MAMMALIA. 
9 
creatures superior, by tbeir organization, to tbe rest of the 
animals which we have just passed in review. They are provided, 
indeed, for the most part, with an organ of prehension and of touch, 
which is wanting in other animals ; they have a hand, and this 
character accompanies a degree of intelligence higher than is 
generally found in the other orders of Mammalia. 
The Quadrumana constitute the last step on the ladder of the 
animal series. With them the animals culminate, and after them, 
in the order of creation, comes man alone, a superior being whom 
we nevertheless must physically compare with the rest of the 
animal creation. 
The following table sums up the classification of the Mammalia 
which will be followed in this work : — 
1st Order, Monotremata. 
2nd 
99 
Marsupiata . 
3rd 
99 
Cetacea. 
4th 
99 
Amphibia. 
oth 
99 
Pachydermata. 
6th 
99 
Euminantia. 
7th 
99 
Edentata. 
8th 
99 
Carnivora. 
9th 
99 
Eodentia. 
10th 
99 
Insectivora. 
11th 
99 
Cheiroptera. 
12th 
Quadrumana. * 
* The Mammalia have also been divided, primarily, into the sub-classes Im- 
placentalia and Placentalia . The former of these comprises only the Monotremata 
and the Marsupiata. The latter fall into the leading series, which may he termed 
Zodphagoida and Phytophagoida ; the one subsisting mainly on animal products and 
the .more highly azotized parts of vegetables, the other subsisting chiefly upon 
vegetable products, although subordinate exceptional cases occur in both instances. 
The Zoophagoida next divide into the true Cetacea, on the one hand, and the rest of 
the contained orders on the other : the Phytophagoida, in like manner, divide into 
the Edentata on the one hand, and the rest of the contained orders on the other. 
The Cetacea and the Edentata may he considered as the abnormal divisions of their 
respective series. The Zoophagoida culminate in Man ; the Phytophagoida culminate 
in the Elephant group. — E d. 
