68 
PASSIONAL ZOOLOGY. 
to have the hind quarter much higher than the fore quarter. 
Among most of the species, the fore paws, besides being much 
shorter than the hind paws, tend by their functions to approach 
the hand of the quadrumana. The first group of the gnawers, 
and the most interesting, is that which contains the two species, 
hare and rabbit, two other tribes of victims. The second group 
is that of climber Sy living upon trees, frugivorous gnawers, en- 
dowed for the most part with the instinct of foresight, either hiding 
away provisions for winter, or else becoming torpid by the cold : 
the squirrel, the dormouse, the garden mouse, the muscardin. 
The third group, called cannibaly comprises the gnawers that live 
underground, emigrating at fixed epochs, and devouring each other 
with pleasure, like barbarians. Six species : the hamster, Norway 
rat or rat of Montfaucon, brown rat, mouse, meadow mouse. The 
water rat, which has no membrane to its paw, constitutes, notwith- 
standing, a particular species. 
The series of gnawers is connected with that of the carnivorous 
sleepers (badger), by the marmot ; with that of the carnivorous 
fishers, by the beaver. 
The cabiai, a gnawer without a tail, is ambiguous between the 
rat and the rabbit, between the herbivora and the omnivora. Total 
number of species in the series of gnawers : Fifteen. 
There remains the great tribe of the Cheiropteria or bats, am- 
biguous between the mammifers and birds, and comprising at 
least ten species : Vespertilio, Megalotis, Rhinolophus, Noctiiio, 
Serotinus, Pipistrellus, Barbastellus, etc. 
Sum total of the mammiferous quadrupeds of France : Sixty-two. 
To proceed in our work with oi der and clearness, we divide into 
four principal chapters the history of these sixty-two quadrupeds 
of France. The first of these chapters will be consecrated to the 
history of the animals connected with man as avxiUary or domes- 
tic. The second will treat of beasts that are not hunted. The 
third, of beasts that are killed but rarely hunted. The fourth, 
finally ; of the running chase. 
