THE MAMMALIA- 
viduab aro brought xvith the nails entire ; the first view then seems abundantly con- 
firmed; perhaps even we applaud our own sagacity, and our extensive knowledge of 
final causes, — of those cuds and uses for which the Creator designed the various parts 
of the animal world. Finally, another young individual is imported with all the cha- 
racters of the original specimen, thus proving it not only to have been a distinct 
species, hut entitling it to the rank of a separate genus — the Aoi.yx, or Nail-less 
Otter of M. Lesson : and one more instance is atforded of the inexhaustible variety 
in the works of Nature. M^hen we find that even the possession of Claws is not 
always indispensable to the subsistence of the Camassier, we may thence derive the 
salutary caution, not to confide too implicitly in analogical reasoning, if we wish to 
form correct views regarding new or unknown natural objects. 
GENERAL REVIEW OF THE MAMMALIA CONTINUED. 
Supposed Degeneration of Speeies — Theory of Original Stocks proposed by Linneeus 
and Buffon — Lamarck s Theory of the Transition of Species, 
Since the supporters of the permanent characters of Species thus find it difficult to 
fix any very definite rule for determining them, and as the characters themselves are 
often seen to run into innumerable varieties, two very different theories have been pro- 
posed. Linnams and Buffon asserted that only a small number of stocks were originally 
created, from which all the c.xisting species have degenerated and diverged, from the 
influence of climate, food, and domestication, aided by a promiscuous intercourse, 
which has been limited only by their progeny ceasing to produce fertile races. On 
the other hand, Lamarck considered that the form of the body, and all the characters 
of species, were the consequence of the habits, the manner of living, and other cir- 
cumstances, which have, in the course of time, given rise to the form of each species. 
Further, that Man, and each higher animal, has originally arisen from some lower 
Division of the Animal Kingdom, by the gradual transition of the characters of 
one species into another, hut always from the lower to the higher, with the trans- 
mission of such commuted characters to their posterity. These theories both agree 
m denying the fixed character of species. That of Linnieus and Buffon would re- 
move the character of durability from the species to fix it in some original stock, the 
type of the Genus, the Family, the Tribe, or perhaps even of the Order. That of 
Lamarck would overturn the permanent character of all forms. The first asserts 
the degeneration, the second the gradual development and perfectibility, of species. 
While the one reposes chielly on the phenomena of Variation, the other rests upon 
those general analogies among species, wliieh have led Bonnet to form his universal 
chain of existence, and later writers their circular theories. 
It is to Linnaius that wo must assign the merit of relieving Systematic Botany 
from those accidental varieties which spring up daily in our gardens, and had been 
improperly raised by Tournefort and other former Botanists to the rank of species. 
But the zeal of this great Naturalist in bringing down Varieties from their undue ele- 
vation, led him to conjecture that many of those Plants which had been discovered 
since tho time of Tournefort might have been produced, during the intervening period 
by the intermixture of species. From the impregnation of one kind of Plant with 
the pollen of another, ho was induced, not only to suspect that Nature now produced 
now species by this means, hut that, even at tho origin of things, there had been 
created only a certain number of simple gener.a, the continual crossing of which 
has given rise to the immense number of species at present known. This hypothesis 
which originated from the consideration of Plants, was afterwards extended by 
Lmnaius even to Animals, and however plausible it may at first sight appear from 
contemplating those races, by which Natuio has so infinitely varied some species in 
different parts of tho globe, it seems, on a further consideration, to ho wholly untenable 
Contrivance and ingenuity, on tho part of Man, are always seen to be necessary to 
bring about the production of a Hybrid or cross between two different species. There 
is further an impossibility of perpetuating these crosses as species or distinct races 
arising cither from their absolute or relative want of fecundity, or from that degene- 
ration and deterioration to which their issue is subject. They always require the 
assistance of one of their primitive stocks, to prevent the new race from becoming 
wholly extinct. Further, in those genera and classes where the objects are very 
numerous, wo often see two or more species formed evidently upon tho same model 
which may be more or less varied, yet they always remain distinct from each other! 
Examples of this are not wanting from the Quadruraana and Cheiroptera to the lowest 
species of Zoophytes. We also see that those peculiarities which serve to charac- 
torize the several species, genera, or even natural families, continue to exist without 
‘hero over appearing before our eyes now links between allied species. For nearly 
‘wo centuries. Animals and Plants have been observed with great care, yet there has 
not been one authenticated instance of a distinct and constant species, which has yet 
been proved to be of modern origin. Finally, those fossil Shells and Bonos found 
'» earthy strata, deposited during the carUer ages of animal life, exhibit the same 
'■ariety, not only of those forms which are found at tho present day, but also of many 
others now wholly extinct. These facts are opposed by a mere probability or con- 
Joeture, and wo aro hence compelled to consider species, although very nearly resem- 
hling each other, to have been so formed at the origin of things. 
Buffon has carried these views regarding the Degeneration of species among 
^nmals to a much greater extent than Linnasus did in respect to Plants. After 
reducing the numerous races of domestic animals to certain original stocks, ho 
firouped the allied species of quadrupeds into races or natural familie.s. Assuming ccr- 
‘oin species to be tho primitive stocks from which tho numerous allied species at 
present existing have descended, he thence attempted to explain thoir degeneration, 
Pai-tly by their close affinities, but chiefly by those causes which aro sniricient to vary 
•be domestic animals. lie thought that species, such as now aro commonly admitted, 
• ‘ not tormerly exist, and that we must seek for their characters in those natural 
groups which have served to form genera or families. Tho degeneration of species, 
*ucordiug to Buffon, was one which preceded all history, and formed the most ancient 
•SIAN AND BEASTS 59 
of their changes. It appeared to arise in each family, or in each of those geneva 
under which nearly-allied species are usually comprised. Only a few isolated kinds, 
ho remarked, formed, like Man, at once the species and the genus. The Elephant, 
■Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, and Camelopard, according to him, composed simple 
genera and species which were continued in a direct line, and without any collateral 
■ branches , while all the others appeared to form families, in which a chief and com- 
mon stock might generally he observed, from which there seemed to proceed different 
offsets, increasing in number according as the individuals in each speeies were smaller 
and more fertile. Buffon on these principles reduced all the species of quadrupeds 
then known to thirty-eight families. He admits that this state of Nature has not 
come down to us, but is, on the contrary, the remnant of a former state of things, 
.and that we can only acquire a knowledge of it by inductions and relations nearly 
as fugitive as the time, which seems to have obliterated all traces of its existence. ” 
Notwithstanding the opinion which JI. F. Cuvier has hazarded upon this theory, 
“ that It even now presents an appearance of the greatest probability,” it is one to 
which we can by no means subscribe. After making due allowance for the influence 
of climate, food, and the numerous accidents to which all the individuals are subject, 
these causes arc wholly insufficient, however long we may suppose them to operate, 
to change the entire forms of animals, their proportions, and even their internal 
structure, to such a degree as this hypothesis would require. We see that those 
domestic animals which Man has transported to the most opposite climates, have only 
changed the quality of their hair or their colour. The influence of pasture can only 
alter the height, the proportion of tho horns, or perhaps add some lumps of fat to the 
body. But a small number of generations spent on another soil are sufficient to over- 
turn whatever this race may have acquired during ages of cultivation. Again, if we 
consider those species, whether Mammalia or Birds, which are most populous in in- 
dividuals, and at tho same time the most fertile, the entire of their observed variations 
are by no means great. Some species which are very populous are nearly exempt 
from varieties, while others, though less fertile, vai-y much. Thus the common 
Mouse and the Mulot (il/as Syloaticus) are perhaps as populous as any species ■; 
yot their variations arc rare, and an infinite number of instances might be brought 
forward among the Fishes and Insects. There arc even species very nearly allied to 
each other, and almost equally distributed in opposite climates, of which the one has 
run into a great number of varieties, while the others every where preserve a uniform 
resemblance to each other. Tho Polish Marmot {Arctomys bobae), and the Siberian 
Marmot (^Spennophilus citillus), are striking instances that a vegetable diet does 
not give rise to greater varieties than animal food. The Polish Marmot lives only 
on vegetables without ever touching animal substances, yot it rem,ains unvaried, ac- 
cording to Pallas, from Poland to the banks of the Lena. On the contrary, tho 
Siberi.an Marmot, which is as carnivorous as the Surmulot decumamis), has 
undergone many important variitions of size, colour, and proportion in the same- 
latitudes, and under similar eircurastances. 
Although the influence of Domestication has a much more powerful tendency to 
occasion variation, than all those reverses and changes which the wild species can 
experience, yet Man has not succeeded in altering the Nature of .any one of these 
animals, so as to form a new, distinctf and permanent species. The Horse and the 
Ass, in their transitions from the wild to the domesticated state, have undergone less 
variation than some other wild species, which climate alone has been sufficient to 
modify. Tho Bactrian Camel and the Dromedary retain their natural forms in the 
few countries where they aro naturalized. Buffon considered the humps of ttie 
Camel to have been occasioned by the long habit of carrying burdens; but tho wild 
Camels of Thibet and China have tho same humps and callosities as their domesticated 
brethren. Pallas has correctly observed, that ho might as well have regarded the 
folliculc of the Musk, and the dorsal gland of the Peccari, as abscesses arising from 
disease. The Asa is more harshly treated than tho Cornel, tho Alpacas are as much 
accustomed to carry burdens, yet they ai-o without humps. The Horse and tho Ass 
have not .acquired callosities on those places where they have so long been exposed to 
the friction of tho sadille and harness. 
Climate and Food, however long we may suppose these causes to operate, are 
wholly unable to account for the existence of the numerous species of animals which 
cover the face of tho globe. We sec that the preservation of the Races among our 
domestic animals, and the improvement of tho breeds, depend chiefly upon the pecu- 
liarities of the individuals selected to propagate. Graziers have long since laid down 
those rules by which tho domestic animals, and especially the Horse, can be rendered 
larger, more beautiful, or more vigorous than they would have been if left unculti- 
vated. But it is only by continued care that tho purity of the breeds can be pre- 
served, and they ever exhibit an inclination to resume the characters of the wild 
animals. Wo thus see that the tendency of tho offspring to retain the characteristics 
of its parent is powerful enough to counteract all those causes which may modify 
the external forms of animals. Thus the introduction of Rams of a good breed 
corrects tho fleeces of the worst flocks in a single generation, and even in the least 
favorable climates. T>o Angora Goat has imparted his silky fleece to the . Swedish 
flocks, and they maintain this character for several generations. In Russia also, the 
Stallions with a frizzled and crisp hair, impart to their foals a similar coat .and of the 
same colour. The w ild, as well as domestic animals, also tend continually to main- 
tain their primitive forma in opposition to all the influences of climate and food, 
which arc wholly insufficient to induce this supposed degeneration and degradation of 
species. Whenever some accidental connate deformity or partial excrescence becomes 
hereditary, as sometimes happens, tho natural liberty of intercourse soon re-establishes 
the original form, and it is only by interfering with their unions that we can succeed in 
rendering permanent tho accidental varieties of our domestic animals. In the wild 
state also, tho females are led instinctively to prefer the most courageous of the 
males, tho most perfect, and the most masculine of their species. The males, like, 
wise, instinctively prefer the most beautiful of the females, and thus they both tend 
to transmit to their offspring tho most perfect form of their species. 
Since Nature then Ims placed an instinctive mutual aversion in animals of different 
species, — since she has rendered Hybrids cither sterile or weak and imperfect, if 
allied animals distributed in remote parts of tho globe are found to be inc.ipable of 
