SIX-BAKDED ARMADILLO. 
lious animal, with observing that, when we 
talk of a quadruped, the ver^"- name seems to 
convey the idea of an animal covered wirh 
hair; as, wlien we mention a bird or a fish, 
feathers or scales present themselves to our 
imagination, and seem inseparable attributes of 
these creatures: yet Nature, as if willing to 
deviate from this characteristic uniformitv, 
and to astonish us by uncommon productions, 
manifests herself contrary to our general ideas, 
at variance with our denominations, and with 
the chara6ters wliich we have acknowledged, 
and amazes us still more bv her exceptions 
than by her laws. The quadruped animals, 
which we re2:ard as the first class of livin:: 
nature, and which are, next to man, the most 
remarkable beings of tliis world, are not in 
every thing superior, neither are they separated 
by invariable attributes. The first of these 
charatfters, from which even their name is de- 
rived, and which consists In their having four 
feet, is common to lizards, frogs, &:c. which 
differ, however, from quadrupeds, in many 
other respedls, so as to make a quite distindl 
class. The second general propertv, that of 
jToducing their young alive, is not peculiar to 
quadrupeds. 
