ITS PLACE IN NATUEE 



11 



isolated groups now surviving on the earth, and continu- 

 ally increasing the difficulty of giving satisfactory 

 definitions of their boundaries. 



In the first serious attempt at the classification of 

 the Mammalia, that of our countryman John Ray, in 

 his ' Synopsis Methodica Animalium,' published in 1693, 

 the class was separated into two great divisions, the 

 ungulated or hoofed animals, and the unguiculated, or 

 those with nails or claws. This division, especially as 

 applied by its author, was somewhat artificial, the camel 

 being separated from all its ungulate allies, and placed 

 in the unguiculate division, and the latter embracing a 

 very heterogeneous assemblage of creatures. Neverthe- 

 less, some portion of this system has survived, and 

 especially the group Ungulata, discarded by Linnaeus, 

 Cuvier, and others, and broken up by them in several 

 distinct orders, has been resuscitated of late years, and 

 is now generally used, with almost the same limits as 

 were assigned to it by Ray. 



The Ungulata in this sense are all animals eminently 

 adapted for a terrestrial life, and in the main for a vege- 

 table diet. Though a few are more or less omnivorous, 

 and may under some circumstances kill living creatures 

 smaller and weaker than themselves for food, 1 none are 

 distinctly and habitually predaceous. Their molar or 

 cheek-teeth have broad crowns with tuberculated or 

 1 Pigs, for instance, will kill and eat snakes. 



