214 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



majority of them were deprived of this member ; and 

 many more would be requifite to prove true, that almoft 

 all the quadrupeds were unfurnifhed with tails as count 

 de Buffon affirms. However, animals of this defcrip- 

 tion in America, as we mall prefently find, are only fix 

 in number, therefore the propofition is a monftrous hy- 

 perbole, not to fay an idle falfehood. 



It appears that in the time of Pliny no other animals 

 were known to be without tails but man and the ape. 

 If fmce that time there had been no other animal unfur- 

 nifhed with fuch member difcovered in the old continent, 

 count de Buffon and M. de Paw would have been right in 

 taxing the American quadrupeds with it ; but from the 

 Hiftory of count de Buffon it is evident, the fpecies with- 

 out tails are more numerous in the old continent than in 

 America. Here follows a lift of both, extracted from 

 the Hiftory of count de Buffon. 



Quadrupeds without tails in the old continent. 



1. The Pongo, or Orang Outang, or Satyr or Man 



of the Woods. 



2. The Pithecus, or Proper Ape. 



3. The Gibbon, another fpecies of ape. 



4. The Cynocephalus, or Magoto. 



5. The Turkifh dog. 



6. The Tanrec of Madagafcar. 



7. The Loris of Ceylon. 



8. The Indian Pig. 



11. The golden mole of Siberia. 



To which the three following mould be added : 



12. The five-toed floth of Bengal, defcribed by Vof- 



9. The Roujfette 

 10. The Rougette 



Two fpecies of great bats of Afia. 



maer. 



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13. The 



