ANIMATED NATURE 



135 



uniform climate had passed away. It may htve only been 

 when a varied climate arose, that the originally few spe- 

 cies branched off into the present extensive variety. 



A question of a very interesting kind will now proba- 

 bly arise in the reader's mind — What place or status is 

 assigned to man in the new natural system ? Before going 

 into this inquiry, it is necessary to advert to several par- 

 ticulars of the natural system not yet noticed. 



It is necessary, in particular, to ascertain the grades 

 which exist in the classification of animals. In the line 

 of the aves, Mr. Swainson finds these to be nine, the spe- 

 cies pica, for example, being thus indicated : — 



Kingdom . . . Animalia. 



Sub-kingdom . Vertebrata. 



Class . . . Aves. 



Order . . Incessores. 



Tribe ... Conirostres 



Family .... Corvidae. 



Sub-family . . . Corvinae. 



Genus . . . . Corvus. 



Sub-genus or species . Pica. 



This brings us down to species, the subdivision where 

 intermarriage or breeding is usually considered as natural 

 to animals, and where a resemblance of offspring to pa- 

 rents is generally persevered in. The dog, for instance, 

 is a species, because all dogs can breed together, and the 

 progeny partakes of the appearances of the parents. The 

 human race is held as a species, primarily for the same 

 reason. Species, however, is liable to another subdivi- 

 sion, which naturalists call variety ; and variety appears 

 to be subject to exactly the same system of representation 

 which has been traced in species and higher denomina- 

 tions. In canis, for instance, the bull-dog and mastiff re- 

 present the ferocious sub-typical group ; the water-dog 

 is natatorial ; we see the speed and length of muzzle of 

 the suctorial group in the greyhound ; and the bushy tail 

 and gentle and serviceable character of the rasorial in the 

 sheperd's dog and spaniel. Even the striped and spotted 

 skin of the tiger and panther is reproduced in the* more 

 ferocious kind of dogs — an indication of a fundamental 

 connexion between physical and mental qaualities which 

 we have also seen in the zebra, and which is likewise 



