NATURAL 
primary divifions and fubdivifions of the animal kingdom 
were made more numerous ; the tranfition from them to 
the genera lefs abrupt; and the difcrimination of fpecies 
more eafy and accurate. 
It was on this plan that Linnaeus proceeded in the for¬ 
mation of his great fyftem, which has been I'o much and 
fo generally admired. The characters he chofe, however, 
were confefl'edly artificial; and, as his obje&s chiefly 
fieemed to be the alcertainment and defcription ol the 
fpecies, he often difregarded natural order, and thus 
brought together things in their nature very diflimilar. 
See Linnzeu s, vol. xii. p. 756. But, upon the whole, no 
fyftem has been produced which can be faid to have fewer 
faults than his: his therefore we have followed. Had we 
departed from it, we could only, like fome of our com¬ 
petitors, have formed a patch work claflification, from the 
various fyftems of modern French writers. 
The Linnaean fyftem, then,confifts of three grand divi- 
fions ; viz. the animal, vegetable, and mineral, kingdoms; 
with the fubdivifions, mentioned before, of dalles, orders, 
genera, fpecies, and varieties. 
It mull be confidered as a very difficult, though a very 
curious, problem, to afcertain the number of Ipecies at 
prefent known throughout the feveral fubdivifions of Na¬ 
ture. From the different modes in which different natu- 
ralifts have diftr'buted the objects of their refearch, and 
from the additions that are perpetually made to our 
knowledge, it may be impoffible to fix the precifte num¬ 
ber of known fpecies at any given time; but we may make 
a tolerably near approximation to the truth ; and this we 
lhall now attempt, going through the feveral kingdoms, 
clojjes, and orders, as they have been or will be treated of 
in the different parts of this work. 
I. In the ANIMAL KINGDOM. 
Clafs I. Mammalia, or Sucking Animals. 
Names of th« Orders. No. 
of Genera. 
No. of Species. 
1. Primates 
4 
105 
2. Bruta 
9 
31 
3. Ferae 
10 
191 
4. Glires 
10 - 
I 4 S 
5. Pecora 
8 
75 
6. Belluae 
4 
14 
7. Cete 
4 
24 
— 
-- 
49 
585 
Clafs II. Aves, or Birds. See the article 0 
RNITHOLOGY. 
1. Accipitres 
- 4 
300 
2. Picae 
24 
795 
3. Anferes 
II 
- 271 
4. Grallae 
20 
346 
5. Galiinae 
10 
124 
6. Pafl'eres 
17 
1099 
— 
-- 
88 
2935 
— 
■ - 
Clafs III. 
Amphibia. 
*. Reptilia 
4 
162 
2. Serpentes 
8 
258 
12 
420 
— 
- —— 
Clafs IV. Pisces, Fifties. See Ichthyology. 
1. Apodes 
14 
- 61 
2. Jugulares 
6 
59 
3. Thoracici 
21 
620 
4. Abdominales 
16 
- 219 
5. Branchioftegi 
10 
iii 
6. Chondropterigii 
6 - 
7 i 
— 
— 
73 
1141 
H 1 S T O 
R Y. 
599 
Clafs V. 
Insecttk. See Entomology. 
Orders. 
Genera. Species. 
1. Coleoptera 
55 
4497 
2. Hemiptera 
14 
1497 
3. Lepidoptera 
3 
2796 
4. Neuroptera 
7 
197 
5. Hymenoptera 
25 
- 1573 
6. Diptera 
- 12 
907 
7. Aptera 
15 
- - 722 
131 
13185 
Clafs VI. Vermes, Worms. 
See Helminthology. 
1. Inteftina 
21 
399 
2. Mollufca 
31 
463 
3. Teftacea 
' 3 6 
- 2652 
4. Zoophyta 
15 
488 
5. Infuloria 
15 
233 
118 
4235 
By adding the above numbers together, it will be feen 
that the number of known Ipecies in the animal king¬ 
dom may be eftimated at about 22,501 ; and of thefe the 
clafs of infefts furnifhes more fpecies than all the other 
claffes put together. 
II. In the VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
We lhall not here enumerate the claffes and orders of 
trees, plants, See. as they are already given at length, with 
the number of genera in each, under the article Botany, 
vol. iii. p. 256, and 263 & feq. The total number of 
fpecies is fet down in the Encyclopaedia Britannica at 
14,807 ; but with the remark, that “ many years ago the 
number of known fpecies was reckoned at above twenty 
thouland, and there is reafon to believe that it exceeds 
50,000.” 
III. In the MINERAL KINGDOM. 
Clafs I. Earths. 
Orders. Genera. 
Species. 
1. Talcofe 
5 
32 
2. Ponderous 
4 
15 
3. Calcareous 
20 
130 
4. Argillaceous 
12 
106 
5. Siliceous 
17 
79 
6. Adamantine 
1 
- 1 
7. Aggregate 
6 
- 300 
Clafs II. Salts 
8 
- - 48 
Clafs III. Inflammables 
7 
28 
Clafs IV. Metals 
27 
- - 216 
Clals V. Petrifactions 
8 
- - 85 
Total number of fpecies in the Mineral Kingdom 1040 
in the Vegetable Kingdom 50,000 
in the Animal Kingdom 22,501 
Grand Total 73,541 
Though the claflification of natural bodies is of the 
Itigheft importance towards making us acquainted with 
unknown fpecies, and diftinguilhing them from thofe 
which we already know, this alone is not fufficient to 
form a naturalift. His principal objeCt Ihould be to learn 
the habits, manners, and ufes, of the objects which he is 
ftudying; and he may perhaps be affifted in this object by 
the following obfervations: 
1. In Zoology, or the natural hiftory of the animal king¬ 
dom, it is neceffary to afcertain both the diltinCfive cha¬ 
racters of each individual animal, and its peculiar habits, 
properties, and ules. 
The naturalift firft learns that the lamb, for inftance, is 
in the clafs mammalia, being one of thofe animals that 
fuckle their young; in the order pecora, becaufe it is, 
hoofed a 
