Naveen “ Se memes . oe A tes $ret, oe ANEW EAR. m NACL SI RTEPVIT) ALUM Pe: : “. VAL PMA PLR Ay eee VAN abet JP Pei e. et ae Ne NSN An Peetu y hs fetore Miehete ee hey ENA ; AL ye SS ‘ oy | I iby Dy i q ft | P " iM i Bp ae : ~P aE it i) i a | : i Hi] 1 So, | te ate ¥ ceo 13 fa. cn Rey o, 2 rs Dy ms runes WE, NE | i) i. i Allin} O, i % Wy i ae ih ay 4 : Ii mah il eA Cia nine {Nh | 4 need sae H j f Ae : at aes } r ae | i as | SN SN SSNS ANTES SASARS AAAS SSNS TS Ss 04044) Wa pad dis SSeS Ss Ye WA Wy 4 “4 Wh) Wy 404, Wy Ae iy) YY OY, Wy ED Oy ia ED a ¢ : «© OBARON CUYIER,O >—- eet Ufice of the Le egion Vi oe lounse Ue iy “Tiete: 8 » Men ford the We. Koyal, Counetl i LIS ae Srituchion, One of the For ly of the ZA Meademiy: Terfee Saat \Ki ES ately tothe Luba Vetences Hom TZ, of the deademtes 3 yo yl locvities of | Londo. pardon. Lelersh righ. Loan Wh. nie ey Lin Suigh lo (pe eg 70 VK W, La- VOUT: Modene, the. betbew land sé, lalentla,, So lhe Tinne ye cee Londo 1, be Ue ll SHEED Arey fan Winn FI@URES : ! >) A ep) ER Ne "rome the > th NPU RD: Le —_ ae nes & Insecta, @ uh G ae CG, Sig. Lf i ee ! ZI fhe agiow of Monon: Wem Let of the. histitete Lg hy ny of oe Me He o heition UE (other COLE Wp Pte 4 Un ie nbeo be, bone ed, Et. . ea ) a Clee cats Tee = \ a “Translated trom the Jatest Hire rch EMtiom \] | Vai I I AND SOLD BY Pema LLERS oe a ae | 8 oD A 2 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, ARRANGED ACCORDING TO ITS ORGANIZATION, SERVING AS A FOUNDATION FOR THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS, AND AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. BY BARON CUVIER, Great Officer of the Legion of Honour, Counsellor of State, and Member of the Royal Council of Public Instruction ; One of the Forty of the French Academy; Perpetual Secretary to the Academy of Sciences; Member of the Academies and Royal Societies of London, Berlin, Petersburgh, Stockholm, Turin, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Gottingen, Bavaria, Modena, the Netherlands, and Calcutta; and of the Linnzan Society of London, &c. &c. WITH FIGURES DESIGNED AFTER NATURE: THE CRUSTACEA, ARACENIDES, & INSECTA, BY M. LATREILLE, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, Member of the Institute (Royal Academy of Sciences), and of the greater portion of other learned Societies in Europe, America, &c. Translated from the latest french Lvition. WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES, AND ILLUSTRATED BY NEARLY 500 ADDITIONAL PLATES. . —e IN FOUR VOLUMES. ae Gut VOL. I. “ MAMMALIA = BLRDS., LONDON: G. HENDERSON, 2, OLD BAILEY, LUDGATE-HILL, AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1834, LONDON: W. M‘'DOWALL; FEMBERTON ROW, GOUGH SQUARE. ysegIN presenting this version of the “ Animal Kingdom” ADVERTISEMENT. es of the celebrated Cuvier to the British public, the Translator feels assured that he has only acted in compliance with the wishes of the most intelligent portion of the community, inasmuch as the great deficiency in our language of a complete work in this grand department of Natural History is thus supplied in a manner that it is impossible to excel. It is essential for the reader to understand that the attempts hitherto made by English authors to enrich British scientific literature with the labours of Cuvier, have been confined to the translation of the first edition of the ‘ Régne Animale,’ which made its appearance so far back as the year 1816. With respect to that translation, it is not necessary that we should dwell upon it farther than to observe, that it is the version of a work which may now be deemed to be completely superseded. The great French author himself, indeed, has acknowledged the imperfections of his first edition, as compared with the last, which is now enriched with the results of labours, whereby, during the interval of twelve years, an immense pro- gress is declared by Cuvier to have been effected in this science. It is scarcely necessary to add, that no part of those labours, and no por- tion of that improvement, failed to be examined by this indefatigable naturalist. His connection with the government of France, his reputa- tion throughout Europe, and his consequent unbounded facilities of com- munication with fellow-labourers in all quarters of the globe, gave to Cuvier opportunities of procuring information of new facts, or corrections of former errors, such as could not be accessible to almost any other individual. From considering these facts, the reader will not fail to conclude that a difference, to no small amount, must necessarily exist between the former and the latter edition of the ‘“‘ Animal Kingdom;”’ nor will he, upon due examination, be prepared to deny that the latter is essentially a new and distinct work, from the number of alterations and improvements which have been incorporated with it. Cuvier records, with the most grateful expressions, his sense of the value of the information derived by him from the vast number of faithfully executed figures in Natural History which were supplied by recent travellers. The difficulties presented in the arrangement of the synonymes in the nomenclature of animals were also found by our great author very seriously diminished when he came to prepare the second edition of his ‘‘ Régne Animale.” Naturalists of il ADVERTISEMENT. all countries felt the necessity of more minute distinctions being esta- blished amongst those extensive groups which they had previously formed, and the result was a much nearer approximation than ever to an exact definition of each of the species. We refer to the Preface, at page xxx of the present volume, for a more copious account of the advantages which the last edition of the ‘‘ Animal Kingdom” presents, as compared with the first. It remains for us, then, merely to state, that we felt the great importance of at once adding to our scientific literature a work of such permanent value as the “ Animal Kingdom” of Cuvier. The character of the author for a profound knowledge of his subject—the conviction which we entertained of his exact accuracy in all that related to his labours, seemed to be sufficient to authorize us in trusting altogether to his authority; and if we have added a few notes occasionally in the present volume, our object only was to enable our readers to make such an application of the text as our local advantages in this country enabled us to do. In the following work, therefore, the reader will not find himself di- verted from the regular current of the simple text by any protracted and tedious notes, which dispute, as it were, the right to the space of every page with the actual contents of the original. We have, in the front of our announcement to the public, pledged ourselves to place the British reader ona level with the French one, in comprehending the result of Cuvier’s researches into the most interesting of the subjects that can engage the mind of man; and to the fulfilment of that pledge we feel it to be our duty toadhere. Fidelity, then, in the translation, was the first grand object of our care. We have laid it down as a fixed rule, never to depart, even in a casual expression, from a most faithful representation of the thoughts and words of the original; and we trust that we have not failed altogether in our attempt to transfer from his pages some portion at least of the energetic spirit, yet true simplicity, by which Cuvier’s style is so happily distinguished. It has been, therefore, no object of our ambition, on this occasion, to attempt the improvement of the charming colours of the lily, or give fresh beauty to the glowing hues of the violet. Our task was plain; and we felt that we performed enough, in devoting the whole of our exertions to effect the nearest possible approximation to the style and manner of the great Original—in other words, to secure to the English nation all the advantages of such an easy and instructive exposition of scientific knowledge as the French nation had already at their command. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. HAVING from my earliest years devoted myself, from taste, to the study of Comparative Anatomy; in other words, to the laws which preside over the organization of animals, and the modifications of that organization, as they are found throughout the diversified species—having, for nearly thirty years, consecrated to this science every moment which my duties left at my own disposal, I have ever kept in view, as the object of my labours, the resolution of the science into general laws, and into propositions of the simplest expression. My first essays soon made me perceive, that I could only attain this in proportion as the animals, whose structure I should have to elucidate, were arranged in conformity with that structure, so that in one single name of class, order, genus, &c. might be embraced all those species which, in their external as well as internal conformation, might have affinities either more general or particular. Now, this is what the greater number of naturalists of that epoch had never attempted, and what but few of them could have effected, had they even been willing to try, since a similar arrangement presupposes an extensive knowledge of the structures, of which it is partly the representation. It is true that Daubenton and Camper had supplied facts,—that Pallas had indicated views; but the ideas of these learned men had not yet exer~ cised upon their contemporaries the influence which they merited. The only general catalogue of animals then in existence, and the only one we possess even now, the system of Linneus, had just been disfigured by an unfortunate editor, who did not even take the pains to examine the prin- ciples of that ingenious methodist, and who, wherever he found any dis- order, seems to have tried to render it more inextricable. It is no less true, that, upon particular classes, there existed some very extensive works, which described a considerable number of new species; but then the authors of these performances scarcely carried their attention beyond the external relations of these species, and no one was found to employ himself in arranging the classes and orders according to the nature of the structure of the animals. I was compelled then,—and the task occupied a considerable period of time,—to make anatomy and zoology, dissections and classification, the pioneers of my steps; to search for better principles of distribution in my VOL. I. c zViil PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. first remarks on organization—to employ them in order to arrive at new ones, and to render the distribution perfect—in fine, from this mutual re- action of the two sciences, to elicit a system of zoology that might serve as an introduction and a guide in anatomical investigations, and as a body of anatomical doctrine fitted to develope and explain the zoological system. The first results of this double labour appeared in 1795, in a special memoir upon a new division of the white-blooded animals. A sketch of their application to genera, and to their division in subgenera, was the object of my elementary “ Tableau Elémentaire des Animaux,” printed in 1798, which, in conjunction with M. Dumeril, I improved, in the tables annexed to the first volumes of my “ Legons d’Anatomie Comparée” in 1800. I should, perhaps, have contented myself with perfecting these tables, and proceeded immediately to the publication of my great work on ana- tomy, if, in the course of my researches, I had not been frequently struck with another defect of the greater number of the general or partial sys- tems of zoology; I mean the confusion in which the want of critical acumen has left a great number of species, and even several genera. Not only were the classes and orders not in conformity with the in- timate nature of the animals, for the purpose of forming a foundation for a treatise on comparative anatomy; but the genera, though undoubtedly for the most part better composed, presented in their nomenclature very inadequate materials, inasmuch as the species were not arranged under each of them respectively according to its character. Thus, in placing the Sea- cow (Manatus, Cuv.) in the genus Morse (Trichechus, Lin.), the Siren in that of the Eels, Gmelin had rendered any general proposition relative to the organization of these two genera impossible, just as by approximating to the same class the same order, and placing side by side the Sepia and the fresh water Polypus, he had made it impossible to say any thing in general on the class and order which embraced such different beings. The examples above cited are selected from the most striking of these errors; but the number of them that existed was infinite, and, though not so easily to be perceived at the first glance, still they were not the less sources of real inconvenience. It was not enough, then, to have imagined a new arrangement of classes and orders, and to have properly placed the genera there; it was also ne- cessary to examine all the species, in order to ascertain if they really be- longed to the genera in which they had been placed. When I came to do this, I not only found that the species were either grouped or distributed in defiance of common sense; but I saw that many of the species were by no means positively established by the characters attributed to them, or by the figures and descriptions given of them. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Kix In some parts, one of the species, by means of synonymes, is made to represent, under a single name, a great number, which are so different from each other as to be incapable of being placed in the same genus; in others, a single species is doubled, and trebled, and appears again and again successively in divers subgenera, genera, and even sometimes in various orders. What shall we say, for instance, of the Trichechus Manatus of Gmelin, which in one single specific name comprises three species and two ge- nera; two genera, differing in almost every thing! By what name shall we speak of the Velella, which figures there twice among the Medusa, and once among the Holothurie? How are we to bring together the Biphore; some of which are called there Dagyse, the greater number Salpe, and several placed among the Holothurie? Thus, then, in order completely to attain the object, it was not sufficient to review the species—it was necessary to review even their synonymes, or, in other words, it was indispensable to reconstruct the system of animals. Such an enterprise, from the prodigious development of the science in late years, could not have been executed completely by any one individual, even supposing him to have no other employment, and to live the longest possible term of years. Had I been constrained to depend upon myself alone, I should not have been able to prepare even the simple sketch I now give; but the resources of my position seemed to me to supply what I wanted both of time and talent. Living in the midst of so many able naturalists—drawing from their works as fast as they appeared—enjoying the use of their collections as freely as themselves—and having formed a very considerable one myself especially appropriated to my object, a great portion of my labour consisted merely in the employment of so many rich materials. It was not possible, for instance, that much remained for me to do on shells studied by M. de Lamarck, or on quadrupeds described by M. Geoffroy. The numerous and new affinities observed by M. de Lacépéde were so many traits for my system of fishes. Among so many beautiful birds, collected from all parts of the world, M. Le Vaillant per- ceived details of organization, which I immediately adapted to my plan. My own researches, employed and multiplied by other naturalists, yielded those fruits to me which, in my hands alone, they would not all have produced. Thus, by examining, in the cabinet I have formed, the anato- mical preparations on which I designed to found my division of reptiles. M. de Blainville and M. Oppel anticipated (and perhaps better than I could have done) results of which as yet I had but a glimpse, &c. &c. These reflections encouraged me; and I resolved on prefixing to my Treatise on Comparative Anatomy, a sort of abridged systematic table c 2 XX PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. of animals, in which I should give their divisions and sub-divisions in the greatest detail, as established both in their internal and external structure; in which I should indicate the best authenticated species be- longing to each of the subdivisions, and in which, to increase the interest, | should add some details regarding those species that are rendered re- markable by their being so common in this country, by their utility or mischievous practices, by the singularity of their habits and their economy, by their strange forms, their beauty, or their size. In so doing I hoped to prove useful to young naturalists, who, for the most part, have but little idea of the confusion and errors of criticism in which the most accredited works abound, and who, in foreign countries particularly, do not sufficiently attend to the study of the true relations of the conformation of beings; I considered myself as rendering a more direct service to those anatomists, who require to know beforehand to what orders they should direct their researches, when they wish to solve any problem of human anatomy or physiology by comparative anatomy, but whose ordinary occupations do not sufficiently prepare them for ful- filling this condition, which is essential to their success. I had no intention, however, of extending this two-fold view to all the classes of the animal kingdom; and the Vertebrated animals, as in every sense the most interesting, naturally claimed a preference. Among the Invertebrata, I had to study more particularly the naked Mollusca and the great Zoophytes; but the innumerable variations of the external forms of shells and corals, the microscopic animals, and the other families whose part, on the great theatre of nature, is not very apparent, or whose or- ganization affords but little room for the use of the scalpel, did not require a similar minuteness of detail. Independently of this, so far as the shells and corals were concerned, I could depend on the work of M. de Lamarck, in which will be found all that the most ardent thirst for knowledge can desire. As regards Insects, which, by their external form, organization, habits, and influence on all animated nature, are so highly interesting, I have been fortunate enough to find assistance, which, in rendering my work infinitely more perfect than it could have possibly been had it emanated from my pen alone, has, at the same time, considerably accelerated its publication. My friend and colleague, M. Latreille, who has studied these animals more profoundly than any other man in Europe, has kindly consented to give, ina single volume, and nearly in the order adopted for the other parts, a summary of his immense researches, and an abridged description of those innumerable genera entomologists are continually es- tablishing. With respect to the remaining portion, if I have given in some places PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. XX1 a less extended explanation of the subgenera and species, this imperfec- tion does not hold in the portion relating to the higher divisions and the relative characters, these being every where placed on foundations equally solid, the result of researches equally assiduous. I have examined, one by one, all the species of which T could procure specimens; I have approximated those which merely differed from each other in size, colour, or in the number of some parts of little importance, and have formed them into what I denominate subgenera. At every opportunity I dissected one species at least of each subgenus; and if those be excepted to which the scalpel cannot be applied, there will then be but very few groups of this degree found in my work, of whicn I cannot produce some portion of the organs. Having determined the names of the species which I observed, and which had been previously either well described or well figured, I placed in the same subgenera those I had not seen, but whose exact figures, or descriptions, sufficiently precise to leave no doubt remaining as to their natural relations, I found in authors; but I have passed over in silence that great number of vague indications, on which, in my opinion, natur- alists have been too eager to establish species, whose adoption is what has mainly contributed to introduce in the catalogue of animals that con- fusion which deprives it of so great a portion of its utility. I could, every where, have added great numbers of new species, but as I could not refer to figures it would in that case have been necessary to extend their descriptions beyond my limits; I have preferred, therefore, depriving my work of that ornament, and have indicated those only whose singular formation gives origin to new subgenera. My subgenera, once established on undoubted relations, and composed of well ascertained species, nothing remained but to construct this great scaffolding of genera, tribes, families, orders, classes and divisions which constitute the community of the animal kingdom. Here I have proceeded, partly by ascending from the inferior to the superior divisions, on the principles of affinity and comparison, and partly by descending from the superior to the inferior divisions, on the principle of the subordination of characters; carefully comparing the results of the two methods, verifying one by the other, and taking care to establish always the correspondence of forms, external and internal, both of which constitute integral parts of the essence of each animal. Such has been my mode of proceeding whenever it was necessary and possible to form new arrangements; but I need not observe that, in many places, the results to which it would have conducted me had been already so satisfactorily obtained, that no other trouble was left to me than that of following the track of my predecessors. Even in these cases, how- ever, where I had nothing more to do than they had, by new observations Xxli PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. I have verified and confirmed what was previously acknowledged, and what I did not adopt until it was subjected to a rigorous scrutiny. An idea of this mode of examination may be obtained from the Memoirs on the anatomy of the Mollusca, which have appeared in the “ Annales du Muséum,” and of which I am now preparing a separate and augmented collection. I venture to assure the reader, that the labour I have bestowed upon the Vertebrated animals, the Annulata, the Radiata, and many of the Insects and Crustacea, is equally extensive. I have not deemed it necessary to publish it with the same detail; but all my preparations are exposed in the Cabinet of Comparative Anatomy in the Jardin du Roi, and will serve hereafter for my Treatise on Anatomy. Another work of considerable labour, but whose proofs cannot be made so authentic, is the critical examination of species. I have verified all the figures adduced by authors, and as often as possible referred each to its true species, before making a choice of those I have cited; it is from this verification alone, and never from the arrangement of preceding clas~ sifiers, that I have referred to my subgenera the species that belong to them. Such is the reason why no astonishment should be experienced on finding that such or such a genus of Gmelin is now divided and dis- tributed even in different classes and divisions; that numerous nominal species are reduced to a single one, and that vulgar names are very dif ferently applied. There is not a single one of these changes that I an not prepared to justify, or of which the reader himself may not obtai: the proof by recurring to the sources I have indicated. In order to diminish this trouble, I have taken care to select for each class a principal author, generally the richest in good original figures, and I quote secondary works only in those cases in which the former are silent, or where it was useful to set up some comparison, for the sake ot better establishing synonymes. My subject could have been made to fill many volumes, but I consi- dered it my duty to condense it, by contriving abridged means of publi- cation. I have obtained these by graduated generalities; by never repeating for a species what could be said of a whole subgenus, nor for a genus what might be applied to an entire order, and thus is it that we ar- rive at the greatest possible economy of words. To this my endeavours have been, above all, particularly directed, inasmuch as this was the prin- cipal end of my work. It may be observed, however, that I have not employed many technical terms, and that I have endeavoured to commu- nicate my ideas without that barbarous apparatus of factitious words, which, in the works of so many modern naturalists, prove so very repul- sive. I cannot perceive, however, that I have thereby lost any thing in precision or clearness, I have been compelled, unfortunately, to introduce many new names, PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. XXlil although I endeavoured, as far as possible, to preserve those of my pre- decessors; but the numerous subgenera I have established required these denominations, for in things so various the memory is not satisfied with numerical indications. I have selected them, either for an indication of some character, or from the common names which I have latinized, or finally, after the example of Linnezus, from the mythological nomencla- ture, which are generally agreeable to the ear, and which we are far from having exhausted. In naming species, however, I would recommend the employment only of the substantive of the genus, and the trivial name. The names of the subgenera are designed as a mere relief to the memory, when we wish to indicate these subdivisions in particular. Otherwise, as the subgenera, already very numerous, will, in the end, become greatly multiplied, in consequence of having substantives continually to retain, we shall be in danger of losing the advantages of that binary nomenclature so happily imagined by Linneus. It is for the better preservation of it, that 1 have dismembered, as little as possible, the genera of that illustrious reformer of science. When- ever the subgenera in which I divide them were not to be translated to different families, I have left them together under their former generic appellation. This was not only due to the memory of Linneus, but it was necessary in order to preserve the tradition and mutual understand- ing of the naturalists of different countries*. This habit, necessarily acquired in the study of natural history, of the mental classification of a great number of ideas, is one of the advantages of that science which is seldom observed, and which, when it shall have been generally introduced into the system of common education, will become, perhaps, the principal one. By it the student is exercised in that part of logic which is termed method, just as he is by geometry in that of syllo- gism, because natural history is the science which requires the most pre- cise methods, as geometry is that which demands the most rigorous rea- soning. Now this art of method, once well acquired, may be applied, with infinite advantage, to studies the most foreign to natural history. Every discussion implying a classification of facts, every inquiry which demands a distribution of materials, is performed according to the same laws; and the young man who had cultivated this science merely for * Here the author inserts a page of matter containing an explanation of the causes which induced him to direct the employment of several forms of type in the body of the work, and also of the classes and other divisions which were to be indi- cated by the varieties of the letter. ‘‘ Thus,” he concludes the paragraph, “ will the reader be able, at one glance, to distinguish the most important portions in every page, and the order of arrangement of every idea, and thus will the printer have se- conded the author in all those contrivances which his art is capable of supplying to the faculty of the memory.’’—Ene. Ep. XXiv PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDI110N. amusement, is surprised, when he makes the experiment, at the facilities it affords him in disentangling all kinds of affairs. It is not less useful in solitude. Sufficiently comprehensive to satisfy the most powerful mind, sufficiently various and interesting to calm the most agitated soul, it consoles the unhappy, and calms animosities. Once elevated to the contemplation of that harmony of nature irresistibly re- gulated by Providence, how weak and insignificant appear those causes which it has been pleased to leave dependent on the arbitrary will of man! How astonishing to behold so many examples of fine genius consuming themselves so vainly for their own happiness, or that of others, in the pur- suit of empty speculations, whose very traces a few years suffice to sweep away ! 1 boldly avow it—these ideas have always been present to my mind in my laborious hours; and if I have endeavoured by every means in my power to diffuse this peaceful study, it is because, in my opinion, it is more capable than any other of supplying that want of occupation which has so largely contributed to the disorders of our age—but I must return to my subject. There yet remains the task of accounting for the principal changes I have effected in the latest received methods, and to acknowledge the amount of my obligations to those naturalists whose works have furnished or suggested a part of them. To anticipate a remark which will naturally present itself to many, I must observe that I have neither desired nor pretended to class animals so as to form one single line, or so as to mark their relative superiority. IT even consider every attempt of this kind impracticable. Thus, I do not mean that such of the Mammalia or of the Birds as come last are the most imperfect of their class; still less do I believe that the last of the Mammalia are more perfect than the first of the Birds, the last of the Mollusca more so than the first of the Annulata or of the Radiata, even confining the meaning of this vague expression, most perfect, to that of most completely organized. I regard my divisions and subdivi- sions as merely the graduated expression of the resemblance of the beings which enter into each of them; and although in some we observe a sort of degeneration or transition from one species to the other, which eannot be denied, this disposition is far from being general. ‘The pre- tended scale of beings is but an erroneous application to the whole crea- tion of those partial observations, which are only true when confined to the limits within which they were made—and this application has, in my opinion, prejudiced the progress of natural history in modern times, to an extent which it is not easy to imagine. It is in conformity with these views that I have established my general division into four sections, which have already been made known in a se- PREFACE TO TUE FIKST EDITION. XXV parate Memoir. I still think it expresses the real relations of animals more exactly than the old arrangement of Vertebrata and Invertebrata, and for the reason that the former animals have a much greater re- semblance to each other than the latter bear to each other, and that it was necessary to mark this difference in the extent of their relations. M. Virey, in an article of the ‘‘ Nouveau Dictionnaire d’Histoire Na- turelle,” had already discovered a part of the basis of this division, and principally that which depends on the nervous system. The particular approximation mutually between the Oviparous Verte- brata originated in the curious observations of M. Geoffroy on the com- position of bony heads; and trom those I have added to them, relative to the rest of the skeleton and to the muscles. In the class of Mammalia I have brought back the Solipedes to the Pachydermata, and have divided the latter into families, in conformity with new views; the Ruminaniia I have placed after the Quadrupeds, and the Sea-cow near the Cetacea. The arrangement of the Carnaria I have somewhat altered—the Ouisiitiss have been wholly separated from the Monkeys, and a sort of parallelism between the pouched animals and other digitated Mammalia indicated; the whole from my own anatomical researches. All that I have given on the Quadrumana and the Bats is based on the recent and profound labours of my friend and colleague, M. Geoffroy de Saint-Hilaire. The researches of my brother, M. Fre- derick Cuvier, on the teeth of the Carnaria and the Rodentia, have proved highly useful to me in forming the subgenera of these two orders. Notwithstanding the genera of the late M. Illiger are but the results of these same researches, and those of some foreign naturalists, I have adopted his names whenever my subgenera could be placed in his genera. I have also adopted M. de Lacépede’s excellent divisions of this descrip- tion; but the characters of all the divisions and all the indications of species have been taken from nature, either in the Cabinet of Anatomy, or the galleries of the Museum. The same plan was pursued with respect to the Birds. I have exa- mined with the greatest care and attention more than four thousand indi- viduals in the Museum; I arranged them agreeably to my views in the public gallery more than five years ago, and all that is said of this class has been drawn from that source. Thus, any resemblance which my subdivisions may bear to some recent descriptions is on my side purely accidental*. * [Note added by the Author to this Preface in the Second Edition.—ENG. Ep. ] This observation not having been sufficiently understood abroad, I am compelled to repeat it here, and openly to declare a fact witnessed by thousands in Paris—it is this, that all the birds in the public gallery of the Museum were named and arranged according to my system in 1811. Even such of my subdivisions as I had not yet named were marked by particular signs. ‘I'his is my date. Independently of this, XXvVi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Naturalists, I hope, will approve of the numerous subgenera I have deemed it necessary to establish among the Birds of Prey, Passerine, and Shore-Birds; they appear to me to have thrown the greatest light on genera hitherto involved in much confusion. I have also marked, as exactly as I could, the correspondence of these subdivisions with the genera of MM. de Lacépéde, Meyer, Wolf, Temminck, and Savigny, aud have referred to each of them all the species of which I could obtain a very positive knowledge. This fatiguing work will prove of vaiue to those who may hereafter attempt a true history of Birds. The splendid works on Ornithology published within a few years, those chiefly of M. Le Vaillant, which are filled with so many interesting observations, and those of M. Vieillot, have been of much assistance to me in designating with precision the species they represent. The general division of this class remains as I published it in 1798 in my “ Tableau Elémentaire *.” The general division of Reptiles, by my friend M. Brongniart, I have thought proper to preserve, but I have prosecuted very extensive and laborious anatomical investigations to obtain my ulterior subdivisions. M. Oppel, as I have already stated, has partly taken advantage of these preparatory labours; and whenever my genera finally agreed with his, I have noticed the fact. The work of Daudin, indifferent as it is, has been useful to me for indications of details; but the particular divisions I have made in the genera Monitor and Gecko, are the product of my own observations on a great number of Reptiles recently brought to the Museum by Messrs. Peron and Geoffroy. My labours with regard to the Fishes will probably be found to exceed those I have bestowed on the other vertebrated animals. Since the pub- lication of the celebrated work of M. de Lacépéde, the accession to our Museum of a great number of fishes has enabled me to add several sub- divisions to those of that learned naturalist, to form different combinations of several species, and to multiply anatomical observations. I have also had better means of verifying the species of Commerson and of some other travellers, and on this point I owe much to a review of the drawings of Commerson and of the dried fishes he brought with him, by M. Dumeril, which have been but very lately recovered: resources to which I added those presented to me in the fishes brought by Peron from the Indian Ocean and Archipelago; those which I collected in the Mediter- ranean, and the collections made on the coast of Coromandel by the late my first volume was printed in the beginning of 1816. Four volumes are not printed as quickly as a pamphlet of a few pages. I say no more. * T only mention this, because an amiable naturalist, M. Vieillot, in a recent work, has attributed to himself the union of the Pice with the Passeres. 1 had published it in 1798, exactly as I had made my other arrangements, so as to render them pub- lic, in the Museum, since 1811 and 1812. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. XXVil M. Sonnerat, at the Isle of France by M. Mathieu, in the Nile and Red Sea by M. Geoffroy, &c. I was thus enabled to verify most of the species of Bloch, Russel, and others, and to have prepared the skeletons and viscera of nearly all the subgenera, so that this portion of the work will, I presume, present to icthyologists much that is new. As to my division of this class, I confess its inconvenience, but I still think it more natural than any preceding one. When I some time ago published it, I put it forth for what it was worth; and if any one discovers a better principle of division, and as conformable to the organization, ] shall hasten to adopt it*. It is well known that all the works, on the general division of the Invertebrated animals, are mere modifications of what { proposed in 1795, in the earliest of my memoirs; and the time and care I have devoted to the anatomy of the Mollusca in general, and principally to the know- ledge of the naked Mollusca, are likewise well known. The determina- tion of this class, as well as of its divisions and subdivisions, rests on my observations; the magnificent work of M. Poli had alone anticipated me by descriptions and anatomical researches, useful to me it is true, but confined to bivalves and multivalves only. I have verified all the facts furnished to me by that skilful anatomist, and I have, I think, marked with greater accuracy the functions of some organs. I have also endea- voured to ascertain the animals to which the principal forms of shells belong, and to arrange the latter from that consideration; but as to the ulterior divisions of those shells whose animals resemble each other, I have examined them only so far as to enable me to describe those admitted by Messrs. de Lamarck and de Montfort; even the small number of genera or subgenera which are properly mine, are derived from observa- tions on the animals. In citing examples I have confined myself to a certain number of the species of Martini, Chemnitz, Lister, and Soldani, and that only because the volume in which M. de Lamarck is to treat this branch, not being yet published, I was compelled to fix the attention of the reader on specific objects. In the selection and determining of these species, however, I lay no claim to the same critical accuracy I have em- ployed for the Vertebrated animals and the naked Mollusca. The excellent observations of Messrs. Savigny, Lesueur, and Desmarest, on the compound Ascidia, approximate the latter family of the Mollusca to certain orders of Zoophytes—a curious relation, and an additional proof of the impracticability of arranging animals on one single line. The Annulata (the establishing of which order, although not the name, belongs de facto to me) have, I think, been extricated from the confusion * The Second Edition, however, as will be seen in the Second Volume of this Translation, contains a new arrangement of the class of Fishes, which, though pre- senting some deficiencies in precision, still possesses the advantage of not breaking in upon its natural families.—Ene. Ep. KXVill PREFACE TO THE FiRST EDITION. in which they had hitherto been involved among the Mollusca, the Tes- tacea, and the Zoophytes, and placed in their natural order—even their genera have been elucidated only by my observations on them, published in the “ Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles,” and elsewhere. I shall say nothing relative to the three classes contained in the third volume. M. Latreille, who, with the exception of some anatomical de- tails, founded on my own observations and those of M. Ramdohr, added to his text, its sole author, will explain in an advertisement whatever is particularly deserving of remark in his performance. As to the Zoophytes, which terminate the animal kingdom, I have availed myself, for the Echinodermata, of the late work of M. de Lamarck, and for the Intestinal Worms, of that of M. Rudolphi, entitled Entozoa ; but I have dissected all the genera, some of which have been determined by me only. Besides this, there is an excellent work of M. Tiedemann on the anatomy of the Echinodermata that received the prize of the In- stitute some years ago, and which will shortly appear—it will leave no- thing to be wished for in the description of these curious animals. The Corals and the Infusoria, allowing no field for anatomical investigations, have been briefly disposed of. The new work of M. de Lamarck will supply my deficiencies*. With respect to authors, I can only mention here, those who have fur- nished me with general views, or who were the origin of such in my own mind}. There are many others to whom I am indebted for particular facts, whose names I have carefully quoted wherever I have made use of them. They will be found in every page of my book. Should I have omitted to do justice to any, it must be attributed to involuntary forget- fulness—no property, in my eyes, is more sacred than the conceptions of the mind, and the custom, too common among naturalists, of disguising plagiarisms by a change of names, has always appeared to me an un- doubted crime. The publication of my Comparative Anatomy will now occupy me with- out intermission; the materials are ready, great quantities of preparations and drawings are finished and arranged; and I shall be careful in divid- ing the work into parts, each of which will form a whole, so that should my physical powers prove insufficient for the completion of the whole of my plan, what I shall have produced will still form integral parts, and the materials I have collected be ready for the hand of him who may under- take the continuation of my labours. Jardin du Roi, 1816. F I have this moment received, ('Iistoire des Polypiers coralligenes flexibles of M. es which furnishes an excellent supplement to M Lamarek M. de Blainville has recently publis i whi é » has y published general zoo 3, W oor came too late for me to profit by; I ing appear _ ore ide ee edt At by; having appeared when my book was nearly printed. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE preceding preface exhibits a faithful account of the state in which I found the history of animals at the time the first edition of this work was published. During the twelve years that have since elapsed, this science has made immense progress both in the harvests which have been reaped by numerous travellers, as accomplished as they were intrepid, who have explored every region of the globe, either by means of the rich museums formed under the auspices of various governments, or by those learned and beautiful works in which new species are represented and described, and in which we feel prompted to catch their mutual relations, and to contemplate them under every point of view*. I have endeavoured to avail myself of these discoveries, as far as my plan permitted, by first studying the innumerable specimens received at the King’s Cabinet, and comparing them with those which served as the basis of my first edition, in order to deduce thence new approximations or new subdivisions, and then by searching in all the books I could procure for the genera or subgenera established by naturalists, and the descrip- tion of species by which they have supported these different combina- tions. This study of synonymes has become much easier now than it was at the period of my first edition. Both French and foreign naturalists seem to have felt the necessity of establishing divisions in those immense genera, in which such incongruous species were formerly heaped toge- ther; their groups are now precise and well defined, their descriptions sufficiently detailed, their figures scrupulously exact even to the most minute characters, and very frequently of the greatest beauty as specimens of art. There now remains scarcely any difficulty in fixing the identity of their species, they had only to establish an understanding about the nomenclature. Unfortunately that object of care was the one which they most neglected; the names of the same genera and of the same spe- cies are multiplied as often as an author speaks of them, and, in conse- quence of this disagreement, the same chaos will spring up in all its former confusion, though arising altogether from a different cause. * See my Discourse before the Institute on the “ Progrés de l’Histoire Naturelle depuis la Paix maritime,” published at the commencement of the third volume of my “ Eloges.” XXX PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. I have used every effort to compare and approximate these redundant names, and, forgetting even my own petty interest as an author, I have frequently specified names which had every appearance of being con- trived merely for the purpose of evading the acknowledgment that they were borrowed from my decisions. But for the complete execution of such a work, the very pinnacle of the Animal Kingdom, but which every day becomes more necessary,—for the discussion of evidence, and for settling the permanent nomenclature that ought to be adopted upon ade- quate descriptions and figures—for all this, a period of time would be required which I have not at my disposal, and which is imperiously de- manded by other works. It is in the ‘* History of Fishes,” which, as- sisted by M. Valenciennes, I have commenced publishing, that I intend to give an idea of what I think might be effected with respect to all parts of the science. Here I pretend to furnish only a mere abridgment, in- deed a simple sketch—happy will I be if I only succeed in rendering it correct in all its parts. Various descriptions of a similar kind have been published of some of the classes, and I have carefully studied them all, in order to perfect my own. The “ Mammalogie” of M. Desmarest, that of M. Lesson, the “Treatise on the Teeth of Quadrupeds” of M. Frederick Cuvier, the English translation of my first edition by Mr. Griffith, enriched by nu- merous additions chiefly by Hamilton Smith, the new edition of the * Manual of Ornithology” of M. Temminck, the ‘‘ Ornithological Frag- ments” of M. Wagler, the “ Description of Reptiles,” by the late Mer- rem, and the dissertation on the same subject by M. Fitsinger, were principally useful to me for the Vertebrated animals. The ‘* History of the Invertebrated Animals” of M. de Lamarck, and the ‘* Malacologie” of M. de Blainville, were also of great use to me for the Mollusca. To these I have added the new views and facts contained in the numerous and learned writings of Messrs. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, father and son, Savigny, Temminck, Lichtenstein, Kuhl, Wilson, Horsfield, Vigors, Swainson, Gray, Ord, Say, Harlan, Charles Bonaparte, Lamouroux, Mitchell, Lesueur, and many other able and studious men, whose names will be carefully mentioned wherever I speak of the subjects they have described. The fine collection of engravings which have appeared within the last twelve years have allowed me to indicate a greater number of species, nor have I failed to make ample use of the opportunity. I must parti- cularly acknowledge what I owe on this score to the ‘‘ Histoire of Mam- miféres” of MM. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Frederick Cuvier, the “Coloured Plates” of Messrs. Temminck and Laugier, the “ Gallery of Birds” of M. Vieillot, the new edition of the “* German Birds” of M. FREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. XXX1 Nauman, the “ Birds of the United States” of Messrs. Wilson, Ord, and Charles Bonaparte*, the great works of M. Spix and of the Prince Maximilian de Wied on the animals of Brazil, and to those of M. Ferus- sac on the Molusca. The plates and zoological descriptions of the tra- vels of Messrs. Freycinet and Duperrey, given in the first by Messrs. Quoy and Gaymard, and in the second by Messrs. Lesson and Garnot, present, also, many new objects. ‘The same should be said of the ani- mals of Java, by M. Horsfield. Though, on a smaller scale, new figures of rare species are to be found in the ‘‘ Mémoires du Muséum,” in the ** Annales des Sciences Naturelles,” in the different dictionaries of the natural sciences, in the ‘‘ Zoological Illustrations” of M. Swainson, and in the Zoological Journal published by able naturalists in London. The Journals of the Lyceum of New York, and of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, are not less invaluable; but in proportion as the taste for natural history becomes extended, and the more numerous the countries in which it is cultivated, the number of its acquisitions in- crease in geometrical progression, and it becomes more and more difficult to collect all the writings of naturalists, and to complete the table of their results; I rely, therefore, on the indulgence of those whose observations may have escaped me, or whose works I may not have studied with as much care as would enable me to avail myself, of all which they were capable of affording me. My celebrated friend and colleague, M. Latreille, as in the first edi- tion, having consented to take upon himself the important and difficult subject of the Crustacea, Arachnides, and Insects, will himself point out the path he has pursued; so that on these points I need say nothing more at present. Jardin du Roi, October, 1828. * The work of M. Audubon upon the Birds of North America, which surpasses all others in magnificence, was unknown to me till after the whole of that part which treats of birds was printed. MEMOIR OF BARON CUVIER. ee ALTHOUGH France is entitled to all the glory which is reflected upon her by the fame of the illustrious Cuvier, yet he was only her child by adoption, if we are to consider the claims of locality as capable of deciding the point of affinity between country and individuals. He was born on the 23d of August, 1769, at Montbeillard, which was, at the period of his birth, and for several years ufterwards, included in the duchy of Wirtemberg. Here it was that his father had ultimately chosen his re- sidence, after having devoted the best years of his life to the military service. The elder Cuvier was a Swiss, who had in early life entered the French army, and, having faithfully adhered to the government of France, he, at the conclusion of his active labours, retired to his native town of Montbeillard, on a small pension, which eventually was considerably in- creased by the revenue accruing from a fresh appointment as com- mandant of the artillery. In his childhood, the subject of our memoir exhibited all the charac- teristic marks of a feeble constitution. The cares of his mother were for this reason redoubled; and her affectionate vigilance was rewarded in the unceasing veneration of the surviving object of it to the latest moment of his existence. It was to her that he was indebted for his early devotion to books and the art of drawing. He was successively placed in the in- stitutions for education in its various branches, which had, even at that early period, been common in the country ; and, it is a curious fact, that his first impressions of partiality for natural history were derived from the sight of a Gesner with coloured plates, and also from the perusal of those accompanying the work of Buffon, of which a copy was by accident accessible to him. The sort of talent displayed by young Cuvier whilst still occupied in the rudimentary schools of Montbeillard, was of a nature to point him out as a fit candidate for the church; and, as he was educated in the Protestant religion, the local government, which was Pro- testant also, took the usual measures for securing the services of such a promising auxiliary in maintaining a religion surrounded by an opposition of the most formidable nature. In furtherance of these views, Cuvier was sent to Studtgard, and was placed, by order of Prince Charles of Wirtemberg, in the college called VOL. I. b oe i MEMOIR. the Académie Caroline, an institution belonging to the university of that city. After having spent some time in the various studies which were en- joined on pupils of his age, Cuvier appears to have been closely attended to by the Duke, and, as there is reason to believe that the latter acknow- ledged some serious obligations in former times to members of the Cuvier family, so did he feel a peculiar interest in forwarding the views of the young aspirant. It appears, that though the youth was at first intended for the clerical profession, yet at Studtgard his studies were all directed to his education for performing political duties. We can readily believe that the courses thus enjoined upon him were sufficiently agreeable to his tastes, when we remember that they comprehended the branches of natural history. He seems to have had leisure enough to perform herborizing ex- cursions, to visit collections of objects in art and nature, and even to copy the representations of animals. At Studtgard he distinguished himself by obtaining many of the prizes, and succeeded in attaining the order of chi- valry, a sort of distinction which fell to a very small number of the pupils who won it by their merit. The accident of the retirement of Duke Frederick, the governor of Montbeillard, into Germany, deprived young Cuvier of his most powerful friend, and, for a moment, he suspended those ambitious hopes which had long floated before him. Without patrimony, or the means of entering upon any permanent system for his life, Cuvier was under the necessity of seeking out a tutorship. In 1788, we find him in the family of Count d’Hericy, at Caen, in Normandy, where he was engaged in the instruc- tion of an only son. The proximity of this Norman residence to the sea afforded to the active tutor facilities for such observations on natural pro- ductions as his instinctive inclinations led him to seek; and it was to the accidental opportunities thus presented to him, that he owed the impulse, which, in its subsequent influence, so vastly contributed to build up his great reputation. Cuvier, being destitute of books or other means of re- ference at the period we are speaking of, committed the results of his disco- veries to paper, and the manuscripts survived to be of essential service to him afterwards. At this interesting era of the life of Cuvier, a circum- stance occurred which must not be omitted in the detail of the auspicious events which led him gradually to his exalted destiny. At the little town of Valmont, near the residence of the Count d’Hericy, a society used to meet for the purpose of discussing points connected with the most im- portant public question of the locality, viz. its agriculture. At this so- ciety an individual of the place usually took a leading part; and it was not long before the penetrating tutor recognised in him a contributor on this subject to the Encyclopédie Méthodique, then a highly popular scientific work, published in Paris. Cuvier, in the ardour of an energetic spirit, MEMOIR. ill made known to this individual the nature of his discovery, when the latter exclaimed, “‘ Then I am lost!” ‘“ Lost?” replied the young man; “no, no; henceforth you shall be the object of my anxious care.” The fact was, that the person spoken of was M. Tessier, who was resident at the place in question in a disguised character, having fled from Paris to avoid the dangerous chances of the reign of terror. Through M. Tessier, the aspiring young naturalist had the gratification of opening a correspondence with the most celebrated naturalists of the day. In the spring of 1795, the reflecting portion of the Parisian commu- nity saw the necessity of making some attempt at restoring at least the literary institutions, which with every other means of utility had fallen in the recent revolutionary devastation. Cuvier had laid such a foundation for the eminence of his character by this time, as to be received into the select few who were to take a practical part in the great work of intel- lectual renovation; and, being invited to Paris, was at once appointed Commissioner of Arts, and Professor at the Central School of the Pan- theon. Shortly afterwards, M. Mertrud, who had occupied the chair of Comparative Anatomy, finding the duties of his situation too fatiguing for a person of his advanced age, obtained the consent of his colleagues, the illustrious triumvirate, Jussieu, Geoffroy, and Lacépéde, to appoint Cuvier as his assistant. In this fortunate promotion, Cuvier saw that he had passed the portals of that high way of fame to which all his ambition had been directed. It was towards the close of 1795, that he fixed his residence at the Gar- den of Plants, and a moment did not pass after he became master of a comfortable home, before he determined on sharing it with his aged father and his brother, the only members remaining of his immediate family. In a letter, which is found prefixed to the first volume of his Compa- rative Anatomy, and which was addressed by Cuvier to Mertrud, he re- fers to various circumstances connected with this critical epoch of his career. John Claude Mertrud held the situation of Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Garden of Plants, from 1750 up to the period when he was appointed Professor of Comparative Anatomy. He assisted Dauben- ‘ton in the great Natural History; and his services to Buffon are recorded by the latter in terms such as the highest esteem and the warmest affec- tion alone could dictate. In this epistle Cuvier particularly refers to the progress which comparative anatomy was then making; and he shewed how the learned men formerly connected with the National Museum of Natural History, at Paris, strove to aid and promote that science. With respect to those who then filled the offices of the former, Cuvier thus addresses his friend and master:—‘‘ The learned men who compose the b 2 lV MEMOIR. present administration of the Museum, are worthy of imitating the glo- rious examples of their predecessors. I have received from them, as well as from you, all the assistance I could have expected from an en- lightened love for science, rendered more grateful by all the attentions the most generous friendship could suggest. Nothing has been spared that could lead to discoveries, or to the completion of the system of our know- ledge in comparative anatomy. The correspondents of the Museum have imitated the example of its depositaries. Citizen Baillon, in parti- cular, so well known by the valuable observations which he furnished to Buffon, and by those which he continues to make, procured me, with un- exampled zeal and generosity, the rarest birds and fishes. Citizen Hom- bert, of Havre, who has applied, with the greatest success, to the study of Mollusca and Sea Worms, has favoured me witha great number of these animals, the perfect preservation of which rendered their examina- tion exceedingly useful. Citizens Beauvois, Bosc, and Olivier, the two first returned from North America, the third from Egypt and Persia, have kindly communicated to me some of the valuable specimens they have brought to Europe. I have, therefore, no reason to envy the good fortune of Aristotle, when a conqueror, who was the friend of the sciences, made other men subservient to him, and placed millions at his disposal, to enable him to forward the history of Nature. “ This assertion will not surprise, when it is known that I have been permitted to dissect, not only the animals which have died im the mena- gerie, but also those which have been brought, during a great number of years, from all parts of the world, and preserved in spirits. Time only was capable of bringing this collection to its present degree of perfection, and has, in this instance, performed what no other power was capable of accomplishing. “In opening to me your treasures—in admitting me to a share of the labours necessary to their arrangement and their augmentation, you have imposed upon me only one condition: that is, to enable other naturalists to enjoy them, by giving such a description of them as they merit. You know with what assiduity I endeavour to perform this task, but you also know better than any other what time such a work requires. However rich may be the acquisitions that are made, more will still be desired. Sometimes a new species is discovered, which we wish to compare with those we already know. Sometimes the consideration of an organ induces us to make further attempts to develope its structure. On other occa- sions it is necessary to extend our observations; because something re- mains to be learned respecting the object as a whole, or the relation of its parts. In natural history, in particular, we are always dissatisfied with what we perform, for Nature proves to us, at each step, that she is imex- haustible.” oe MEMOIR. Vv The French National Institute, which has been so powerful an engine in the diffusion of a taste for natural history, was instituted in 1796, and amongst its founders the name of Cuvier is conspicuous. The first of his contributions to the literature of science bears the date of 1792; several detached papers were, about this period, written and published by him in periodical journals, and in them we trace the commencement of that powerful devotion to fossil anatomy, which he subsequently elevated into such an empire of natural wonders. The first of his more extended and important works was the “Tableau Elémentaire of the Natural His- tory of Animals,” which he published in 1798. In his capacity of assistant to M. Mertrud, Cuvier had to deliver lectures on Comparative Anatomy; and so valuable were they deemed, that a favourite and able pupil of his, M. Dumeril, was induced to take notes of them, which, with the author’s sanction and assistance, he placed before the public. They form the first two volumes of the Comparative Anatomy of Cuvier. The “Tableau,” just alluded to, was the rudimental form in which the great principles of classification founded by Cuvier were fully developed. In detached memoirs, such as that on the circulation of White-blooded Animals, he had already supplied some knowledge of those principles; but it was only in the larger work that he had entered upon the general plan of classification, which was to rest, perhaps for ever, ou the ruins of the Linnean system. In 1800, Cuvier succeeded Mertrud, and resigned the chair of the Central Sehool of the Pantheon. When the expedition to Egypt was contemplated, Cuvier was amongst the savanis who had been nominated as fit to accompany the army, in the capacity of naturalists. But he declined the compliment, having the at- tractions at home, by which were provided for him a quiet life, and un- bounded facilities for his favourite study. When Bonaparte assumed the office of President of the National Institute, he selected Cuvier as one of the six individuals who were to act as Inspectors-General, for the purpose of establishing Lyceums for education in thirty towns of France, and in this character he established useful seminaries for youth in Marseilles, Nice, and Bordeaux, which still flourish under the title of Royal Colleges. Whilst he was engaged in this important duty, a change of the constitu- tion of the National Institute was effected, whereby the secretaryships were made perpetual; and Cuvier being raised to that of the National Sciences, it remained in his hands up to the period of his death. The father of Cuvier having died from a fall, an event which was soon followed by the premature death of his brother’s wite, his home was no longer that centre of domestic comfort which he had found it before. The natural resource of a refined and prudent man placed in such a condition vi MEMOIR. as this was resorted to by Cuvier, and a matrimonial alliance was formed by him in 1803. The lady whom he selected as his partner for life, was the widow of M. Duvaucel, a fermier general, who fell a sacrifice to the fury of the revolutionary rabble in 1794. The circumstances under which he chose Mrs. Duvaucel for his wife, are at once decisive of the disinterested feelings which accompanied the resolution; for the calamity to which her late husband had become a victim extended to his fortunes, and only a wreck of what she once was fell to the lot of Cuvier. Nay, he saw, that by the alliance a burden would be placed upon his industry ; for the widow had under her protection four children, the fruit of her first marriage. But though these accompaniments formed very powerful objections, as well they might, to a union of his destinies, on the part of Cuvier, with this female, still he saw in her mind and feelings an abundance of what was calculated to make him forget those objections. The four children of the former marriage met with a very various des- tiny. One was assassinated during the retreat of the French army from Portugal, in the memorable campaign of 1809: asecond, who had fol- lowed the example of his illustrious step-father, and encountered perils and fatigues in pursuit of science, exhausted his vital powers by a vain attempt to defy the deleterious influence of an uncongenial climate: he died in Madras. The third of the sons of Madame Duvaucel is still living, an officer of customs at Bordeaux; and his sister, the last of the children, performed the amiable duties of nurse to the illustrious object of all the anxious cares of his family, and remains as the chief source of consolation to the old age of her mother. Madame Cuvier, besides the three sons and daughter just spoken of, had four children more whilst married to her last husband, but, unhappily, both the parents survived them all. There is no one, therefore, now in existence, to whom we can look as the hereditary successor of Cuvier’s peculiar intellect; that great, and to his fellow-creatures, most beneficial endowment, ceased with his life-breath, and is buried, we fear, with him in his grave. In the mean time, as a public man, Cuvier was the object of fresh ho- nours, the testimonies of the increasing esteem which his labours had earned. In 1809, Napoleon appointed him to the office of Councillor of the Imperial University, which that emperor had created; and, in this character, Cuvier was entrusted with the establishment of new seminaries of instruction in that branch of the French empire which, for a season, consisted of several Italian states. The principles which he laid down for the constitution and government of these asylums of science, receive their best panegyric from the circumstance that they were perpetuated by the succeeding governments, who could not have been interested in the pre- servation of national memorials so adverse to their own interest. MEMOIR. Vii The extent to which the time of Cuvier was employed, in consequence of his appointments by Napoleon in political affairs, was such as to induce us to conclude that he found it necessary to abandon the pursuit of science. But the real truth appears to be, that, whilst he scrupulously fulfilled his obligations as a public functionary, he made the very occasions in which he was occupied in that capacity subservient to the one ulterior object of his life; and the affairs connected with the establishment of se- minaries in Marseilles and Bordeaux were only so many inducements to him to proceed to the sea shore, there to behold and to investigate his favourite department of the animal series—the Mollusca tribes. We have mentioned, that the labours of Cuvier in the department of comparative anatomy had been completed in 1805, by the publication of the three successive volumes as the sequel of the first two which appeared in 1800. The knowledge which he acquired by his labours in this de- partment proved the source of some of the most memorable triumphs of his genius; amongst which we may especially mention his grand re- searches on the fossil remains of the bones of animals. The history of the causes which led Cuvier to the investigation of the geology of the site of Paris is amongst the most curious and agreeable chapters in the annals of science. Up to a very recent period, not only in France, but also in England, the conclusions to which the celebrated German, Werner, had come, in the science of mineralogy, appeared to leave nothing to be done for the further elucidation of the knowledge of the crust of the earth. His sys- tem comprised, it was thought, the most perfect explanation of the whole series of the strata of that crust; and the scientific world seemed to think it a work of superfluity to attempt to add new facts to the series which that naturalist had collected in reference to this subject. But, as edu- cation, assisted by the progress of the habit of afree exertion of mind, scattered abroad the contagion of a disposition to inquiry, the scientific men of Paris began to acknowledge, that, in the very heart of their city, in every inch of the soil upon which they daily trod, they saw before them a series of geological structures, of which the supposed infallible apostle of mineralogy had certainly predicated nothing whatever. A nearer in- spection of the phenomena, which powerfully arrested their attention, brought them at last to the conviction, that either they were incapable of making a due application of the system of Werner, or that that system was altogether inadequate to expound the whole of what it undertook to explain with satisfaction. The savants of Paris, thus forced in self-de- fence to the task of inquiry, directed their own and their pupils’ attention to the German and Swiss mountains, and they were ultimately prevailed upon to render justice to science, through the influences which arose from Vill MEMOIR. the grand progress of comparative anatomy, its pioneer being the immor- tal naturalist of the present memoir. In the last years of the late, and during the early part of the present century, the professors of the Garden of Plants, and of most other estab- lishments of Paris, where the teaching of comparative anatomy formed a part of the sciences which were taught, had frequently brought to their at- tention either skeletons, or detached portions of skeletons, dug up from beneath the soil of the city, evidently the relics of animals, and, in com- parison with which, the bony structures of the present race of living beings were altogether on a different scale. ‘The comparative anatomists of the Parisian schools would have lost their reputation, as well as their hearers, were they to allow these discoveries to pass for objects inexpli- cable by human penetration, particularly as every day brought forth, in the neighbourhood of the city, some object that was calculated still further to perplex the mystery of its origin. At last, the multitude of these spe- cimens was such as to reach the power of irritating the pride of Cuvier; and that chivalrous champion of Nature’s jurisdiction said that there was no alternative but to grapple with the apparition, and ascertain at once its nature and properties. Cuvier, in association with M. A. Brongniart, proceeded to the investigation of the soil, and, after many a laborious year of toil and fatigue in quarries, caverns, &c., after many a tedious ascent up the heights of Montmartre, the indefatigable inquirers collected such a body of information, as at once shed abundant light upon the phe- nomena that had perplexed the scientific world so long. The results were published in 1812, in a large work on the fossil bones, which has since been reproduced with such improvements as to render it, ac- cording to the opinion expressed by one of the most celebrated of the geologists of this country (Mr. Bakewell), “‘ the most luminous and inte- resting exposition of local geology ever presented to the world.” The great authority just mentioned adds, that it is from the era of this publi- cation that we are to date the first accurate knowledge, of what is called by geologists, the “ tertiary strata*.” From the work on fossil organic remains just mentioned, the conclusion is obvious, that Cuvier was the first, who, by the application of the rarest * The high place assigned by the learned of all countries to this great composi- tion, has induced the proprietor of the present translation of the “ Animal Kingdom,” to prepare a version of the last edition of the ‘ Fossil Bones” of the same ceie- brated author. This is the work which exhibits the wonderful genius of Cuvier in its most triumphant exertion; and it is only surprising that British enterprize, in all that regards the advancement of science, should not, ere this, have secured to our scientific literature a source of knowledge of so much consequence. ‘The translation here snnounced, and its multitude of graphic illustrations, will be on the same ex- pensive scale to the proprietor, and the same economical one to the public, as have een adopted in the present work. MEMOIR. 1X powers of observation and reflection, and by an unequalled ingenuity, con- verted comparative anatomy into a sort of talisman for unfolding the won- ders of the osseous contents which lay for ages in the caverns of the earth. His researches on the fossil bones, as they now appear in the work to which we have just alluded, form an epoch in the annals of geology, that yields to no part of its history in deep and durable interest; nor has even the great author himself of this important discovery which he has made in his beautiful scheme of exposition, failed to consider it to be a source of wonder, as it was of pride, to his own heart. ‘“* When,” said he, -“ the sight of some bones of the bear and the elephant, twelve years ago, in- spired me with the idea of applying the general laws of comparative ana- tomy to the reconstruction and the discovery of fossil species; when I began to perceive that these species were not perfectly represented by those of our day, which resembled them the most, I did not suspect that I was every day treading upon a soil, filled with remains more extraordi- nary than any that I had yet seen; nor that I was destined to bring to light whole genera of animals unknown to the present world, and buried for incalculable ages at vast depths under the earth. It was to M. Veurin that I owe the first indications of these bones furnished by our quarries: some fragments which he brought me one day having struck me with as- tonishment, I made inquiries respecting the persons to whom this indus- trious collector had sent any formerly: what I saw in these collections served to excite my hopes and increase my curiosity. Causing search to be made at that time for such bones in all the quarries, and offering re- wards to arouse the attention of the workmen, I collected a greater num- ber than any person who had preceded me. After some years I was suf- ficiently rich in materials to have nothing further to desire; but it was otherwise with respect to their arrangement and the construction of the skeletons, which alone could conduct me to a just knowledge of the spe- cies. From the first moment, I perceived that there were many different species in our quarries; and soon afterwards, that they belonged to various genera, and that the species of the different genera were often of the same size; so that the size alone rather confused than assisted my arrange- ment. © I was in the situation of a man who had given to him, péle méle, the mutilated and incomplete fragments of a hundred skeletons belonging to twenty sorts of animals, and it was required that each bone should be joined to that which it belonged to. It was a resurrection in miniature; but the immutable laws prescribed to living beings were my directors. At the voice of comparative anatomy, each bone, each fragment, regained its place. I have no expressions to describe the pleasure experienced, in perceiving that, as I discovered one character, all the consequences, more or less foreseen, of this character, were successively developed, The feet x MEMOIR. were conformable to what the teeth had announced, and the teeth to the feet; the bones of the legs and the thighs, and every thing that ought to reunite these two extreme parts were conformable to each other. In one word, each of the species sprung up from one of its elements. Those who will have the patience to follow me in these memoirs, may form some idea of the sensations which I experienced, in thus restoring by degrees these ancient monuments of mighty revolutions. This volume will afford much interest to naturalists, independent of geology, shewing them, by multi- plied examples, the strictness of the laws of co-existence, which elevate zoology to the rank of the rational sciences, and which, leading us to abandon the vain and arbitrary combinations that had been decorated with the name of systems, will conduct us at last to the only study worthy of our age—to that of the natural and necessary relations, which connect together the different parts of all organised bodies. But geology will lose nothing by this accessary application of the facts contained in this volume: and thus the numerous families of unknown beings, buried in the most frequented part of Europe, offer a vast field for meditation.” The reader will not fail to be struck with the expression of confidence which is uttered by Cuvier in the above passage, on the security which he felt in appealing to the immutable laws of nature, as the light which would enable him to trace the most beautiful of systems of harmony and order in this apparent chaotic mass of fragments; and he does not hesi- tate to enter further into detail on the nature of those immutable laws prescribed to living beings, to which he devoted the worship of his earliest and latest years. In the following passage Cuvier has more fully explained what he de- nominates ‘‘the immutable laws prescribed to living beings :’”—‘ Every organised being forms a whole and entire system, of which all the parts mutually correspond and co-operate, to produce the same definite action, by a reciprocal re-action; none of these parts can change, without a change of the others also. Thus, if the intestines of an animal are organised in a manner only to digest fresh flesh, it is necessary that his jaws should be constructed to devour the prey, his claws to seize and tear it, his teeth to divide the flesh, and the whole system of his organs of motion to follow and overtake it, and of his organs of sense to perceive it at a distance. It is necessary, also, that he should have seated in his brain the instinct to hide himself and spread snares for his victim: such are the general conditions of a carnivorous regimen; every carnivorous animal must infallibly unite them—without them the species could not subsist. But, under these general conditions, there are particular ones with respect to the size of the species, and the abode of the prey for which each animal is disposed.” MEMOIR. xi In this vast work on the fossil remains, Cuvier furnished to the world not only the ample results of his personal labours, in the neigh- bourhood of Paris, in different parts of provincial France, in Italy and Holland, whither he had been sent on political or educational purposes, but also the fruits of researches carried on by the naturalists of other countries, which he gathered either from their published productions or from their correspondence. The effect in the scientific world which was produced by the intimate connection demonstrated by Cuvier to subsist between Zoology and Geology, was altogether of the most useful and gra- tifying kind; and it was the fond superstition of the enthusiastic students of those branches of intellectual pursuit to believe, that the unparalleled assemblage of opportunities of which Cuvier had the command for the elucidation of this mingled science, were purposely consigned to one whose rare qualifications rendered him the only competent agent to make the proper use of them. Whilst the world’s honours were thus profusely showered upon Cuvier’s head, his heart was doomed to feel all the anguish which the bereave- ment of the dearest objects of life is calculated to excite. In 1812, he lost a daughter at the age of four years, and the year which succeeded swept away an only son in his seventh year. The latter calamity occur- red whilst the father was fulfilling the duties of a high commission at Rome, where he proved that his philosophy was sufficient to enable him to avoid the evil consequences that usually arise from collision of creeds in matters of state importance. His services in Italy were rewarded with the appointment to the office of Master of Requests in the Council of State; and, in 1813, he wasnominated Imperial Commissioner, and set out for Mayence, in order to rouse the people on the left bank of the Rhine to declare in favour of France; but his journey terminated at Nancey, into which the allied army had just made its entrance, and he returned to Paris. Napoleon finally advanced him to the rank of Coun- cillor of State; but the promotion of Cuvier only took place on the eve of his master’s downfall. After the restoration he was re-appointed to the same office. During the hundred days Cuvier lived in retirement; and when Louis finally came to the possession of the crown, the illus- trious Naturalist continued to receive from the restored dynasty that respect and attention which he deserved. He was made Chancellor of the University by Louis XVIII., and enjoyed office until his decease. In 1819 he was created a Baron. From the history of the career of Cuvier to this point, we learn that under every form of government his scientific merits were uniformly ac- knowledged. The republic, the imperial ruler, and the regal dynasty, alike rendered homage to his talents and his integrity. Jealous of xil MEMOIR. Cuvier’s devotion to science, all these governments sought to avail themselves successively of his assistance; and being thus compelled to enter upon the field of politics, no man could pass through the temptations and seductions with which that field abounds more free from taint than Cuvier. When called upon by authority to act the part of a political minister, he obeyed the command with the fidelity and promptitude which a sense of duty in all conscientious subjects would compel them to adopt. But here the political tendencies of Cuvier stopped: when summon- ed to appear in the arena of the Court, he neither looked to the left hand nor to the right, to select the intriguing group, with whom he should hire himself, or put up his influence and patronage to the highest bidder. He stood indifferent amid the agitations of parties around him, and saw without uneasiness that the contempt with which he looked upon their designs and their exertions had rendered him an object of hostility to them. Having been entrusted with the duty of superintendant to the educational and religious establishments connected with the Protestant community of France, Cuvier appears to have executed his functions in such a manner as that, whilst he satisfied the wishes of those whom he was appointed to serve, he, at the same time, made his arrangements agreeable to all. His good sense, his benevolent mind, his religious im~- pressions, so guided and animated his whole conduct, that the very sources of animosity in most countries, religious distinctions, were converted, through his skilful exertions, into motives of charity. The first visit made by Cuvier to England was in the year 1818, and his sojourn there lasted six weeks. He saw the memorable West- minster election, which was contested by Sir Murray Maxwell; he was kindly received by the Prince Regent; he went down to Oxford, and the whole of the scientific lions of London were pointed out to him by Dr. Leach, who took great pleasure in acting the part of his cicerone; he went to Windsor—called at Herschel’s and saw the great telescope, and paid a visit to Spring Grove, where he was treated with due worship by Sir Joseph Banks. Cuvier ever after spoke. with emotion of the recep- tion which he had obtained in England. It was not without good reason that the scientific circles of Great Britain were emulous in paying respect to the eminent naturalist. His work on Fossil Bones, and particularly the preliminary discourse on the revolutions on the surface of the globe, together with his volumes on “‘ Comparative Anatomy,” but above all, his ‘* Animal Kingdom,” had already established his reputation in England, and the full amount of the merit which these various productious represented was unhesitatingly ac- corded to him by the general voice of the learned in this country. The year before his excursion to. England was that in which the “ Régne MEMOIR. xiil Animal” appeared; and as the first and second Prefaces of the author, which will be found in the present volume, abundantly explain the nature and objects of that great performance, and the circumstances under which it was undertaken, we do not feel ourselves at liberty to dwell upon the subject. In reference, however, to the important question of classifica- tion, it is of some consequence that we should render complete justice to the original labours of Cuvier. Those who are familiar with the works of the antient philosopher, Aristotle, will be astonished to find that, in an age so remote as that in which he flourished, the true principles on which the classification of animals should be effected were perfectly well understood. Mankind, at least, seem to have been contented with them, inasmuch as no attempt, from the days of that Father of Naturalists to the age of Linnzus, was ever made to alter the system of the former. The attempt made by Linneus to im- prove upon Aristotle, is held by Lamarck to have been successful in these respects, that the Swede uses the term mammalia, which is sufficiently that he has put the Whales into that class—that he forms the Reptiles into a separate class, placing them between the Birds and the Fishes. If we can suppose these changes to be incorporated with the system of Aristotle, there will be very little difference between that system and the one universally adopted in modern times. It follows, distinctive therefore, that the improvement in the right distribution of animals effected by Linneus, is comparatively trifling, and, in our view, much in- ferior in the depth and importance of its principles to that which was discovered and established by the subject of this biography. Whilst Aristotle exhibited wonderful judgment in his arrangements, still he had no true notion of the laws which regulate species; he was confounded altogether by the limits of the variation of species, and here it is that the second Aristotle has been able triumphantly to succeed. Cuvier studied ardently and incessantly the nature of the conditions that allow of the developement of individuals or species in the form in which they appear, and the results of his original and wonderful labours have cast a light over the mysteries of living nature, such as discloses them in a condition in which they are most calculated for our comprehension. Cuvier, in traversing the relics of the antient world, and comparing them with the structures which compose the breathing beings of this, disco- vered the talisman which opened every locked treasure to his hand, in the simple law that every part of any animal, and in some, the very smallest portion, constitutes a certain index of the character in all respects of the rest. The successful ‘application. of this law is one of the greatest triumphs of the genius of Cuvier. The Bourbons increased in their attachment to the illustrious natur- xiv MEMOIR. alist as time went on, and at the coronation of Charles X. he officiated as President of the Council. He received from that monarch the deco- ration of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, and to his sole super- intendence were left the whole of the religious communities of France, which were unconnected with the prevailing faith. The calamities which multiplied so unhappily in his domestic life, were increased to a degree almost beyond endurance, in 1827, by the death of the only relic of the general wreck of his children, in the continuance of whose society he had any reason to confide. His daughter Clementine had attained her twenty- second year, and had then been bound to her parents by bonds of the dearest connection. But she fell like a flower in her prime, and left her parents to seek that consolation in their affliction which can only be ob- tained from Heaven. Cuvier manifested but too tenderly, for along time afterwards, the effect of his privations. In 1830, Cuvier resumed the office of Lecturer at the College of France, and delivered a series of discourses on the progress of science in all ages, which shewed the most extraordinary erudition. In 1832, he was elevated to the rank of a Peer of France, and received the appoint- ment of President of the Council. We now approach the only repugnant portion of our task—the account of Cuvier’s death. We, of course, have no other materials to refer to than those furnished by the immediate friends of the deceased, and amongst these, the report of M. Rousseau, the assistant of the Baron at the Garden of Plants, and who was in close attendance upon him during the whole of his last illness, appears to be that which deserves the greatest confidence. It appears from the statement of this gentleman, that, ‘on Monday the 7th of May, 1832, M. Cuvier had slight diarrhcea, with disturbance of the bowels, for which he took a lavement, with some drops of laudanum in it. On Tuesday he felt quite well, and gave his accustomed lecture at the College of France with even more than his usual energy; so much so, indeed, that he was covered with perspiration at its conclusion. The day was rather cold, and M. Cuvier walked home, contrary to his ordinary custom. He dined as well as usual, and in the evening attended a soirée of the Professors at the Museum, where he talked a good deal. It was on the next morning, Wednesday, that he complained of the stiffness and difficulty of moving his right upper ex- tremity; yet he attended the Council of State, and on his return had an appetite for dinner; but though he could eat his soup well enough, he was surprised to find that it was almost impossible for him to swallow any thing more solid. That night leeches were applied to the anus. On Thursday the right arm was perfectly paralyzed; deglutition was more difficult than ever; but he could walk about very well. The pulse was MEMOIR. XV normal, beating from 80 to 85 in the minute. One of the medical attend- ants, however, thought fit, in the course of the day, to bleed the patient largely: two pounds of healthy looking blood were drawn from the left arm. A mustard foot-bath was used in the evening, and a large blister applied to the back of the neck. The night was spent very restlessly ; and about three, a.M., the pulse seemed so hard and full that the attend- ants were induced to repeat the bleeding, which they now did from the right arm. After this the patient’s muscular powers sunk rapidly, though his nervous sensibility and intelligence were not at all impaired. On Friday morning he was ordered a little tartar emetic, which however did not act upwards. His mouth was then observed to be filled with a copious flow of mucous saliva; and this, together with the difficulty which he felt in swallowing the emetic solution, induced the patient himself to remark that he was like a person labouring under hydrophobia. In the afternoon, M. Du- puytren, in order to excite the action of the esophagus and pharynx, threw into the stomach four-and-twenty grains of ipecacuanha, but no vomiting ensued. In three hours after double the quantity was employed, but without the occurrence even of nausea. At seven in the evening, a strong lavement of salt and water (saturated) was given: this produced a super- purgation. Same night two or three large ‘ English vesicatories’ were applied along the course of the cervical plexuses, and the patient was in a most restless condition. On Saturday morning it appeared that the left leg was beginning to be paralyzed. At the patient’s earnest request, some bouillon was conveyed into his stomach: he was also removed from his bed-chamber into his spacious saloon. The blisters did no good; they did not even irritate the skin. In the course of the day he had given him some iced raspberry vinegar, and enjoyed comparative repose; but the night brought on much severe suffering. All power of motion and swallowing was now extinct. Twenty leeches were applied to the region of the mastoid processes. ‘ When I saw him on Sunday morning,’ says Dr. Rousseau, ‘ it seemed as if he had grown on a sudden ten years older; his voice also was wonderfully changed.’ That day (Sunday, 13th—the day of his death) the patient began to lose all hope. When any new mea- sure was proposed to him he shook his head with a desponding assent. He was cupped on the loins about noon; and again, about eight in the evening, he was persuaded to suffer himself to be cupped below the sca- pula. This operation fatigued him greatly. At a quarter to nine he asked the hour, and complained that his faculties were leaving him; ‘ and, at a quarter to ten,’ says Dr. R., ‘I observed three or four slight motions of the head and a feeble expiration, which I found had deprived the world of a man of vast knowledge and the most extraordinary genius. He died in his arm-chair, sitting erect, with his head neither inclined one way nor xvi ia Bikals i cee the other. His figure was majestic, in the attitude of deep contemplation. So like the life did he seem, that his family would not believe the melan- choly fact; but the illustrious patient was no more.’”’ To Mrs. Bowditch, an intimate acquaintance of the Baron and of his family, we are indebted for the following details respecting the person and habits of this illustrious man. “In person M. Cuvier was moderately tall, and in youth slight; but the sedentary nature of his life had induced corpulence in his alter years, and his extreme near-sightedness brought on a slight stoop in the shoulders. His hair had been light in colour, and to the last flowed in the most pic- turesque curls, over one of the finest heads that ever was seen. The im- mense portion of brain in that head was remarked by Messrs. Gall and Spurzheim, as beyond all that they had ever beheld; an opinion which was confirmed after death. His features were remarkably regular and handsome, the nose aquiline, the mouth full of benevolence, the forehead most ample; but it is impossible for any description to do justice to his eyes. They at once combined intellect, vivacity, archness, and sweetness ; and long before we lost him, I used to watch their elevated expression with a sort of fearfulness, for it did not belong to this world. There are many portraits published of M. Cuvier, formed of various materials; but, with the exception of the medallion of M. Bovy, the copper medal, the piaster bust, the lithographic print by M. le Meunier, and the oil paint- ing by Mr. Pickersgill, they scarcely convey any just idea of M. Cuvier’s expression: in fact, some of the prints are positive caricatures.” We may add, that it afforded Cuvier singular satisfaction in his dying hours, to reflect that the great work on which his heart was entirely bent—that performance on which he most desired to rest his claims to the respect of posterity—his Ichthyology, was in part before the public, and that the remainder would come forth under a superintendance in the value of which he entertained unbounded confidence. INDEX SYSTEMATICALLY ARRANGED. INTRODUCTION. Nature, 1 Physics, 1 Chemistry, 1 Natural history, 2 Classification of animals, 4 Living beings and organization, 5 Generation, 7 Varieties of living beings, 8 Animals and vegetables, 9 Animal structure, 10 Cellular tissue, muscle, and blood, 11 Forces acting on animals, 12 Their functions and organs, 14 _ Their intellectual functions, 19 | Man, 20 | Instinct, 21 Principles of classification, 22 ANIMAL —~+>— KINGDOM. GREAT DIVISIONS. I. ANIMALIA VERTEBRATA, 23 II, — Motuuvusca, 24 | Ill. Animarra ARTICULATA, 24 IV. Rapiata, 24 FIRST GREAT DIVISION—VERTEBRATA. CLASSES, I. Mamma tia, 30 II. Birps, 30 III. Reprtites, 30 IV. Fisues, 30 FIRST CLASS—MAMMALIA. ORDERS. I. Brana, 35 II. QuapRUMANA, 35 . CarnariA, 35 IV. Marsvupiatia, 35 V. RopentTia, 35 | | WI. Epentata, 35 VII. PacnypERMATA, 35 VIII. Ruminantta, 35 IX. Cetacra, 36 GENERA, SUBGENERA, AND OTHER DIVISIONS. I. BIMANA: Man, 36 his peculiar conformation, 36 his physical and moral development, 39 his varieties, 42 VOL, I. d XXXIV INDEX. II. QUADRUMANA: I. Genus, Simia, 46 4 ae Monkeys of the pubyee } Content 47 Groups of k Pithecus, 47 Subgen. § Hilobates, 49 Cercopithecus, 50 Semnopithecus, 51 Macacus, 52 Inuus, 53 Cynocephalus, 53 Mandrills, 54 Monkeys of the New Continent. Sapajous, 55 Groups tt Mycetes, 55 Subgen. § Ateles, 56 Lagothrix, 57 Cebus, 57 Sajou, 57 Saimiri, 58 Sakis, 58 Sagouins, 58 Pithecia, 58 Brachiurus, 58 Callithrix, 58 Nocthorus, 58 Subgen. 2. } Il. Genus, Ouistitis, 59 Subgen.—Hapale, 59 Groups th Jacchus, 59 Subgen. § Midas, 59 TII. Genus, Lemur, 60 Subgen.—Makis, 60 Indris, 61 Loris, 61 Galago, 62 Tarsius, 62 IlI. CARNARIA, 63 Fam. 1. Or Carnaria, the Cheiroptara, 64 Gen. 1. Of Cheiroptera—The Verspertilio, 64 Subgen.—Pteropus, 64 Cephalotes, 66 Molossus, 66 Dinops, 66 Nyctinomus, 66 Cheiromeles, 67 Thiroptera, 67 Noctilio, 67 (continued) INDEX. XXXV Il. CARNARIA—(continued). Subgen.—Phyllostoma, 67 Vampirus, 67 Glossophaga, 68 Megaderma, 68 Rhinolophus, 68 Nycteris, 69 Rhinopoma, 69 Taphozous, 69 Mormoops, 69 Vespertilio, 69 Plecotus, 70 Nycticées, 71 Gen. 2. Of Cheiroptera—Galeopithecus, 71 Fam. II. Or Carnarta, the Insectivora, 71 Gen.—Erinaceus, 72 Centenes, 73 Cladobates, 74 Sorex, 74 Mygale, 76 Chrysochloris, 76 Talpa, 77 Condylura, 78 Scalops, 78 Fam. 11]. Or Carnarta, the Carnivora, 79 Tribe 1, Of Carnivora—the Plantigrada, 80 Gen.—Ursus, 80 Procyon, 83 Ailurus, 83 Ictides, 83 Nasua, 84 Meles, 84 Gulo, 85 Ratelus, 85 Tribe 2, Of Carnivora: 1 Subdiv.—Digitigrada, 86 Gen.—Mustela, 86 Subgen.— Putorius, 86 Mustela, 87 Mephitis, 88 2 Subdiv.— Lutra, 89 Gen.—Canis, 90 Subgen.—Canis familiaris, 91 Canis lupus, 91 Canis vulpes, 92 Megalotis, 93 Hyena, 93 d2 XXXVi INDEX. Ill. CARNARIA—(continued). Gen.—Viverra, 94 Subgen.—Viverra, 94 Genetta, 94 Paradoxurus, 95 Mangusta, or Herpestes, 95 Gen.—Ryzena, 96 Grossarchus, 96 3 Subdiv.— Gen.—Hyena, 98 Felis, 99 Tribe 3, Of Carnivora—the Amphibia, 102 Gen.—Phoca, 103 Subgen.—Phoca, 108 Calocephala, 103 Stenorhyncus, 104 Pelagus, 104 Stemmatopus, 104 Macrorhinus, 105 Gen.—Otaries, 105 Trichechus, 106 IV. MARSUPIALIA, 107 1 Subdiv.— Gen.—Didelphis, 108 Chironectes, 110 Thylacinus, 110 Phascogale, 110 Dasyurus, 110 Perameles, 1il 2 Subdiv.— Gen.— Phalangista, 112 Petaurus, 113 3 Subdiv.—Gen.—Hypsiprymnus, 114 4 Subdiv.—Gen.—Macropus, 114 5 Subdiv.—Gen.—Koala, 116 6 Subdiv.—Gen.—Phascolomys, 116 VY. RODENTIA, 117 Gen.—Sciurus, 118 Subgen.—Sciurus, 118 Tamia, 119 Guerlinguets, 119 Pteromys, 119 Cheiromys, 120 Gen.—Mus, 120 Subgen.—Arctomys, 120 Spermophilus, 121 Myoxus, 122 Echimys or Loncheres, 123 Hydromys, 123 Capromys, 124 Mus, 124 Gerbillus, 126 Meriones, 127 Cricetus, 127 NDEX. V. RODENTIA—(continued). Gen.—Arvicola, 128 Groups of Arvicola.—Fiber, 128 Arvicola, 128 Georychus, 129 Otomys, 130 Dipus, 130 Gen.—Helamys or Pedetes, 131 Spalax, 131 Bathyergus, 132 Geomys, or Pseudostoma, or Ascomys, 132 Diplostoma, 132 Castor, 133 Myopotamus, 134 Hystrix, 134 Subgen. of Hystria.—Hystrix, 135 Atherubus, 135 Eretison, 135 Synetheres, 135 Gen.—Lepus, 136 Subgen.—Lepus, 136 Lagomys, 137 Gen.—Hydrocherus, 138 Cavia or Ancema, 138 Subgen.—Kerodon, 139 Gen.—Chloromys or Dasyprocta, 139 Celogenys, 139 VI. EDENTATA, 140 Tribe 1, Tardigrada, 140 Gen.—Bradypus, 141 Acheus, 141 Cholepus, 142 Megatherium, 142 Megalonyx, 143 Tribe 2, Edentata Ordinaria, 143 Gen.—Dasypus, 143 Subgen.—Cachichamus, 145 Apara, 144 Encoubertus, 144 Cabassous, 145 Priodontes, 145 Clamyphorus, 145 Gen.—Orycteropus, 146 Myrmecophaga, 146 Manis, 147 Tribe 3, Monotremata, 148 Gen.—Kchidna or Tachyglossus, 148 Ornithorhynchus or Platypus, 149 XXXVIi XXVill INDEX. VII. PACHYDERMATA, 150 Fam. 1. Proxsoscrp1ana, 150 Gen.—Elephas, 151 Mastodon, 153 Fam. Il. PacuypERMATA OrpinariA, 154 Gen.—Hippopotamus, 154 Sus, 154 Subgen.—Phacocherus, 155 Dicotyles, 156 Gen.—Anaplotherium, 156 Rhinoceros, 157 Hyrax, 158 Paleotherium, 158 Lophiodon, 159 Tapir, 159 Fam. UI. SorrpepeEs, 160 Gen.—Equus, 160 VIII. RUMINANTIA, 162 Without Horns. Gen.—Camelus, 164 Subgen.—Camelus, 164 Auchenia, 165 With Horns. Gen.—Moschus, 165 Cervus, 167 Camelopardalis, 170 Antilope, 171 Subgen. of Antilope.—Colus, 172 Damalis, 172 Redunce, 173 Gen.—Capra, 176 Oryx, 173 Ovis, 177 Bos, 179 IX. CETACEA, 181 Fam. 1. Herzsivorous WuHAtzs, 182 Gen.—Manatus, 182 Halicore or Dugong, 182 Stellerus, 183 ‘am. I], Onpinary Wuatess, 183 Tribe 1, Delphinus, 184 Gen.—Delphinus, 184 Subgen.—Delphinus, 184 Delphinorhynchus, 185 Phocena, 186 Delphinapterus, 187 Hyperoodon, 187 Gen.—Monodon, 188 Physeter, 188 Suhgen. of Phy- seler. Gen.—Balena, 190 Subgen.— Balena, 190 Balenoptera, 192 t Physeter, 190 INDEX. XXXIX SECOND CLASS.—BIRDS. OVIPAROUS VERTEBRATA IN GENERAL, 197 BIRDS, 202 —~+— ORDERS OF THE CLASS OF BIRDS. I. AcciPitREs, 207 IV. GaLLinacex, 207 II. Passerin#&, 207 V. GRALLATORIA, 207 III. Scansoria#, 207 VI. PatmirepeEs, 207 GENERA, SUBGENERA, AND OTHER DIVISIONS. I. ACCIPITRES: Gen. 1.—Vultur, 208 Subgen.—Vultur, 209 Cathartes, or Gallinazas, or Catharistes, 210 Percnopterus, Gypaetos, or Neophron, 210 Gypaetos or Phene, 211 Gen. II.—Falco, 212 Sect. 1.—WNoble Birds of Prey. Falco, 212 Hierofalco, 214 Sect. 2.—Of the Gen. Falco.— Aquila, 215 Ignoble Birds of Prey. Subgen.—Aquila, 215 Halietus, 216 Pandion, 217 Circaetus, 217 Harpyia, 218 Morphnus, 219 Gen.—Astur, 220 Subgen.—Astur, 220 Nisus, 221 Gen.—Milvus, 221 Subgen.—Milvus, 222° Pernis, 222 Gen.—Buteo, 223 Circus, 224 Serpentarius or Gypoeranus, 225 Nocturnal Birds of Prey. Gen.—Strix, 225 Subgen.—Otus, 226 Ulula, 226 Strix, 227 Syrnium, 227 Bubo, 227 Noctua, 228 Scops, 229 xl INDEX. Il. PASSERIN&, 230 Division 1, of Passerine, in which the external Toe is united to the inner one by a single phalanx or two. ‘am. IL.—DENTIROSTRES, 231 Gen.—Lanius, 231 Subgen.—Lanius, 231 Vanga, 233 Ocypterus, 233 Barita, 234 Chalybeus, 234 Psaris, 234 Graucalus, 235 Bethylus, 235 Falcunculus, 235 Pardalotus, 235 Gen.—Muscicapa, 236 Subgen.—Tyrannus, 236 Muscipeta, 236 Muscicapa, 237 Gymnocephalus, 239 Cephalopterus, 239 Gen.—Ampelis, 239 Subgen.—Ampelis, 239 Tersina, 240 Ceblepyris, 240 Bombycilla, 240 Gen.—Procnias, 241 Subgen.—Procnias, 241 Casmarhynchos, 241 Gymnoderus, 241 Gen.—Edolius, 241 Subgen.—Phibalura, 242 Gen.—Tanagra, 242 Subgen.—Bullfinch Tanagers, 242 Grossbeak Tanagers, 242 Tanagers proper, 242 Oriole Tanagers, 243 Cardinal Tanagers, 243 Ramphoceline Tanagers, 243 Gen.—Turdus, 243 Subgen.—Turdus, 248 Grives, 244 Lamprotornis, 246 Turdoides, 246 Enicures, 246 ° Grallines, 246 Criniger, 246 Gen.—Myothera, 246 Subgen.—Orthonyx, 247 INDEX. xli II. PASSERINA—(continued). Gen.—Cinclus, 248 Philedon, 248 Eulabes, 249 Gracula, 249 Subgen. of Gracula.—Manorhina, 250 Gen.—Pyrrhocorax, 251 Oriolus, 251 Gymnops, 251 Menura, 252 Motacilla, 252 Subgen. of Motacilla.—Saxicola, 252 Sylvia, 253 Curruca, 254 Accentor, 256 Regulus, 257 Troglodytes, 257 Motacilla, 258 Budytes, 258 Gen.—Anthus, 258 Pipra, 259 Subgen.—Rupicola, 259 Calyptomenes, 259 Pipra, 260 Gen.—Eurylaimus, 260 Fam. 11.—Fissirostres, 260 Diurnal Birds. Gen.—Hirundo, 261 Subgen.—Cypselus, 261 Hirundo, 261 Nocturnal Birds. Gen.—Caprymuigus, 262 Subgen.—Podargus, 263 Fam. I11.—ControstreEs, 264 Gen.—Alauda, 264 Parus, 265 Subgen. a} Remiz, 266 Parus. Gen.—Emberiza, 266 Fringilla, 268 Subgen. Cs 268 Fringilla. $ Pyrgita, 269 Fringilla, 270 Carduelis, 270 Linaria, 270 Vidua, 272 Coccothraustes, 272 Pitylus, 273 Pyrrhula, 273 xlii INDEX. IJ. PASSERINA—(continued). Gen.—Loxia, 273 Corythus, 274 Colius, 274 Buphaga, 274 Cassicus, 275 Subgen. of Cassicus.—Cassicus, 275 Icterus, 275 Xanthornus, 275 Oxyrhyncus, 276 Dacnis, 276 Gen.—Sturnus, 276 Corvus, 277 Subgen. of Corvus.—Pica, 278 Garrulus, 278 Caryocatactes, 279 Temia, 279 Glaucopis, 279 Gen.—Coracias, 280 Subgen.—Coracias, 280 Colaris, 280 Gen.—Paradisea, 280 Fam. 1V. TenurrostreEs, 282 Gen.—Sitta, 282 Subgen.—Xenops, 283 Anabates, 283 Synallaxis, 283 Gen.—Certhia, 283 Subgen.—Certhia, 283 Dendrocolaptes, 284 Tichodroma, 284 Nectarinia, 284 Diceum, 285 Melithreptus, 285 Cinnyris, 285 Arachnothera, 286 Gen.—Trochilus, 286 Subgen.—Trochilus, 286 Orthorhynchus, 287 Gen.—Upupa, 288 Subgen.—Fregilus, 288 Upupa, 289 Promerops, 289 Epimachus, 289 INDEX. xliv II, PASSERIN —(continued). Division 11, of the Passerine, in which the external Toe, nearly as long as the middle one, is united to it as far as the penultimate articulations. Syndactyle, 290 Gen.—Merops, 290 Prionites, 291 Alcedo, 291 Ceyx, 292 Todus, 292 Buceros, 293 Ill, SCANSORLA:, Gen.—Galbula, 294 Picus, 295 Yunx, 297 Cuculus, 297 Subgen. of Cuculus.—Cuculus, 298 Couas, 298 Centropus, 299 Courols, 299 Indicator, 299 Barbacous, 299 Gen.—Malcoha, 300 Scythrops, 300 Bucco, 300 Subgen. of Bucco.—Pogonias, 300 Bucco, 300 Tamatia, 301 Gen.—Trogon, 301 Crotophaga, 302 Ramphastos, 802 Subgen. of Ramphastos.—Ramphastos, 302 Pteroglossus, 303 Gen.—Psittacus, 308 Subgen.—Ara, 303 Cornurus, 303 Ara Paroquets, 303 Arrow-tailed Paroquets, 304 Paroquets, with a tail widened near the end, 804 Cockatoos, 304 Loris, 305 Psittaculus, 305 Paroquets a trompe, 306 Pezoporus, 306 Gen.—Corythaix, 306 Musophaga, 307 xliv INDEX. IV. GALLINACE, 307 Gen.—Alector, 308 Subgen.—Alector, 308 Ourax, 308 Penelope, 309 Ortalida, 309 Opisthocomus, 310 Gen.—Pavo, 310 Subgen.—Lophophorus,, 311 Gen.—Meleagtis, 311 Subgen.—Numida, 312 Gen.—Phasianus, 312 Subgen. of Phasianus.—Gallus, 312 Phasianus, 312 Houppiferes, 314 Tragopan, 314 Cryptonyx, 314 Gen.—Tetrao, 315 Subgen.—Tetrao, 315 Lagopus, 316 Pterocles, 317 Perdix, 317 Divisions of 1 Francolinus, 317 Perdix Boe 318 Coturnix, 318 Colins, 319 Gen.—Tridactyles or Hemipodius, 319 Subgen.—Turnix, 319 Syrrhaptes, 319 Gen.—Tinamus, Crypturus or Ynambus, 320 Subgen.—Pezus, 320 Tinamoos, 820 Rynchotus, 320 Gen.—Columba, 320 Subgen.—Columbi-gallines, 321 Columbe, 321 Vinago, 323 V. GRALLATORIA, 323 Fam. 1. BrevirpENNES, 324 Gen.—Struthio, 324 Casuarius, 325 Fam. Il. PresstrostreEs, 326 Gen.—Otis, 327 Charadrius, 327 Subgen. of Charadrius. —CEdicnemus, 327 Charadrius, 328 Gen.—Vanellus, 329 Subgen.—Vanellus, 329 ee INDEX. V. GRALLATORILA—(continued). Gen.—Hematopus, 330 Cursorius or Tachydromus, 330 Cariama, Microdactylus, or Dicholophus, 331 Fam. UI. Curtirostres, 331 Tribe 1.—Grus, 332 Gen.—Grus, 332 Tribe 2.— Subgen.—Psophia, 332 Grus, 333 Eurypyga, 333 Gen.—Cancroma, 334 Ardea, 334 Crab-eaters, 335 Onores, 335 Egrets, 335 Bitterns, 335 Night-herons, 336 Tribe 3.— Gen.—Ciconia, 336 Subgen.—Bare-necked Storks, 337 xly Pouched Storks, 337 Gen.—Mycteria, 337 Scopus, 338 Hians or Anastomus, 338 Subgen.—Dromas, 338 Gen.—Tantalus, 338 Platalea, 339 Fam. 1V. Loneirostres, 340 Gen.—Scolopax, 34 0 Subgen.—Ibis, 340 Numenius, 341 Scolopax, 342 Rhynchexa, 343 Limosa, 344 Calidris, 344 Arenaria, 345 Pelidna, 345 Cocorli, 345 Falcinellus, 346 Machetes, 346 Eurinorhynchus, 346 Phalaropus, 347 Strepsilas, 347 Totanus, 347 Lobipes, 349 Himantopus, 349 Gen.—Recurvirostra, 350 xvi INDEX. V. GRALLATORIA:—(continued). Fam. VY. MacropactTytt: Gen.—Jacanas, 351 Palamedea, 352 Chauna, 352 Megapodius, 352 Rallus, 353 Fulica, 354 Subgen. of Fulica.—Gallinula, 354 ‘ Porphyrio, 354 Fulica, 355 Chionis or Vaginalis, 355 Gen.—Phenicopterus, 356 Glareola, 355 VI. PALMIPEDES, 357 Fam. 1. BracuyPTER&: Gen.—Colymbus: Subgen.—Podiceps, 358 Heliornis, 358 Mergus, 359 Uria, 359 Cephus, 360 Gen.—Alca, 360 Subgen.—Fractercula, 360 Alca, 361 Gen.—Aptenodytes, 361 Subgen.—Aptenodytes, 361 Catarrhactes, 362 Spheniscus, 362 Fam. Il. LonerrEnnes, 362 Gen.— Procellaria, 363 Subgen.—Puffinus, 364 Pelecanoides or Halodroma, 364 Pachyptila, 364 Gen.—Diomedea, 364 Larus, 865 Subgen. of Larus. —Goelands, 365 Mouettes, 366 Lestris, 366 Gen.—Sterna, 367 Subgen.—Noddies, 368 Gen.—Rhynchops, 368 Fam. II, TorrpatMata: Gen.—Pelecanus, 369 Subgen.—Pelecanus, 369 Phalacrocorax, 369 Tachypetes, 370 Sula, 370 Gen.—Plotus, 371 : Pheton, 371 INDEX, xlvii VI. PALMIPEDES—(continued). Fam. TV. LAMELLIROSTRES. Gen.—Anas, 372 Subgen. Cygnus, 372 Anser, 373 Barnacles, 374 Cereopsis, 374, Anas, 374 Oidemia, 375 Clangula, 375 Somateria, 376 Fuligula, 376 Rhynchapsis, 377 Tadorna, 378 Gen.—Mergus, 379 CORRIGENDA. In addition to the errors of haste of Cuvier, which we have noticed in the particular pages where they occur, there are others which we shall now point out. Page 234. By some unaccountable mistake, the Psaris Cuvierit of Swainson is confounded with the Pachy. semifasciatus of Spix. The first is as big as a sparrow, olive-green, with a yellow breast; the second is as big as a thrush, cream- coloured white, with black wings, tail, and crown. 235. for Sphecothere, read Sphecotherus. 238. for Sternura, read Stenura. — for Turdus volitans, read aurocapillus. 240. for Merremic, read Merrem., Ic. 249. for Cridotheres, read Acridotheres. — note N.B. The genera Anthrochera and Myzomela, are not Swainson’s, but those of Messrs. Horsfield and Vigors. 252. note N.B. The Oroolus regens is the Melliphaga chrysccephala (not regia) of Lewin, and the &c. — The genus Tropedorhynchus is not Swainson’s, but that of Horsfield and Vigors. 275. The Or. agripennis has been already noticed at p. 268 (under its original name of Emb. oryzevora), as the type of the genus Dolichonyx, Swainson. 284. note N.B. The genus Dasyornis is of Horsfield and Vigors; the rest following are Swainson’s. The genera Peristera and Estopestes, among the Pigeons, are Swainson’s. INTRODUCTION. AS correct ideas respecting natural history are not very generally formed, it appears necessary to begin by defining its peculiar object, and establish- ing rigorous limits between it and neighbouring sciences. In our language, and in most others, the word NATURE is variously em- ployed. At one time it is used to express the qualities a being derives from birth, in opposition to those it may owe to art; at another, the entire mass of beings which compose the universe; and at a third, the laws which govern those beings. It is in this latter sense particularly that we usually personify nature, and, through respect, use its name for that of its Creator. Physics, or Natural Philosophy, treats of the nature of these three re- lations, and is either general or particular. General physics examines abstractedly each of the properties of those moveable and extended beings we call bodies. That branch of them styled Dynamics, considers bodies in mass; and, proceeding from a very small number of experiments, de- termines mathematically the laws of equilibrium, and those of motion and of its communication. Its different divisions are termed Statics, Hydro- statics, Hydrodynamics, Mechanics, &c. &c., according to the nature of the particular bodies whose motions it examines. Optics considers the particular motions of light, whose phenomena, which hitherto nothing but experiment has been able to determine, are becoming more numerous. Chemistry, another branch of general physics, exposes the laws by which the elementary molecules of bodies act on each other; the combinations or separations which result from the general tendency of these molecules to re-unite; and the modifications which the various circumstances capable of separating or approximating them produce on that tendency. It is " purely a science of experiment, and is irreducible to calculation. The theory of heat and that of electricity belong either to dynamics or chemistry, according to the point of view in which they are considered. VOL, I. A 2 INTRODUCTION. The ruling method in all the branches of general physics consists in isolating bodies, reducing them to their greatest simplicity, in bringing each of their properties separately into action, either by reflection or ex- periment, and by observing or calculating the results; and finally, in gene- ralising and connecting the laws of these properties, so as to form codes, and, if it were possible, to refer them to one single principle into which they might all be resolved. The object of Particular Physics, or of Natural History—tfor the terms are synonymous—is, the special application of the laws recognised by the various branches of general physics to the numerous and varied beings which exist in nature, in order to explain the phenomena which each of them presents. Within this extensive range, Astronomy also would be included; but that science, sufficiently elucidated by mechanics, and completely sub- jected to its laws, employs methods, differing too widely from those re- quired by natural history, to permit it to be cultivated by the students of the latter. Natural history, then, is confined to objects which do not allow of exact calculation, nor of precise measurement in al’ their parts. Meteorology also is subtracted from it and united to general physics; so that, properly speaking, it considers only inanimate bodies called minerals, and the dif- ferent kinds of living beings, in all of which we may observe the effects, more or less various, of the laws of motion and chemical attraction, and of all the other causes analysed by general physics. Natural history, in strictness, should employ similar methods with the general sciences; and it does so, in fact, whenever the objects it examines are sufficiently simple to allow it. This, however, is but very rarely the case. An essential difference between the general sciences and natural history is, that, in the former, phenomena are examined, whose conditions are all regulated by the examiner, in order, by their analysis, to arrive at general laws; whereas, in the latter, they take place under circumstances beyond the control of him who studies them for the purpose of discovering, amid the complication, the effects of known general laws. He is not, like the experimenter, allowed to subtract them successively from each condition, and to reduce the problem to its elements—he is compelled to take it in its entireness, with all its conditions at once, and can perform the analysis only in thought. Suppose, for example, we attempt to insulate the nu- merous phenomena which compose the life of any of the higher orders of animals; a single one being suppressed, every vestige of life is annihi- lated. Dynamics have thus nearly become a science of pure calculation; che- TA, p i =p ahs) | INTRODUCTION. oO mistry is still a science of pure experiment; and natural history, in a great number of its branches, will long remain one of pure observation. These three terms sufficiently designate the methods employed in the three branches of the natural sciences; but in establishing between them very different degrees of certitude, they indicate, at the same time, the point to which they should incessantly tend, in order to attain nearer and nearer to perfection. Calculation, if we may so express it, thus commands nature, and deter- mines her phenomena more exactly than observation can make them known; experiment compels her to unveil; while observation pries into her secrets when refractory, and endeavours to surprise her. There is, however, a principle peculiar to natural history, which it uses with advantage on many occasions; it is that of the conditions of existence, commonly styled final causes. As nothing can exist without the re-union of those conditions which render its existence possible, the component parts of each being must be so arranged as to render possible the whole being, not only with regard to itself but to its surrounding relations. The analysis of these conditions frequently conducts us to general laws, as cer- tain as those that are derived from calculation or experiment. It is only when all the laws of general physics and those which result from the conditions of existence are exhausted, that we are reduced to the simple laws of observation. The most effectual method of obtaining these, is that of comparison. This consists in successively observing the same bodies in the different positions in which nature places them, or in a mutual comparison of dif- ferent bodies; until we have ascertained invariable relations between their structures and the phenomena they exhibit. These various bodies are kinds of experiments ready prepared by nature, who adds to or deducts from each of them different parts, just as we might wish to do in our labo- ratories; shewing us, herself, at the same time their various results. In this way we finally succeed in establishing certain laws by which these relations are governed, and which are employed like those that are determined by the general sciences. The incorporation of these laws of observation with the general laws, either directly or by the principle of the conditions of existence, would complete the system of the natural sciences, in rendering sensible in all its parts the mutual influence of every being. To this end, should these who cultivate these sciences direct all their efforts. All researches of this nature, however, pre-suppose means of distin- guishing clearly, and causing others to distinguish, the bodies they are occupied with; otherwise we should be continually confounding them. Natural history then should be based on what is called a system of nature— A2 4. INTRODUCTION. or, a great catalogue, in which all created beings have suitable names, may be recognised by distinctive characters, and be arranged in divisions and subdivisions, themselves named and characterised, in which they may be found. In order that each being may be recognised in this catalogue, it must be accompanied by its character: habits or properties, which are but mo- mentary, cannot, then, furnish characters—they must be drawn from the conformation. There is scarcely a single being which has a simple character, or can be recognised by one single feature of its conformation; a union of several of these traits are almost always required to distinguish one being from those that surround it, who also have some but not all of them, or who have them combined with others of which the first is destitute. The more numerous the beings to be distinguished, the greater should be the number of traits ; so that to distinguish an individual being from all others, a complete de- scription of it should enter into its character. It is to avoid this inconvenience, that divisions and subdivisions have been invented. A certain number only of neighbouring beings are com- pared with each other, and their characters need only to express their dif- ferences, which, by the supposition itself, are the least part of their con- formation. Such a re-union is termed a genus. The same inconvenience would be experienced in distinguishing genera from each other, were it not for the repetition of the operation in uniting the adjoining genera, so as to form an order, the orders to form a class, &c. Intermediate subdivisions may also be established. This scaffolding of divisions, the superior of which contain the inferior, is called a method. It is in some respects a sort of dictionary, in which we proceed from the properties of things to arrive at their names; being the reverse of the common ones, in which we proceed from the name to arrive at the property. - When the method is good, it does more than teach us names. If the subdivisions have not been established arbitrarily, but are based on the true fundamental relations, on the essential resemblances of beings, the method is the surest means of reducing the properties of beings to general rules, of expressing them in the fewest words, and of stamping them on the memory. To render it such, we employ an assiduous comparison of beings, di- rected by the principle of the subordination of characters, which is itself derived from that of the conditions of existence. The parts of a being pos- sessing a mutual adaptation, some traits of character exclude others, while, on the contrary, there are others that require them. When, therefore, we perceive such or such traits in a being, we can calculate before hand those that co-exist in it, or those that are incompatible with them. The parts, INTRODUCTION. 5 the properties, or the traits of conformation, which have the greatest num- ber of these relations of incompatibility or of co-existence with others, or, in other words, that exercise the most marked influence upon the whole of the being, are called the important characters, dominating characters; the others are the subordinate characters, all varying in degree. This influence of characters is sometimes determined rationally, by the consideration of the nature of the organ. When this is impracticable, we have recourse to simple observation; and a sure mark by which we may recognise the important characters, and one which is drawn from their own nature, is their superior constancy, and that in a long series of different beings, approximated according to their degrees of similitude, these cha- racters are the last to vary. That they should be preferred for distin- guishing the great divisions, and that, in proportion as we descend to the inferior subdivisions, we can also descend to subordinate and variable char- acters, is a rule resulting equally from their influence and constancy. There can be but one perfect method, which is the natural method. We thus name an arrangement in which beings of the same genus are placed nearer to each other than to those of ihe other genera; the genera of the same order nearer than those of the other orders, &c. &c. This method is the zdeal to which natural history should tend; for it is evident that if we can reach it, we shall have the exact and complete expression of all nature. In fact, each being is determined by its resemblance to others, and difference from them; and all these relations would be fully given by the arrangement in question. Ina word, the natural method would be the whole science, and every step towards it tends to advance the science to perfection. Life being the most important of all the properties of beings, and the highest of all characters, it is not surprising that it has in all ages been made the most general principle of distinction; and that natural beings have always been separated into two immense divisions, the living and the inanimute. Of Living Beings, and Organization in general. If, in order to obtain a correct idea of the essence of life, we consider it in those beings in which its effects are the most simple, we quickly perceive that it consists in the faculty possessed by certain corporeal combinations, of continuing for a time and under a determinate form, by constantly at- tracting into their composition a part of surrounding substances, and ren- dering to the elements portions of their own. Life then is a vortex, more or less rapid, more or less complicated, the direction of which is invariable, and which always carries along molecules of similar kinds, but into which individual molecules are continually entering, 6 INTRODUCTION. and from which they are continually departing; so that the form of a living body is more essential to it than its matter. As long as this motion subsists, the body in which it takes place is living—it lives. When it finally ceases, zt dies. After death, the ele- ments which compose it, abandoned to the ordinary chemical affinities, soon separate, from which, more or less quickly, results the dissolution of the once living body. It was then by the vital motion that its dissolution was arrested, and its elements were held in a temporary union. All living bodies die after a certain period, whose extreme limit is fixed for each species, and death appears to be a necessary consequence of life, ' which, by its own action, insensibly alters the structure of the body, so as to render its continuance impossible. In fact, the living body undergoes gradual, but continual changes, dur- ing the whole term ofits existence. At first, it increases in dimensions, ac= cording to proportions, and within limits, fixed for each species and for each one of its parts; it then augments in density in the most of its parts—it is this second kind of change that appears to be the cause of natural death. If we examine the various living bodies more closely, we find they pos- sess a common structure, which a little reflection soon causes us to per- ceive is essential to a vortex, such as the vital motion. Solids, it is plain, are necessary to these bodies, for the maintenance of their forms; and fluids for the conservation of motion in them. ‘Their tissue, accordingly, is composed of network and plates, or of fibres and so- lid lamin, within whose interstices are contained the fluids; it is in these fluids that the motion is most continued and extended. Foreign substan- ces penetrate the body and unite with them; they nourish the solids by the interposition of their molecules, and also detach from them those that are superfluous. It is in a liquid or gaseous form that the matters to be exhaled traverse the pores of the living body; but in return, it is the so- lids which contain the fluids, and by their contraction communicate to them part of their motion. This mutual action of the fluids and solids, this transition of molecules, required considerable affinity in their chemical composition; and such is the fact—the solids of organized bodies being mostly composed of ele- ments easily convertible into fluids or gases. The motion of the fluids needing also a constantly repeated action on the parts of the solids, and communicating one to them, required in the latter both flexibility and dilatibility; and accordingly we find this charac- ter nearly general in all organized solids. This structure, common to all living bodies; this areolar tissue, whose more or less flexible fibres or laminz intercept fluids more or less abund- ant; constitutes what is called the organization. As a consequence of INTRODUCTION. 7 what we have said, it follows, that life can be enjoyed by organized bodies only. Organization, then, results from a great variety of arrangements, which are all conditions of life; and it is easy to conceive, that if its effect be to alter either of these conditions, so as to arrest even one of the partial mo- tions of which it is composed, the general movement of life must cease. Every organized body, independently of the qualities common to its tis- sue, has a form peculiar to itself, not merely general and external, but ex- tending to the detail of the structure of each of its parts; and it is upon this form, which determines the particular direction of each of the partial movements that take place in it, that depends the complication of the ge- neral movement of its life—it constitutes its species and renders it what it is. Each part co-operates in this general movement by a peculiar action, and experiences from it particular effects, so that in every being life is a whole, resulting from the mutual action and re-action of all its parts. Life, then, in general, pre-supposes organization in general, and the life proper to each individual being pre-supposes an organization peculiar to that being, just as the movement of a clock pre-supposes the clock; and accordingly we behold life only in beings that are organized and formed to enjoy it, and all the efforts of philosophy have never been able to discover matter in the act of organization, neither per se, nor by any external cause. In fact, life exercising upon the elements which at every moment form part of the living body, and upon those which it attracts to it, an ac- tion contrary to that which, without it, would be produced by the usual che- mical affinities, it seems impossible that it can be produced by these affini- ties, and yet we know of no other power in nature capable of re-uniting previously separated molecules. The birth of organized beings is, therefore, the greatest mystery of the organic economy and of all nature: we see them developed, but never be~ ing formed; nay more, all those whose origin we can trace, have at first been attached to a body similar in form to their own, but which was deve- ~ loped before them—in a word, to a parent. So long as the offspring has no independent existence, but participates in that of its parent, it is called a germ. The place to which the germ is attached, and the cause which detaches it, and gives it an independent life, vary; but this primitive adhesion to a similar being is a rule without exception. ‘The separation of the germ is called generation. Every organized being reproduces others that are similar to itself, other- wise, death being a necessary consequence of life, the species would be- come extinct. Organized beings have even the faculty of reproducing, in degrees vary- 8 INTRODUCTION. ing with the species, particular parts of which they may have been de- prived—this is called the power of reproduction. The developement of organized beings is more or less rapid, and more or less extended, as circumstances are more or less favourable. Heat, the abundance and species of nutriment, with other causes, exercise great in- fluence, and this influence may extend to the whole body in general, or to certain organs in particular: thence arises the impossibility of a perfect similitude between the offspring and parent. Differences of this kind, between organized beings, form what are termed varieties. There is no proof, that all the differences, which now distinguish er- ganized beings, are such as may have been produced by circumstances. All that has been advanced upon this subject is hypothetical. Experi- ence, on the contrary, appears to prove, that, in the actual state of the globe, varieties are confined within rather narrow limits, and go back as far as we may, we siill find those limits the same. We are thus compelled to admit of certain forms, which, frem the origin of things, have perpetuated themselves without exceeding these limits, and every being appertaining to one or other of these forms constitutes what is termed a species. Varieties are accidental subdivisions of species. Generation being the only means of ascertaining the limits to which va- rieties may extend, species should be defined—the re-union of individuals descended one from the other, or from common parents, or from such as resemble them as strongly as they resemble each other. But although this definition is strict, it will be seen that its application to particular in- dividuals may be very difficult, where the necessary experiments have not been made. Thus then it stands—absorption, assimilation, exhalation, developement, and generation, are functions common to all living bodies; birth and death the universal limits of their existence; an areolar, contractile tissue, con- taining within its lamine fluids or gases in motion, the general essence of its structure; substances, almost all susceptible of conversion into fluids or gases, and combinations capable of an easy and mutual transformation, the basis of their chemical composition. Fixed forms that are perpetuated by generation distinguish their species, determine the complication of the se- condary functions proper to each of them, and assign to them the parts they are to play on the great stage of the universe. These forms are nei- ther produced nor changed by their own agency—life supposes their exist- ence, its flame can only be kindled in an organization already prepared, and the most profound meditation and lynx-eyed and delicate observation can penetrate no farther than the mystery of the pre-existence of germs. INTRODUCTION. 9 Division of Organized Beings into Animals and Vegetables. Living or organized beings have always been subdivided into animate beings, that is, such as are possessed of sense and motion; and into inani- mate beings, which are deprived of both these faculties, and are reduced to the simple faculty of vegetating. Although the leaves of several plants shrink from the touch, and the roots are steadily directed towards mois- ture, the leaves to light and air, and though parts of vegetables appear to oscillate without any apparent external cause, still these various motions have too little similarity to those of animals, to enable us to find in them any proofs of perception or will. The spontaneity in the motions of animals required essential modifications even in their purely vegetative organs. Their roots not penetrating the earth, it was necessary they should be able to place within themselves a supply of aliment, and to carry its reservoir along with them. Hence is derived the first character of animals, or their alimentary canal, from which their nutritive fluid penetrates all other parts through pores or vessels, which are a kind of internal roots. The organization of this cavity and its appurtenances required varying, according to the nature of the aliment, and the operation it had to under- go, before it could furnish juices fit for absorption; whilst the air and earth present to vegetables nought but elaborated juices ready for ab- sorption. The animal, whose functions are more numerous and varied than those of the plant, consequently necessitated an organization much more com- plete; besides this, its parts not being capable of preserving one fixed re- lative position, there were no means by which external causes could pro- duce the motion of their fluids, which required an exemption from atmos- pheric influence; from this originates the second character of animals— their circulating system, one less essential than that of digestion, since in the more simple animals it is unnecessary. The animal functions required organic systems not needed by vegetables—that of the muscles for volun- tary motion, and nerves for sensibility; and these two systems, like the rest, acting only through the motions and transformations of the fluids, it was necessary that these should be most numerous in animals, and that the chemical composition of the animal body be more complex than that of the plant; and so it is, for one substance more (azote) enters into it as an es- sential element, whilst in plants it is a mere accidental junction with the three other general elements of organization—oxygen, hydrogen, and car- bon. ‘This then is the third character of animals. From the sun and atmosphere, vegetables receive for their nutrition, water, which is composed of oxygen and hydrogen; air, which contains 10 INTRODUCTION. oxygen and azote; and carbonic acid, which is a combination of oxygen and carbon. ‘To extract their own composition from these aliments, it was necessary they should retain the hydrogen and carbon, exhale the super- fluous oxygen, and absorb little or no azote. Such, in fact, is vegetable life, whose essential function is the exhalation of oxygen, which is effected through the agency of light. Animals also derive nourishment, directly or indirectly, from the vege- table itself, in which hydrogen and carbon form the principal parts. To assimilate them to their own composition, they must get rid of the su- perabundant hydrogen and carbon in particular, and accumulate more, azote, which is performed through the medium of respiration, by which the oxygen of the atmosphere combines with the hydrogen and carbon ot their blood, and is exhaled with them in the form of water and carbonic acid. The azote, whatever part of the body it may penetrate, seems al- ways to remain there. The relations of vegetables and animals to the surrounding atmosphere are therefore in an inverse ratio—the former reject water and carbonic acid, while the latter produce them. ‘The essential function of the animal body is respiration, it is that which in a manner animalizes it, and we shall see that the animal functions are the more completely exercised in proportion to the greatness of the powers of respiration possessed by the animal. This difference of relations constitutes the fourth character of animals. Of the Forms peculiar to ihe Organic Elements of the Animal Body, and of the principal Combinations of its Chemical Elements. An areolar tissue and three chemical elements are essential to every living body; there is a fourth element peculiarly requisite to that of an animal; but this tissue is composed of variously formed meshes, and these elements are variously combined. There are three kinds of organic materials or forms of texture—the cel- lular membrane, the muscular fibre, and the medullary matter; and to each form belongs a peculiar combination of chemical elements, as well as a particular function. The cellular substance is composed of an infinity of small fibres and lamine, fortuitously disposed, so as to form little cells that communicate with each other. It is a kind of sponge, which has the same form as the body, all other parts of which traverse or fill it, and contracting indefi- nitely, on the removal of the causes of its tension. It is this power that retains the body in a given form and with certain limits. When condensed, this substance forms those lamin called membranes ; the membranes rolled inte cylinders, form those more or less ramified tubes INTRODUCTION. ll named vessels; the filaments, called fibres, are resolved into it; and bones are nothing but the same thing indurated by the accumulation of earth- ly particles. The cellular substance consists of a combination well known as gelatine, characterised by its solubility in boiling water, and forming, when cold, a trembling jelly. We have not yet been able to reduce the medullary matter to its or- ganic molecules; to the naked eye, it appears like a sort of soft bouillie, consisting of excessively small globules; it is not susceptible of any appa- rent motion, but in it resides the admirable power of transmitting to the ME the impressions of the external senses, and conveying to the muscles the orders of the will. It constitutes the greater portion of the brain and the spinal marrow, and the nerves which are distributed to all the sen- tient organs are, essentially, mere fasciculi of its ramifications. The fleshy, or muscular fibre, is a peculiar sort of filament, whose distinc- tive property, during life, is that of contracting when touched or struck, or when it experiences the action of the will through the medium of the nerve. The muscles, direct organs of voluntary motion, are mere bundles of fleshy fibres. All vessels and membranes which have any kind of com- pression to execute are armed with these fibres. They are always inti- mately connected with nervous threads, but those which belong to the purely vegetative functions contract, without the knowledge of the mr, so that, although the will is truly a means of causing the fibres to act, it is neither general nor unique. The fleshy fibre has for its base a particular substance called fibrine, which is insoluble in boiling water, and which seems naturally to assume this filamentous disposition. The nutritive fluid or the blood, such as we find it in the vessels of the circulation, is not only mostly resolvable into the general elements of the animal body, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and azote, but it also contains fi- brine and gelatine, almost prepared to contract and to assume the forms of membranes or filaments peculiar to them, all that is ever wanted for their manifestation being a little repose. The blood also contains another com- bination, which is found in many animal fluids and solids, called albumen, whose characteristic property is that of coagulating in boiling water. Be- sides these, the blood contains almost every element which may enter into the composition of the body of each animal, such as the lime and phospho- rus which harden the bones of vertebrated animals, the zron from which it and various other parts receive their colour, the fat or animal oil which is deposited in the cellular substance to supple it, &c. All the fluids and solids of the animal body are composed of chemical clements found in the 12 INTRODUCTION. blood, and it is only by possessing a few elements more or less, that each of them is distinguished; whence it is plain, that their formation entirely depends on the subtraction of the whole or part of one or more elements of the blood, and in some few cases, on the addition of some element from elsewhere. These operations, by which the blood nourishes the fluid or solid matter of all parts of the body, may assume the general name of secretions. This name, however, is often appropriated exclusively to the production of li- quids; while that of nutrition is more especially applied to the formation and deposition of the matter necessary to the growth and conservation of the solids. The composition of every solid organ, of every fluid, is precisely such as fits it for the part it is to play, and it preserves it as long as health re-~ mains, because the blood renews it as fast it becomes changed. The blood itself by this continued contribution is changed every moment, but is re- stored by digestion, which renews its matter by respiration, which delivers it from superfluous carbon and hydrogen, by perspiration and various other excretions, that relieve it from other superabundant principles. These perpetual changes of chemical composition form a part of the vi- tal vortex, not less essential than the visible movements and those of trans- lation. ‘The object of the latter is, in fact, but to produce the former. Of the Forces which act in the Animal Body. The muscular fibre is not the only organ of voluntary motion, for we have just seen that it is also the most powerful of the agents employed by nature to produce those transmutations so necessary to vegetative life. Thus the fibres of the intestines produce the peristaltic motion, which causes the alimentary matter therein contained to pass through them; the fibres of the heart and arteries are the agents of the circulation, and through it of all the secretions, &c. Volition contracts the fibre through the medium of the nerve; and the involuntary fibres, such as those we have mentioned, being also animated by them, it is probable that these nerves are the cause of their con- traction. All contraction, and, generally speaking, every change of dimension in nature, is produced by a change of chemical composition, though it con- sist merely in the flowing or ebbing of an imponderable fluid, such as ca- lorié; thus also are produced the most violent movements known upon earth, explosions, &c. There is, consequently, good reason to suppose that the nerve acts upon the fibre through the medium of an imponderable fluid, and the more Sc, as it is proved that this action is not mechanical. INTRODUCTION. oO The medullary matter of the whole nervous system is homogeneous, and must be able to exercise its peculiar functions wherever it is found; all its ramifications are abundantly supplied with blood vessels. All the animal fluids being drawn from the blood by secretion, we can have no doubt that such is the case with the nervous fluid, and that the medullary matter secretes it. On the other hand, it is certain that the medullary matter is the sole conductor of the nervous fluid; all the other organic elements restrain and arrest it, as glass arrests electricity. The external causes which are capable of producing sensations or caus ing contractions of the fibre are all chemical agents, capable of effecting decompositions, such as light, caloric, the salts, odorous vapours, percus- sion, compression, &c. &c. It would appear then that these causes act on the nervous fluid chemi- cally, and by changing its composition; this appears the more likely, as their action becomes weakened by continuance, as if the nervous fluid needed the resumption of its primitive composition to fit it for a fresh alteration. The external organs of the senses may be compared to sieves, which allow nothing to pass through to the nerve, except that species of agent which should affect it in that particular place, but which often accumulates it so as to increase its effect. The tongue has its spongy papilla which imbibe saline solutions; the ear, a gelatinous pulp which is violently agi- tated by sonorous vibrations; the eye, transparent lenses which concen- trate the rays of light, &c. &c. It is probable, that what are styled irritants, or the agents which occa- sion the contractions of the fibre, exert this action by producing on the fibre, by the nerve, a similar effect to that produced on it by the will; that is, by altering the nervous fluid, in the way that is requisite to change the dimensions of the fibre which it influences: but with this process the will has nothing to do, and very often the mr is entirely ignorant of it. The muscles separated from the body preserve their susceptibility of irritation, as long as the portion of the nerve that remains with them preserves the power of acting on them—with this phenomenon the will has evidently no connexion. The nervous fluid is altered by muscular irritation, as well as by sen- sibility and voluntary motion, and the same necessity exists for the re- establishment of its primitive composition. The transmutations necessary to vegetable life are occasioned by irri- tants; the aliment irritates the intestine, the blood irritates the heart, &c. These movements are all independent of the will, and generally (while in health) take place without the knowledge of the ME; in several parts, the 14 INTRODUCTION. nerves that produce them are even differently arranged from those that are appropriated to sensation, or dependent on the will, and the very object of this difference appears to be the securing of this independence. The nervous functions, that is, sensibility and muscular irritability, are so much the stronger at every point, in proportion as their exciting cause is abundant; and as this cause, or the nervous fluid, is produced by secre- tion, its abundance must be in proportion to the quantity of medullary or secretory matter, and the amount of blood received by the latter. In animals that have a circulating system, the blood is propelled through the arteries which convey it to its destined parts, by means of their irrita- bility and that of the heart. If these arteries be irritated, they act more strongly, and propel a greater quantity of blood; the nervous fluid be- comes more abundant and augments the local sensibility; this, in its turn, augments the irritability of the arteries, so that this mutual action may sometimes be carried to a great extent. It is called orgasm, and when it becomes painful and permanent, énflammation. The irritation may also originate in the nerve when exposed to the influence of acute sensations. This mutual influence of the nerves and fibres, either intestinal or ar- terial, is the real spring of vegetative life in animals. As each external sense is permeable only by such or such sensible sub- stances, so each internal organ may be accessible only to this or that agent of irritation. Thus, mercury irritates the salivary glands—cantharides irritate the bladder, &c. These agents are called specifics. The nervous system being homogeneous and continuous, local sensations and irritation debilitate the whole, and each function, by excessive action, may weaken the others. Excess of aliment weakens the power of thought, while long continued meditation impairs that of digestion, &c. Excessive local irritation will enfeeble the whole body, as if all the powers of life were concentrated in one single point. A second irritation produced at another part may diminish, or divert, as it is termed, the first: such is the effect of blisters, purgatives, &c. Brief as our sketch has been, it is sufficient to establish the possibility of accounting for all the phenomena of physical life, from the properties it presents, by the simple admission of a fluid such as we have defined. Summary Idea of the Functions and Organs of the Bodies of Animals, and of their various Degrees of Complication. After what we have stated respecting the organic elements of the body, its chemical principles and acting powers, nothing remains but to give a summary idea of the functions of which life is composed, and of their ap- propriate organs. INTRODUCTION. 15 The functions of the animal body are divided into two classes: The animal functions, or those proper to animals, that is to say, sensi- bility and voluntary motion. The vital, vegetative functions, or those common to animals and vege- tables, 7. e., nutrition and generation. Sensibility resides in the nervous system. The most general external sense is that of touch; it is seated in the skin, a membrane that envelopes the whole body, which is traversed in every direction by nerves whose extreme filaments expand on the surface into papillz, and are protected by the epidermis and other insensible tegu- ments, such as hairs, scales, &c. &c. Taste and smell are merely delicate states of the sense of touch, for which the skin of the mouth and nostrils is particularly organized: the first, by means of papillae more convex and spongy; the second, by its extreme delicacy and the multiplication of its ever humid surface. We have already spoken of the ear and the eye. The organ of generation is endowed with a sixth sense, seated in its in- ternal skin; that of the stomach and intestines declares the state of those viscera by peculiar sensations. In fine, sensations more or less painful may originate in every part of the body through accident or disease. Many animals have neither ears nor nostrils, several are without eyes, and some are reduced to the single sense of touch, which is never absent. The action received by the external organs is continued by the nerves to the central masses of the nervous system, which, in the higher animals, consists of the brain and spinal marrow. The more elevated the nature of the animal, the more voluminous is the brain and the more is the sensitive power concentrated there; the lower the animal, the more the medullary masses are dispersed, and in the most imperfect genera, the entire nervous substance seems to melt into the general matter of the body. That part of the body which contains the brain and principal organs of sense, is called the head. When the animal has received a sensation, and this has occasioned vo- lition, it is by the nerves, also, that this volition is transmitted to the muscles. The muscles are bundles of fleshy fibres whose contractions produce all the movements of the animal body. The extension of the limbs and every elongation, as well as every flexion and abbreviation of parts, are the ef- fects of muscular contraction. The muscles of every animal are arranged, both as respects number and direction, according to the movements it has to make; and when these motions require force, the muscles are inserted into hard parts, articulated one over another, and may be considered as so many levers. These parts are called bones in the vertebrated animals, where they are internal, and are formed of a gelatinous mass, penetrated 16 INTRODUCTION. by particles of phosphate of lime. In the Mollusca, the Crustacea, and Insects, where they are external, and composed of a caicareous or horny substance that exudes between the skin and epidermis, they are called shells, crusts, and scales. The fleshy fibres are attached to the hard parts by means of. other fibres of a gelatinous nature, which seem to be a continuation of the former, constituting what are called tendons. The configuration of the articulating surfaces of the hard parts limits their motion, which are also restrained by cords or envelopes, attached to the sides of the articulations, called ligaments. It is from the various arrangements of this bony and muscular appara- tus, and the form and proportion of the members therefrom resulting, that animals are capable of executing the innumerable movements that enter into walking and leaping, flight and natation. The muscular fibres, appropriated to digestion and the circulation, are independent of the will; they receive nerves, however, but the chief of them are subdivided and arranged in a manner which seems to have for its object their independence of the mx. It is only in paroxysms of the pas- sions and other powerful affections of the soul, which break down these barriers, that the empire of the mz is perceptible, and even then it is al- most always to disorder these vegetative functions. It is, also, in a state of sickness only that these functions are accompanied with sensations: di- gestion is usually performed unconsciously. The aliment, divided by the jaws and teeth, or sucked up when liquids constitute the food, is swallowed by the muscular movements of the hinder parts of the mouth and throat, and deposited in the first portions of the ali- mentary canal that are usually expanded into one or more stomachs; there it is penetrated with juices fitted to dissolve it. Passing thence through the rest of the canal, it receives other juices destined to complete its pre- paration. The parietes of the canal are pierced with pores which extract from this alimentary mass its nutritious portion; the useless residuum is rejected as excrement. The canal in which this first act of nutrition is performed, is a conti- nuation of the skin, and is composed of similar layers; even the fibres that encircle it are analogous to those which adhere to the internal sur- face of the skin, called the fleshy pannicle. Throughout the whole inte- rior of this canal there is a transudation which has some connexion with the cutaneous perspiration, ard which becomes more abundant when the latter is suppressed; the absorption of the skin is even very analogous to that of the intestines. It is only in the lowest order of animals that the ex- crements are rejected by the mouth, their intestines resembling a sac, having but one opening. INTRODUCTION. 17 Even among those where the intestinal canal has two orifices, there are many in which the nutritive juices, being absorbed by the parietes of the intestine, are immediately diffused throughout the whole spongy substance of the body: such, it would appear, is the case with all Insects. But from the Arachnides and Worms upwards, the nutritive fluid circulates in a system of closed vessels, whose ultimate ramifications alone dispense its molecules to the parts that are nourished by it; the vessels that convey it are called arteries, those that bring it back to the centre of the circulation, veins. The circulating vortex is here simple, and there double and even triple (including that of the vena-porte); the rapidity of its motion is often assisted by the contractions of a certain fleshy apparatus called a heart, which is placed at one or the other centres of circulation, and sometimes at both of them. In the red-blooded vertebrated animals, the nutritive fluid exudes from the intestines white or transparent, and is then termed chyle; it is poured into the veins, where it mingles with the blood, by a set of peculiar vessels called /acteals. Vessels similar to these lacteals, and forming with them an arrangement called the lymphatic system, also convey to the venous blood the residue of the nutrition of the parts and the products of cutaneous absorption. Before the blood is fit to nourish the parts, it must experience from the circumambient element the modification of which we have previously spoken. In animals possessing a circulating system, one portion of the vessels is destined to carry the blood into organs in which they spread it over a great surface to obtain an increase of this elemental influence. When that element is air, the surface is hollow, and is called lungs; when it is water, it is salient, and is termed branchie. ‘There is always an ar- rangement of the organs of motion for the purpose of propelling the ele- ment into, or upon, the organ of respiration. In animals destitute of a circulating system, air is diffused through every part of the body by elastic vessels called trachee; or water acts upon them, either by penetrating through vessels, or by simply bathing the surface of the skin. The respired or purified blood is properly quali- fied for restoring the composition of all the parts, and to effect what 1s pro- perly called nutrition. This facility, which the blood possesses, of decom- posing itself at every point, so as to leave there the precise kind of mole- cule necessary, is indeed wonderful; but it is this wonder which consti- tutes the whole vegetative life. - For the nourishment of the solids we see no other arrangement than a great subdivision of the extreme arterial ra- mifications; but for the production of fluids the apparatus is more complex and various. Sometimes the extremities of the vessels simply spread themselves over large surfaces, whence the produced fluid exhales; at VOL. I. c 18 INTRODUCTION. others it oozes from the bottom of little cavities. Before these arterial extremities change into veins, they most commonly give rise to particular vessels that convey this fluid, which appears to proceed from the exact point of union between the two kinds of vessels; in this case the blood vessels and these latter form, by interlacing, particular bodies called con- glomerate or secretory glands. In animals that have no circulation, in insects particularly, the parts are all bathed in the nutritive fluid: each of these parts draws from it what it requires, and if the production of a liquid be necessary, proper ves- sels floating in the fluid take up, by their pores, the constituent elements of that liquid. It is thus that the blood incessantly supports the composition of all the parts, and repairs the injuries arising from those changes which are the continual and necessary consequences of their functions. The general ideas we form with respect to this process are tolerably clear, although we have no distinct or detailed notion of what passes at each point; and for want of knowing the chemical composition of each part with sufficient precision, we cannot render an exact account of the transmutations neces- sary to effect it. Besides the glands which separate from the blood those fluids that are destined for the internal economy, there are some which detach others from it that are to be totally ejected, either as superfluous—the urine, for instance, which is produced by the kidneys; or for some use to the animal— as the ink of the cuttle-fish, and the purple matter of various mol-* lusca, &c. With respect to generation, there is a process or phenomenon, infinitely more difficult to comprehend than that of the secretions—the production of the germ. We have even seen that it is to be considered as almost in- comprehensible; but the existence of the germ being admitted, generation presents no particular difficulties. As long as it adheres to the parent, it is nourished as if it were one of its organs; and when it detaches itself, it possesses its own life, which is essentially similar to that of the adult. The germ, the embryo, the foetus, and the new-born animal have never, however, exactly the same form as the adult, and the difference is some- times so great, that their assimilation has been termed a metamorphosis. Thus, no one not previously aware of the fact, would suppose that the ca- terpillar is to become a butterfly. Every living being is more or less metamorphosed in the course of its growth; that is, it loses certain parts, and developes others. ‘The anten- ne, wings, and all the parts of the butterfly were inclosed beneath the skin of the caterpillar; this skin vanishes along with the jaws, feet, and other organs, that do not remain with the butterfly. The feet of the frog are INTRODUCTION, 19 inclosed by the skin of the tadpole; and the tadpole, to become a frog, parts with its tail, mouth, and branchie. The child, at its birth, loses its placenta and membranes; at a certain period its thymus gland nearly dis- appears, and it gradually acquires hair, teeth, and beard; the relative size of its organs is altered, and its body augments in a greater ratio than its head, the head more than the internal ear, &c. The place where these germs are found, and the germs themselves are collectively styled the ovary; the canal through which, when detached, they are carried into the uterus, the oviduct; the cavity in which, in many species, they are compelled to remain for a longer or shorter period pre- vious to birth, the wterus; and the external orifice through which they pass into the world, the vulva. Where there are sexes, the male impreg- nates the germs appearing in the female. The fecundating liquor is called semen; the glands that separate it from the blood, testes; and when it is requisite it should be carried into the body of the female, the iatro- ductory organ is named a penis. Of ihe Intellectual Functions of Animals. The impression of external objects upon the mx, the production of a sensation or of an image, is a mystery into which the human understand- ing cannot penetrate; and materialism an hypothesis, so much the more conjectural, as philosophy can furnish no direct proof of the actual exist- ence of matter. The naturalist, however, should examine what appear to be the material conditions of sensation, trace the ulterior operations of the mind, ascertain to what point they reach in each being, and assure himself whether they are not subject to conditions of perfection, dependent on the organization of each species, or on the momentary state of each individual body. To enable the mE to perceive, there must be an uninterrupted commu- nication between the external sense and the central masses of the medul- lary system. It is then the modification only experienced by these masses that the mE perceives: there may also be real sensations, without the ex- ternal organ being affected, and which originate either in the nervous chain of communication, or in the central mass itself; such are dreams and vi- sions, or certain accidental sensations. By central masses, we mean a part of the nervous system, that is so much the more circumscribed, as the animal is more perfect. In man, it consists exclusively of a limited portion of the brain; but in reptiles, it includes the brain and the whole of the medulla, and of each of their parts taken separately, so that the absence of the entire brain does not prevent sensation. In the inferior classes this extension is still greater. The perception acquired by the mx, produces the image of the sensation c2 20 INTRODUCTION. experienced. We trace to without the cause of that sensation, and thus acquire the idea of the object that has produced it. By a necessary law of our intelligence, all ideas of material objects are in time and space. The modifications experienced by the medullary masses leave impres- sions there which are reproduced, and thus recall to the mind images and ideas; this is memory—a corporeal faculty that varies greatly, according to the age and health of the animal. Similar ideas, or such as have been acquired at the same time, recall each other; this is the association of ideas. The order, extent, and quick- ness of this association constitute the perfection of memory. Every object presents itself to the memory with all its qualities or with all its accessary ideas. Intelligence has the power of separating these accessary ideas of objects, and of combining those that are alike in several different objects under a general idea; the object of which no where really exists, nor presents it- self per se—this is abstraction. Every sensation being more or less agreeable or disagreeable, experience and repeated essays soon shew what movements are required to procure the one and avoid the other; and with respect to this, the intelligence abstracts itself from the general rules to direct the will. An agreeable sensation being liable to consequences that are not so, and vice versa, the subsequent sensations become associated with the idea of the primitive one, and modify the general rules framed by intelligence— this is prudence. From the application of these rules to general ideas, result certain for- mule, which are afterwards easily adapted to particular cases—this is called reasoning. A lively remembrance of primitive and associated sensations, and of the impressions of pleasure or pain that belong to them, constitutes imagination. One privileged being, man, has the faculty of associating his general ideas with particular images more or less arbitrary, easily impressed upon the memory, and which serve to recall the general ideas they represent. These associated images are styled signs; their assemblage is a language. When the language is composed of images that relate to the sense of hear- ing, or of sounds, it is termed speech, and when relative to that of sight, hieroglyphics. Writing is a suite of images that relates to the sense of sight, by which we represent the elementary sounds, and by combining them, all the images relative to the sense of hearing of which speech is composed; it is therefore only a mediate representation of ideas. This faculty of representing general ideas by particular signs or images associated with them, enables us to retain distinctly, and to remember Without embarrassment, an immense number; and furnishes to the rea- ~ INTRODUCTION. 21 soning faculty and the imagination innumerable materials, and to indivi- duals means of communication, which cause the whole species to participate in the experience of each individual, so that no bounds seem to be placed to the acquisition of knowledge—it is the distinguishing character of hu- man intelligence. Although, with respect to the intellectual faculties, the most perfect ani- mals are infinitely beneath man, it is certain that their intelligence per- forms operations of the same kind. They move in consequence of sensa- tions received, are susceptible of durable affections, and acquire by expe- rience a certain knowledge of things, by which they are governed inde- pendently of actual pain or pleasure, and by the simple foresight of con- sequences. When domesticated, they feel their subordination, know that the being who punishes them may refrain from so doing if he will, and, when sensible of having done wrong, or behold him angry, they assume a suppliant and deprecating air. In the society of man they become either corrupted or improved, and are susceptible of emulation and jealousy; they have among themselves a natural language, which, it is true, is merely the expression of their momentary sensations, but man teaches them to under- stand another, much more complicated, by which he makes known to them his will, and causes them to execute it. To sum up all, we perceive in the higher animals.a certain degree of rea- son, with all its consequences, good and bad, and which appears to be about the same as that of children ere they liave learned to speak. The lower we descend from man the weaker these faculties become, and at the bottom of the scale we find them reduced to signs (at times equivocal) of sensibi- lity, that is, to some few slight movements to escape from pain. Between these two extremes the degrees are infinite. In a great number of animals, however, there exists another kind of in- telligence, called instinct. This induces them to certain actions necessary to the preservation of the species, but very often altogether foreign to the apparent wants of the individual; often also very complicated, and which, if attributed to intelligence, would suppose a foresight and knowledge in the species that perform them, infinitely superior to what can possibly be granted. These actions, the result of instinct, are not the effect of imita- tion, for very frequently the individuals. who execute them have never seen them performed by others: they are not proportioned to ordinary intelli- gence, but become more singular, more wise, more disinterested, in propor- tion as the animals belong to less elevated classes, and in all the rest of their actions are more dull and stupid. They are so entirely the property of the species, that all its individuals perform them in the same way, with- out ever improving them a particle. The working bees, for instance, have always constructed very ingenious 29 INTRODUCTION. edifices, agreeably to the rules of the highest geometry, and destined to lodge and nourish a posterity not even their own. ‘The solitary bee, and the wasp also, form highly complicated nests, in which to deposit their eggs. From this egg comes a worm, which has never seen its parent, which is ig- norant of the structure of the prison in which it is confined, but which, once metamorphosed, constructs another precisely similar. The only method of obtaining a clear idea of instinct is by admitting the existence of innate and perpetual images or sensations in the sensorium, which cause the animal to act in the same way as ordinary or accidental sensations usually do. It is a kind of perpetual vision or dream that al- ways pursues it, and it may be considered, in all that has relation to its instinct, as a kind of somnambulism. Instinct has been granted to animals as a supplement to intelligence, to concur with it, and with strength and fecundity, in the preservation, to a proper degree, of each species. There is no visible mark of instinct in the conformation of the animal, but, as well as it can be ascertained, the intelligence is always in propor- tion to the relative size of the brain, and particularly of its hemispheres. Of Method, as applied to the Animal Kingdom. From what has been stated with respect to methods in general, we have now to ascertain what are the essential characters in animals, on which their primary divisions are to be founded. It is evident that they should be those which are drawn from the animal functions, that is, from the sen- sations and motions; for both these not only make the being an animal, but in a manner establish its degree of animality. Observation confirms this position by shewing that their degrees of de- velopement and complication accord with those of the organs of the vege- tative functions. The heart and the organs of the circulation form a kind of centre for the vegetative functions, as the brain and the trunk of the nervous system do for the animal ones. Now we sce these two systems become imperfect and disappear together. In the lowest class of animals, where the nerves cease to be visible, the fibres are no longer distinct, and the organs of di- gestion are simple excavations in the homogeneous mass of the body. In insects the vascular system even disappears before the nervous one; but, in general, the dispersion of the medullary masses accompanies that of the muscular agents: a spinal marrow, on which the knots or ganglions repre- sent so many brains, corresponds to a body divided into numerous rings, supported by pairs of limbs longitudinally distributed, &c. This correspondence of general forms, which results from the arrange- ment of the organs of motion, the distribution of the nervous masses, and INTRODUCTION. oS the energy of the circulating system, should then be the basis of the pri- mary divisions of the animal kingdom. We will afterwards ascertain, in each of these divisions, what characters should succeed immediately to those, -and form the basis of the primary subdivisions. General Distribution of the Animal Kingdom into four great Divisions. If, divesting ourselves of the prejudices founded on the divisions former- ly admitted, we consider only the organization and nature of animals, with- out regard to their size, utility, the greater or less knowledge we have of them, and other accessary circumstances, we shall find there are four prin- cipal forms—four general plans, if it may be so expressed, on which all ani- mals seem to have been modelled, and whose ulterior divisions, whatever be the titles with which naturalists have decorated them, are merely slight modifications, founded on. the developement or addition of certain parts, which produce no essential change in the plan itself, In the first of these forms, which is that of man, and of the animals most nearly resembling him, the brain and principal trunk of the nervous system are inclosed in a bony envelope, formed by the cranium and vertebre; to the sides of this intermedial column are attached the ribs, and bones of the limbs, which form the frame work of the body; the muscles generally cover the bones, whose motions they occasion, while the viscera are contained within the head and trunk. Animals of this form we shall denominate - Animalia Vertebrata. They have all red blood, a muscular heart, a mouth furnished with two jaws situated either above or before each other, distinct organs of sight, hearing, smell, and taste placed in the cavities of the face, never more than four limbs, the sexes always separated, and a very similar distribution of the medullary masses and the principal branches of the nervous system. By a closer examination of each of the parts of this great series of ani- mals, we always discover some analogy, even in species the most remote from each other; and may trace the gradations of one same plan from man to the last of the fishes. In the second form there is no skeleton; the muscles are merely at- tached to the skin, which constitutes a soft contractile envelope, in which, in many species, are formed stony plates, called shells, whose position and production are analogous to those of the mucous body. The nervous sys- tem is contained within this general envelope along with the viscera, and is composed of several scattered masses connected by nervous filaments; the chief of these masses is placed on the esophagus, and is called the brain. Of the four senses, the organs of two only are observable, those of taste and sight, the latter of which are even frequently wanting. One single 24 INTRODUCTION. family alone presents organs of hearing. There is always, however, a complete system of circulation, and particular organs for respiration. Those of digestion and secretion are nearly as complex as in the verte- brata. We will distinguish the animals of this second form by the ap- pellation of Animalia Mollusca. Although, as respects the external configuration of the parts, the gene- ral plan of their organization is not as uniform as that of the vertebrata; there is always an equal degree of resemblance between them in the struc- ture and the functions. The third form is that remarked in worms, insects, &c. Their nervous system consists of two long cords, running longitudinally through the ab- domen, dilated at intervals into knots or ganglions. ‘The first of these knots, placed over the cesophagus, and called brain, is scarcely any larger than those that are along the abdomen, with which they communicate by filaments that encircle the esophagus like a necklace. The covering or envelope of the body is divided by transverse folds into a certain number of rings, whose teguments are sometimes soft, and sometimes hard; the muscles, however, being always situated internally. Articulated limbs are frequently attached to the trunk; but very often there are none. We will call these animals Animalia Articulata, Or, articulated animals, in which is observed the transition from the cir- culation in closed vessels to nutrition by imbibition, and the corresponding one of respiration in circumscribed organs, to that effected by trachee or air vessels distributed throughout the body. In them, the organs of taste and sight are the most distinct; one single family alone presenting that of hearing. Their jaws, when they have any, are always lateral. The fourth form, which embraces all those animals known by the name of zoophytes, may also properly be denominated Animalia Radiata, Or, radiated animals. We have seen that the organs of sense and mo- tion in all the preceding ones are symmetrically arranged on the two sides of an axis. There is a posterior and anterior dissimilar face. In this last division, they are disposed like rays round a centre; and this is the case even when they consist of but two series, for then the two faces are similar. ‘They approximate to the homogeneity of plants, having no very distinct nervous system or particular organs of sense; in some of them, it is even difficult to discover a vestige of circulation; their respiratory or- gans are almost universally seated on the surface of the body, the intestine in the greater number is a mere sac without issue, and the lowest of the INTRODUCTION. 95 series are nothing but a sort of homogeneous pulp, endowed with motion and sensibility *. * Before my time, modern naturalists divided all invertebrated animals into two classes, Insects and Worms. I was the first who attacked this method; and in a memoir read before the Society of Natural History of Paris on the 10th of May, 1795, and printed in the Decade Philosophique, I presented a new division, in which I marked the characters and limits of the Mollusca, Crustacea, Insects and Worms, Echinodermata and Zoophytes. Ina memoir read before the Institute on the 31st of December, 1801, I ascertained the red-blooded worms or Annelides. And finally, in a memoir read before the Institute in July, 1812, and printed in the Annales du Museum d’ Histoire Naturelle, tome xix, I distributed these various classes in three divisions, each of which is analogous to a branch of the vertebrata. 4 i ears i ' * f i o o if ‘ j ‘ i ‘ - i) wi) , ae iy 1 a } ‘ oF a ie. | ‘ Wie é i ca \ = i : ky #1 ‘ = ' ‘ OS ! ) y ‘ 1 e , . f ‘ ' : ee : - ‘ i i ‘ i SY) Raat Ae 78 SE y hy sf : nna ‘ ous fi te ) a > ‘ by * Py I ‘ a a * 7 i i " yu x ¢. a ‘ j * e vA : ; : i, i” eal ’ ‘ Pa SS , , 0 D ‘ - ei vt a m ’ et u : 7“ 7 i . ‘eet : y ih i , y hi ail i aD Tha ‘ ‘ Atay y h i oa fi ca : i H ; us nn edits Sine as He a ge » ui re Pee 4 y “ ' ’ ? ‘ ce a ‘ ri . a) ‘ . ? ‘ Hi Gi r 7) ZY - , a, i; ; i i t ' i t i y i . t¢ he isthe ay Be, f . j a. 7 ~ yon? ahh pe Oh St A ia air I ie viel 4 ts ; é 3 n : i = 4 : Fi - Sig i ; , " : 4 Ps : 1, ot ‘a mie X ; Korg fl pup (wa ies F s q 4 iro 1 4 : : ba i “=: | ‘ 5 ” Mh f j wh oy ‘hats ; : ee i , : ¢ ion yi ee Z Coane a 7 = ee 0 . tira: Late | ” ct ; gu vue bes 4 ' ia on ; ew. " ; ius. ' yl oh iu « ' Cia 7 . ‘ E 6 * : Pee A : ry caine : . t * i e Wy Te ‘ 4 anit f Be in ia = eho & af Pe i 4 atch bataodo-gs halen ly Aaa ’ : ™ —:§ 7 ' ' Fore ; . : fae ; i , ; we ‘ 5 en - i ‘ 1 : j 7 “ V aN "acl ere . a 5 i ; x ve a er | i E- Giule/ ' . uit u 4 SY yee » 8 , - sy : a v r i 7 es " (te = i 4 ws Ts 4 ? ca ’ ’ a ; i j , as | ' Ly ” 7 : ; St a FIRST GREAT DIVISION OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. ANIMALIA VERTEBRATA. Tue bodies and limbs of vertebrated animals being supported by a frame- work or skeleton, composed of connected pieces that are moveable upon each other, their motions are certain and vigorous. The solidity of this support enables them to attain considerable size, and it is among them that the lar- gest animals are found. The great concentration of the nervous system, and the volume of its central portions, give energy and stability to their sentiments, whence re- sult superior intelligence and perfectibility. Their body always consists of a head, trunk, and members. The head is formed by the cranium which contains the brain, and by the face which is composed of two jaws, and of the receptacles of the senses. The trunk is supported by the spine and the ribs. The spine is formed of vertebre, the first of which supports the head, that move upon each other, and are perforated by an annular opening, form- ing together a canal, in which is lodged that medullary production from which arise the nerves, called the spinal marrow. The spine, most commonly, is continued into a tail, extending beyond the posterior members. The ribs are a kind of semicircular hoops, which protect tite sides of the cavity of the trunk, they are articulated at one extremity with the verte- bre, and most generally at the other with the sternum; sometimes, how~ ever, they do not encircle the trunk, and there are genera in which they are hardly visible. There are never more than two pairs of members, but sometimes one or the other is wanting, or even both. Their forms vary according to the movements they have to execute. The superior members are converted into hands, feet, wings, or fins, and the inferior into feet or fins. The blood is always red, and appears to be so composed as to sustain a 28 ANIMALIA VERTEBRATA. peculiar energy of sentiment and muscular strength, but in various de- grees, corresponding to their quality of respiration: from which originates the subdivision of the Vertebrata into four classes. The external senses are always five in number, and reside in two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, the teguments of the tongue, and those of the body, generally. In some species, however, the eyes are obliterated. The nerves reach the medulla through the foramina of the vertebre or those of the cranium; they all seem to unite with this medulla, which, af- ter crossing its filaments, spreads out to form the various lobes of which the brain is composed, and terminates in the two medullary arches called hemispheres, whose volume is in proportion to the extent of the intelli- gence. There are always two jaws, the greatest motion is in the lower one, which rises and falls; the upper jaw is sometimes immoveable. Both of these are almost always armed with teeth, excrescences of a peculiar na- ture, which in their chemical composition are very similar to that of bone, but which grow by layers and transudation; one whole class, however, that of birds, has the jaws invested with horn, and the genus Testudo, in the class of reptiles, is in the same case. The intestinal canal traverses the body from the mouth to the anus, ex- periencing various enlargements and contractions, having appendages and receiving solvent fluids, one of which, the saliva, is discharged into the mouth. The others, which are poured into the intestine only, have vari- ous names: the two principal ones are—the juices of the gland called the pancreas, and bile, a product of another very large gland named the liver. While the digested aliment is traversing its canal, that portion of it which is fitted for nutrition, called the chyle, is absorbed by particular ves- sels styled lacteals, and carried into the veins; the residue of the nourish- ment of the parts is also carried into the veins by vessels analogous to these lacteals, and forming with them one same system, called the ympha- tic system. The blood which has served to nourish the parts, and which has just been renewed by the chyle and lymph, is returned to the heart by the veins—but this blood is obliged, either wholly or in part, to pass into the organ of respiration, in order to regain its arterial nature, previous to being again sent through the system by the arteries. In the three first classes this respiratory organ consists of lungs, that is, a collection of cells into which air penetrates. In fish only, and in some reptiles, while young, it consists of branchie or a series of lamin, between which water passes. In all the Vertebrata, the blood which furnishes the liver with the mate- rials of the bile is venous blood, which has circulated partly in the parietes of the intestines, and partly in a peculiar body called the spleen, and / ANIMALIA VERTEBRATA. 29 which, after being united in a trunk called the vena-porte, is again sub- divided at the liver. All these animals have a particular secretion; the wrine, which is pro- duced in two large glands, attached to the sides of the spine of the back, called kidneys—the liquid they secrete is most commonly poured into a reservoir, named bladder. The sexes are separate, and the female has always one or two ovaries, from which the eggs are detached at the instant of conception. The male fectsadifies them with the seminal fluid, but the mode varies greatly. In most of the genera of the three first classes, it requires an intromission of the fluid; in some reptiles, and in most of the fishes, it takes place after the exit of the egg. Subdivision of the Vertebrata into four Classes. We have just seen how far vertebrated animals resemble each other, they present, however, four great subdivisions or classes, characterised by the kind or power of their motions, which depend themselves on the quan- tity of their respiration, inasmuch as it is from this respiration that the muscular fibres derive the strength of their irritability. The quantity of respiration depends upon two agents: the first is the relative amount of blood which is poured into the respiratory organ in a given instant of time; the second is the relative amount of oxygen which enters into the composition of the surrounding fluid. The quantity of the former depends upon the disposition of the organs of circulation and re- spiration. The organs of the circulation may be double, so that all the blood which is brought back from the various parts of the body by the veins, is forced to circulate through the respiratory organ, previous to resuming its former course through the arteries; or they may be simple, so that a part only of the blood is obliged to pass through that organ, the remainder returning directly to the body. The latter is the case with reptiles. The quantity of their respiration, and all their qualities which depend on it, vary with the amount of blood thrown into the lungs at each pulsation. Fishes have a double circulation, but their organ of respiration is formed to execute its function through the medium of water; and their blood is only acted on by the portion of oxygen it contains, so that the quantity of their respiration is perhaps less than that of reptiles. In the mammalia the circulation is double, and the aerial respiration simple, that is, it is performed in the lungs only; their quantity of respi- ration is, consequently, superior to that of reptiles, on account of the form 40 ANIMALIA VERTEBRATA. of their respiratory organ, and to that of fishes, from the nature of their surrounding element. The quantity of respiration in birds is even superior to that of quadru- peds, not only because they have a double circulation and an aerial respi- ration, but also because they respire by many other cavities besides. the lungs, the air penetrating throughout their bodies, and bathing the branches of the aorta, as well as those of the pulmonary artery. Hence result the four different kinds of motion for which the four classes of vertebrated animals are more particularly designed: quadrupeds, in which the quantity of respiration is moderate, are generally formed to walk and run, both motions being characterized by precision and vigour; birds, which have more of it, possess the muscular strength and lightness requisite for flight; reptiles, where it is diminished, are condemned to creep, and many of them pass a portion of their lives in a kind of torpor; fishes, in fine, to execute their motions, require to be supported in a fluid whose specific gravity is nearly as great as their own. All the circumstances of organization peculiar to each of these four classes, and those especially which regard motion and the external sensa- tions, have a necessary relation with these essential characters. The mammalia, however, have particular characters in their viviparous mode of generation, in the manner by which the foetus is nourished in the uterus through the medium of the placenta, and in the mamme by which they suckle their young. The other classes, on the contrary, are oviparous, and if we compare them to the first, we shall find such numerous points of resemblance as announce a peculiar system of organization in the great general plan of the vertebrata, MAMMALIA, dbl CLASS I. MAMMALIA. THE mammalia are placed at the head of the animal kingdom, not only because it is the class to which man himself belongs, but also because it is that which enjoys the most numerous faculties, the most delicate sensa- tions, the most varied powers of motion, and in which all the different qualities seem combined in order to produce a more perfect degree of in- telligence, the one most fertile in resources, most susceptible of perfection, and least the slave of instinct. As their quantity of respiration is moderate, they are designed in gene- ral for walking on the earth, but with vigorous and continued steps. The forms of the articulations of their skeleton are, consequently, strictly de- fined, which determines all their motions with the most rigorous pre- cision. Some of them, however, by means of limbs considerably elongated, and extended membranes, raise themselves in the air; others have them so shortened, that they can move with facility in water only, though this does not deprive them of the general characters of the class. The upper jaw, in all of these animals, is fixed to the cranium; the lower is formed of two pieces only, articulated by a projecting condyle to a fixed temporal bone: the neck consists of seven vertebra, one single species excepted, which has nine; the anterior ribs are attached before, by cartilage, to a sternum consisting of several vertical pieces; their an- terior extremity commences in a shoulder-blade that is not articulated, but simply suspended in the flesh, often resting on the sternum by means of an intermediate bone, called a clavicle. This extremity is continued by an arm, a fore-arm, and a hand, the latter being composed of two ranges of small bones, called the carpus, of another range called the metacarpus, and of the fingers, each of which consists of two or three bones, termed phalanges. With the exception of the cetacea, the first part of the posterior extre- mity, in all animals of this class, is fixed to the spine, forming a girdle or pelvis, which, in youth, consists of three pairs of bones—the ilium which is attached to the spine, the pubis which forms the anterior part of the girdle, and the ischium, the posterior. At the point of unicn of these 82 MAMMALIA. three bones is situated the cavity with which the thigh is articulated, to which, in its turn, is attached the leg, formed of two bones, the tibia and fibula; this extremity is terminated by parts similar to those of the hand, i. e. by a tarsus, metatarsus, and toes. The head of the mammalia is always articulated by two condyles, with the atlas, the first vertebra of the neck. The brain is always composed of two hemispheres, united by a medul- lary layer, called the corpus callosum, containing the ventricles, and en- veloping four pairs of tubercles, named the corpora striata, or striated bodies, the thalami nervorum opticorum, or beds of the optic nerves, and the nates and testes. Between the optic beds is a third ventricle, which communicates with a fourth under the cerebellum, the crura of which al- ways form a transverse prominence under the medulla oblongata, called the pons Varolii, or bridge of Varolius. The eye, invariably lodged in its orbit, is protected by two lids and a vestige of a third, and has its crystalline fixed by the ciliary processes— its sclerotic is simply cellular. The ear always contains a cavity called the tympanum, or drum, which communicates with the mouth by the Kustachian tube; the cavity itself is closed externally by a membrane called the membrana tympani, and con- tains a chain of four little bones, named the zneus or anvil, malleus or hammer, the os orbiculare or circular bone, and the stapes or stirrup; a vestibule, on the entrance of which rests the stapes, and which communi- cates with three semicircular canals; and, finally, a cochlea, which ter- minates by one canal in the vestibule, and by the other in the tympanum. Their cranium is subdivided into three portions; the anterior is formed by the two frontal and ethmoidal bones, the middle by the two ossa parie- talia and the os ethmoides, and the posterior by the os occipitis. Between the ossa parietalia, the sphenoidalis and the os occipitis, are interposed the two temporal bones, part of which belong properly to the face. In the foetus, the occipital bone is divided into four parts: the sphenoi- dal into two halves, which are again subdivided into three pairs of lateral wings; the temporal into three, one of which serves to complete the cra- nium, the second to close the labyrinth of the ear, the third to form the parietes of the tympanum, &c. These bony portions, still more numerous in the earliest period of the foetal existence, are united more or less promptly, according to the species, and the bones themselves finally be- come consolidated in the adult. Their face consists of the two maxillary bones, between which pass the nostrils; the two intermaxillaries are situated before, and the two ossa palati behind them; between these descends the vomer, a bony process of the os ethmoides; at the entrance of the nasal canal are placed the ossa MAMMALIA. 33 nasi; to its external parietes adhere the inferior turbinated bones, the superior ones which occupy its upper and posterior portion belonging to the os ethmoides. The jugal or cheek bone unites the maxillary to the temporal bone on each side, and frequently to the os frontis; finally, the os unguis, and pars plana of the ethmoid bone occupy the internal angle of the orbit, and sometimes a part of the cheek. In the embryo state these bones also are much more subdivided. Their tongue is always fleshy, connected with a bone called the hyoides, which is composed of several pieces, and suspended from the cranium by ligaments. Their lungs, two in number, divided into lobes, and composed of an infinitude of cells, are always inclosed, without any adhesion, in a cavity formed by-the ribs and diaphragm and lined by the pleura; the organ of ‘voice is always at the upper extremity of the trachea; a fleshy curtain, called the velum palati, establishes a direct communication between their larynx and nasal canal. Their residence on the surface of the earth rendering them less exposed to the alternations of cold and heat, their tegument, the hair, is but mo- derately thick, and in such as inhabit warm climates even that is rare. The cetacea, which live exclusively in water, are the only ones that are altogether deprived of it. The abdominal cavity is lined with a membrane called the peritoneum, and the intestinal canal is suspended to a fold of it called the mesentery, which contains numerous conglobate glands in which the lacteals ramify: another production of the peritoneum, styled the epiploon, hangs in front of and under the intestines. The urine, which is retained for a time in the bladder, finds an exit in both sexes, with very few exceptions, by orifices in the organs of gene- ration. In all the mammalia, generation is essentially viviparous; that is, the foetus, directly after conception, descends into the uterus enveloped in its membranes, the exterior of which is called chorion and the interior amnios ; it fixes itself to the parietes of this cavity by one plexus or more of ves- sels called the placenta, which establishes a communication between it and the mother, by which it receives its nourishment, and most probably its oxygenation; notwithstanding which, the foetus of the mammalia, at an early period, has a vesicle analogous to that which contains the yolk in the ovipara, receiving in like manner vessels from the mesentery. It has also another external bladder named the allantoid, which communicates with the urinary one by a canal called the wrachus. Conception always requires an effectual coitus, in which the semen masculinum is thrown into the uterus of the female. VOL. I. D 34 MAMMALIA. The young are nourished for some time after birth by a fluid (milk) peculiar to animals of this class, which is produced by the mamme at the time .of parturition, and continues to be so as long as is necessary. It is from the mamme that this class derives its name; and being a character peculiar to it, they distinguish it better than any other that is external*. Division of the Mammalia into Orders. The variable characters which form essential differences among the Mammalia are taken from the organs of touch, on which depends their degree of ability or address, and from the organs of manducation, which determine the nature of their aliment, and are all closely connected, not only with every thing relative to the function of digestion, but also with a multitude of other differences relating even to their intelligence. The degree of perfection of the organs of touch is estimated by the number and the pliability of the fingers, and from the greater or less ex- tent to which their extremities are enveloped by the nail or the hoof. A hoof, which completely envelopes the end of the toe, blunts its sensi- bility, and renders the foot incapable of seizing. The opposite extreme is when a nail, formed of one single lamina, covers only one of the faces of the extremity of the finger, leaving the other pos- sessed of all its delicacy. The nature of the food is known by the grinders, to the form of which the articulation of the jaws universally corresponds. To cut flesh, grinders are required as trenchant as a saw, and jaws fitted like scissars, having no other motion than a vertical one. For bruising roots or grains, flat-crowned grinders are necessary, and jaws that have a lateral motion; in order that inequalities may always exist on the crown of these teeth, it is also requisite that their substance be composed of parts of unequal hardness, so that some may wear away faster than others. Hoofed animals are all necessarily herbivorous, and have flat-crowned grinders, inasmuch as their feet preclude the possibility of their seizing a living prey. Animals with unguiculated fingers were susceptible of more variety ; their food is of all kinds; and, independently of the form of their grinders, they differ greatly from each other in the pliability and delicacy of their fingers. There is one character with respect to this, which has immense influence on their dexterity, and greatly multiplies its powers; it is the faculty of opposing the thumb to the finger for the purpose of seizing mi- a * We shall find, however, in the sequel some doubts on this subject, arising from certain points in the family of the Monotremata. MAMMALIA. 35 nute objects, constituting what is properly called a hand; a faculty which is carried to its highest perfection in man, in whom the whole anterior ex- tremity is free and capable of prehension. These various combinations, which strictly determine the nature of the different Mammalia, have given rise to the following orders :— Among the unguiculated animals, the first is Man, who, in addition to privileges of other descriptions, possesses hands at the anterior extremi- ties only, the posterior being designed to support him in an erect position. In the order next to man, that of the @UADRUMANA, we find hands at the four extremities. In another order, that of the cARNARIA, the thumb is not free, and cannot be opposed to the anterior extremities. Each of these orders has the three sorts of teeth, grinders, canini, and incisors or cutting teeth. In a fourth order, that of the roprnt1a, the toes differ but little from those of the Carnaria, but there are no canine teeth, and the incisors are placed in front of the mouth, and adapted to a very peculiar sort of man- ducation. Then come those animals whose toes are much cramped, and deeply sunk in large nails, which are generally curved; they have no incisors, and in some the canines disappear, while others have none of any descrip- tion. We comprise them all under the title of the EDENTATA. This distribution of the unguiculated animals would be perfect, and form a very regular series, were it not that New Holland has lately fur- nished us with a little collateral one, consisting of animals with pouches, the different genera of which are connected by a general similarity of or- ganization; some of them, however, in the teeth and nature of their diet corresponding to the Carnaria, others to the Rodentia, and a third to the Edentata. The hoofed animals are less numerous, and have likewise fewer irregu- larities. The ruMINANTIA, by their cloven foot, the absence of true incisors in their upper jaw, and their four stomachs, form an order that is very distinct. The remaining hoofed animals may all be united in a single order, which I shall call pacuyDERMATA or JUMENTA, the elephant excepted, which might constitute a separate one, and which is remotely connected with that of the Rodentia. In the last place, we find those of the Mammalia which have no poste- rior extremities, whose piscatory form and aquatic mode of life would in- duce us to form them intd* a particular class, were it not that in every thing else their economy is similar to that in which we leave them. D 2 06 MAMMALIA. These are the hot-blooded fishes of the ancients, or the cETACEA, which, uniting to the vigour of the other Mammalia the advantage of being sus- tained by the watery element, present to our wondering sight the most gigantic of animals. ORDER I. ——— BIMANA. Maw forms but one genus, and that genus the only one of its order. As his history is the more directly interesting to ourselves, and forms the point of comparison to which we refer that of other animals, we will speak of it more in detail. We will rapidly sketch every thing that is peculiar in each of his or- ganic systems, amidst all that he shares in common with other Mammalia; we will examine the advantages he derives from these peculiarities over other species; we will describe the principal varieties of his race and their distinguishing characters, and finally point out the natural order in which his individual and social faculties are developed. Peculiar Conformation of Man. The foot of Man is very different from that of the Monkey; it is large; the leg bears vertically upon it; the heel is expanded beneath; the toes are short, and but slightly flexible; the great toe, longer and larger than the rest, is placed on the same line with, and cannot be opposed to them. This foot, then, is peculiarly well adapted to support the body; but cannot be used for seizing or climbing, and as the hands are not calculated for walking, Man is the only true bimanous and biped animal. : The whole body of Man is arranged with a view to a vertical position. His feet, as just mentioned, furnish him with a base more extensive than that of any other of the Mammalia. The muscles which extend the foot and thigh are more vigorous, whence proceeds the projection of the calf and buttock; the flexors of the leg are inserted higher up, which allows full extension of the knee, and renders the calf more apparent. The pelvis is wider, hence a greater separation of the thighs and feet, and that pyramidal form of the body so favourable to equilibrium. The necks of the thigh bones form an angle with the body of the bone, which increases still more the separation of the feet, and augments the basis of the body. Finally, the head in this vertical position is in equilibrium on the body, because its articulation is exactly under the middle of its mass. Where he to desire it, Man could not, with convenience, walk on all fours; his short and nearly inflexible foot, and his long thigh, would bring the knee to the ground; his widely separated shoulders and his arms, too far extended from the median line, would ill support the upper portion of BIMANA. oF his body. The great indented muscle, which, in quadrupeds, suspends, as in a girth, the body between the scapulz, is smaller in Man than in any one among them. ‘The head is also heavier, both from the magnitude of the brain and the smallness of the sinuses or cavities of the bones; and yet the means of supporting it are weaker, for he has neither cervical ligament, nor are his vertebre so arranged as to prevent their flexure forw ards ; the result of this would be, that he could only keep his head in the same line with the spine, and then his eyes and mouth being directed towards the earth, he could not see before him;—in the erect position, on the con- trary, the arrangement of these organs is every way perfect. The arteries which are sent to his brain, not being subdivided as in many quadrupeds, and the blood requisite for so voluminous an organ being carried into it with too much violence, frequent apoplexies would be the consequence of a horizontal position. Man, then, is formed for an erect position only. He thus preserves the entire use of his hands for the arts, while his organs of sense are most favourably situated for observation. These hands, which derive such advantages from their liberty, receive as many more from their structure. The thumb, longer in proportion than that of the Monkey, increases its facility of seizing small objects. All the fingers, the annularis excepted, have separate movements, a fa- culty possessed by no other animal, not even by the monkey. ‘The nail, covering one side only of the extremity of the finger, acts as a support to the touch, without depriving it of an atom of its ‘delicacy. The arms, to which these hands are attached, are strongly and firmly connected by the large scapula, the strong clavicle, &c. Man, so highly favoured as to dexterity, is not at all so with respect to force. His swiftness in running is greatly inferior to that of other animals of his size. Having neither projecting jaws, nor salient canine teeth, nor claws, he is destitute of offensive weapons; and the sides and upper parts of his body being naked, unprovided even with hair, he is absolutely with- out defensive ones. Of all animals, he is also the longest in attaining the power necessary to provide for himself. This very weakness, however, is but one advantage more—it compels him to have recourse to that intelligence within, for which he is so emi- nently conspicuous. No quadruped approaches him in the magnitude and convolutions of the hemispheres of the brain, that is, in the part of this organ which is the principal instrument of the intellectual operations. The posterior portion of the same organ extends backwards, so as to form a second covering to _ the cerebellum: the very form of his cranium announces this magnitude of the brain, while the smallness of his face shews how slightly that por- tion of the nervous system which influences the external senses predomi- nates in him. These external sensations, moderate as they all are in Man, are never- theless extremely delicate and well balanced. His two eyes are directed forwards; he does not see on two sides at once, like many quadrupeds; which produces more unity in the result of his sight, and concentrates his attention more closely on sensations of this kind. The ball and iris of his eye vary but little; this restrains the ac- tivity of his sight to a limited distance, and a determined degree of light. 38 MAMMALIA. His external ear, possessing but little mobility or extent, does not increase the intensity of sounds; and yet, of all animals, he best distinguishes the various degrees of intonation. His nostrils, more complicated than those of the monkey, are less so than those of all other genera; and yet he ap- pears to be the only animal whose sense of smell is sufficiently delicate to be affected by unpleasant odours. Delicacy of smell must have some in- fluence on that of taste; and, independently of this, Man must have some advantage in this respect over other animals, those, at least, whose tongues are covered with scales. Lastly, the nicety of his tact results both from the delicacy of his teguments and the absence of all insensible parts, as well as from the form of his hand, which is better adapted than that of any other animal for suiting itself to every little superficial Inequality. Man is pre-eminently distinguished in the organ of his voice; of all the Mammalia, he alone possesses the faculty of articulating sounds, its pro- bable causes being the form of his mouth and the great mobility of his lips. From this results his most invaluable mode of communication; for, of all the signs which can be conveniently employed for the transmission of ideas, variations of sound are those which can be perceived at the greatest dis- tance, aud are the most extensive in their sphere of operation. The whole of his structure, even to the heart and great vessels, appears to have been framed with a view to a vertical position. The heart is placed obliquely on the diaphragm, and its point inclines to the left, thereby occasioning a distribution of the aorta, differing from that of most quad- rupeds, The natural food of man, judging from his structure, appears to consist of the fruits, roots, and other succulent parts of vegetables: his hands of- fer him every facility for gathering them; his short, and but moderately strong jaws on the one hand, and his canini being equal in length to the remaining teeth, and his tubercular molares on the other, would allow him neither to feed on grass nor to devour flesh, were these aliments not pre- viously prepared by cooking. Once, however, possessed of fire, and those arts by which he is aided in seizing animals or killing them at a distance, every living being was rendered subservient to his nourishment, thereby giving him the means of an infinite multiplication of his species. His organs of digestion are in conformity with those of manducation; his stomach is simple, his intestinal canal of moderate length, the great in- testines well marked, his cecum short and thick and augmented by a small appendage, and his liver divided only into two large lobes and one small one; his epiploon hangs in front of the intestines, and extends into the pelvis. To complete the hasty sketch of the anatomical structure of Man requisite ~for this introduction, we will add, that he has thirty-two vertebra, of which seven belong to the neck, twelve to the back, five to the loins, five to the sacrum, and three to the coccyx. Seven pairs of his ribs are united with the sternum by elongated cartilages, and are called true ribs; the five fol- lowing pairs are denominated false ones. His adult cranium is formed of eight bones; an occipitalis, two ossa temporis, two parietalia, and the frontal, ethmoidal and sphenoidal bones. The bones of his face are four- teen in number, two maxillaries, two ossa mal, each of which joins the temporal to the maxillary bone of its own side by a kind of handle called the zygomatic arch; two nasal bones, two ossa palati behind the palate, a vomer between the nostrils, two turbinated bones of the nose in the nos- BIMANA, JD trils, two lachrymals (unguis) in the internal angles of the orbits and the single bone of the lower jaw. Each jaw has sixteen teeth; four cutting incisors in the middle, two pointed canines at the corners, and ten tuber - culated molares, five on each side. At the extremity of the spine of his scapula, is a tuberosity called the acromion, to which the clavicle is at- tached, and over its articulation is a point called the coracoid process, with which certain muscles are connected. The radius revolves upon the ulna, owing to the mode of its articulation with the humerus. The carpus has eight bones, four in each range; the tarsus has seven; those of the re- maining parts of the hand and foot may be easily counted by the number of fingers and toes. Enjoying uniform and regular supplies of nourishment, the fruit of his industry, Man is at all times inclined to the ‘ plaisirs d’amour,” without ever experiencing that irresistible and violent impetus which marks the passion in quadrupeds. His organ of generation is not upheld by a bony axis; the prepuce does not tie it down to the abdomen, and it hangs loosely in front of the pubis. Numerous and large veins which effect a rapid transfer of the blood of his testes to the general circulation, appear to contribute to the moderation of his desires. The uterus of woman is a simple oval cavity; her mamme, only two in number, are placed upon her breast, and correspond with the facility she possesses of supporting her child upon her arm. Physical and Moral Developement of Man. The term of gestation in the human species is nine months; and but one child is usually produced at a birth, as in five hundred cases of partu- rition there is but one of twins; more than the latter is extremely rare. The foetus, a month old, is generally about one inch in height; when two months, it is two inches and a half; when three, five inches; in the fifth month, it is six or seven inches; in the seventh, it is eleven inches; in the eighth, fourteen, and in the ninth, eighteen inches. Those which are born prior to the seventh month usually die. The first or milk teeth begin to appear in a few months, commencing with the incisors. The number increases in two years to twenty, which, about the seventh year, are successively shed to make room for others. Of the twelve posterior molares which are permanent, there are four which make their appearance at four years and a half, and four at nine; the last four are frequently not cut until the twentieth year. The growth of the foetus is proportionably imcreased as it approaches the time of birth—that of the child, on the contrary, is always less and less. It has more than the fourth of its height when born; it attains the half of it at two years and a half, and the three-fourths at nine or ten years; its growth is completed about the eighteenth year. Man rarely exceeds the height of six feet, and as rarely remains under five. Woman is usually some inches shorter. Puberty is announced by external symptoms, from the tenth to the twelfth year in girls, and from the twelfth to the sixteenth in boys; it ar- rives sooner in warm climates; and neither sex (very rarely at least) is productive before or after that manifestation. Scarcely has the body gained the full period of its growth in height, before it begins to increase in bulk; fat accumulates in the cellular tissue, 40 MAMMALIA, the different vessels become gradually obstructed, the solids become rigid, and, after a life more or less long, more or less agitated, more or less painful, old age arrives with decrepitude, decay, and death. Man rarely lives beyond a hundred years, and most of the species, either from disease, accident, or old age, perish long before that term. The child needs the assistance of its mother much longer than her milk; from this it obtains an education both moral and physical, and a mutual attachment is created that is fervent and durable. The nearly equal number of the two sexes, the difficulty of supporting more than one. wife, when wealth does not supply the want of power, all go to prove that monogamy is the mode of union most natural to our species; and as, wherever this kind of tie exists, the father participates in the education of his offspring, the length of time required for that education allows the birth of others—hence the natural permanence of the conjugal state. From the long period of infantile weakness springs domestic subordination, and the order of society in general, as the young people which compose the new families continue to preserve with their parents those tender re- lations to which they have so long been accustomed. ‘This disposition to mutual assistance multiplies to an almost unlimited extent those advan- tages previously derived by insulated man from his intelligence; it has assisted him to tame or repulse other animals, to defend himself from the effects of climate, and thus enabled him to cover the earth with his species. In other respects, man appears to possess nothing resembling instinct, no regular habit of industry produced by innate ideas; his knowledge is the result of his sensations and of his observation, or of those of his prede- cessors. ‘Transmitted by speech, increased by meditation, and applied to his necessities and his enjoyments, they have originated all the arts of life. Language and letters, by preserving acquired knowledge, are a source of indefinite perfection to his species. It is thus he has acquired ideas, and made all nature contribute to his wants. There are very different degrees of developement, however, in man. The first hordes, compelled to live by fishing and hunting, or on wild fruits, and being obliged to devote all their time to search for the means of subsistence, and not being able to multiply greatly, because that would. have destroyed the game, advanced but slowly. Their arts were limited to the construction of huts and canoes, to covering themselves with skins, and the fabrication of arrows and nets. They observed such stars only as directed them in their journeys, and some few natural objects whose pro- perties were of use to them. They domesticated the dog, simply because he had a natural inclination for their own kind of life. When they had succeeded in taming the herbivorous animals, they found in the possession of numerous flocks a never failing source of subsistence, and also some leisure, which they employed in extending the sphere of their acquire- ments. Some industry was then employed in the construction of dwell- ings and the making of clothes: the idea of property was admitted, and consequently that of “barter, as well as wealth and difference of conditions, those fruitful sources of the noblest emulation and the vilest passions: but the necessity of searching for fresh pastures, and of obeying the changes of the seasons, still doomed them to a wandering life, and limited their improvement to a very narrow sphere. BIMANA. 4] The multiplication of the human species, and its improvement in the arts and sciences, have only been carried to a high degree since the inven- tion of agriculture and the division of the soil into hereditary possessions. By means of agriculture, the manual labour of a portion of society is ade- quate to the maintenance of the whole, and allows the remainder time for less necessary occupations, at the same time that the hope of acquiring, by industry, a comfortable existence for self and posterity, has given a new spring to emulation. ‘The discovery of a representative of property, or a circulating medium, by facilitating exchanges and rendering fortunes more independent and susceptible of being increased, has carried this emulation to its highest degree; but, by a necessary consequence, it has also equally increased the vices of effeminacy and the furies of ambition. The natural propensity to reduce every thing to generai principles, and to search for the causes of every phenomenon, has produced reflecting men, in every stage of society, who have added new ideas to those already obtained, nearly all of whom, while knowledge was confined to the few, endeavoured to convert their intellectual superiority into the means of do- mination, by exaggerating their own merit, and disguising the poverty of their knowledge by the propagation of superstitious ideas. An evil still more irremediable is the abuse of physical power: now that man only can injure man, he 1s continually seeking to do so, and is the only animal upon earth that is for ever at war with his own species. Savages fight for a forest, and herdsmen for a pasture, and, as often as they can, break in upon the cultivators of the earth to rob them of the fruits of their long and painful labours. Even civilized nations, far from being contented with their blessings, pour out each other’s blood for the prero- gatives of pride, or the monopoly of trade. Hence, the necessity for go- vernments to direct the national wars, and to repress or reduce to regular forms the quarrels of individuals. The social condition of man has been restrained, or advanced by circum- stances more or less favourable. The glacial climates of the north of both continents, and the impenetra-~ ble forests of America, are still inhabited by the savage hunter or fisher- man. The immense sandy and salt plains of Central Asia and Africa are covered with a pastoral people and innumerable herds. ‘These half civi- lized hordes assemble at the call of every enthusiastic chief, and rush like a torrent on the cultivated countries that surround them, in which they es- tablish themselves, but to be weakened by luxury, and in their turn to be- come the prey of others. This is the true cause of that despotism which has always crushed and destroyed the industry of Persia, India, and China. Mild climates, soils naturally irrigated and rich in vegetables, are the natural cradles of agriculture and civilization; and when so situated as to be sheltered from the incursions of barbarians, every species of talent is excited; such were (the first in Europe) Greece and Italy, and such is, at present, nearly all that happy portion of the earth. There, are, however, certain intrinsic causes which seem to arrest the progress of particular races, although situated amidst the most favourable circumstances. 42 MAMMALIA. Varieties of the Human Species(a). Although the promiscuous intercourse of the human species, which pro- duces individuals capable of propagation, would seem to demonstrate its {Kk (a) Notwithstanding the high character of Cuvier, as a founder of classes, yet the arrangement established by Blumenbach of the varieties of the human species has been universally adopted. In this classification the varieties are five, viz— I. The Caucasian, which comprehends the ancient and modern inhabitants of Europe, the Western Asiatics, or those of this side of the Caspian Sea, and of the rivers Obi and the Ganges, together with the Northern Africans. The characters of this race are as follows:—The head is nearly the figure of a globe; the forehead is high and expanded; the cheek bones are without prominences; the nose is narrow and slightly aquiline; the face is oval and straight; the mouth small, with lips slightly everted; the skin is white, and the cheeks florid; the hair is long, soft, and shining, and varies in colour, from a nut-brown to the deepest black.—There are thirty-eight crania of this variety in the Hunterian Museum, London College of Surgeons. (See Plate 1. Mammatia, Fig. 1. The portrait of Jusuf Aguiah Efendi, a Turk, and once Ambassador from the Sublime Porte at the Court of London). Il. Zhe Mongolian, commonly called the Tartarian, takes in the Finnish tribes in- habiting the colder parts of the north of Europe, such as the Laplanders and Esqui- maux, and also the Asiatics not included in the Caucasian variety, so that it com- prehends the Chinese, but not the Malays. The head approximates to a quadrilateral figure; the face broad and flattened, so that the parts appear to run into each other; the nose is small and flat, and the space between the eyes flat and broad; the cheek- bones are rounded and projecting; the aperture made by the eye-lids is narrow, and its line extends towards the temples, the internal angle of the eye being depressed towards the nose, and the upper eye-lid being at that angle continued into the lower one by a rounded sweep; the skin is pale olive, and the hair is thin, black, stiff, and straight.—There are nine crania of this variety in the Hunterian Museum. (See Plate I. Mammania, Fig. 2. The portrait of Feodor Iwanowitsch, a Cal- muck, who was sent, when young, by the Empress of Russia to the Hereditary Princess of Baden; was educated at Carlsruhe, and became a famous engraver at Rome). IIL. The Athiopian, consists of all the Africans not included in the Caucasian divi- sion, and these partake more or less of the negro character. The front of the head is compressed laterally, and looks as if the forehead were removed, being, in this respect, a perfect contrast with the globular form of the head of the Caucasian va- riety. The entire cranium is contracted anteriorly, its cavity is considerably les- sened; the foramen magnum, and the condyles at its circumference, are placed farther back towards the occipital region; there is great developement of the face, and great prominence of the jaws, particularly of their alveolar margins and teeth, the upper incisors are oblique; the chin recedes, and the zygomatic arch projects to- wards the front; the skin is brown, black, and sometimes yellow, and the hair is deep black, crisp, and curly.—There are ten crania of this variety in the Hunterian Museum. (See Plate I. Mammauia, Fig. 3. The portrait of J. J. E. Capitein, a negro, who received holy orders in Holland). IV. The American, includes all the inhabitants of the vast continent of North and South America, excepting those of the northern part of the continent, and some of the islands, particularly the Caribbee. The cheeks are broad, but the malar bones are more rounded and arched than in the Mongolian race; the forehead is small and low; the orbits of the eye are unusually deep, and the nasal cavity is very large. The Caribs were in the habit of lowering the forehead by employing artificial pres- sure on the head in early infaney; hence, in this community, the characteristic feature of the American variety, the low forehead, is much more strikingly marked than in any other class of Americans.—There are five crania of this variety in the Hunterian Museum. (See Plate I. Mammauia, Fig. 4. The portrait of Thay Endaneega, a chief of the Mohawks, or Six Nations). V. The Malay, embraces the whole of the natives of the numerous Asiatic islands, and of those of the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand, New Holland, &c. Their head is BIMANA. 43 unity, certain hereditary peculiarities of conformation are observed, which constitute what are termed races. Three of them in particular appear very distinct—the Caucasian or white, the Mongolian or yellow, and the Ethiopian or negro. The Caucasian, to which we belong, is distinguished by the beauty of the oval formed by his head, varying in complexion and the colour of the hair. ‘To this variety, the most highly civilized nations, and those which have generally held all others in subjection, are indebted for their origin. The Mongolian is known by his high cheek bones, flat visage, narrow and oblique eyes, straight black hair, scanty beard and olive complexion. Great empires have been established by this race in China and Japan, and their conquests been extended to this side of the Great Desert. In civi- lization, however, it has always remained stationary. The Negro race is confined to the south of mount Atlas; it is marked by a black complexion, crisped or woolly hair, compressed cranium, and a flat nose. The projection of the lower parts of the face, and the thick lips, evidently approximate it to the monkey tribe: the hordes of which it consists have always remained in the most complete state of utter bar- barism. The race from which we are descended has been called Caucasian, be- cause tradition and the filiation of nations seem to refer its origin to that group of mountains situated between the Caspian and Black seas, whence, as from a centre, it has been extended like the radii of a circle. Various nations in the vicinity of Caucasus, the Georgians and Circassians, are still considered the handsomest on earth. The principal ramifications of this race may be distinguished by the analogies of language. The Ar- menian or Syrian branch, stretching to the south, produced the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the hitherto untameable Arabs, who, after Mahomet, were near becoming masters of the world; the Phcenicians, Jews, and Abyssini- ans, which were Arabian colonies; and most probably the Egyptians. It is from this branch, always inclined to mysticism, that have sprung the most widely extended forms of religion—the arts and literature have some- times flourished among its nations, but always enveloped in a strange dis- guise and figurative style. The Indian, German, and Pelasgic branch is much more extended, and was much earlier divided: notwithstanding which, the most numerous affi- nities may be observed between its four principal languages—the Sanscrit, the present sacred language of the Hindoos, and the parent of the greater number of the dialects of Hindostan; the ancient language of the Pelasgi, common mother of the Greek, Latin, many tongues that are extinct, and of all those of the south of Europe; the Gothic or Teutonic, from which are derived the languages of the north and north-west of Europe, such as the German, Dutch, English, Danish, Swedish, and other dialects; and moderately narrowed; the forehead is slightly arched; the face is large, and all its parts are fully developed; the jaws are more or less prominent; the skin is tawny, or clear mahogany or chesnut brown; the hair is black, soft, and curled.—There are thirty-four crania of this variety in the Hunterian Museum. (See Plate I. Mam- MALIA, Fig. 5: The portrait of Omai, a native of Ulietea, one of the Society Islands, brought to England in 1778, and carried back by Cook).—Ewne. Ep. Ads MAMMALIA. finally, the Sclavonian, from which spring those of the north-east, the Rus- sian, Polish, Bohemian, &c. It is by this great and venerable branch of the Caucasian stock, that philosophy, the arts, and the sciences have been carried to the greatest perfection, and remained in the keeping of the nations which compose it for more than three thousand years. It was preceded in Europe by the Celts, who came from the north, whose tribes, once very numerous, are now confined to its most eastern extremity, and by the Cantabrians, who passed from Africa into Spain, now confounded with the many nations whose posterity have intermingled in that peninsula. The ancient Persians originate from the same source as the Indians, and their descendants to the present hour bear great marks of resemblance to the people of Europe. The predatory tribes of the Scythian and Tartar branch, extending at first to the north and north-east, always wandering over the immense plains of those countries, returned only to devastate the happier abodes of their more civilized brethren. The Scythians, who, at so remote a period, made irruptions into upper Asia; the Parthians, who there destroyed the Greek and Roman domination; the Turks, who there subverted that of the Arabs, and subjugated in Europe the unfortunate remnant of the Grecian people, all swarmed from this prolific branch. The Finlanders and Hun- garians are tribes of the same division, which have strayed among the Sclavonic and Teutonic nations. Their original country, to the north and north-east of the Caspian sea still contains inhabitants who have the same origin, and speak similar languages, but mingled with other petty nations, variously descended, and of different languages. The Tartars remained unmixed longer than the others in the country included between the mouth of the Danube to beyond the Irtisch, from which they so long menaced Russia, and where they have finally been subjugated by her. The Mon- goles, however, have mingled their blood with that of those they con- quered, many traces of which may still be found among the inhabitants of lesser Tartary. It is to the east of this Tartar branch of the Caucasian race that the Mongolian race begins, whence it extends to the eastern ocean. Its branches, the Calmucs, &c., still wandering shepherds, are constantly tra- versing the desert. Thrice did their ancestors, under Attila, Genghis, and Tamerlane, spread far the terror of their name. The Chinese are the earliest and most civilized branch, not only of this race, to which they belong, but of all the nations upon earth. A third branch, the Mant- chures, recently conquered and still govern China. The Japanese, Co- reans, and nearly all the hordes which extend to the north-east of Siberia, subject to Russia, are also to be considered, in a great measure, as ori- ginating from this race; and such also is esteemed the fact, with regard to the original inhabitants of various islands of that Archipelago. With the exception of a few Chinese literati, the different nations of the Mongoles are universally addicted to Buddism, or the religion of Fo. The origin of this great race appears to have been in the mountains of Atlai, but it is impossible to trace the filiation of its different branches with the same certainty as we have done those of the Caucasian. The history of these wandering nations is as fugitive as their establishments ; BIMANA. 4D and that of the Chinese, confined exclusively to their own empire, gives us nothing satisfactory with respect to their neighbours. The affinities of their languages are also too little known to direct us in this labyrinth. The languages of the north of the Peninsula beyond the Ganges, as well as that of Thibet, are somewhat allied to the Chinese, at least in their monosyllabic structure, and the people who speak them have features somewhat resembling other Mongoles. The south of this Peninsula, how- ever, is inhabited by Malays, whose forms approximate them much nearer to the Indians, whose race and language are extended over all the coasts of the islands of the Indian Archipelago. The innumerable little islands of the southern ocean are also peopled by a handsome race, nearly allied to the Indians, whose language is very similar to the Malay; in the inte- rior of the largest of these islands, particularly in the wilder portions of it, is another race of men with black complexions, crisped hair, and negro faces, called Alfourous. On the coast of New Guinea, and in the neigh- bouring islands, we find other negroes, nearly similar to those of the east- ern coast of Africa, named Papuas*; to the latter, are generally referred the people of Van-Diemen’s land, and those of New Holland to the Alfourous. These Malays, and these Papuas are not easily referable to either of the three great races of which we have been speaking; but, can the former be clearly distinguished from their neighbours, the Caucasian Hindoos and the Mongolian Chinese? As for us, we confess we cannot discover any sufficient characteristics in them for that purpose. Are the Papuas ne~ groes, which may formerly have strayed into the Indian ocean? We.pos- sess neither figures nor descriptions sufficiently precise to enable us to answer this question. The northern inhabitants of both continents, the Samoiédes, the Lap- landers, and the Esquimaux, spring, according to some, from the Mongo- lian race, while others assert that they are mere degenerate offsets from the Scythian and Tartar branch of the Caucasian stock. We have not yet been able to refer the Americans to any of the races of the eastern continent; still, they have no precise or constant character which can entitle them to be considered as a particular one. Their cop- per-coloured complexion is not sufficient; their generally black hair and scanty beard would induce us to refer them to the Mongoles, if their de- fined features, projecting nose, large and open eye, did not oppose such a theory, and correspond with the features of the European. Their lan- guages are as numberless as their tribes, and no demonstrative analogy has as yet been obtained, either with each other, or with those of the old world +. * With respect to the various nations of the Indian and Pacific oceans, see the dissertation of Messrs. Lesson and Garnot in the Zoologie du Voyage de la Coquille, p- 1—1138. For the languages of the Asiatics and their affinities, consult the Asia Polyglotta of M. Klaproth. + See the Voyage de M. de Humboldt, and the dissertations of Vater and Mitchill. 46 MAMMALIA. ORDER II. =< == QUADRUMANA. INDEPENDENTLY of the anatomical details which distinguish it from man, and which have been given, this family differs from our species in a very remarkable way. All the animals belonging to it have the toes of the hind feet free and opposable to the others, and the toes are all as long and flexible as fingers. In consequence of this, the whole species climb trees with the greatest facility, while it is only with pain and difficulty they can stand and walk upright; their foot then resting on its outer edge only, and their narrow pelvis being unfavourable to an equilibrium. They all have intestines very similar to those of man; the eyes directed forwards, the mammez on the breast, the penis pendent. The brain has three lobes on each side, the posterior of which covers the cerebellum, and the tem- poral fosse are separated from the orbits by a bony partition. In every thing else, however, they gradually lessen in resemblance to him, by as- suming a muzzle more and more elongated, and a tail and a gait more like that of quadrupeds. Notwithstanding this, the freedom of their arms and the complication of their hands allow them all to perform many of the ac- tions of man as well as to imitate his gestures. They have long been divided jnto two genera, the Monkeys and the Lemurs, which, by the multiplication of secondary forms, have now be- come two small families, between which we must place a third genus, that of the Ouistitis, as it is not conveniently referable to the one or the other. Sintra, Lin. The monkeys are all quadrumana, which have four straight incisors in each jaw, and flat nails on all the extremities; two characters which ap- proximate them more nearly to man than the subsequent genera; their molares have also blunt tubercles like ours, and their food consists chiefly of fruits. Their canine teeth, however, being longer than the rest, sup- ply them with a weapon we do not possess, and which require a hollow in the opposite jaw, to receive them when the mouth is closed. They may be divided, from the number of their molar teeth, into two prin- cipal subgenera, which are again subdivided into numerous groups*. The * Buffon subdivided the monkeys into five tribes: the true monkeys, without tails; the baboons, with short tails; the guenons, with long tails and callous buttocks; the sapajous, with long prehensile tails and no callus; the sagowins, with long tails, not prehensile and without callus. Erxleben, adopting this division, translated these names by simia, papio, cercopithecus, cebus, and callithrix. Thus it is, that the names QUADRUMANA. AT Monkeys, properly so called, Or those of the eastern continent, have the same number of grinders as Man, but otherwise differing from each other by characters, which have formed the grounds of the following subdivisions :—The Simi, Hral.—Pituecus, Geoffr. The Ourangs* are the only monkeys of the ancient continent which have no callus on the buttock; their hyoid bone, liver, and cecum resem- ble those of Man. Their nose is not prominent, they have no cheek- pouches, nor a vestige of a tail. Some of them have arms long enough to reach the ground when standing—their legs, on the contrary, are very short. S. satyrus, L.; Audeb., pl.2; Fr. Cuv. pl. 2. (The Ourang- Outang}.) Of all animals, this Ourang is considered as approach- ing most nearly to Man in the form of his head, height of forehead, and volume of brain; but the exaggerated description of some au- thors respecting this resemblance, are partly to be attributed to the cebus and callithrix, by which the antients designated monkeys of Africa and India, have been transferred to those of America. The genus Papio, founded solely on the shortness of the tail, could not be retained, as it violated natural affinities, and all the others required subdividing. It was also necessary to abolish the genus Ouistitis, which was comprised in that of the Sagouins, but which does not altogether corres- pond with the common characters of the other monkeys. * Orang (a) isa Malay word signifying reasonable being, which is applied to man, the ourang-outang, and the elephant. Outang means wild, or of the woods; hence Wild Man of the Woods. + The only good figure of the Ourang-Outang we had for a long time was that of Vosmaer, taken from a living specimen at the Hague. That of Buffon, Suppl. VITI. pl. 1, is every way erroneous; that of Allamand (Buff. d’Holl. XV. pl. 11,) is some- what better—it was copied in Schreber, pl. 2, B. That of Camper, copied ib., pl. 2, C., is tolerably exact, but is easily discovered to have been taken from the dead body. Bontius, Med. Ind. 84, gives a completely ideal one, although Linnzus took it for the type of his Troglodyte (Amen. Ac. VI, pl. 1,§1). There are some good ones in Griffith, and in Krusenstern’s Voyage, pl. 94 and 95, but all of them from young subjects. {= (a) The species which constitute the sub-genus “Orangs” of Cuvier, are sepa- rated into two sub-genera by Geoffroy, who makes the Simia Satyrus the type of his first sub-genus, Pithecus; and Simia Troglodytes that of his second sub-genus, Troglo- dytes. Besides the distinctions between these two species, described by both Cuvier and Geoffroy, there are two others, which may be easily ascertained on an examina- tion of the skeletons of both. In the Pithecus, or Simia Satyrus, the ribs are of the same number as those of the human body, namely, twelve on each side. But, in the Simia Troglodytes, the ribs on each side are thirteen, the extra pair being arti- culated with the first lumbar vertebra on each side. Between the sternum (breast- bone) of the two apes, a striking difference also prevails. That of the Simia Satyrus is much broader in proportion to its length; and the second, third, fourth, and fifth bones which compose it, are divided longitudinally into two parallel rows, the sepa- rate portions alternating with each other, leaying an indented suture between them, which is peculiarly manifest in the young animal. Now, in the Simia Troglodytes, the sternum is simply divided, in the ordinary way, into five separate portions which are entire; it is altogether much narrower or more compressed laterally than it is in the former species. (See several specimens in the Museum of the College of Sur- geons, in London.—See, also, specimens in the British Museum).—ENG. Ep. 48 MAMMALIA. fact of their being drawn from young individuals only; and there is every reason to believe, that, with age, their muzzle becomes much more prominent. The body is covered with coarse red hair, the face blueish, and the hinder thumbs very short compared with the toes. His lips are susceptible of a singular elongation, and possess great mobility. His history has been much disfigured by mingling it with that of the other great monkeys, that of the Chimpanse, in particu- lar. After a strict and critical examination, I have ascertained that the Ourang-Outang inhabits the most eastern countries only, such as Malabar, Cochin China, and particularly the great island of Borneo, whence he has been occasionally brought to Europe by the way of Java. When young, and such as he appears to us in his captivity, he is a mild and gentle animal, easily rendered tame and affection- ate, which is enabled by his conformation to imitate many of our ac- tions, but whose intelligence does not appear to be as great as is reported, not much surpassing even that of the Dog. Camper dis- covered, and has well described two membranous sacs in this animal which communicate with the glottis, that produce a hoarseness of his voice—he was mistaken, however, in imagining that the nails are always wanting on his hinder thumbs. There is a monkey in Borneo, hitherto known only by his skeleton, called the Pongo*, which so closely resembles the Ourang-Outang in the proportions of all his parts, and by the arrangement of the fora- mina and sutures of the head, that, notwithstanding the great pro- minence of the muzzle, the smallness of the cranium, and the height of the branches of the lower jaw, we are tempted to consider him an adult—if not of the species of the Ourang-Outang, at least of one very nearly allied to it. The length of the arms, that of the apo- physes of the cervical vertebra, and the tuberosity of his calcaneum, may enable him to assume the vertical position, and walk upon two feet. He is the largest monkey known, and in size is nearly equal to Man. Mr. J. Harwood, in the Trans. Lin. Soc. XV. p. 471, describes the feet of an ourang, fifteen English inches in length. This an- nounces a very great stature in the animal to which they belonged, and would have led him to the belief that the Pongo is the adult Ourang-Outang, were it not that the skeleton of the Pongo in the College of Surgeons, at London, has one lumbar vertebra more than those of the Ourangs. This, however, is no objection—the same variation is frequently observed in the human subject. The arms of the remaining Ourangs reach only to the knee. They * Audeb. Singes, pl. anat.2. This name of Pongo, a corruption of Boggo, which - is given in Africa to the Chimpanse, or to the Mandrill, was applied by Buffon.to a pretended large species of Ourang-Outang—the mere imaginary product of his com- binations. Wurmb, a naturalist of Batavia, has transferred it to this animal, which he was the first to describe, and of which Buffon never had any idea. See Mem. of the Soc. of Batavia, vol. ii. p. 245. The thought, that it might be an adult Ourang, struck me on examining the head of an ordinary Ourang, whose muzzle projected much more than those of the very young specimens hitherto described. T described it in a memoir read before the Acad. des Sciences in 1818. Tilesius and Rudolphi appear also to have had it. See the Mem. of the Acad. of Berlin, 1824, p. 131. QUADRUMANA. 49 have no forehead, and the cranium retreats from the crest of the eye-brow. The name of CuimpansEs might be exclusively applied to them. S. troglodytes, L. (The Chimpanse)* is covered with black or brown hair. Could any reliance be placed on the accounts of tra- vellers, this animal must be equal or superior to man in stature, but no part of it hitherto seen in Europe indicates this extraordinary size. It inhabits Guinea and Congo, lives in troops, constructs huts of leaves and sticks, arms itself with clubs and stones, and thus re- pulses men and elephants; pursues and abducts, as is said, negro women, &c. Naturalists have generally confounded it with the Ourang-Outang. When domesticated he soon learns to walk, sit, and eat like aman. We now separate the Gibbons from the Ou- rangs. Hirozates, J/lig. The Gibbons have the long arms of the true Ourangs, and the low fore- head of the Chimpanse, along with the callous buttocks of the Guenons, differmg however from the latter in having no tail or cheek-pouch. They all inhabit the most remote parts of India. S. lar. L.; Buff. XIV. 2; Onko, Fred. Cuv. pl. 5 and 6, (the Black Gibbon) is covered with coarse black hairs, and has a whitish circle round his face. H. agilis, Fred. Cuv. pl. 83and 4; Petit Gibbon of Buffon, XIV. 3, (the Brown Gibbon) is brown—the circle round the face is of a pale red; the lower part of the back is of the same colour. The young are of a uniform yellowish white—it is very agile, and lives in pairs —its Malay name, Wouwouw, is taken from its cry. S'. leucisca, Schreber, pl. 3, B, (the Cinereous Gibbon) is covered with a soft and ash-coloured wool. The visage is black—lives among the reeds, and climbs to the tops of the highest branches of the bam- boos, where it balances itself by its long arms. We might separate from the other Gibbons the Siamang. S. syndactila, Raff., Fred. Cuv., pl. 2, (the Siamang) has the second and third toes of the hind foot united by a narrow membrane, the whole length of the first phalanx. It is black—the chin and eyebrows red—lives in numerous troops, which are led by courageous and vigilant chiefs, which, at sunrise and sunset, make the forest ring with the most frightful cries. Their larynx has a membranous sac connected with it. All the ensuing monkeys of the eastern continent have the liver divided * This is the Quojas morou, or the Satyr of Angola, of Tulpius, who gives a bad figure of it, (Obs. Med., p. 271), and the Pygmy, much better represented by Tyson, (Anat. of a Pygmy, pl. 1), copied by Schreber, pl. 1, B. Scotin had given a toler- able drawing of it, copied Amen. Acad. VI. pl. 1, fig. 3, and Schreber, 1, C. An in- dividual that lived with Buffon, and which is still preserved in the Museum, is repre- sented, though badly, in the Hist. Nat. XIV. 1, where he is called Jocko. The same specimen is much better in Lecat (Traité du Mouv. Muscl. pl. 1, fig. 1), under the name Quimpese. Audebert gives the same, but from the stuffed specimen only—he calls it Pongo. WO. I. E 50 MAMMALIA. into several lobes; the cecum thick, short, and without any appendage ; the hyoid bone has the form of a shield. Cercopituecus, Lral., partim. The long-tailed monkeys* have a moderately prominent muzzle (of 60°): cheek-pouches; tail; callosities on the buttocks; the last of the inferior molares with four tubercles like the rest. Numerous species, of every variety of size and colour, abound in Africa, live in troops, and do much damage to the gardens and fields under cultivation. ‘They are easily tamed. Simia rubra, Gm.; Buff. XIV. 30; Fred. Cuv. 24. (The Pa- tras). Red fawn colour above, whitish below, a black band over the eyes, sometimes surmounted with white—from Senegal. Simia ethiops, L.; Buff. XIV. 32; Fred. Cuv. 25. (The Col- lared Mangabey). A chocolate brown above; below and the nape of the neck, whitish; on the head a cap or coif of a lively red; eye-lids white. Buffon says it is from Madagascar, and Hasselquist from Senegal; and in fact Sonnerat declares, there are no monkeys in Madagascar. Simia fuliginosa, Geoff.; Buff. XIV. 32; Fred. Cuv. 25. (The Mangabey). A chocolate brown, uniform above, fawn coloured be- low; eye-lids white. Buffon says it is from Madagascar, and he believes it to be a variety of the preceding. Simia sabea, Lin.; Buff. XIV.37; Fred. Cuv. 19. (The Green Monkey)}. It is greenish above, whitish beneath; face black; the tufts on the cheeks yellowish; tip of the tail yellow. From Senegal. Simia faunus,Gm.; Malbrouc, Buff. XIV. 29; Simia cynosorus, Scopol.; Schr. pl. 14, C; Fred. Cuy. pl. 22, var. of the callithrix; Audeb. 4th fam. 2d sect. pl. 5$. Greenish above; limbs ash-co- loured; face flesh-coloured; no yellow on the tail; one black, and one white band over the eye-brows; scrotum of a beautiful ultra- marine. Simia erythropyga, Fred. Cuv. pl. 21. (The Vervet) differs from the Malbrouc in the scrotum; which is surrounded with white hairs, the anus with red ones; and from the Grivet (8. grisea) Fred. Cuv. 21, by a green scrotum, encircled with fawn-coloured hairs. Simia melarhina, Fred. Cuvy. pl. 18; Buff. XIV. pl. 10. (The Talapoin). Greenish above; tufts of the cheek yellowish; a black nose in the middle of a flesh-coloured face. Sim. mona and §. monacha, Schreb.; Buff. XIV. 36; Fred. Cuv. 13. (The Mona). Body brown; limbs black; the breast; insides of the arms, and circumference of the head whitish; black band across the forehead; a white spot at each side of the root of the tail. * Cercopithecus, i. e. tailed monkey, a name used by the Greeks. t Callithrix, Pliny, 1. 8, ¢. 54, is the name of an Ethiopian monkey, furnished with a beard and a tufted tail, probably the Ouanderou. Buffon arbitrarily applied it to this species, { The Cercop. barbatus of Clusius, which Linn, cites as an example of his faunus, is rather an Ouanderou than a Malbroue. QUADRUMANA. 51 Sim. diana, Lin; Exequima, Marcer.*; Audeb. 4th fam. sec. 2, pl. 6, and Buff. Supp. VIT. 20. (The Roloway). Blackish, speck- led with white above, beneath white; crupper of a purplish red; face black, surrounded with white; a little white beard on the chin. Sim. cephus, Lin.; Buff. XIV. 34; Fred. Cuv. 17. ° (The Moustache). Ashy-brown; a yellow tuft before each ear; a clear blue band, resembling a reversed chevron, on the upper lip. S. petaurista, Gm.; Audeb. ib. XIV; Fred. Cuv. 13. (The White-nosed Monkey). Black or brown, speckled with white; white nose; face black; circumference of the lips and the eyes reddish. These last five species, all small, beautifully variegated in colour, and of a mild and gentle disposition, are very common in Guinea}. SremnopitHecus, Fred. Cuv. Differs from the Long-tailed Monkeys, by having an additional small tubercle on the last of the inferior molares. They inhabit eastern coun- tries, and their long limbs and very long tail give them a very peculiar appearance. ‘Their muzzle projects very little more than that of the Gib- bons, and, like them, they have callosities on the buttocks. They appear, likewise, to have no cheek-pouches; their larynx is furnished with a sac. The one longest known is the Sim. nemeus, L.; Buff. XIV. 41; Fred. Cuv. pl. 12. Remark- able for its lively and varied colouring; body and arms grey; hands, thighs, and feet, black; legs of a lively red; the tail and a large tri- angular spot upon the loins, white; face orange; he has a black and red collar, and tufts of yellow hairs on the sides of the head; inhabits Cochin Chinaf. Another species.is remarkable for the very extraordinary form of the nose—it is the S. nasica, Schr.; Buff. Supp. VII. 11 and 12. (The Kahan). Yellow tinted with red; nose extremely long and projecting, in the form of a sloping spatula. This monkey inhabits Borneo, lives in great troops, which assemble morning and evening, on the branches of the great trees on the banks of the rivers—its cry kahau. It is also said to be found in Cochin China. S. entellus, Dufres.; Fred. Cuv. pl. 8 and 9. (The Entellus). A light yellowish grey; black hairs on the eye-brows and sides of the head, directed forwards. From Upper Bengal. Is one of the spe- cies held in veneration by the Brahmins. * The figure annexed to the description of the Exquima in Marcgrave is that of an Ouarine, and that of the Exquima is joined to the description of the Ouarine or Guariba. This transposition has produced many errors in synonymes. + Pennant has described certain Guenons without thumbs, Sim. polycomos and Sim. ferruginea, from which Illiger has constructed his genus Colobus, but I have not yet been able to see them, and for this reason have not mentioned them. M.'Temminck assures us that their head and teeth resemble those of a Semnopithecus. + M. Diard having transmitted to the Museum several Doucs, from Cochin China, it has been proved that they have callosities on the buttocks; a fact denied by Buf- fon, on account of his having seen but one specimen injured by stuffing. The genus Lasiopyga of Uliger must be suppressed, as it is based on this error. E 2 52 MAMMALIA. S. melalophos, Raff.; F.C. pl. 7. (The Simpai). Fur of a very lively red; beneath white; face blue; a crest of black hairs reaching from one ear to the other. S. comata, Desm.; S. cristata, Raff.; Fr. Cuv. pl. 2. Presbitis mitrata, Kotzeb. (The Croo). Fine ash colour below, and the tuft of the tail white; black crest on the eye-brows, and the hairs of the top of the head long and turned up, forming a tuft. . S. maura, L.; F. Cuv. pl. 10. (The Negro Monkey). All black, the young of a brownish yellow. The three latter species are from the straits of Sunda*. Macacus 7. All the animals of this denomination have a fifth tubercle on their last molares, and callosities and cheek-pouches like a Guenon. ‘The limbs are shorter and thicker than in a Semnopithecus; the muzzle more pro- jecting, and the superciliary ridge more inflated than in either the one or the other. Though docile when young, they become unmanageable when old. ‘They all have a sac which communicates with the larynx under the thyroid cartilage, and which, when they cry out, becomes filled with air. Their tail is pendent, and takes no part in their motions: they produce early, but are not completely adult for four or five years. The period of gestation is seven months—during the rutting season the labia pudendi, &c. of the females are excessively distended{. They are generally brought from India. Sim. silenus and leonina, L. and Gm.; Ouanderou, Buff.; Audeb. 2d fam. sect. 1, pl. 3. (The Maned Macaque). Black; ash coloured mane and whitish beard which surround the head. From Ceylon. Sim. sinica, Gm.; Buff. XIV. 30; Fr. Cuv. 30. (The Chinese Monkey). picatus, Albin. II, 25;—Az- zar@, Vaill. Suppl. A;—inscriptus, Swains. Zool. Il. 90;—bailloni, Vaill. 18 ;—maculi- rostris, Vaill. 15, and Suppl. AA. t Psitt. macao, L., Vaill. 1;—Ps. aracanga, Enl. 12, Vaill. 2;—Ps. tricolor, Vaill. 5;—Ps. hyacinthinus, Lath., or Anodorhynchus Mazimiliani, Spix, X1;—Ps. ararauna, Enl. 36;—Ps. militaris, Vaill. 4;—Ps, severus, Vaill. 8, 9, 10;—Ps. macawuanna, Enl. 864, Vaill. 7;—— MACRODACTYLI. Tuis family is furnished with very long toes, fitted for walking on the grass of marshes, and even for swimming, in those numereus species especially, in which they are bordered. There are no membranes, how- ever, between the bases of their toes, not even between the external ones. The bill, more or less compressed on the sides, is lengthened or shortened according to the genus, never, however, becoming as slender or as weak as that of the preceding family. The body of these birds is also singu- larly compressed, a circumstance which is owing to the narrowness of the sternum; their wings are moderate or short, and their flight feeble. They all have a long thumb. * Add, Him. nigricollis, Wils. VII, pl. lviii, 2, and Vieill. Gal. pl. 229. { Vieillot has changed this name into Recurvir. leucocephala, Gal. pl. 272. GRALLATORIE. 351 They have been divided into two tribes, according to the armature or non-armature of their wings; but this character is liable to exceptions. Jacanas*, Briss.—Parrat, Lin. The Jacanas are greatly distinguished from the other Grallatoria, by having four very long toes, separated down to their root, the nails of which, that of the thumb in particular, are also extremely long and pointed, from which peculiarity they have received their vulgar name of Surgeons. The bill is similar to that of the Lapwings, in its moderate length, and in the slight inflation of its end. Their wing is armed with a spur. They are noisy and quarrelsome birds, which inhabit marshes of hot climates, where they walk with great facility on the grass, by means of their long toes. America produces some species, in which the base of the bill is covered by a flat, naked membrane, which extends to part of the forehead. P. jacana, L., Enl. 322. (The Common Jacana). Black, with a red mantle; the primary wing-quills green; fleshy wattles under the bill; very sharp-pointed spurs. It is the most common species in all the hot climates of Americaf. Some of the same description are also found in Asia, P. enea||; P. superciliosa, Horsf. (the Bronzed Jacana birds), with a black body reflecting blue and violet tints; mantle bronze-green ; rump and tail blood-red; anterior quills of the wing green; a white streak behind the eye. Its spurs are blunt and small. Others have been discovered in the east, in which this membrane is de- ficient, and which are otherwise remarkable for some singular differences in the proportions of their quills. P. chinensis; Jacana a longue queue; Encycl. Method. Orn., pl. 61, f. 1; Vieill. Gal. 265. (The Long-tailed Jacana), Brown; head, throat, front of the neck, and coverts of the wings, white; back of the neck furnished with silky feathers of a golden yellow; a small pediculated appendage to the end of some of the wing- quills; four quills of the tail black, and longer than the body. The Chi- rurgien de Lucon of Sonnerat (P. luzionensis), is the young of the same: independently of some difference in the colours, it has not yet acquired its long tail. * Jacana, or Jahana, is properly, in Brazil, the name of the Gallinule. The Sur- geons are there called Aquapuazos, because they walk over the aquatic plants called Aquape (Azzar.). It is possibly through an error of transcription that one of them in Marcgrave is named Aguapeccaca. + Parra is the Latin name of some unknown bird. } The J. varié (P. variabilis), Enl. 846, is only the common species at an early age. The P. brasiliensis, and the P. nigra, exist only on the somewhat equivocal authority of Maregrave. The P. viridis, which also rests on the description of Marcgrave, appears to me, from the description itself, to be a Porphyrio. The P. africana, Lath., scarcely differs, As for the P. chavaria, see the following article on the Palamedez. || Vieillot has changed this specific name into melanchioris, Gal. 264. It is also the P. superciliosa, Hovst. Jav. 2ho BIRDS. ef The Fast produces others, which are tufted, and in which the spur on the wing is deticient, P. gallinacea, Tem. 464. PALAMEDEA, Lin. The Kamichi represent, in many respects, the Jacanas, but on a very large scale, in the two strong spurs of each of their wings, in their long tocs and strong nails, that of the thumb in particular, which is long and straight as in the Larks; but their bill, whose aperture is small, is but slightly compressed, and is not inflated; the upper mandible, also, is somewhat arcuated. Their legs are reticulated. The species known, P. cornuta, L., Enl. 451; Vieill. Gal. 261; Anhima in Brazil; Camouche at Cayenne, &c., is larger than the Goose, blackish, with a red spot on the shoulder, and a singular appendage on the top of the head, consisting of a long, slender, mobile and horny stem. There are no membranes between the toes. This bird is found in the inundated places of South America, and has a very loud cry. They live in pairs with great fidelity. It has been said that it hunts reptiles, but though its stomach is but slightly muscular, it rarely feeds on any thing but aquatic plants and seeds*. A distinct genus has been made of another, Cuaunat, Jilig. Parra chavaria, L.; Chaia of Paraguay, Azzar.; Col. 219; Vieill. Gal. 267, which has no horn on the vertex, and whose occi- put is ornamented with a circle of erectile feathers. The head and upper part of the neck are only covered with down, and it has a black collar. The rest of its plumage is lead-coloured, and black- ish with a white spot on the tip of the wing, and a second over the base of some of the large quills. The external toes are con- siderably palmated. It chiefly feeds on aquatic plants, and the Indians of Carthagena always keep some of them among their geese and chickens, as it is sufficiently courageous, according to them, to repulse even the Vulture. A singular circumstance at- tending this bird is, that air is every where interposed between the skin and muscles, even on the legs, in such a quantity as causes it to crackle under the finger. Although there is scarcely any part of the leg naked in $ MerGAPODIUS, We still think it should be placed near Palamedea. It is a genus lately discovered in New Guinea, in which the bill is arched and slightly com- pressed, the membranous nostrils occupying about the one half; the legs are strong, high, and scutellated; the thumb and toes long, and termi- nated by large nails somewhat flattened; the tail is short, the cireumfe- rence of the eye partly naked, and there is a small tubercle on the carpus, Bajon., Mem. sur Cayenne, IT, 284. Vieillot has changed this name into OristoLopuus. Theve is scarcely any part of the leg naked in the Radlus Crew. Pee GRALLATORIA. 353 ‘the first and slight vestige of the spur of the Palamedew. The membrane between the external toes is very short; between the internal ones it is somewhat larger. The eggs are very disproportionate in size to that of the bird. One species is tufted almost like the Chavaria,—the Mégap. Du- perrey, Less. and Garn., Voy. de Duperr. Zool., pl. 37. Two others, the M. de Freycinet and M. de Lapeyrouse, Quoy and Gaym. Voy. de Freycin, pl. 28 and 27, and Col. 220, are destitute of the tuft®*. A fourth, which is smaller, the dlectelie de Durville, Voy. de Dup., pl. 38, appears to have no tail. . Of the tribe whose wings have no armature, Linnezus comprises in his genus Fulica such as have their bill prolonged into a sort of shield, which partly covers the forehead; and, in his genus Rallus, those in which this peculiarity does not exist. Rattus, Lin. The Rails, which, in other respects, have & strong, mutual resemblance, present bills of very different proportions. Among the species in which it is longest, the Raxxus, Bechst., is placed Ral. aquaticus, L.; Rale d’eau d’ Europe, Enl. 749; Naum. 20, f.41. (The Water Rail). A fawn-coloured brown, spotted with blackish above; bluish ash colour beneath; the flanks striped with white and black; it swims very well in ponds and rivulets, and runs lightly over the leaves of aquatic plants; it feeds on small shrimps, and its flesh has a marshy odour} Other species have a shorter bill, Crex, Bechst., among which we find Ral. crex, L.; Le Rale de genéis, Enl. 750; Frisch, 212, B; Naum. 5, f.5. Fawn-coloured brown, spotted with black above; greyish beneath: flanks streaked with black; red wings. It lives and builds in the fields, running through the grass with great cele- rity. Its name, Crex, expresses the sound of its note. It has been called the Quail-King, because it arrives and departs with those birds, and leads a solitary life on the same grounds, from which arose the conjecture that it was their leader. It feeds on pak as well as on worms and insects. Ral. porzana, L.; La Marouette, Enl. 751; Frisch, 211: Naum. * The Mégap. Duperrey is called Tavon in Manilla. Although hardly as large as a partridge, it ee an egg equal jin size to that of a goose. Add the Mégap. a pieds rouges, Col. 4 rf There is a are: or species at the Cape, Rallus cerulescens, Cuy., the black and white stripes of whose abdomen are merely a little more extended. Add, of the Water Rails: Ral. virginianus, Edw. 729; Wils. LXII, 1;—erepitans, Ib. 2;—longi- ‘rostris, Enl. 849;—variegatus, Enl. 775 ;—philippensis, Enl. 774;—torquatus ;—stria- tus ;—the Fulica cayennensis (which is a true Rail), Enl. 352, as well as the Gallinula gigas, Spix,xcix;—sarracura, Id. XCVIII;—mangle, Id. KCVII;—ruficeps, Id. XCVI, and ceria, Id. XCV.—The Ral. fuscus, Enl. 773, begins to have a shorter bill. VOL. I. FF 354 BIRDS. 31, f.42. (The Little Spotted Rail). A deep brown dotted with white; flanks marked with whitish stripes; found in the vicinity of ponds; it constructs a nest with reeds, that has the form of a wherry, which it fastens to the stem of some one of those plants; it is a good swimmer and diver, and does not leave France till the middle of winter *. Futica, Lin. The Coots may be divided as follows, from the form of the bill and the appliances of the feet. GALuinuLa, Briss. and Lath. Or the Water-hens, have the bill very similar to that of the Ground- Rail, from which these birds are distinguished by the shield on the fore- head, and by very long toes, furnished with a very narrow border. Fulica chloropus, L.; La Poule d’Eau commune, Enl. 877; Frisch, 209; Naum. 29 and 38. (The Water-Hen). A deep brown above; slate-grey beneath, with some white on the thighs, along the middle of the lower part of the abdomen, and on the ex- ternal edge of the wing. The young, Fulica fusca, Gm., Poulette d'eau, Buff., are more lightly coloured, and have a larger frontal escutcheon +. Porruyrio, Briss. The bill higher in proportion to its length; very long toes, without any very sensible border; the frontal shield large, rounded in some, and square above in others. These birds stand on one foot, using the other to con- vey their food to the bill. Their colours are usually fine shades of blue, violet, and aqua-marina. Such is, Fulica porphyrio, L.; Poule Sultane Ordinaire ; Edw. 87, a beau- tiful African bird, now naturalized in several islands and coasts of the Mediterraneant. Its beauty would render it an ornament to our pleasure grounds. * There are two other Rails in Europe with short bills, smaller than the porzana, R. Baillioni, Vieill. Dict., and R. pusillus, Naum. 32, f 43. Among these short- billed Rails maybe placed the Ral. cayennensis, Enl. 753 and 368;—minutus, Enl. 847 ;—jamaicensis, Edw, 278 ;—noveboracensis, Vieill. Gal. 266 ;—nigro-lateralis, Lich- ten. ;—carolinus, Edw. 144; Wils. 48, 2;— Gallinula curizona, 'T. Col. 417 ;—G. rubigi- nosa, Id. Col. 387. The Ral. bengalensis, Gm., is a Rhynchea. } The Poule d'eau ardoisée de V Inde, Vieill. Gal. 268, hardly differs from the com- mon one;—the P. d’eau tachetée, or the Grinette, F. nevia, Alb. IT, 73, is only a young Ral. crex. Add, P. d’eau des Indes, Ral. phenicurus, Enl. 896 (a). + The Ful. maculata, flavipes and fistulans, originally rest only on some bad figures of Gesner, from drawings which had been sent to him. But the Ful. martinica and favirostris are true Rhyncheas. The martinica is in Vieill. Gal. 267. Add the Ta- léve & manteau verd (Porph. smaragnotus, T.), Enl. 910;—the T. @ manteau noir (Porph. Kas (a) Add, Gal. martinica, Gm.; Wils. IX, pl. lxxiii, f. 2—Ena. Ep. GRALLATORIA. 359 Fuxica, Briss. The true Coots, in addition to a short bill and a large frontal shield, have their toes much widened by.a festooned border that renders them excellent ‘swimmers, in consequence of which their lives are passed in ponds and marshes. ‘Their polished plumage is not less adapted to this kind of life than their conformation, and these birds establish an evident link between the order of the Grallatorie and that of the Palmipedes. There is but one in Europe. F, atra, F. aterrima, and F. ethiops, Gm.; La Foulque, Enl. 197, Frisch, 208; Naum. 30, f.40. (The Coot). The shield of a deep slate colour; edge of the wings whitish; in the nuptial season the shield becomes red: found wherever there is a pond*, We shall terminate this sketch of the Grallatorize with three genera, which it is difficult to associate with any other, and which may be consi- dered as forming separately so many small families. Cuionts, Foster.—VacGinatis, Lath. Or the Sheath-Bills. Their legs are short, almost like those of the Gal- linacee; their tarsi scutellated, their bill stout and conical, having a hard substance enveloping its base, which, it appears, the bird has the power of raising and depressing. Only one species is known, and that is from New Holland, Vag. Chionis, Lath. III, pl. 89, Chionis necropkaga, Vieill. Gal. 258. It is the size of a Partridge, with entirely white plumage. It haunts the sea-coast, where it feeds on the dead animals thrown up by the waves. GLAREOLA. The bill of the Pratincoles or Sea Partridges is short, conical, arcuated throughout, has a large ‘opening, and resembles that of the Gallinacee. Their excessively long and pointed wings remind us of the Swallows +, or of the Palmipedes of the high seas; their legs are of a moderate length, their tarsi scutellated, and their external toes somewhat palmated; their thumb touches the ground. Aquatic worms and insects constitute their food. The Enropean species, Glar. austriaca, En). 882; Glar. pratincola, Leach, Lin. Trans. XIII, pl. xii; Naum. 29, f. 59, is brown above, white beneath and on the rump; a black circle round the throat; feet and base of the melanotos, T.);—the T. meunier (P. pulverulenius, T.), Col. 405;—the T. emeraudine (P. smaragdinus, T.), Col. 421; the T. blanche (P. albus, L.), Philip., Voy. to Bot. Bay, p. 273; J. White, p. 238. * Add the Coot of Madagascar (Ful. cristata, Gm.), Enl. 797; Vieill. Gal. 269 (a). {+ Linneus (Edit. XII) even placed the common species in the genus Hirundo, under the name of Hir. pratincola. a> (a) Add also I’. americana, Gm.; Wils. UX, pl. Ixxiii, f. 1.—Ene. Ep. Fr 2 856 BIRDs. bill reddish. It appears to be found in all the north of the eastern continent *. Our last genus will be that of Puanicorterus, Lin. The Flammant or Flamingos, one of the most extraordinary and the most isolated of all birds. Its legs are excessively long; the three an- terior toes are palmated to their ends, and that of the hind one is ex- tremely short; the neck, quite as long and slender as the legs, and its small head furnished with a bill whose lower mandible is an oval longitu- dinally bent into a semi-cylindrical canal, while the upper one, oblong and flat, is bent crosswise in its middle, so as to join the other exactly. The membranous fosse of the nostrils occupy nearly all the side of the part which is behind the transverse fold, and the nostrils themselves are lon- gitudinal slits in the base of the fosse. The edges of the two mandibles are furnished with small, and very delicate transverse lamin, which, with the fleshy thickness of the tongue, creates some affinity between them and the ducks. Were it not for the length of their tarsi, and the nudity of their legs, we might even place them among the Palmipedes. They feed on shell-fish, insects and the spawn of fishes, which they capture by means of their long neck, turning the head on one side to give more effect to the hook of the upper mandible. They construct in marshes their nest of earth, heaped up, placing themselves astride of it to hatch their eggs, a position to which they are forced to resort, by the length of their legs. The common species, Ph. ruber, Enl. 68 (The Red Flamingo), is from three to four feet in height; ash coloured, with brown streaks, during the first year; in the second there is a rosy hue on the wings, and in the third it acquires a permanent purple-red on the back, with rose-co- loured wings. The quills of the wing are black; the bill yellow, with a black tip, and the feet brown. This species is found in all parts of the eastern continent below forty degrees. Numerous flocks are seen on the southern coast of France, and they sometimes ascend as far as the Rhine. M. Temminck thinks that the American Flamingo, which is altogether of a bright red, Wils. VIII, 66, and Catesb. 73, is a different species from that of Europe (a). * Glareola nevia, Gm., is the young of the common species. See Leach, Lin- Trans. XIII, pl. xii, £2. Add Glar. australis, Leach, loc. cit. pl. xiv, or Glar. isa- bella, Vieill. Gal. 263;—Glar. orientalis, Leach, XI111;—Glar. lactea, Tem. Col. 399. (a) fesr Dr. M‘ Murtrie, an American Naturalist, observes, that Temminck has positively ascertained that the Flamingo of America is different from that of Europe. The latter he calls Phen. antiquorum, but the American species Ph. ruber. —En«. Ep. PALMIPEDES. 307 ORDER VI. —~~— THE PALMIPEDES. The feet, endowed with an adaptation for swimming, that is to say, situated posteriorly in relation to the body, sustained on a series of tarsi which are short and compressed, and palmated between the toes—these peculiarities characterize the order. With a plumage dense and glossy, whilst it is ever moistened with an oily excretion, and furnished near the skin with a thickly-set down, they are protected against the water, the element on which they live. Further, they are the only birds in which the neck exceeds—and in some cases this excess is considerable—the length of the feet, because in swimming on the surface they have often to search deeply beneath it. Their sternum is unusually long, and it affords an ample se- curity to the greater portion of their viscera, as it has on either side merely one emargination or oval foramen furnished with membranes. Their gizzard is usually muscular, the ceca long, and the inferior larynx simple; in one family, however, the latter is so inflated as to form carti- laginous capsules. This order admits of a tolerably precise division into four families, and we commence with FAMILY I. —<—— THE PLONGEURS, OR. BRACHYPTERES. The Divers, of which a portion bears some external resemblance with those of the Gallinule: their legs being placed more posteriorly than they are in all other birds renders their walking a painful process, and re- quires of them, when on land, to stand in a vertical position. Besides, as most of them are very indifferent flyers, and as several are unable to fly at all, in consequence of the extreme shortness of their wings, we are forced to regard them as almost exclusively attached to the surface of the water: and hence is it that their plumage is so dense, and that it pre- sents a surface very smooth and with a silvery polish. They swim be- neath the waters, with the assistance of the wings, which serve as so many fins. Their gizzard is muscular, and the cecum is moderate: they have a distinct muscle on each side on the inferior larynx. Amongst these birds the genus 358 BIRDS. Cotymesus*, Lin. Or Divers, have for their peculiar character only a smooth, straight, com- pressed and pointed bill, and linear nostrils; but the differences in the feet have caused them to be subdivided. Popicrrs, Lath.—Corymsus, Briss. and Illig. The toes of the Grebes, instead of being regularly palmated, are widened like those of the Coots, the anterior ones only being united at the base by membranes. The middle nail is flattened, and the tarsus strongly compressed. The semi-metallic lustre of their plumage has caused it to be frequently employed as fur. Their tibia, as well as that of the succeeding subgenera, is prolonged above inte a point which gives more efficient insertions to the extensors of the leg. These birds live on lakes and ponds, and build among the rushes. In certain circumstances, it appears that they carry their young ones under their wings. Their size and plumage are so much changed by age, as to have caused an improper multiplication of species. M. Meyer reduces those of Europe to four. Col. cristatus, Gm., Enl. 400 and 944; Frisch, 183; Naum. 69, F. 106; Col. urinator, Gm., Enl. 941; Edw. 36, (The Crested Grebe), is the size of a duck; blackish-brown above, silver-white beneath; a white band on the wing; it acquires with age a double black tuft, and the adults have in addition a broad red collarette on the upper part of the neck, edged with black. Col. cornutus, Enl. 404, 2; Col. obseurus, Enl. 942; and Col. easpicus, Gm. Vieill. Gal. 281; Edw. 145, (The Horned Grebe), resembles the preceding in form, but the collarette of the adult is black; its tufts and the front of its neck red. It is much smaller. Col. subcristatus; and the young, parotis and rubricollis, nl. 931; Lath. Supp. I, 118; Naum. 70, f. 107, (The Grey-cheeked Grebe), also has the front of its neck red, but the tufts of the adult are small and black, and its collarette very short and grey. Intermediate, as to size, between the two last. Col. minor, Gm., Enl. 905, (The Little Grebe), is as large as a Quail, and has neither crest nor collarette; its plumage is brown, more or less shaded with red, the breast and belly excepted, where it is a silver-grey. The throat of the young bird is white}. Hexiornis, Bonnaterre—Ponoa, Illig—Gresiroutaurs, Buff. Have feet lobulate as in the Coots and Grebes, but the tail more de- veloped than in either of the two; the nails also are sharper. * Colymbus, the Greek name of these birds. + Add the Gr. de la Caroline (Pod. carolinensis, Lath.), Catesb. 41, 91; Enl. 93;— the Gr. aux belles joues (Pod. kalipareus, Less. and Garn.), Voy. de la Coq., Zool. No. 45;—the Gr. Rolland (Pod. Rollandi), Quoy and Gaym., Voy. de Freycin., Zool. pl. xxxvi. ) } Plotus surinamensis, Gmel., Enl. 893;—Heliornis senegalensis, Vieill. Gal. 280. PALMIPEDES, 359 Mercus*, Briss.—Cotymsus, Lath.—Evupytes, Illig. The true Divers have the feet of ordinary Palmipedes, along with all the forms of the Grebes, that is, the anterior toes are united to their ends by membranes, and are terminated by pointed nails. They are northern birds, which rarely breed in France, where they arrive in winter; at that season they are occasionally seen on the coast. Col. glacialis, L.; Enl. 952; Col. immer, Gm., Wils. Am. IX, Ixxiv, 8; Naum. 66, f. 103. (The Great Northern Diver). The adult is two feet six inches in length, its head and neck black, chang- ing to a green with a whitish collar; back, a blackish-brown dotted with whitish; white beneath; the lower mandible, which has a slight curve upwards, is marked by a groove beneath. The young birds, Col. immer, Gm., Briss. VI, x, 1, which more frequently visit the fresh waters, differ considerably as to the extent of the black on the neck, and of the grey or brown on the back, which, added to their diminished size, has occasioned a multiplication of-the number of species. We distinguish Col. arcticus, L.; Edw. 146; Naum. Supp. 30, f. 60; and the young, Enl. 914, Le Lumme (‘The Black-throated Diver), which is somewhat smaller; the back of the neck ash-coloured, and the lower mandible straight, and without a groove. The young resemble those of the preceding. Col. septentrionalis, Enl. 308; Edw. 97; Naum. 67, f. 94; Vieill. Gal. 282; Col. stellatus, Gm.; Buff. VIIT, xxi; Enl. 992; Naum. Supp. 31, f.62. (The Red-throated Diver). The adult male is brown above, white beneath; face and sides of the neck ash-coloured; front of the neck red. The female and the young are brown, dotted with white above, and all white beneath. Uriat, Briss. et Illig. The Guillemots have a bill which, though of the general form of the preceding, is covered with feathers down to the nostrils; there is also an emargination at the point which is somewhat arcuated. Their chief cha- racter, however, consists in the absence of the thumb. Their wings, much shorter than those of the Divers, scarcely enable them to flutter. They feed on fish, crabs, &c., and are found among rocky precipices where they breed. The large species, called the Great Guillemot, Colymbus troile, L., Enl. 908; Brit. Zool., pl. H; Edw. 359, 1; Frisch, 185, is the size of a Duck, the head and neck brown, back and wings blackish, and a white belly; there is a white line upon the wing formed by M. Ch. Bonap., as well as Gmelin, thinks that this genus should be approximated to that of Anhinga. * Mergus (diver), the Latin name of some sea-bird difficult to determine. Lin- nus, following Gesner, has applied it to the Merganser. Eudytes, a Greek word composed by Illiger, has the same meaning. + Uria, the Greek, or rather Latin"name of an aquatic bird which appears to have been either a Diver or a Grebe. Guillemot, the English name, would seem to indi- cate its stupidity. 360 BIRDS. the tips of the secondary quills. 1t inhabits the extreme north, al- though it breeds on the rocky coasts of England and Scotland. In very hard winters it is seen on those of France. ' There is a smaller species which is black, with the upper part of the wing white, Col. grylle, L.; Vieill. Gal. 294; Choris., Voy. aut. du M., Isles Aleut, pl. xxii; sometimes mottled throughout with white, C. marmoratus, Frisch, Suppl. B., pl. 185, Edw. 50 and Pemn., Arct. Zool. II, xxii, 2. Individuals are sometimes seen all white, C.. lacteolus, Pall.* We may also separate from the Guillemots the Crruust. Vulgarly called Greenland Divers, which have a shorter bill with a more arcuated back, but without any emargination. The symphysis of the lower mandible is extremely short, Their wings are larger, and the mem- branes of their feet well indented. The species most known, called the Little Guillemot or Greenland Dove, Colymbus minor, Gm.; Enl. 917; Mergulus Alle, Vieill. Gal. 295; Brit. Zool. pl. H, 4,f.1; Edw. 91; Naum. Ed. I, 65, f. 102, is the size of a large pigeon, black above, white beneath, with a white line on the wing, as in the Guillemot. Its billis black, and feet red. Inhabits all the northern coasts, and builds under ground. It is sometimes seen on the French coast in winter. Aca, Lin. The Auks are known by the very much compressed, vertically raised bill, which has a trenchant back, and is usually grooved transversely; and by the feet which are completely palmated, and have no thumb like those of the Guillemot. All these birds inhabit the northern seas. We may divide the genus into two subgenera. Fratercuta, Briss.~—Mormon, Iilig. Or the Puffins, whose bill, shorter than the head, is as high and higher at its base than it is long, which gives it a very extraordinary form; a folded skin usually covers its base. The nostrils placed near the edge are merely narrow slits. Their small wings can’ just sustain them for a moment; they live upon the ocean, like the Guillemots, and build their nests on the rocks. The most common species, dlca arctica, L., and labradoria, Gm.; Mormon fratercula,'Tem., Enl. 275; Brit. Zool., pl. H; Edw. 358, 1; Frisch, 192; Naum. 65, f. 101, is the size of a pigeon, and has * Add the G. @ gros bee (Uria Brunnichii , Sabine), Choris., Voy. aut. du M. pl. xxi: —Uria lacrymaus, Lapil., lb. XX11J—eonsult the article inserted there on this genus by M. Valenciennes. + Cephus, the name of some sea birds often mentioned by the Greek writers, which appear to have been species of Petrel or Gull. Mcehring, and subsequently Pallas, applied the term to the Divers and Guillemots, Vieillot has changed it into Mergulus, Gal. 295. PALMIPEDES. SOL a black calotte and mantle; white beneath. It sometimes builds its nests among the cliffs on the English coast, and is very common on those of France during the winter*. M. Temminck distinguishes, under the name of Staryques (PHALERIS), those species which have a less elevated bill}. Aucat, Cuv. The true Auks have a more elongated bill, resembling in form the blade of a knife; it is covered with feathers as far as the nostrils. Their wings are decidedly too small to support them, and therefore they never attempt to fly. They are sometimes seen in France and on its coasts during winter. Alcea torda.and pica, Gm.; Pingouin commun, Enl. 1004, the adult, 1003, in summer plumage, Edw. 358, 2, Briss. VI, VIII, 2, Brit. Zool. pl. H, 1. (The Common Auk). Black above, white beneath; a white line on the wing and one or two on the bill. The throat of the male is black, and there is a white line reaching from the eye to the bill. Its size is about the same as a duck’s. Alca impennis,L.; Le Grand Pingouin, Buff. TX, xxix; Enl. 367; Edw. 147. (The Great Auk). Nearly as large as a goose, the colours very similar to those of the preceding species; but the bill is entirely black and marked with eight or ten grooves, and there is a white oval spot between the bill and the eye: its wings are shorter in proportion than those of any other species of this genus. It is said to lay but one large egg, spotted with purple. 4 AprenopyTEs, Forst. The Penguins are even less capable of flying than the Auks. Their little wings are covered with mere vestiges of feathers, which, at the first glance, resemble scales; their feet, placed farther behind than those of any other bird, only support them by bearing on the tarsus, which is wi- dened like the sole of the foot of a quadruped, and in which are found three bones soldered together at their extremities. They have a small thumb directed inwards, and their three anterior toes are united by an entire mem- brane. They are only found in the Antarctic Seas, never going on shore except to build their nests. They can only reach their nests by drawing themselves painfully along on their bellies. The difference in their bill authorizes their division into three subgenera. APTENODYTES, Cuv. The Penguins, properly so called, have a long, slender, and pointed bill; the upper mandible a little arcuated near the end; covered with fea- ee ee Oe aS ARE SIN OR Ta YY 2 ee * Add, 4. cirrhata, Pall. Spic. V, pl. 1; Vieill. Gal. 299. + Alca cristatella, Vieill. Gal. 297, or Staryque erystatelle, T. Col. 200, and Pall., Spic. Zool. V, pl. 1, of which 4. pygmea is the young;—dA. psittacula, Pall., Spic. V, pl. 2, of which A. tetracula, Ib., pl. 4, is the young. ‘ t Alcea, Aik, Auk, the name of these birds in the Fero Islands, and in the north of Scotland. That of Penguin, first given to the Aptenodytes of the south by the Dutch, indicates the oily nature of their fat. See Clusius, Exot. 101. It was Buf- fon who transferred this name exclusively to the northern Auks. 362 BIRDS. thers to one third of its length where the nostril is placed, from which a groove extends to the point. Apt. patagonica, Gm.; Le Grand Manchot, Enl. 975. (The Great Penguin). Is the size of a goose, slate-coloured above, white beneath; a black mask, surrounded with a lemon-coloured cravatte. Found in large troops near the straits of Magellan, and as far as New Guinea. The flesh, though black, is eatable. CatarruacteEs, Briss. The Gorfus* have the bill stout, but little compressed, pointed, round- ed on the back, and its point somewhat arcuated; the groove which arises from the nostril terminates obliquely on the inferior third of its edge. Apt. chrysocoma, Gm.; Le Gorfou sauteur, Enl.984; Vieill. Gal. 298. (The Jumping Gorfu). As large as a stout duck, black above, white beneath, and has a white or yellow tuft on each side of its occiput. Found in the vicinity of the Falkland Islands and of New Holland, It sometimes leaps out of the water while swimming, ' and lays its eggs in a hole on the shore}. Sprueniscust, Briss. A compressed and straight bill, irregularly furrowed at the base; end of the upper mandible hooked, that of the lower one truncated; the nostrils exposed and placed in the middle. Apt. demersa, Gm.; Sphénisque du Cap, Fnl. 382 and 1005. Black above, white beneath; the bill brown with a white band on the middle; the male has in addition a white eyebrow, black throat and a black line on the breast, which continues along each flank. Found near the Cape, where it breeds among the rocks §. FAMILY II. —~— LONGIPENNES, or GREAT SAILS. Comprises those birds of the high seas, which, by means of their great power of flight, are spread in every part of the world, and are met in every *° Gorfu, a corruption of goir fugel, the name of the Great Auk in the Fero Islands. See Clusius, Exot. 367. Catarrhactes is the Greek name of a very different bird, which could fly well, and precipitated itself from a height on its prey. It was most probably a species of Gull. + Add, Apt. catarrhactes, Edw. 49;—A. papua, Sonner. Voy. I, pl. 115, and Vieill. Gal. 299 ;—A. minor, Lath. Syn. ITI, pl. 103. $ Spheniscus, a name given by Mcehring to the Oidemia, and by Brisson. to the Penguins; from the Greek word Sphen (wedge). § Aptenod. torquata, Sonner. Voy. I, 114, appears to be the female of the Apt. de- mersa. PALMIPEDES, 368 region by sailors. They are recognized either by the complete absence of the thumb, or,by having an exceedingly small one; by their very long wings; by their bill, which, instead of being notched, is hooked at its extremity in the first of the genera, and is but simply pointed in those comprising the remaining genera. Their inferior larynx has but one peculiar muscle on each side, their gizzard is muscular, and their cxca short. Procexuaria, Lin. The Petrels have a bill hooked at the end, the extremity of which seems to consist of a distinct piece articulated to the remainder. Their nostrils are united and form a tube which lies on the back of the upper mandible: there is a nail planted in the heel, instead of a thumb. Of all the Palmipedes, these remain most constantly at a distance from land, and when a tempest supervenes, they are forced to seek shelter on reefs and ships, from which circumstance they derive their name of Storm Birds: that of Petrel—Little Peter—has been given to them on account of their habit of walking on the water, which they effect by the aid of their wings. They make their nests in holes of rocks, and eject on those who attack them an oily fluid, with which it would appear that their stomachs must be always filled. The greater number of species inhabit the Antarctic Seas. Those species are more particularly called PerreLs—PRocELLARIA— whose lower mandible is truncated. Proc. gigantea, Gm.; Petrel géant; Quebranta huessos, or Bri- seur d’os; Lath. Syn. III, pl. 100 (the Giant Petrel), is only found in the South Seas. ‘It surpasses the Goose in size. Its plumage is blackish, though there are some varieties in which it is more or less white. In the same seas are found, Proc. capensis; Petrel du Cap; Le Damier; Pintado, &c.; Enl. 964, (the Cape Petrel), is the size of a small Duck, white above, spotted black and white beneath. It is frequently spoken of by navigators *. We see, sometimes, on the coast of France, Proc. glacialis ; Petrel gris-blanc, or Fulmar; Petrel de Saint- Kilda, Enl. 59; Brit. Zool. pl. M, f. 1. (The Fulmar). White, with an ash-coloured mantle; bill and feet yellow; size of a stout duck. It breeds among the cliffs on the coasts of the British islands, and of the whole north +. Certain small species, with a somewhat shorter bill, and rather longer legs and black plumage, the THarasstproma, Vigors, are particularly designated by sailors under the name of Storm Birds. The most common, Proc. pelagica, Briss. VI, xiii, 1; Wils. VII, * Better known to mariners as the Cape Pigeon.—Ene. Ep. ¢ Add the Petrel hartie, Temm., Col. 416;—the Petrel bérard, Freycinet, 37 ;— Proc. cinerea, Lath.;—Proc. desolata, 1d.;—Proc. turtur, Forst. { The“ Mother Carey's Chickens’ of the English and American seamen.—EnG. Ep. O64 BIRDS. lix, 6; Edw. 90, is scarcely larger than a Lark; stands high; ail brown except the rump, which is white, and a white line on the end of the great wing-coverts. .When it seeks shelter on a vessel, it may be considered as the forerunner of a hurricane®. We separate, with Brisson, under the name of PurFinvs, Or Puffins, those in which the end of the lower mandible is curved down- wards along with that of the upper one, and in which the nostrils, al- though tubular, do not open by one common orifice, but by two distinct holes. Their bill also is proportionally longer. Proc. puffinus, Gm.; Puffin cendré, En]. 962. Cinereous above; whitish beneath; wings and tail blackish; the young is darker. Its size is that of a Crow. Very common in almost every sea }. There is a species, long confounded with the preceding one, which is not larger than a Woodcock, and which breeds in immense numbers on the northern coasts of Scotland and the neighbouring islands, whose inhabitants salt them for their winter provision. It is black above and white underneath, the Procellaria Anglorum, Tem. Edw. 359. Navigators occasionally speak of some birds of the Antarctic seas by the name of Petrels, which may constitute two separate genera. They are the PrerecanoiwEs, Lacép.—Haropromasy Illig., Which have the bill and figure of the Petrels, with a dilatable throat like that of the Cormorant, and are without the vestige of a thumb like the Albatross. ‘Such are the Procellaria urinatrix, Gm., and Pacuypriza, Illig. Or the Prions, Lacep., which, similar in other respects to the Petrels, have separate nostrils like a Puffin, the bill widened at the base, and its edges furnished internally with very delicate, vertical and pointed lamine, analogous to those of ducks, Such are the Blue Petrels, Proc. vittata and c@rulea, Forst. DiomepeEaf, Lin. The Albatrosses are the most massive of all aquatic birds. Their large, * The fig. Enl. 933, is a closely allied species of the South Seas (Proc. oceanica, Forst.).—Add, Proc, Leachii, Tem. Act. de Phil. VI, pl. 9, f. 1;—Proc. Wilsonii, Ch.’ Bonap.; Wils. VII, Ixx, 6; Id. Act. de Phil. VI, pl. 9, f. 2;—Proc. fregatta, Lath., Rochef., Antill. p. 152;—Proc. marina, Vieill. Gal. 292. ~+ Add, Proc. obscura, Vieill. Gal. 301; and Proc. pacifica, or fuliginosa, White, 252, which perhaps does not differ from the Proc. equinoctialis, Edw. 89. { Diomedea, the ancient name of certain birds of the Island of Diomedes, near Tarentum, which were said to receive the Greeks favourably, and to attack the barba- rians. As tothe word Albatross, I find that the early Portuguese navigators called the Boobies and other oceanic birds Alcatros, or Alcatrass. Dampier applied this name to the present genus, Grew changed it into dlbitross, and Edwards into Alba- tross. PALMIPEDES. 365 strong, and trenchant bill is marked with sutures, and is terminated by a stout hook, which seems to be articulated to it. The nostrils resemble short rolls laid on the sides of the bill; there is no thumb, not even the small nail that is observed in the Petrels. They inhabit all the South seas, and feed on the spawn of fish, mollusca, &c. D. exulans, L., Enl. 237; Vieill. Gal. 293, is the species best known to navigators, who, on account of its size, white plumage, and black wings, and because it is particularly common beyond the tropic of Capricorn, have called it The Cape Sheep. The English also style it the Man of War Bird, &c. It is the great enemy of the Flying-fish. It constructs a raised-up nest of earth, and lays a number of eggs, which are considered good food. The cry of this bird is said to be as powerful as that of the Ass*. Various Albatrosses, more or less brown or blackish, have been observed; but whether they form varieties of the exulans, or are distinct species, has not yet been ascertained t. Larust{, Lin. The Gulls have a compressed, elongated, pointed bill, the superior mandible arcuated near the end, and the inferior forming a salient angle beneath. The nostrils, placed near its middle, are long, narrow, and bored quite through; their tail is full, their legs tolerably long, and their thumb short. They are cowardly and voracious birds, which swarm along the sea coasts, feeding on fish, the flesh of dead bodies, &c. They build nests in the sand, or in clefts of rock, laying butfew eggs. When they fly into the interior of a country bad weather may be expected. Several species are found on the coast of France, and, as their plumage is greatly changed by age, the number has been still more increased. When young, they are usually spotted with grey. Buffon’ calls GorLanps||, The large species whose size exceeds that of a Duck. One of the largest is Lar. marinus and nevius, Gm.; Goeland a manteau noir, Enl. 990 and 266 (the Great Black-backed Gull), which, at first, spotted with white and grey, afterwards becomes all white, with a black mantle; the bill is yellow, with a red spot underneath; feet reddish. Lar. glaucus, Gm.; Burgomestre; Naum. Ed. I, 36, is nearly # Dr. M‘Murtrie observes, that the cry of the Albatross has been quite as much exaggerated as its size. He has repeatedly heard it when within a hundred yards of the bird, and from various individuals, some of large size, and consequently adults; and he describes it as a piping kind of clang, deeper than that of a Goose, but some- thing like it— Ene. Ep. + Such is the Diom. spadicea.—Add, D. brachyura, Tem., Enl. 963;—D. melano- phris, T. Col. 456;—D. chlororhynchos, Lath. V, pl. xciv, Col. 468;—D. fuliginosa, Col. 469. + Larus, the Greek name of these birds, Gavia in Latin, whence Gabian in Pro- vence; they are called Mauves, or Mouettes, in French, from their German name Meeve. || Goéland, a corruption of Gull, Gull-ent. 366 ; BIRDS. as large, and only differs from it in the mantle, which is a light ash- colour. Its young also are spotted*. The Mavves or Movettes Are the smallest species. Lar. fuscus, L.; Lar. flavipes, Meyer, Frisch, 218; Naum. Kd. I, f. 51, B. (The Silver Gull). Is all white, the mantle ex- cepted, which is black; the feet are yellow. Lar. eburneus, Gm.; Mouette blanche, Enl. 994. (The Ivory Gull). All white, with black feet. From Spitzbergen and Green- land: sometimes wanders into Europe. Lar. cyanorhynchus, Meyer; Mouette a pieds bleus, Enl. 977, Briss. VI, xvi, 2. (The Common Gull). When old, of a beauti- ful white, with a light ash-coloured mantle; the primary quills of the wing partly black, with white spots at the tips, the feet and bill lead coloured. Feeds chiefly on shell-fish. Lar. ridibundus, L.; L. hybernus, and L. erythropus, Gm.; La Mouette a pieds rouges, Enl. 969 and 970; Briss. VI, xvii, 1. Is very similar to the preceding, except that when young the tip of the tail is black, and that there are some black and brown on the wing: in spring the head of the adult becomes brown, and remains so dur- ing the summer—Enl. 970; the feet and bill are more or less red. It has been called, from its note, the Laughing Gull}. Lar. tridactylus, and Lar. rissa, Gm.; La M. & trois doigts, Briss. VI, xvi, 1, and xvii, 2, is also very similar to the preceding species, but may be distinguished by its very short and imperfect thumb. When young it is more or less spotted with black or brown, Enl. 387. The GorLanps and Movettes.—The Strercoraires, Briss.— Lestris {, Jllig.—Laszes, Buff. They have the membranous nostrils larger than those of the latter, open nearer to the point and edge of the bill; their tail is pointed. They pursue the small Gulls with singular ferocity to rob them of their food, and, as it is said, to devour their excrement. Hence their name. Lar. parasiticus, Gm.; Labbe a longue queue, Enl. 762; Edw. 148. (The Arctic Gull). A deep brown above, white beneath: * M. Temminck distinguishes the Lar. argentatus, Lath. Enl. 253.—Add, the Goeéland leucomele, Vieill. 61, and the Goél. a téte noire du Bengale (a). + Add, Lar. atricilla, Pall. Nov. Com. Petr. XV, xxii, 2; Catesb. I, 89; Wils. IX, Ixxiv, 4, by the name of ridibundus ;—Lar. leucopterus ;—L. cirrhocephalus, Vieill. Gal. 289, or poliocephalus, Licht.;—JZ. leucopthalmus, Licht. Col. 366;—L. Sabini, Leach. ;—ZL. minutus, Falk. Voy. III, xxiv;—Z. melanurus, T. Col. 459, and Tiles, Voy. de Krusenst. pl. lvii. { Lestris, thief, the name of these birds among the Swedish fishermen. Vieillot has changed these names to STERCOREUS. Kes” (a) Add, L. capistratus, Temm.;—L. canus, L., Enl. 977;—L. argentatus, Brunn., Enl. 253;—Z. argentatoides, Brehm.—Ene. Ep, PALMIPEDES. 367 the two middle quills of the tail are double the length of the others. It is very rare in France. When young it is all brown, and is then the Lar. crepidatus, Gm.; Enl. 991, or better, Edw. 149*, The arctic regions produce a species of the size of a Goéland, which is brown, with the base of the wing-quills white, Zar. cata- ractes, Gm., Brit. Zool. pl. L, 6; and another the size of a Mouette, brown above, white underneath, with a brown collar on the breast, the Lestris pomarinus, Tem. + Sternat, Lin. The Terns, or Sea-Swallows, derive this latter appellation from their excessively long and pointed wings and from their forked tail, which ren- der their flight and carriage analogous to those of Swallows. Their bill is pointed, compressed, and straight, without curve or projection; the nostrils, towards the base, are oblong and pierced quite through; the membranes which unite their toes are deeply emarginate, consequently they swim but seldom. ‘They fly over the waves in every direction and with great rapidity, uttering loud cries, and skilfully raising from the sur- face of the water the mollusca and small fish on which they feed. They also penetrate to the lakes and rivers of the interior. The most common species that is found on the fresh waters of France in the spring is, St. hirundo, L,; Pierre-Garin, or Hirondelle de mer a@ bec rouge, &c., Enl. 987; Frisch, 219; Naum. 37, f. 52; Wils. VII, Ix, 1. (The Common Tern). In the adult state white, with a light ash- coloured mantle, black calotte, red feet, and red bill with a black point. It is about one foot long, and two feet from the tip of one wing to that of the other. St. minuta, L.; Petit Hir. de mer, Enl. 996; Wils. V, lx, 2; Naum. 38, f.55. (The Small Tern). Only differs from the pre- ceding by being a third smaller, and having a white forehead. St. cantiaca, Albin. II, lxxxviii; Hir. de mer a bec noir, is larger than S'. hirundo ; the bill is black, with a yellow point: the St. striata, Gm., Lath. VI, pl. 98, is its young. St. caspia, Pall. Sparm., Mus. Carls., lxii; Meyer, Ois. d’Al- lem., II, vi; Sav., Egypt., Ois. pl. ix, F. 1. (The Caspian Tern). The largest of the European species; white, with an ash-coloured mantle; occiput, black and white mixed; red bill and black feet. St. nigra, fissipes and nevia; Hir. de mer noire, Enl. 538 and 924; Frisch, 220. (The Black Tern). The tail less forked; when young, its mantle is spotted with black; the adult is almost entirely of a blackish ash-colour. Among the species foreign to Europe, we should notice the Hir. * The LZ. crepidatus, Brehm. is identical with the L. Buffonii, Boie, Enl. 762.— Ene. Ep. + I cannot affirm the identity of the Lestris catarractes, Freycin. 38, and of the Stercoreus pomarinus, Vieill. Gal. 288, with the above species. t Stern, or Tern, is their English name, latinized as above by Turner, and ad- mitted by Gesner, 365 BIRDS. de mer a aigrettes, St. inca, Less. and Garn., from the coast of Peru, Voy. de la Cogq., Zool. pl. 47, which is black; red bill and feet; a band on the cheek, and the feathers of the ear pendent and white *. We may also distinguish from the other Terns, Tue Noppiegs, Whose tail is not forked, and is nearly as long as the wings. ‘There is a slight projection under their bill, the first indication of that in the Mauves. But one species is known, St. stolida, L.; Noddi noir, Enl. 997, (The Noddy), which is a blackish brown, top of the head whitish. Celebrated amongst navigators for the blundering manner in which it throws itself on vessels . Ruyncuoprs, Lin. The Skimmers, or Scissor Bills, resemble the Terns in their small feet, long wings and forked tail, but are not distinguished from all birds by their extraordinary bill, the upper mandible of which is shorter than the other, both being flattened so as to form simple blades, which meet with- out clasping. Their only mode of feeding is by skimming their aliment from the surface of the water with the lower mandible, which they effect while on the wing. One species, Rhym. nigra, L., Enl. 357, (The Black Skimmer), is white, with a black mantle and calotte; a white band on the wing; outside of the external quills of the tail white; bill and feet red; hardly as large as a pigeon. It inhabits the seas near the Antilles }. Stet aioe FAMILY III. =~ THE TOPIPALMATA. This family is characterized by a remarkable peculiarity, that of having their thumb united with the other toes by means of a single mem- brane, and yet, despite this organization, which renders their feet most perfect oars—the only birds amongst the Palmipedes possessing the pecu- ® Add of Europ. Spec.: St. Dougalit, Montag.; Vieill., Gal. 290 ;—S¢é. anglica, Id., or aranea, Wils. VIII, lxxii, 6;—St. arctica, Tem.;—St. leucopareia, Natter.;—St. leucoptera, Tem., Schinz. Ois. de Suisse, frontisp. Of spec. foreign to Europe: St. cayana, Enl. 998;—St. melanauchen, Tem. Col. 427; — St. melanogaster, Id, Col. 484;—St. fuliginosa, Wils. + The St. phillippensis, (Sonner. Voy. I, pl. 1xxxv), does not appear to differ from the stolida;—the St. fuscata, Lath., Briss., VI, pl. xxi, 1, also seems to belong to this subgenus, as well as the St. tenuirostris, T. Col. 202. Ss} Add Rhyn. flavirostris, Vieill. Gal. 291;—Rh. cinerascens, Spix, CI1;—R. brevi- rostris, Id. CITT. PALMIPEDES. 369 liarity—they are able to perch on trees. They all fly well and have short feet. Linneus separated them into three genera, the first of which it was necessary to subdivide. Pexecanus, Lin. The Pelicans comprise all those in which the base of the bill is found to have some part destitute of feathers. Their nostrils are fissures, the apertures of which are scarcely perceptible. The skin of their throat is more or less extensible, and their tongue very small. Their thin gizzard, with their other stomachs, forms a large sac. Their ceca are moderate or small. Perrcanus*, Illig—Onocroratus, Briss. The bill of the true Pelicans is very remarkable for its extreme length, its straight, very broad and horizontaily flattened form, for the hook which terminates it, and for the lower mandible whose flexible branches sustain a naked membrane, susceptible of being dilated into a large sac. Two grooves extend along its length, in which the nostrils are concealed. The circumference of the eye is naked, and the tail round. P. onocrotalus, L.; Enl, 87; Edw. 92; Frisch, 186. (The Common Pelican). As large as a Swan, entirely white; slightly tinged with flesh colour; the hook of the bill of a cherry-red; is more or less disseminated throughout the eastern continent, builds in marshes, and feeds exclusively on living fish. It is said to transport both food and water in its sac. The different changes this bird undergoes from age are not sufficiently ascertained to render certain the species of its genus that are enumerated}. Praracrocorax, Briss—Carezo, Meyer.—Hatievs, Illig. The Cormorants { have an elongated and compressed bill, the end of _ the upper mandible hooked, and that of the lower one truncated; the tongue is very small, and the skin of the throat less dilatable; the nos- trils resemble a small unpierced line, and the nail of the middle toe is notched like a saw. The Truz Cormorants have a round tail composed of fourteen quills. * Pelecanus and Onocrotaius are two Greek names of this bird latinized. + Isee no difference between the Common Pelican and the Pelec. roseus, Sonner. Prem. Voy. pl. liv. As to the Pelec. manillensis, Id. LIII, Sonnerat himself says he thinks it is the young of the rosexs. Neither can I find any difference between the fuscus, Edw. 93, and that of the Pl. Enl. 965, called roseus, but which is much more like the manillensis. Temminck thinks this figure represents the young of the com- mon species. The philippensis, Briss., VI, pl. lvi, is the same specimen from which the P!. Enl. 965 was taken, so that both are the young of the onocrotalus. That of pl. 957, also called fuscus, appears to be really a species identical with that of Vieill. Gall. 276.—Add the Pel. @ lunettes, (P. perspicillatus, T.) Col. 276. t Cormorant, from Cormoran, a corruption of Corbeau marin, on account of its black colour. It is in fact the Aquatic Crow of Aristotle, Phalacrocorax (Bald Crow) is the Greek name of this bird, indicated by Pliny, but is not employed by Aristotle. That of Carbo is only used by Albert, who perhaps derived it from the German name Scharb. To all these names Vieillot has added that of Hydrocorax, Gal. 275. VOL. I. GG co st i=) BIRDS. Pel. carbo, L.; Enl. 927; the young, Frisch, 187 and 188; and Brit. Zool., pl. t iy (The Cormorant). Black- brown, undu- lated with jet black on the back, and mixed with white near the end of the bill and front of the neck; circumference of the throat and the cheeks white in the male, na also has a tuft on the occiput. Its size is that of the goose. It breeds in holes among the rocks or upon trees, and lays three or four eggs. Pel. graculus, Gm.; Enl. 974, the young. (The Little Cormo- rant). Is somewhat smaller, of a deeper black and more bronzed; no white on the front of the neck; the feathers on the back more pointed; not so common as the preceding species*. Tacuypertes, Vieill, The Frigate Birds differ from the Cormorants in their forked tail and short feet, the membranes of which are deeply emarginated; in an exces- sive length of wing, and in a bill both of whose mandibles are curved at the point. So powerful are their wings, that they fly to an immense dis- tance from all land, principally between the tropics, darting upon the Fly- ing Fish and striking the Boobies to make them disgorge their prey. One species only is well known, the Pelecanus aquilus, L.; Enl. 961; Vieill. Gal., pl. 274, whose plumage is black, the under part of the throat and neck more or less varied with white, and the bill red. Its wings, when expanded, are said to measure from ten to twelve feet}. Sura, Briss—Dysporus, Illig. The Boobies} have a straight, slightly compressed, pointed bill, the point slightly arcuated; its edges are serrated, the teeth inclining back- wards; the nostrils are prolonged by a line which extends to near the point. The throat is naked as well as the circumference of the eye, the former not being susceptible of much dilatation; the nail of the middle toe is serrated, the wings much smaller than those of the Frigates, and the tail somewhat wedge-shaped. ‘They are called Boobies on account of the excessive stupidity with which they permit themselves to be attacked by men and birds, the Frigate Birds particularly, which, as already stated, force them to yield up the fish which they have captured. The most common is, Pelecanus bassanus, L.; Enl.. 278; Vieill.; Brit. Zool. pl. L; Naum. Sup. 56, f, 106. Le Fou de Bassan. (The Common Booby). White; the primary quills of the wings and the feet black; the bill greenish; nearly as large as the goose. It is called the Bassan * Add the Cormoran longup., Tem. (Pel. cristatus, Olafs.), Voy. en Isl., tr. fr. pl. xliv, Col. 322, and Vieill. Gal. 276;—Pel. africanus, Lath.;—Sparm. Mus. Carls. 1, 10;—Pelec. pygmaeus, Pall. Voy. App., pl. 1. + Naturalists have, somewhat gratuitously, raised to the rank of species the Pelec. minor, Edw. 309, and ‘leucocephalus, Buff. Ois. VIII, pl. xxx, and perhaps even the P. Palmerstoni, Lath. t{ Sula is the name of the common species at the Fero Islands, Hoyer, Clusius, Exot. 86. Booby, their English name, from their stupidity, ut sup. PALMIPEDES. 371 Booby, trom a small island in the gulf of Edinburgh, where it is very abundant, although it lays but a single egg. It is frequently seen on the coast of France during the winter. The young is brown, spotted with white, Enl. 986. The remaining species of the Boobies are not yet sufficiently ascertained*. Protus, Lin. The Darters have a body and feet very similar to those of a Cormorant, carry a long neck and small head, with a straight, slender, pointed bill, whose edges are denticulated; the eyes and nudity of the face are also the same as in the Pelicans, with whose habits theirs are similar, perching like them on trees. Several species or varieties are known from the hot climates of both continents. They are not larger than the duck, but they have a longer neckf. Puzton, Lin. The Straw-tailed or Tropica] Birds are known by two very long and nar- row feathers that flow from their tail, which at a distance resemble so many straws. There is no naked part about the head. Their bill is straight, pointed, denticulated, and tolerably strong; their feet short and their wings long: their powers of flight on the high seas are consequently great, and, as they rarely quit the torrid zone, their presence announces to the mariner his vicinity to the tropics. On land, where they seldom resort except to build their nests, they perch on trees. A few species or varieties only are known, whose white plumage is more or less varied with blackish, and which are not larger than pigeons§. FAMILY IV. LAMELLIROSTRES. The birds of this family have a thick bill, invested with a soft skin rather than with true horn; its edges are furnished with lamine or little teeth; the tongue is broad and fleshy, the edges notched. Their wings are of a moderate length. They pass more of their time on fresh water than at sea. The trachea of the male, in the greater number, is inflated * Add the Fou brun (Pelee sula, L.), Enl. 973, Catesb. I, 87; Vieill. Gal. 277. + Plotus, or plautus, signifies, in Latin, flat-foot. Klein has employed it for one of his families of the Palmipedes. Linnzus applied it to the Darters. + Plot. melanogaster, Enl. 959 and 960; Vieill. Gal. 278; Wils. IX, Ixxiv, 1, 2;— Enl. 107;—Lath. Syn. VI, pl. 96;—Anhinga Levaillant, T. Col. 380. § Pheet. etherius, Enl. 369 and 998;—Ph. phenicurus, Enl. 979, Vieill. Gal. pl. 279. owe BIRDS, near its bifurcation into capsules of various forms. The gizzard is large, and very muscular, the ceca long. The great genus, Anas, Lin. Comprises those Palmipedes, the edges of whose large and broad bill are furnished with a range of thin salient laminz, placed transversely, which appear destined to allow the water to pass off when the bird has seized its prey. ‘They are divided into three subgenera, whose limits, however, are not very precise. Cyenus, Meyer. The Swans have the bill of an equal breadth throughout, higher at its base than it is wide; the nostrils about the middle of its length; the neck is very long. They are the largest birds of the genus, and feed chiefly on the seeds and roots of aquatic plants. Their intestines and ceca in particular are consequently very long. There is no inflation of the trachea. ‘Lwo species are found in Europe. Anas olor, Gm.; Cigne a bee rouge, Enl. 918. (The Red-billed or Domestic Swan). Bill red, edged with black, surmounted at the base by a rounded protuberance; the plumage snow-white. When young the bill is lead-coloured and the plumage grey. This is the species, when domesticated, that forms the ornament of our ponds and grounds. The gentleness of its motions, the elegance of its form, the brilliant whiteness of its plumage, contribute to make it the emblem of beauty and innocence. It lives indifferently on fish and vegetables, flies at a great elevation, and with considerable ra- pidity, and swims swiftly, availing itself of the wind by means of its wings, which further serve it as a powerful weapon to strike the enemy by whom it is attacked. An. cygnus, Gm.; Edw..150; Brit. Zool. pl. 1; Naum., Ed. I, t. 13, £27. Cigne a bec noir, (The Black-billed Swan). Bill black, with a yellow base; the body white tinged with a yellowish- grey—when young, all grey. This species, which is very similar externally to the preceding one, differs essentially from it internally, in the trachea, which is bent over and penetrates to a considerable extent in a cavity of the keel of the sternum, a peculiarity common to both sexes, which does not exist in the domestic Swan. The latter is also erroneously called the Wild Swan, and the Singing Swan. The story of its singing on the approach of death is a fable. An, plutonia, Sh.; A. atrata, Lath.; Cigne noir; Nat. Misc. pl. 108; Vieill. Gal. 286 (The Black Swan), has been lately discovered in New Holland; it is the size of the common species, but its car- riage is less graceful and elegant; it is all black, the primary quills excepted, which are white, and the bill with the naked skin on its base, which is red*. It is impossible to separate from the swans, certain species, much less * The Oie @ cravatie (dn. canadensis, L.), Enl. 346, Wils. LX VII, 4, appears to me to be a true swan. PALMIPEDES. 3795 elegant, it is true, but which have the same kind of bill. Several have a tubercle at its base. The most common, An. cygnoides, L.; Oi de Guinée, Enl. 357, is bred in poultry- yards, where it mixes with the geese. It is a whitish-grey with a brown-grey mantle; the male is recognised by a feathered appendage which hangs under his bill, and by a large tubercle which surmounts its base. Another species, much rarer, called by its first describers An. gambensis, L.; Oi de Gambie, Lath. Syn. IIT, p. 2, pl. 102, is remarkable for its size, long legs, tubercle on the forehead, and for two large spurs with which its wing is armed. Its plumage is a purple black, the throat, and under part of the body and wings, white*. Anser, Briss. Geese have a moderate or short bill, narrower before than behind, and higher than wide at the base; their legs, being longer than those of the ducks, and placed nearer the centre of the body, increase their facility in walking. Several of them feed on seeds and plants. There is no in- flation at the root of the trachea, nor is there any curve in that organ in any of the species known. GEESE, properly so called, Have a bill as long as their head; the ends of the lamelle extend to its edges, appearing like pointed teeth. An. anser, L. (the Common Goose), which has acquired all sorts of colours in our poultry-yards, originates from a wild species that is grey, with a brown mantle undulated with grey and an orange- coloured bill, the Ans. cinereus, Meyer; Albin. 90; Naum. Ed. I, pl. 41, f. 60. There is another species, however, which arrives late in the fall, and which may be known by its wings being longer than the tail, and by some white spots on the forehead; its bill is orange, with black base and point. das. segetum, Meyer, Enl. 985; Frisch, 155; Naum. I, c. 42, f. 61. We have often seen, in winter, Anus albifrons, Gm.; L’Oie rieuse; Edw. 153; Naum. Ed. I, 43, f. 62. (The White-fronted Goose). It is grey, with a black belly and white forehead. The north of both continents produces a fourth species. An. hyperborea, Gm.; Wils. VIII, xviii, 5; and the young Ixix, 5, Naum. Ed. I, Sup. pl. 23, f. 46. (The Snow-Goose). White; feet and bill red; tips of the wing-quills black. It some- times wanders into the temperate parts of Europe during the preva- lence of heavy gales in winter. ‘The young bird is more or less grey. It is the dn. cerulescens,Gm., Edw. 152. The * Buff. has confounded this goose with a variety of the Oie d’ Egypte, Enl. 982. The figure of Latham is defective, inasmuch as it shews but one spur; the helmet also is not salient. This is also the place for the Oie bronxé &@ créte sur le bec, Ipecati apoa, of Maregr. (Am. melanotos), Enl, 937, Vieill. 285. 374: BIRDS. BARNACLES * Are distinguished from the Common Geese by a shorter and slenderer bill, the edges of which conceal the extremities of the lamine. France is sometimes visited during the winter by that species from the north of Europe, which is so celebrated by the fabulous story of its growing on trees like fruit—Anas erythropus, Gm., or better, An. leucopsis, Bechst., Enl. 885; Frisch, 189; Naum. 1, c. 39, f. 77. Its mantle is ash-coloured, its neck black; cheeks, throat, belly, and forehead white; the bill black, and the feet grey. An. bernicla, Gm.; Le Cravant}, 342; and better, Frisch, 156; Naum. I, c. 39, f. 78; Wils. VIII, Ixxii, 1 (the Brant), is from the same country. The head, neck, and quiils of the wings are black; the mantle a brown grey; a spot on each side of the upper part of the neck, and the under part of the tail, white; the bill black, and feet brown. An. egyptiaca, Gm.; Le Bernache armée; Oie d Afrique, du Cap, d’ Egypte, &c., &e., Enl. 379, 982, 983 (the Egyptian Goose), remarkable for the juste of its colours anil the small spur attached to its wing, also belongs to this subgenus; it is sometimes domesti- cated, but always retains a propensity to return to its wild state. It is the Chenalopex or Fox Goose, held in veneration among the an- cient Egyptians, on account of its attachment to its youngf. The Crreopsis, Lath. Is a New Holland bird, very similar to the Barnacles, with a still smaller bill, the membrane of which is much RHE: and sates a little upon the forehead. Cer. cinereus, Lath., Col. 206; Vieill. Gal. 284, is the only one known. It is the size of a Goose, and of a grey colour. Awas, Meyer. The Ducks, properly so cailed, have the bill broader at its base than it is high, and wider at the end than towards the head, and the nostrils nearer to its back and base. Their legs being shorter than those of Geese, and placed farther back, renders walking more difficult to them than to the latter. Their neck also is shorter; the trachea is inflated at its bifurcation into cartilaginous capsules, the left of which is usually the largest. The species of the first division, or those whose thumb is bordered with a membrane, have a larger head, a shorter neck, the feet placed * Barnacle is the Scotch name of Anser leucopsis, or the true Barnacle; Klake in this language signifies a goose. + Cravant, a corruption of grau-ent, grey Duck. + Geoff. St. Hilaire, Ménag. du Mus. d’ Hist. Nat. art. Oie d’ Egypte. Add, the An. magellanica, Enl. 1006;—An. antarctica, which is closely allied to it, Mus. Carls. 87, and Voy. de la Cog. Zool. 50;—An. leucoptera, Brown., Tl. 40;— A. ruficollis and torquata, Pall. Spicil. VI, pl. iv, which is said to penetrate as far as Germany ;—An. coromandelica, Enl. 949, Enl. 770. PALMIPEDES, 375 farther back, smaller wings, a stiffer tail, more compressed tarsi, longer toes, and the membrane of the feet more entire. They walk with more difficulty, feed more exclusively on fish and insects, and dive more fre- quently *. Among them we may distinguish the OwemiA, or THE Macrevuses or Sea-Ducks (a), Fleming, By the breadth and inflation of the bill. Anas nigra, L.; La Macreuse commune, Enl. 972; Naum. Supp. 14, f. 28 and 29; Brit. Zool. pl. Q; Wils. VIII, Ixxii, 2, (the Scoter), is all black, greyish when young; the bill very broad, with a protuberance on its base. It is found in large flocks on the coast of France, where it feeds chiefly on muscles. The An. cine- raceus, Naum. I, c. 60, f. 91, 92, is the young female. An fusca, L.; La double Macreuse, Enl. 956; Frisch, 165; Naum. 1, c. Supp. f. 15 and 16; Wils. LXXII, 3 (the Velvet Duck), differs in its superior size, a white spot on the wing, and a white streak under the eye. ‘There is a circular vertically flattened inflation in the middle of its trachea. An. perspicillata, L.; Enl. 995; Edw. 155; Wils. VIII, lxvii, 1. (The Black Duck). Some white on the occiput and behind the neck; the naked and yellow skin of the base of the bill also sur- rounds the eyes. New Holland produces a speckled species, remarkable for a large fleshy appendage that hangs under its bill, dn. lobata, Nat. Misc., VIII, pl. 255, and Col. 406 4 We may also separate Crancuta, Leach. In which the bill is short and narrower towards the end; and place first on the list those species the middle quills of whose tail are the longest, which renders it pointed. Such are An. glacialis, L., Enl. 1008; Edw. 280; Naum. 52, f. 76; Wils. VIII, lxx, 1, 2; the young male, Enl. 999; Naum. 52, f. 76, B; the adult in wedding livery, Edw. 156. (The Sarcelle Duck). White; a fawn-coloured spot on the cheek and side of the neck; breast, back, tail, and part of the wing, black. Of all the European Ducks, this has the shortest bill. Its trachea, ossified near the root, has on one side five square membranous spaces re- sembling so many panes of glass, above which it is inflated into an osseous capsule. An. histrionica, L,; Enl. 798; Wils. VIII, Ixxii, 4; Edw. 99; * This division constitutes the genus PLatypus, Brehm.; or HyprosaTEs, Tem.; or Firieguna, Ch. Bonap. + Add, the Anas mersa and leucocephala, Voy. de Pall. fr. tr., pl. v and vi; Naum. Sup. 40, f. 79, 80;—the An. brachyptera, Lath., Voy. de Freycin. pl. xxxix. KES (a) This genus is denominated by Cuvier Les Macreuses, a title which arises, he states, from the notion of the birds belonging to it being small eaters.—Ene. Ep. 376 BIRDS. Naum. I, c. 52, f. 77; and the female, 4n. minuta, 799; Edw. 197. (The Harlequin Duck). Ash-coloured; the male fantasti- cally streaked with white; eyebrows and flanks red. Each of the preceding species is occasionally seen in France, but at very long intervals. Then come the Garrots, the common species with a round or square tail. An. clangula, L.; Le Garrot proprement dit, En). 802; the young, dn. glaucion, L.*, Frisch, 181, 182; Naum. I, c. 55, f. 81, .82; Wils. VIII, Ixvii, 6. (The Golden-Eye). White; head, back, and tail, black; a small spot before the eye, and two bands on the wing, white; the bill blackish. The female is ash-coloured, with a brown head. The middle of the trachea is considerably dilated, the two arches of the sac, however, preserving their flexibility. It be- comes singularly widened near the bifurcation f. SomaTERIA, Leach. The Eider Ducks have a longer bill than that of the preceding sub- genus, and ascending more on the forehead, where it is emarginated by an angle of feathers, but still narrower before than at its base. An. mollissima; LL Eider, Fnl. 208, 209, the adults of both sexes, Mus. Carls. 39; the three years’ old young male. Add, Edw. 98; Wils. VIII, xci, 2, 3; Naum. 64, f. 79, 80. . (The Eider Duck). Whitish; calotte, belly, and tail, black; the female grey, speckled with brown. Celebrated for furnishing us with that va- luable article called eider down f. After all these distinctions, there remains the Fuuicuta, Leach. The Millouins, whose bill is broad and flat, but presents no other pecu- liarity. Several species are found in France, in which all the trachea terminates in nearly similar inflations, forming on the left a partially mem- branous capsule, supported by a frame and ramifications of bone. An. ferina, L., and A. rufa, Gm.; Millowin commun, Enl. 803; Naum. I, c. 58, f. 87, 88; Wils. VIII, xc. 6. (The Red-head). Ash-coloured, finely striated with black; head and top of the neck red; lower part of the neck and the breast brown; the bill a light lead-colour. Sometimes breeds among the reeds in the ponds of France. Its trachea is of an equal diameter. An. rufina, L.; Mill. huppé, Enl. 928; Naum. I, c. 32, f. 63, 64. (The Pochard Duck), Black; the back brown; some white on the wing and flank; the head red, the feathers on its summit turned up into a tuft; red bill. From the borders of the Caspian Sea, and occasionally driven by the winds as far as France. There * Glaucion, the Greek name of a Duck, so called on account of the colour of its eyes. : f Add, An. albcola, Enl. 948, the same as An. bucephala, Catesb. 1, 95;—An. bra- ehyptera, Voy. de Freycin. pl. xxxix. ¢ Add, An. spectabilis, Sparm. Mus. Carls. 1], pl. xxxvi; Edw. 154; Naum. 40, f. 58, 59. pe ley ¢ es PALMIPEDES. are two successive inflations of its trachea, besides the capsule of the bifurcation. An. marila, L.; Le Millouinan, Enl. 1002; Brit. Zool. Q; Wils. VII, Ixix, 3; Naum. 59, f. 90; the female, dn. frenata, Mus. Carls. 38; Naum. 59, f.90,B. (The Scaup Duck). Ash-coloured, striated with black; head and neck black, changing to green; black rump and tail; the belly and spots on the wing white; the bill lead- coloured; arrive in small flocks in France during the winter from the remote parts of Siberia. Its trachea is very wide at the com- mencement, and then narrow. An. nyroca, Gm.; A. leucopthalmos, Bechst.; the female, 4. africana, Gm.; Le Petit Millouin, Enl. 1000; Naum. I, c. 39, f. 89. Brown; head and neck red; a white spot on the wing; belly whitish; a brown collar on the bottom of the male’s neck. Breeds in the north of Germany, and is rarely seen in France. Its trachea is very much inflated about the middle. An. fuligula, L.; Le Morillon, Enl. 1001; Frisch, 171; Naum. I, c. 56, f. 83,84; Wils. VIII, Ixvii, 5; the young, Enl. 1007; An. scandiaca, Frisch, VI, xxxvi, 1. 2. (The Tufted Duck). Black; the feathers of the occiput lengthened out into a tuft; the belly and a spot on the wing white; bill lead-coloured. Arrives in France every winter pretty regularly, from the North*. The Ducks of the second division}, whose thumb is not bordered with a membrane, have a more slender head, narrower feet, longer neck, the bill more equal, and not so thick a body; they walk better, and feed on aquatic plants and seeds as much as on fish, and other animals. The in- flations of their trachea consist of a bony and cartilaginous substance which is homogeneous. Ruyncuapsis, Leach. The Souchets are very remarkable for a long bill, the upper mandible of which, forming the exact half of a perfect cylinder, is widened at the end. Its lamelle are so long and delicate that they resemble hairs. These birds feed on small worms, which they obtain from the mud on the edge of brooks. An. clypeata, L.; Souchet commun, Enl. 971,972; Frisch, 161, 162, 163; Wils, VIII, lxvii, 7; Naum. 49, f. 70, 71. (The Shove- ler). A beautiful duck, with a green head and neck, white breast, red belly, and brown back; the wings are variegated with white, ash colour, green, brown, &c. It visits France in the spring, and its flesh is excellent. The lower part of its trachea is but slightly in- flated. It is the Chenerotes of Pliny. An. fasciata, Sh., Nat. Misc. pl. 697, is another species found in * Add of species foreign to Europe: An. spinosa. Enl. 967, 968;—A4n. Stelleri, Pall. Spic., VI, pl. v;—An. labradora, Wils. VII, lxix, 6;—An. valisneria, tb. LXX, 5;—An. rubida, Ib. LXXI, 5, 6, of which, on account of its pointed tail, M. Ch. Bonap. makes his genus OxyuRa. j + It is to this second division that M. Ch. Bonap. particularly applies the name of AWAS. VOL. i. HH 378 BIRDS. New Holland. The edges of its upper mandible are extended on each side into a membranous appendage. TaDORNA*. The bill very much flattened towards the end, and bulging into a salient lump at its base. An. tadorna, L.; Enl. 53; Frisch, 166; Naum. I, c. 55, f. 108 and. 104. (The Shieldrake). The most highly coloured of all the European Ducks: white; the head green; a cinnamon-coloured cincture round the breast; the wing varied with black, white, red, and green. Common on the shores of the North Sea, and of the Baltic, where it builds its nest in the downs, and frequently in holes abandoned by rabbits. Its bifurcation is inflated into two nearly similar osseous capsules. Some Ducks of this second division have some naked parts about the head, and very often a lump on the base of the bill. An. moschata, L., Enl. 989, commonly but improperly called The Muscovy Duck (Le Canard de Barbarie); originally from South America, where it is still found in its wild state, and where it perches on trees; is now very common in our poultry yards, where it mixes with the Common Duck. Its capsule is very large, circular, verti- cally flattened, and all on the left side. Some of them have pointed tails. An. acuta, L.; Le Pilet, Enl. 954; Wils. VIII, xviii; Frisch, 160 and 168; Naum. 51, f. 74 and 75. (The Pintail). Ash-~co- loured above and on the flanks, finely striped with black; white be- neath; the head tawny, &c. The capsule of the trachea is small. The males of others have some of the feathers of the tail recurved. An. boschas, L.{; Enl. 776, 777; Wils. VIII, lxx, 7; Frisch, 158 and 159. (The Mallard). Is known by its pale yellow feet, yellow bill, the beautiful changeable green of the head, and rump of the male, &c. In our poultry-yards it varies in colour, like all other domestic animals. The wild breed is common in the marshes; it builds among the reeds, in the hollow trunks of willows, and sometimes upon trees. Its trachea terminates below, in a large osseous capsule. A singular variety is found in the Hook-billed Duck, the An. adunca, L. Some of them have a crested head, and a bill somewhat more narrow at the end, which, though foreign, are reared in all the aviaries of Europe. Such are, An. galericulata, L.; Enl. 980 and 981; Vieill. Gal. 287. (The Chinese Duck). The female of which has the wing feathers widened, turned up vertically. * Tadorne, the name of this bird in Bélon. Buffon, following Turner, mistook it for the Chenalopex of the ancients.—See above, the Oie d’ Egypte. + Boscas, Greek name of the Mallard. “ PALMIPEDES. 3079 An. sponsa, .; Enl. 980 and 981; Wils. VIII, Ixxviii, 3. Their capsules are of a medium size, and are rounded. There are other species, also foreign, which to the bill of a Duck add legs, even longer than those of a Goose; they build and perch on trees*. Some of this number have but semi-palmated feet}. Finally among those which have no peculiar mark is the An. strepera, L.; Le Chipeau, or Ridenne, Enl. 958; Naum. I, c. 45, f.65; Wils. VIII, lxxi, 1. (The Gadwal). Reticulated and finely striped with black; wings, red with a green spot and a white one. The capsule of the trachea is small. An. Penelope, L.; Le Siffeur, Enl. 835; Frisch, 164 and 169; Naum. f. 72 and 73¢. (The Whistler). Finely striped with black; vinous-coloured breast; red head; pale forehead; the wing white, green, and black. ‘The capsule of the trachea is rounded, mode- rate, and very bony §. There are several small species designated by the general name of TEAL. An. querquedula, L.; La Sarcelle ordinaire, Enl. 946, and the old male, An. circia, Frisch, 176; Naum. 47, f. 66 and 67. (The Garganey Duck). A grey ground, reticulated with black; a white line round, and at the end of the eye, &c. Common on ponds, marshes, &c. Its capsule is a pyriform bony enlargement. An. crecca, L.; La petite Sarcelle, Enl. 947; Frisch, 174; Naum. 48, f. 68,69; Wils. VIII, lxx, 4; Brit. Zool. pl.Q. (The Common Teal). Finely striped with blackish; the head red; a green band at the corner of the eye edged with two white lines, &c. The capsule resembles a pea||. Mereus, Lin. The genus of the Harles or Mergansers comprehends those species in which the bill, thinner and more cylindrical than that of the Ducks, is armed along its edges with small pointed teeth resembling those of a saw and directed backwards; the tip of the upper mandible is hooked. Their carriage and even plumage are those of Ducks, properly so called; but their gizzard is less muscular, and their intestines and ceca shorter. The inflation of the lower larynx in the males is enormous, and partly membranous. ‘They live on lakes and ponds, where they are very de- structive to fish. * An. arborea, Enl. 804;—autumnalis, 826 ;—viduata, 808. + An. semipalmata, Lath.; Cuv. Mém. du Mus. ¢ Penelope, the Greek name of a red-headed Duck, either the present species or the ferina, L. § Add, dn. rutila, Pall. Nov. Com. Petrop., XIV, xxii;—An. cana and casarea, Brown, Ill. 41 and 42;—An. pecilorhyncha, Indian Zool. pl. xiv;—the Jensen (An. americana), Enl. 955, Wils. VIII, Ixix, 4;—the Maree (An. bahamensis), Catesb. 93; —An. obscura, Wils. VIII, lxxii, 5;—An. arcuata, Gm., or paturi, Spix, C. || Add, dn, discors, Enl. 966 and 403;—An. manillensis, Sonner. Voy. I, pl. lv. Sarcelle comes from querquedula, which itself is only an imitation of the ery of the bird. 380 BIRDS. Three species appear in France during the winter; their varia- tions of plumage have induced some naturalists to increase the num- ber. It is said that they breed in the North among the rocks or reeds, and lay a great many eggs. Merg. merganser, L.; Le Harle vulgaire, Enl. 951; Naum. I, c. 61, f. 93, Brit. Zool. pl. N.; Frisch, 190; Wils. VIII, Ixviii, 1 (The Goosander). Is the size of a Duck, and has red feet and a bill of the same hue. ‘The head of the old male is of a deep green, the feathers on its summit forming a sort of toupee; the mantle is black, with a white spot over the wing; underneath and the neck, white, slightly tinged with rose-colour. The young and the females— Merg. castor, Enl. 953; Frisch, 191; Naum. 61, f. 93, B, are grey with a red head. Merg. serrator, L.; Harle huppée, Enl. 207; Edw. 95; Naum. I, c. 61, f. 90; Wils. VIII, Ixix, 2. (The Red-breasted Mergan- ser). Bill and feet red; the body variegated with black, white, and brown; head of a black-green; a pendent tuft on the occiput. The young Fl the females—Harles noirs, H. & manteau noir, Naum. 62, f. 95, have a brown head. M. albellus, L.; La Piette, nonnette, petit harle, Enl. 449; Frisch, 172; Naum. 63, f. 97; Brit. Zool. pl. N, 1; Wils. VIII, xci, 9. (The Smew). Bill and feet blue; body white, varied with black on the mantle; a black spot near the eye, and one on the occiput. The young males and the females—Merg, minutus, mus- telinus, &c., Enl. 450; Brit. Zool. pl. N, 2; Naum. 63, f. 98, are grey with a red head*. * Among the Mergansers foreign to Europe, the only ones well ascertained are the M. cucullatus of Carolina, Enl. 935 and 936, and the M. brasiliensis, Vieill. Gal. 283. END OF VOL. I. LONDON: We MSDOWALL, PRINTER, PEMBERTON ROW; GOUGH SQUARE. i ela Dee es Braet yas Kuti took anda inprg BE ROE clues Ste SA) Gotmed METS y oh whee ‘ Ree ee sels singer ty ded seh whe! HEH: a eee , fu) et ibitera tiga’ aah y he ie dy Bes A oe ba patay wd) siimlOtnnans : ae ditty, 4s 7 oe ie f6 ja 5 PEE ae, mo hepa i ; . a Bcc sir SOG Anoka so eee NE . 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