G4 
MISCELLANEA. 
Rapid Propagation of Domestic Quadrupeds over 
the American Continent. 
H umboldt observes, in his Travels*, on the authority of 
Azzara, that it is believed there exist in the pampas of Buenos 
Ayres twelve millions of cows, and three millions of horses, without 
comprising in the enumeration the cattle that have no acknow- 
ledged proprietor. 
In the Llanos of Caracoas, the rich hateras, or proprietors of 
pastoral farms, are entirely ignorant of the number of cattle 
they possess. The young are branded with a mark peculiar to 
each herd, and some of the most wealthy owners mark as many 
as fourteen thousand a year. In the northern plains, from the 
Orinoco to the Lake of Maracaybo, M. Depons reckoned that 
1,200,000 oxen, 180,000 horses, and 90,000 mules, wandered at 
large. In some parts of the valley of the Mississippi, especially 
in the country of the Osage Indians, wild horses are immensely 
numerous. 
The ass has thriven very generally in the New World; and we 
learn from Ulloa that in Quito they ran wild, and multiplied in 
amazing numbers, so as to become a nuisance. They graze 
together in herds, and, when attacked, defend themselves with 
their mouths. If a horse happens to stray into the places 
where they fed, they all fall upon him, and do not cease biting 
and kicking till they leave him deadf. 
Hogs, sheep, and goats, have likewise multiplied enormously 
in the New World, as have also the cat and rat, which last has 
been imported unintentionally in ships. 
The dog, introduced by man, which at different periods became 
wild in America, hunts in packs, like the wolf and jackal, de- 
stroying not only hogs, but the calves and foals of the wild cattle, 
and even destroying horses. 
The rapid propagation of domestic animals over the continent 
of America, within the last three centuries only, is a fact of great 
importance in natural history. The extraordinary herds of wild 
cattle and horses which overran the plains of South America 
sprung from a very few pairs first carried over by the Spaniards ; 
and they prove that the wild geographical range of large species 
on great continents does not necessarily imply that they have 
existed there from remote periods. 
Ly ell’s Geology. 
* Pers. Nar., vol. iv. f Ulloa’s Voyage, Wood’s Zool. vol. i, p. 9. 
