"To Him, no high, no low, no great, no small;

He fills, He bounds, connects, and equals all."-POPE.

great masters of natural history, differing in their views, produce systems of classification more or less varying from each other. Notwithstanding these difficulties, an approach to uniformity and identity may be obtained, eminently useful where the objects to be distinguished are remarkably numerous.

162. What are the significations of the terms class, order, sub-order, family, genus, species, &c.?

A class is a primary or leading division, a number of beings having one or more features in common. An order is a sub-division of a class. A sub-order is a further division of an order. Family is a still further division, and is used synonymously with tribe. Genus and species are more limited and definite than family or tribe; they refer to groups of individuals that agree in all, or nearly all essentials. Genera is the plural of genus.

163. Species means tribes of animals or plants which have descended from the same stock, or from parentages precisely similar and in no way distinguished from each other.

The ancients applied the term genus to any collective number of organised beings which are akin to each other, or the offspring of the same ancestors. The idea of genus was then simple and definite, and just what we attach to the terms kind or kindred. By degrees, the meaning of genus was extended, and it was made to comprehend all such creatures as by reason of some real or fancied resemblance in their form or nature were conjectured to have belonged to one original stock. Such groups were the "dog-kind," the "cat-kind," the "ox-kind." For the more developed state of science, these clauses were too comprehensive, and included tribes so remote from each other that they could not be regarded as the progeny of the same original tribes. The term species was therefore adopted, and made to express nearly what genus now does.

164. According to the LINNEAN SYSTEM, the whole animal kingdom is ranged under the following SIX CLASSES :—

I. MAMMALIA (from the Latin mamma, the breasts or teats of a female). Animals with warm red blood, viviparous, and suckling their young.

II. AVES (birds).—Animals with warm red blood, oviparous, and feathered.

"To me be Nature's volume broad display'd;

And to peruse its all-instructing page,

Or, haply catching inspiration thence,

Some easy passage, raptur'd to translate."-THOMSON.

III. AMPHIBIA (from two Greek words, meaning both and life).—— Animals with cold red blood, breathing by lungs, capable of subsisting for a time either on land or in water.

IV. PISCES (fishes).-Animals with cold red blood, breathing by gills, and not by lungs.'

V. INSECTA (insects).—Animals with cold white blood, having antennæ (feelers) on the head, and articulated (jointed) horny organs of motion.

VI. VERMES (worms).—Animals with cold white blood, without antennæ, for the most part with tentacula (having simple threadlike organs for protrusion around their mouths), and without articulated organs of motion.

165. According to the SYSTEM of CUVIER, a leading grand division prevails over the whole of these, viz., the vertebrated, from the invertebrated (from the Latin verto, to turn); the first being distinguished by having a back-bone, the latter by the absence of this organ. The vertebrated animals are divided into four classes, thus:

DIVISION I.-VERTEBRATA.

Class I. Mammalia. II. Aves. III. Reptilia. IV. Pisces.

DIVISION II.-MOLLUSCA.

[This is the commencement of the invertebrated division, but the term is disused.]

Class 1. Cephalapoda. II. Oteropoda.

III. Gasteropoda.

IV. Acephala. V. Brachiopoda. VI. Cirrhopoda.

DIVISION III.-ARTICULATA.

Class I. Annelides. II. Crustacea. III. Arachnides. IV. Insecta.

SUB-DIVISION IV.-RADIATA

Class I.

Echinodermata.

IV. Polypi. V. Infusoria.

II. Entozoa. III. Acalephæ.

"When with a Reaumur's skill thy curious mind
Has classed the insect tribes of human kind,
Each with its busy hum, or gilded wing,

Its subtle web-work, or its venomed sting."-ROGERS.

166. Why is the term invertebrated unemployed?

Because it is merely of a negative character.

[All animals may be referred to one or other of the foregoing classes, and those not included in the first Division are all invertebrated.]

SO MUCH OF THE CLASSIFICATION AS WILL BE GIVEN IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES IS A COMBINATION OF THE SYSTEMS OF LINNEUS AND CUVIER, WITH SUCH MODIFICATIONS AS ARE NOW GENERALLY ADOPTED.

CLASS I.-MAMMALIA.

ORDER I.-BIMANA.

167. What is the meaning of the term Bimana?

It is derived from the Latin bis, twice, and manus, a hand: it means two-handed.

168. Why is MAN the only individual included in this order? Because he is the only two-handed animal. This fact will be further enforced by reference to

ORDER II.-QUADRUMANA.

169. What is the meaning of the term Quadrumana?

It is derived from the Latin quadra, four, manus, hand, and means four-handed.

170. Why are monkeys described as four-handed?

Because those of their extremities which are apparently analogous to the feet of man, are provided with thumbs, free and opposable to the other toes-the toes themselves being long and similar to the fingers of the hand.

In consequence of this peculiarity, all the species of the order exhibit the utmost facility in climbing trees, but cannot sustain themselves, much less

walk, in an erect posture without considerable difficulty.

"With monkey's ingenuity,

That love to practise what they see."-BUTLER.

171. In addition to this distinguishing feature, the canine teeth of monkeys are longer than those of man; while the bones of the pelvis are too narrow to continually support their bodies in an erect position.

Mr. Partington regards it as incorrect to call the extremities of monkeys "hands;" they are, he says, properly paws. All the paws consist of four fingers and a thumb. The latter member is, however, very small, sometimes without a nail, and cannot, in all the species, be said to perform the functions of a true thumb, but often more resembles the callous pad which forms a point of resistance against the fingers in several other climbing animals. The anterior extremities are long, but much longer in some of the species than in others; the fingers are also long, the bones of some of the phalanges are often curved towards the palms, and the muscular power in grasping and pulling is much greater than, from the size of the animal or of the parts, one would be led to suppose. Similar grasping powers, in proportion to their size, are, however, common to all the quadrumana, and to all climbing animals.

172. What is the difference between apes, baboons, and monkeys? Apes are such as are destitute of tails; Baboons have muscular bodies, elongated muzzles, and their tails are usually short;

Monkeys are those whose tails are in general long, some of them, the Sapagos, having prehensile tails, which can at pleasure be twisted around any object, and thereby, in many instances, answer the purpose of an additional hand.

173. Why are monkeys divided into two principal subgenera, "the monkeys of the old world," and the monkeys of the new world?"

Because of a remarkable and uniform difference in the number of their teeth. All the monkeys of the old world have the same number of teeth as the human species; but the monkeys of America have four cheek-teeth more than the other monkeysthirty-six teeth in all-besides some minor distinguishing features.

"Stand by there. What are you?"

"My lady's ape, that imitated all her fashions; falling as she did, and running the same course of folly."-NABBE.

174. Why are monkeys confined to certain geographical limits?

Because their chief office evidently is to prevent the too rapid increase of birds, which they do by destroying vast numbers of eggs that would otherwise be brought to maturity almost by the sun's heat. This mission the monkeys carry out so perseveringly, that they are perpetually on the watch to rob birds' nests, and when they want appetite or inclination to devour them, they will fling them on the ground. We therefore find that monkeys abound in those latitudes where birds are most abundant.

175. Why should we not mistake the imitative propensities of monkeys for a natural love of mischief?

Because in mimicking the actions of man they will as readily engage in useful employment as in wilful sport. And during the whole time they are so engaged their countenances assume a reflective and serious air.

176, It is said that the Indians sometimes direct their imitative propensity to useful purposes; for, wishing to collect the cocoa-nuts and other fruits from the trees in the woods frequented by the apes, they repair to their places, setting the example of gathering a few heaps first themselves, and then withdrawing, leave the work to be performed by the animals at will. These creatures seeing a heap or two commenced, descend with the certainty of carrying on the business, and when the produce has been thus rather plentifully collected, the Indians approach and take away the harvest.

177. Why have some monkeys tails of an extraordinary length?

They are thus enabled to suspend themselves from the branches of one tree and reach food from another. By the same means the young of the animal sit securely on the back of the mother by turning their tails around her's, and so escape from the pursuit of their enemies.

178. A sketch is here given of the Coaita, or Spider Monkey. The tail answers all the purposes of a hand, and the animal throws itself from branch to branch by