8 
MAMMALIA. 
We shall then study the Marsupials, an anomaly of organization 
which is quite peculiar to them. Their young, instead of being 
born in the perfect state, as with the rest of the Mammalia, come 
into the world, if we may use the expression, unfinished, and are 
kept by the mother in a special pouch, until their more complete 
development is attained. 
After this order of abnormal Mammalia, will come an order 
which also presents considerable anomaly of organization — we mean 
the marine Mammalia, or Cetacea. Different from the majority 
of the Mammalia, in that the Cetacea are nearly all aquatic, and 
in the Whale, the Cachalot (. Physeter ), &c., the superior and inferior 
members are modified in such a manner as to remind one in no 
respect of the disposition of the members in other Mammalia. 
All of these singularities of structure justify us in giving them 
the place we do in the order of our distribution, which is founded 
on the increasing state of perfection of their organization. 
After the marine Mammalia, we place the Amphibia, which 
present the peculiarity of being constituted with a view to their 
double existence on land and in the water. 
After this series of what we may call abnormal orders of 
Mammalia, we pass on to the Mammalia of a more regular 
organization, but which are yet far from realizing all of the 
dispositions of the structure of the superior Mammalia : we 
allude to the Pachydermata and the Puminantia, which are so far 
wanting in the sense of touch, that the principal organ of this 
sense, that is to say, the extremity of the members, is often partly 
enclosed in a horny casing, called the hoof. 
With the Pachydermata and the Puminantia, we enter into a 
plan of organic structure already brought to a state of high perfec- 
tion, and this character is still more marked as we advance in the 
study of the rest of the Mammalia. The Edentata are those 
singular creatures, designated by the name of Sloths (. Bradypus ) 
and Armadillos (Dasypus), whose characteristic is the absence of 
the incisive teeth, and which sometimes have their bodies covered 
with scaly plates. But the Carnivora, the Podentia, the In- 
sectivora, and even the Cheiroptera, present no longer any anomaly 
of organization, and answer exactly to the type, which we may 
call normal, representing this class of animals. 
The last order of Mammalia, the Quadrumana, contains 
