DUVAR ON ADDITIONS TO GAME OF NOYA SCOTIA. 61 



These examples may suffice to mark the distinction between the 

 natural observers of two centuries since and those of even this httle 

 Institute, — being, as it is, an outlying post, or rather ^^.dette, on the 

 extreme edge of the intellectual field of the century. 



Coming down fi-om these worthy travellers who trustingly ac- 

 cepted the most incongruous appearances as merely so many man- 

 ifestations of the Creator's poAver, through the later periods of close 

 observance and accurate classification, we find that the studies of 

 the naturalist in the present day are mainly given to utihze the mass 

 of facts which he and his predecessors have garnered up; hence 

 acclimatization, fish-culture, improvement of domestic stock, and 

 search for animals and plants that may contribute either to man's 

 wants or luxury. 



The geographical distribution of animal life does not strictly 

 follow the isothermic lines of the globe. Hence there is an 

 increased range for stocking the temperate zone with the pro- 

 ducts of other zones, especially of the warmer belts, which are 

 more prolific of varieties than the colder, and, moreover, it is well 

 recognized that animals adapt themselves better to change of 

 climate when removed from a higher to a lower degree of temper- 

 ature, than from a lower to a higher. This fact indicates to us 

 more than one inhabitant of southern latitudes, which, by a little 

 attention, might be induced to naturalize in our colder air ; — the 

 alpaca, fol instance, which, already imported into Spain, finds on 

 the slopes of the Pyrenees the summer and winter climate of Nova 

 Scotia. M. Saint Hilaire* very learnedly shows that man, who 

 calls himself the lord of creation, is really lord of only forty-seven 

 specimens, all told, of beasts, birds, fishes and insects. His list is 

 interesting. Here it is, oiiiitting the dates of domestication : — 



Mammalia : The Ox, Bufialo, two varieties of Camels, Goat, 

 Sheep, Zebu, Yak, Lama, Alpaca, Reindeer, Arnu, Joyal, Horse, Ass, 

 Dog, Pig, Cat, Guinea Pig, Rabbit, Ferret, — total, twenty mammals. 



Birds : The Pigeon, Poultry Fowl, common Pheasant, Peacock, 

 Game Fowl, common Duck, Swan, Ring Turtle-Dove, Chinese 

 Goose, Canary, Turkey, Muscovy Duck, Golden Pheasant, Silver 

 Pheasant, Ring Pheasant, Canada Goose, — sixteen Bii'ds. 



Insects : The Mulberry Silkworm, Bee "of southern Europe, 

 * Acclimatation et Domestication des Animaux Utiles.- 



