566 Classification of Animals. 



The union of the* Solipedes with the Ruminants he considers is 

 effected by the Giraffe {Camelopardalis) whose affinity to the camel 

 is acknowledged by Major Smith, and, as he observes, did not even 

 escape the notice of the ancients. The fifth, and last order, is that 

 of Glires, so named by Linnaeus, the Rodentia of M. Cuvier. The 

 chief characters of the typical groups, consist in the total absence of 

 canine teeth, and the articulation of the lower jaw being also so consti- 

 tuted as only to admit of a horizontal motion backwards and forwards; 

 but this, as he observes, " is in strict conformity with the mode of 

 eating of all rodent animals, the food being divided by the long in- 

 cisors, and triturated or ground by the molars. He then enters into 

 and illustrates the analogies of this order with the wading-birds, 

 (Grallatores,) bringing into comparison, with great skill, the different 

 points of resemblance between them, many of which are too striking 

 not to carry immediate conviction of their truth, though others, we 

 are aware, are of that distant nature, which require analysis and 

 intimate knowledge of the subject before they can be fully under- 

 stood or comprehended. We have no hesitation, however, in stating 

 our conviction, that Mr Swainson's theory, in regard to the analo- 

 gies of this order, is the true one, and that the Glires constitute the 

 tenuirostral or Suctorial type, and not the Rasorial, as Mr M'Leay 

 endeavoured to prove in the essay previously adverted to. No at- 

 tempt is made by the author to point out the five primary groups 

 of this order. He therefore takes a rapid review of M. Cuvier's divi- 

 sions, under the titles of Beavers, Eals, Marmots, Squirrels, Porcu- 

 pines, Hares, and Cavies, pointing out the peculiarities of the groups, 

 and the forms by which some of them probably pass into each other. 

 He concludes this part of the volume with some further important 

 observations upon the herbivorous marsupials. Upon a review 

 of the characters of the various genera of the herbivorous marsupials, 

 his impression appears to be decidedly in favour of placing them in 

 the circle of the Glires, of which order they will probably form an 

 aberrant group, representing the Rasorial type, and if so, then 

 the connection of this order with the Uugulata will be effected by 

 the kangaroo, an animal which, in its bulk, habits, and physiogno- 

 my, certainly indicates an affinity or resemblance to the deer and 

 other grazing animals. Much, however, must necessarily depend 

 on the result of a strict analysis of this order, which has not yet 

 been attempted, even in respect to its primary groups. Till that is 

 done, hypothesis and conjecture are only likely to lead into error and 

 confusion. 



