Ch. XXXIX.] 



DIFFUSION OF aUADRUPEDS. 



355 



A.\U,,. 



rtl 



-* 



rn IMC 



« 1 





I 



ofm* 



set. 



^ t 



)i, 



-^ ^ 



;fiir«)^ 



J 



*- 





do: 



^' -.f^ 



SUM- 

 1- ■ 



many 



swim 



tlie pre-occnpancy oi tne lana on tne lartner side by an assem- 

 blage of animals fitted for all the stations which the re^-ion 

 affords. If an intruder attempts to colonise he is overpowered 

 by a rival species ah^eady established in great numbers.^ 

 But for such resistance scarcely any quadrupeds would be 

 stopped by rivers and narrow friths ; for the greater part of 

 them swim well^ and few are without this power when urp-ed 

 by danger and pressing want. Thus^ amongst beasts of 

 prey, the tiger is seen swimming about among the islands 

 and creeks in the delta of the Ganges, and the jaguar tra- 



verses with ease the largest streams 

 The bear. also, and the bison, cross the 



m 



t 



sippi 



also, and the bison, cross the current of the Missis- 

 The popular error, that the common swine cannot 

 escape by swimming when thrown into the water, has been 

 contradicted by several curious and well-authenticated in- 

 stances during the floods in Scotland of 1829. One pig, only 



months 



1 



mouth 



mile, swam 



miles 



and 



swam 



landed safe. Three others, of the same age and litter, 



at the same time, five miles to the west, and landed at 

 Blackhill. 



In an adult and wild state, these animals would doubtless 



mi 



much 



aided by powerful tides and currents. Hence 



miles 



from 



a continent may obtain inhabitants by 

 casualties which, like the storms of 1829 in Morayshire, may 

 only occur once in many centuries, or thousands of years. 



cumstances. 

 Forbes told me 

 isel commanded 



when he was on 



IST. in the Grecian archipelao^o, the sailors amused them 



selves with setting a terrier at a domestic 



which they 



had recently purchased. The animal being worried, thre\^ 



* Andrew Murray. Geographical Distribution of Mammalia, 1866, p. 18 

 t BufFon, vol. V. p. 204. 



A A 2 



