ANALOGIES OF THE ORDERS. 117 



who feel, with ourselves, the inexpressible pleasure of 

 tracing resemblances under innumerable disguises, as if 

 they were employed to conceal the simplicity of a few 

 general laws, by which all the variations in the animal 

 world are regulated. 



(103.) It now only remains to bring before the eye, 

 at one glance, all the groups we have touched upon ; 

 the affinities being expressed perpendicularly, and the 

 analogies horizontally. 



Circle of the Class Circle of Circle of Circle of Circle of 



of Pisces. Vertebrata. Reptilia. Birds. Mammalia. 



1. Acanthopteryges. Quadrupeds. Lacertes. Insessores. Quadrumana . 



2. Malacopteryges. Birds. Ophides. Raptores- Fens. 



3. Cartilagines. Reptiles. Saures. Natatores. Cetacea. 



4. Plectognathes. Amphibians. Ckcelonides. &r dilator es. Glires. 



5. Apodes. Fish. Cfuemelides. Rasores. Ungulata. 



One advantage attending this recapitulation, is the 

 facility it gives of embracing, at a single glance, 

 the different degrees of analogy of the whole Vertebrata : 

 the sharks, for instance, are thus shown to be repre- 

 sentatives of the natatorial birds ; an analogy which, if 

 simply stated as an isolated proposition, would certainly 

 appear fanciful and altogether improbable ; and yet, 

 when traced through the medium of the aquatic Mam- 

 malia, or Cetacea, and then through the Ichthyosauri, 

 and other aquatic reptiles, is at once brought home to 

 the conviction of every unprejudiced mind, even without 

 the high authority of Cuvier. Here, then, we may 

 close our general introduction, and proceed at once into 

 as many details of the several orders as the nature of 

 our work will permit. 



i 3 



