this order, is the total want of front teeth in the upper jaw. In the lower jaw, there are six or eight front teeth the grinders, or side teeth, are usually pretty numerous, and such of the pecora as are furnished with horns have no tusks or canine teeth; which, on the contrary, are conspicuous in such as are not furnished with horns. The pecora have the power of rumination; that is, of throwing up, into the mouth, at intervals, a portion of the food which has been hastily swallowed, during their feeding, in order that it may undergo a more complete grinding by the teeth. This action is so conspicuous in cows, and other cattle, that every one is perfectly acquainted with it. All the pecora, or ruminants as they are often called, are hoofed; and in the major part, the hoof is divided into two principal parts, with the addition, in many, of two very small undivided hoofs or processes on each side, or rather behind the principal ones. In the camel, the sole, or part beneath the hoofs, is swelled into a kind of elastic pad, covered with an extremely strong but flexible skin, admirably adapted for enabling the animal to travel over the dry and sandy deserts, which it is chiefly destined to inhabit. The whole order pecora, without an exception, feeds entirely on vegetable food. The genera are:-1. Elephas, elephant. 2. Camelus, camel, dromedary, lama, vicuna. 3. Giraffa, giraffe or camelopard. 4. Cervus, elk, deer-kind *. * If a person, at some distance, whistle or call aloud, the stag immediately stops short in his slow-measured pace, and gazes on the intruder with a kind of awkward admiration; but, if the sagacious animal perceive neither dogs, nor any instruments of destruction levelled against him, he then proceeds forward without betraying the least fear. WALTER SCOTT's description of these various motions is truly picturesque : at the sound of the clanging hoof and horn— The antlered monarch of the waste Sprung from his heathery couch in haste; 5. Bos, ox, buffalo. 6. Moschus, musk. 7. Antilope, antelope, chamois. 8. Ovis, sheep. 9. Capra, goat. Peaceful, beneath primeval trees that cast THOMSON. The giraffe is by far the tallest of all known quadrupeds, measuring the extraordinary height of seventeen feet three inches, from the hoof of the fore foot to the top of the head, while the body scarcely exceeds that of a horse. It is of a pale, yellowish, or whitish brown, with numerous spots of a chesnut colour, and its whole aspect is at once simple and elegant. It is a harmless, timid animal, living in small herds of six or seven together, in the plains that border on Caffraria, in the vicinity of the Cape. The giraffes are so exceedingly shy, that it is with the greatest difficulty they can be approached: they feed on the fruit of the wild apricot, and on the tender branches of the several species of the mimosa, or sensitive plant. The only two specimens in England are preserved in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, and in the interesting collection of Mr. Bullock in Piccadilly. ORDER VI. BELLUÆ consists, in general, of animals either of large or moderate size, of an unshapely form, and having a tough and thick hide. It com Like crested leader, proud and high, prizes the following genera. 1. Equus, horse, ass*, zebra. 2. Rhinoceros. 3. Hippopotamus. 4. Tapir. 5. Sus, pig-kind, pecari, babiroussa. The ardour of the HORSE has been well described by SHAKSPEARE, in one of the finest passages of old English poetry. It is taken from a beautiful, but neglected, poem of this great man. Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, His ears up-pricked, his braided hanging mane, His eye, which glisters scornfully like fire, Of the fair breeder that is standing by. He sees his love, and nothing else he sees, The pinnated mammalia are those in which the *Tis an animal (observes the benevolent Sterne) I cannot, bear to strike-there is a patient endurance of sufferings, wrote so unaffectedly in his looks and carriage, which pleads so mightily for him, that it always disarms me; and to that degree, that I do not like to speak unkindly to him; on the contrary, meet him where I will, whether in town or country, in cart or under panniers-whether in liberty or bondage-I have ever something civil to say to him; and surely never is my imagination so busy as in framing his responses from the etchings of his countenance. divisions or toes of the feet are connected by webs; enabling the animals, whose principal residence is in the waters, to swim with far greater facility than any other quadrupeds; while, on the contrary, they walk with much greater difficulty. There are two genera. 1. Phoca, seals. 2. Trichecus, morse or walrus, manati or sea-cow. In Cornwall, when persons are in pursuit of the seal, it is said to be a common practice, as soon as the animal is observed to thrust its head above water, to halloo to it, till they can approach within gun-shot, since it will continue to listen to the sound for many seconds. The seal, indeed, displays a taste for music, which could scarcely be expected from his habits and local predilections. They will long follow a boat in which any musical instrument is played, and even a tune simply whistled has attractions for them. The Dean of the Isles says of Heiskar, a small uninhabited rock, about twelve (Scottish) miles from the isle of Uist, that an infinite slaughter of seals takes place there. To this circumstance Mr. WALTER SCOTT has prettily alluded, in his poem of The Lord of the Isles:' In Lettermore, the timid deer Will pause, the harp's wild chime to hear; Will poise him on Ben Cailliach's cloud. ORDER VII. CETE, or CETACEA, comprises the cetaceous mammalia, or whale tribe. These cannot, in strict propriety, be called quadrupeds, since they are only furnished with two feet, which have the appearance of thick fins, while the tail is merely muscular and tendinous. But, since the whole interior structure agrees with that of the mammalia ;-since they have lungs and breathe, since they have warm blood, and a heart resembling in conformation that of quadru peds, and, in particular, since they produce and nourish their young in the same manner,-it follows very clearly, that they can with propriety be ranked in no other class of animals than the Linnæan mammalia. The genera are, 1. Balena, proper whales. 2. Physeter, spermaceti whales *. 3. Delphinus, dolphin, porpoise, grampus. 4. Monodon, narwhal, sea-unicorn. The author of the Shipwreck' thus beautifully describes the death of the dolphin, after it has been struck by the harpooners: On deck he struggles with convulsive pain; FALCONER, Having now taken a short, but comprehensive, survey of the various Classes, Orders, and Genera of the Animal Kingdom, we add some reflections on the * The aorta, or principal artery, in that stupendous animal the whale, measures above a foot in diameter; and it is computed that the quantity of blood thrown into it, at every pulsation of the heart, is not less than from ten to fifteen gallons. Leviathan, Hugest of living creatures, on the deep, MILTON. |