DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OP ANIMALS. 



205 



rablo stench at their will ; and many of them do it as a mean of defence : 

 and often so effectually that the very beast that pursues them is compelled 

 to relinquish the chase, so completely is he overpowered by its noisome 

 vapour. The remainder of this order are the ursus or bear ; the didelphis 

 or opossum ; the marcopius or kangaroo, which is now naturalizing in the 

 royal parks of our own country ; the talpa or mole ; the sorex or shrew ; 

 and the erinaceus or hedge-hog : which last is capable of being tamed, 

 and is actually tamed by the Caimucs, and made a very useful domestic 

 servant in destroying mice, toads, beetles, and other vermin, 

 j The FOURTH ORDER of mammalian animals is denominated glires, for 

 ' which we may use the words hybernaters, or burkowers. They are 

 distinguished by having two fore-teeth in each jaw, close to each other, but 

 remote from the grinders ; and being without tusks. They all, in a greater 

 or less degree, burrow in the earth, and almost all of them sleep through 

 i the whole, or a great part, of the winter. To this order, therefore, we can 

 1 all of us, of our own accord, refer the ten following kinds, which are the 

 whole that are included under it. The hystrix or porcupine ; the cavia or 

 cavy ; the castor or beaver ; the mus genus, comprehending the numerous 

 famihes of the mouse and rat ; the arctomys or marmot ; the sciurus or 

 squirrel, some of which have a long flying membrane that enables them to 

 i vault from tree to tree, like some species of, the lemur ; the myoxus or 

 ! dormouse ; the dipus or jerboa, whose form resembles the kangaroo, but 

 i whose habits the dormouse ; the lepus, comprising the hare and rabbit 

 tribes ; and the hyrax or daman : with most of which we are too well ac- 

 quainted to require any detailed account in so cursory a survey as the 

 present. 



The PECORA or cattle kinds form the next or fifth order, and com- 

 prehend those horned quadrupeds which are most familiar and most useful 

 to us. To this division, therefore, necessarily belong the bos, ovis, capra, 

 and cervus kinds ; or, in our own language, the ox, sheep, goat, and deer ; 

 and, as cx)nnected with these, in habits as well as in external appearance, 

 the moschus, antilope, camelus — the musk, antelope, camel and camelo- 

 pard, or giraffe. They are ordinarily distinguished by being without upper 

 fore-teeth, but having six to eight in the lower jaw, remote from the grind- 

 ers. They have all four stomachs, are hoofed^ and have the hoof divided 

 in the middle ; and, except the camel, have two false hoofs, which, in 

 walking, do not touch the ground. Such as have horns have no tusks, and 

 such as have tusks have no horns : they ruminate or chew the cud ; and 

 from the torpid action of their multifid digestive canal, are apt to have balls 

 form in different parts of it, owing to the frequent concretion of their food, 

 occasionally intermixed, but more usually covered, with a quantity of hair, 

 which they lick from their bodies. Some of these balls are of a whitish 

 hue, and will bear a fine polish, and are known by the name of bezoards. 

 These are chiefly the production of the antelope kind ; and were formerly 

 in very high estimation as amulets, and febrifuges. ^ 



The SIXTH ORDER of mammals embraces the beiu-e or warrior kinds, 

 possessing both upper and lower fore-teeth, and hoofed feet. The order 

 consists of only four genera ; the equus or horse, mule and ass tribes ; the 

 hippopotamus or river horse ; the tapir, which in appearance and habits 

 makes an approach to the river horse, but is smaller in size : and the nu- 

 merous families of the sus or swine kind. 



The LAST order under the mammalian class consists of the cete or 

 WHALE KINDS, and embraces the monodon, sea unicorn or narwahl : ba- 



