again, if we 

 consider those species, whether Mammaha or Birds, which are most populous in in- 

 dividuals, and at the same time the most fertile, the entire of their observed variations 

 are by no means great. Some species which are very populous are nearly exempt 

 from varieties, while others, though less fertile, vary much. Thus the common 

 Mouse and the Mulot (3/ks Sylvaticvs) ave perhaps as populous as any species ; 

 yet their variations are rare, and an infinite number of instances might be brought 

 forward among the Fishes and Insects. There are even species very nearly allied to 

 each other, and almost equally distributed in opposite chmates, of which the one has 

 run into a great number of varieties, while the others every where preserve a xmiforni 

 resemblance to each other. The Polish Marmot (^Arctomys bobacj, and the Siberian 



.Marmot fSpermophilus citHltis), are striking instances that a vegetable diet does 

 not give rise to greater varieties than animal food. The Pohsh Marmot lives only 

 on vegetables without ever touching animal substances, yet it remains unvaried, ac- 

 cording to Pallas, from Poland to the banks of the Lena. On the contrary, the 

 Siberian Marmot, which is as carnivorous as tho Surmnlot (^Mi/s decu7na7ius), has 

 undergone many importaat variations of size, colour, and proportion in the same 

 latitudes, and under similar circumstances. 



Although the influence of Domestication has a much more powerful tendency to 

 occasion variation, than all those reverses and changes which the wild species can 

 experience, yet ]\Ian has not succeeded in altering the Nature of any one of these 

 animals, so as to form a new, distinct, and permanent species. The^Iorse and the 

 Ass, in their transitions from the wild to the domesticated state, have undergone less 

 variation than some other wild species, which climate alone has been sufficient tu 

 modify. The Bactrian Camel and the Dromedary retain their natural forms in the 

 few countries where they are naturalized. Buffon considered the humps of the 

 Camel to have been occasioned by the long habit of carrying burdens; but the wild 

 Camels of Thibet and China have the same humps and callosities as their domesticated 

 brethren. Pallas has correctly observed, that ho might as well have regarded the 

 foUicule of the Musk, and the dorsal gland of the Peccari, as abscesses arising from 

 disease. The Ass is more harshly treated than the Camel, the Alpacas are as much 

 accustomed to carry burdens, yet they are without humps. The Horse and the Ass 

 have not acquired callosities on those places where they have so long been exposed to 



. the friction of the saddle and harness. 



Climate and Food, however long we may suppose these causes to operate, are 

 wholly unable to account for the existence of the numerous species of animals which 

 cover the face of the globe. We see that the preservation of the Races among our 

 domestic animals, and the improvement of the breeds, depend chiefly upon the pecu- 

 liarities of the individuals selected to propagate. Graziers have long since laid down 

 those rules by which the domestic animals, and especially the Horse, can be rendered 

 larger, more beautiful, or more vigorous than they would have been if left unculti- 

 vated. But it is only by continued care that the purity of the breeds can be pre- 

 served, and they ever exhibit an inclination to resume the characters of the wild 

 animals. We thus see that the tendency of the offspring to retain the characteristics 

 of its parent is powerful enough to counteract all those causes which may modify 

 the external forms of animals. Thus the introduction of Rams of a good breed 

 corrects the fleeces of the worst flocks in a single generation, and even in the least 

 favorable climates. The Angora Goat has imparted his silky fleece to the Swedish 

 flocks, and they maintain this character for several generations. In Russia also, the 

 Stallions with a frizzled and crisp hair, impart to their foals a similar coat and of the 

 same colour. The wild, as well as domestic animals, also tend continually to main- 

 tain their primitive forms in opposition to all the influences of climate and food, 

 which are wholly insufficient to induce this supposed degeneration and degradation of 

 species. Whenever some accidental connate deformity or partial excrescence becomes 

 hereditary, as sometimes happens, the natural liberty of intercourse soon re-establishes 

 the original form, and it is only by interfering with their unions that we can succeed in 

 rendering permanent the accidental vai'ieties of our domestic animals. In the wild 

 state also, the females are led instinctively to prefer the most courageous of the 

 males, the most perfect, and the most masculine of their species. The males, like- 

 %Yise, instinctively prefer the most beautiful of the females, and thus they both tend 

 to transmit to their offspring the most perfect form of their species. 



Since Nature then has placed an instinctive mutual aversion in animals of different 

 species, — since she has rendered Hybrids either sterile or weak and imperfect, — if 

 allied animals distributed in remote parts of the globe ai'e found to be incapable of 



