CARNIVORA. 
THE INSECTIVORA. 
The third great division of carnivorous animals, 
or such quadrupeds as subsist principally, if not 
entirely, on animal matter, consists of those which 
feed on insects and worms ; whence they are aptly 
distinguished by the epithet insectivorous. 
All the animals included in this division are 
plantigrades ; and it may, therefore, at first sight, ap- 
pear to be multiplying divisions unnecessarily, when 
these are separated from those last treated on. But 
the works of Nature are infinitely varied, and cha- 
racteristics intimately mixed up : the prominent 
and striking peculiarities of one set of animals are 
found only in part, and subservient to different 
leading principles, in another; so that zoologists are 
obliged to take advantage of the most remarkable 
and ostensible characters only, by which to methodise 
artificially the animal kingdom ; and, having em- 
ployed them to distinguish a certain number, to 
desert them for new peculiarities that more par- 
ticularly apply to other animals, with which such 
characters cease to be most remarkable, though 
they may still be found as subservient or minor 
properties. 
Thus their insectivorous regimen is a more de- 
scriptive character of the creatures now under con- 
sideration, than their plantigrade mode of motion ; 
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