NATURAL HISTORY, GENERAL AND PARTICULAR, BY THE COUNT DE BUFFON, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH.

ILLUSTRATED With three hundred and one COPPER-PLATES; AND OCCASIONAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS BY THE TRANSLATOR.

VOLUME VIII.

EDINBURGH: Printed for WILLIAM CREECH. M,DCC,LXXX.

CONTENTS.

  • Dissertation on Mules page 1
  • The Nomenclature of Apes page 39
  • Natural History of the Orang-Outangs, or the Pongo and Jocko page 77
  • Natural History of the Pigmy page 106
  • Natural History of the Gibbon, or long-armed Ape page 113
  • Natural History of the Magot, or Barbary Ape page 117
  • Natural History of the Baboon properly so called page 121
  • Natural History of the Great Baboon page 125
  • Natural History of the Mandrill, or ribbed nose Baboon page 129
  • Natural History of the Ouanderou and the Low­ando page 132
  • Natural History of the Maimon, or pig-tailed Baboon page 137
  • Natural History of the Macaque, or hare-lipped Monkey, and the Egret page 140
  • Natural History of the Patas, or Red Monkey page 144
  • Natural History of the Malbrouck and Chinese-Bonnet page 148
  • Natural History of the Mangabey page 154
  • Natural History of the Mona, or varied Monkey page 156
  • Natural History of the Callitrix, or Green Mon­key page 160
  • [Page] Natural History of the Mustache page 163
  • Natural History of the Talapoin page 165
  • Natural History of the Douc, or Cochin-China Monkey page 168
  • Natural History of the Sapajous and Sagoins page 172
  • Natural History of the Ouarine and Alouate page 176
  • Natural History of the Coaita and Exquima page 184
  • Natural History of the Sajou, or Capuchin Mon­key page 193
  • Natural History of the Sai, or Weeper page 196
  • Natural History of the Saimiri, or Orange Mon­key page 199
  • Natural History of the Saki, or Fox-tailed Mon­key page 201
  • Natural History of the Tamarin, or Great-eared Monkey page 203
  • Natural History of the Ouistiti, or striated Mon­key page 205
  • Natural History of the Marikina, or silky Mon­key page 209
  • Natural History of the Pinche, or red-tailed Monkey page 211
  • Natural History of the Mico, or fair Monkey page 214
  • Natural History of the White, or Polar Bear page 216
  • Natural History of the Cow of Tartary page 225
  • Natural History of the Baikal Hare page 228
  • Natural History of the Zisel page 229
  • Natural History of the Zemni page 232
  • Natural History of the Pouc page 233
  • Natural History of the Perouasca page 234
  • [Page] Natural History of the Souslik page 234
  • Natural History of the gilded Mole page 238
  • Natural History of the white water Rat ib.
  • Natural History of the Guiney Hog page 239
  • Natural History of the Cape de Verd Boar page 241
  • Natural History of the Mexican Wolf page 258
  • Natural History of the Alco page 261
  • Natural History of the Tayra, or Guiney Weasel page 265
  • Natural History of the Merian Opossum page 267
  • Natural History of the Akouchi page 269
  • Natural History of the Tucan, or Mexican Shrew page 271
  • Natural History of the Brasilian Shrew page 273
  • Natural History of the Rock Cavy page 274
  • Natural History of the Tapeti, or Brasilian Hare page 276
  • Natural History of the Crab-eater page 279
  • Natural History of an Anonymous Animal page 283
  • Natural History of the Madagascar Rat page 284
  • Systematic Index. page 287

DIRECTIONS to the BINDER.

  • Place Plate CCLII. between page 104 and page 105.
  • Place Plate CCLIII. CCLIV. between page 116 and page 117.
  • Place Plate CCLV. CCLVI. between page 120 and page 121.
  • Place Plate CCLVII. CCLVIII. between page 124. and page 125.
  • Place Plate CCLIX. CCLX. between page 128 and page 129.
  • Place Plate CCLXI. between page 132 and page 133.
  • Place Plate CCLXIII. between page 136 and page 137.
  • Place Plate CCLXII. between page 138 and page 139.
  • Place Plate CCLXIV. CCLXV. between page 142 and page 143.
  • Place Plate CCLXVI. CCLXVII. between page 146 and page 147.
  • Place Plate CCLXVIII. CCLXIX. between page 152 and page 153.
  • Place Plate CCLXX. CCLXXI. between page 154 and page 155.
  • Place Plate CCLXXII. between page 158 and page 159.
  • Place Plate CCLXXIII. between page 162 and page 163.
  • Place Plate CCLXXIV. between page 164 and page 165.
  • Place Plate CCLXXV. between page 166 and page 167.
  • Place Plate CCLXXVI. between page 170 and page 171.
  • Place Plate CCLXXVII. between page 192 and page 193.
  • Place Plate CCLXXVIII. CCLXXIX. between page 194 and page 195.
  • Place Plate CCLXXX. CCLXXXI. between page 198 and page 199.
  • Place Plate CCLXXXII. between page 200 and page 201.
  • Place Plate CCLXXXIII. between page 202 and page 203.
  • Place Plate CCLXXXIV. between page 204 and page 205.
  • Place Plate CCLXXXV. between page 208 and page 209.
  • Place Plate CCLXXXVI. between page 210 and page 211.
  • Place Plate CCLXXXVII. between page 212 and page 213.
  • Place Plate CCLXXXVIII. between page 216 and page 217.
  • Place Plate CCLXXXIX. between page 224 and page 225.
  • Place Plate CCXC. between page 236 and page 237.
  • Place Plate CCXCI. between page 256 and page 257.
  • Place Plate CCXCII. between page 270 and page 271.
  • Place Plate CCXCIII. CCXCIV. between page 282 and page 283.
  • Place Plate CCXCV. between page 284 and page 285.

N. B. Place plate 2d CCXL. 3d CCXL. and 4th CCXL. in vol. VII. p. 294.—The Dedication to be prefixed to vol. 1.

ERRATA.

  • Page 8. line 16. for his read her.
  • Page 62. line 29. after organs add of.
  • Page 118. line 2. for grinded read ground.
  • Page 122. line 19. for suum read suam.
  • Page 146. line 22. for body read nose.
  • Page 168. line 13. after douc add alone.
  • Page 207. line 4. for china golden fish read gold-fish.
  • Page 214. line 14. read, and, when almost in sight of the French coast, it was still alive.
  • Page 263. line 3. for it read his head.

Plate CCLX. for Mandrill read Great Baboon.

NATURAL HISTORY.

OF MULES.
[From the supplementary Volume.]

WE shall retain the name of Mule to the animal produced by the jack-ass and mare; and to that procreated between the horse and she-ass, we shall give the denomination of bardeau. The differences which subsist between these two mongrel animals have never hitherto been marked by any author. These differences, however, afford the most certain criterion of distinguishing the relative influence of males and females in the product of generation. A comparison of these two mules, and other mon­grels proceeding from a mixture of different species, will give us more precise ideas concern­ing this relative influence, than could be obtain­ed by simply comparing two individuals of the same species.

[Page 2] The bardeau is much smaller than the mule, and seems to preserve the dimensions of its mo­ther, the she-ass; and the mule retains the di­mensions of the mare. Hence, in mixed spe­cies, the size of the body appears to depend more upon the mother than the father. Now, these two animals differ in figure. The neck of the bardeau is thinner, the back sharper, and the crupper more pointed; while the fore-head of the mule is better shaped, the neck more beau­tiful, the sides rounder, and the crupper more plump. Hence both of these animals retain more of the mother than of the father, not only in magnitude, but in figure of body. This remark, however, does not apply to the head, limbs, and tail. The head of the bardeau is longer, and not so thick in proportion as that of the ass; and the head of the mule is shorter and thicker than that of the horse. Hence, in the figure and dimensions of the head, they have a greater resemblance to the father than to the mother. The tail of the bardeau is garnished with hair nearly in the same manner as that of the horse; and the tail of the mule is almost naked, like that of the ass. In this extreme part of the body, therefore, the similarity to the father pre­dominates. The ears of the mule are longer than those of the horse; and the ears of the bardeau are shorter than those of the ass. The limbs of the mule are hard and limber, like those of the horse; and the limbs of the bardeau are [Page 3] more fleshy. Hence these two animals, in the form of the head, limbs, and other extremities of the body, have a greater resemblance to the father than to the mother.

In the years 1751 and 1752, I made two he­goats copulate with several ewes, and I obtain­ed nine mules, seven males and and two females. Struck with this difference between the number of males and females, I endeavoured to discover whether the number of male mules, produced by the ass and mare, predominated in the same proportion. The information I received did not ascertain this point; but I learned that the num­ber of male mules always exceeded that of the females. The Marquis de Spontin-Beaufort made a dog intermix with a she-wolf, and pro­cured four mules, three of which were males*. In fine, having made inquiries concerning mules which are more easily obtained, I learned, that the number of males greatly exceeded that of the females. In the article, Canary-birds , I remarked, that of nine young produced between a gold-finch and a Canary-bird, there were only three females. These are the only certain facts I could collect on this subject, which merits [Page 4] more attention than it has yet received; for the mysteries of generation by the concourse of dif­ferent species, and the ascertaining of the pro­portional effective powers of males and females in every kind of reproduction, can alone be de­veloped by an assemblage of similar facts.

Of my nine mules produced by the he-goat and the ewes, the first was brought forth on the 15th day of April. When examined three days [Page 5] after birth, and compared with lambs of the same age, it differed from them in the following particulars: The ears, upper part of the head, as well as the distance between the eyes, were larger. It had, besides, a band of whitish gray hair from the nap of the neck to the extremity of the tail. The four legs, the superior part of the neck, the breast, and belly, were covered with the same white, coarse hair. There was a small quantity of wool upon the flanks only; and even this short, curled wool, was mixed with a great deal of hair. The legs of this mule were also a foot and a half longer than those of a lamb of the same age. When examined, eighteen days after birth, the white hairs were partly fallen off, and replaced by brown hairs, similar in colour to those of the he-goat, and nearly as coarse. The limbs continued to be more than a foot and a half longer than those of the lamb; and, on account of this length of limbs, it did not walk so well as the lamb. This lamb was killed by an accident; and I took no far­ther notice of the mule till four months after­ward, when I compared it with a sheep of the same age. In the mule, from the space between the eyes to the extremity of the muzzle, the di­stance was at least an inch shorter than in the sheep; and the head of the mule was more than half an inch broader, at the broadest part. Hence the head of this mule was thicker and shorter than that of a sheep of equal age. The curva­ture [Page 6] of the upper jaw, taken from the corner of the mouth, was near half an inch longer in the mule than in the sheep. The head of the mule was not covered with wool, but with long, bushy hair. The tail was two inches shorter than that of the sheep.

In the beginning of the year 1752, I obtained, from the union of a he-goat with ewes, eight o­ther mules, six of which were males, and two females. Two of them died before I could ex­amine them; but they seemed to resemble those who survived. Two of them, a male and a fe­male, had four teats, two on each side, like those of the goats. In general, these mules had long hair on the belly, and particularly about the pe­nis, as in the he-goat, and also on the feet, and particularly those behind. Most of them had the chanfrin less arched than is common to lambs, the distance between the hoofs larger, and the tail shorter.

Under the article Dog, I related some experi­ments made with a view to procure an intermix­ture between a dog and a wolf, where all the precautions employed for that purpose were a­bortive*. The conclusion drawn from these ex­periments was in the following words: 'I pre­tend not absolutely to affirm, that the wolf, in no age or country, never intermixed with dogs. The contrary is asserted positively by the antients. Aristotle remarks, that, though [Page 7] animals of different species seldom intermix; yet it certainly happens among dogs, foxes, and wolves.' I have since learned the propri­ety of being thus cautious in my conclusions; for M. le Marquis de Spontin-Beaufort has suc­ceeded in the junction of a dog and a wolf. I was informed of this fact by M. Surirey de Bois­sy, in a letter which he wrote me in the follow­ing terms:

The Marquis de Spontin has in this place reared a very young she-wolf, to whom he gave, as a companion, a dog of nearly the same age. They were left at full liberty, and came into the apartments, the kitchen, the stable, &c. They live in the most intimate friendship, and are extremely caressing, lying under the table, and upon the feet of the persons who sit round it.

The dog is a kind of mongrel mastiff, and full of vigour. During the first six months, the wolf was fed with milk, and afterward with raw flesh, which it preferred to what was roasted. When she eat, no person durst ap­proach her. At other times, she permitted e­very freedom, except abuse. She caressed all the dogs which came near her, till she began to give a preference to her old companion; af­ter which, she was enraged at every other. She was covered, for the first time, on the 25th day of March last. Her amours continued fifteen days, with pretty frequent repetitions; [Page 8] and she brought forth her young on the sixth day of June at eight o'clock in the morning. Hence the time of her gestation was seventy-three days. The young were four in number, and of a blackish colour. Some of them have the half of the breast, and the pats, white. These colours are derived from the dog, who is black and white. From the moment of lit­tering, she growled and attacked all who ap­proached her. She no longer distinguished her masters; and would even have devoured the dog, if he had come near her.

I add, that she has been chained ever since she made a break at her gallant, who had leap­ed a neighbouring wall, in order to come at a bitch in season; that she nearly worried his ri­val; and that the coachman separated them by repeated blows of a large bludgeon, and con­ducted her to her lodge, where, imprudently commencing his chastisement, her fury rose to such a degree, that she bit him twice in the thigh, and the wounds confined him six weeks to his bed.

In my answer to this letter, I thanked M. de Boissy, and added some remarks, with a view to remove my doubts. M. le Marquis de Spon­tin having seen my answer, obligingly wrote me in the following terms:

I read with much satisfaction the judicious remarks you transmitted to M. Surirey de Boissy, whom I [Page 9] had begged to communicate to you, during my absence, a fact, which cannot be denied, notwithstanding the force of your arguments, and the opinion I have always entertained, as well as the rest of the world, of the excellence of the many learned productions by which you have enlightened the republic of letters. But, whether it was an effect of chance, or one of those sports of Nature, who, as you remark, sometimes departs from her establish­ed laws, the fact is incontestible; and you will be convinced of its truth, if you give cre­dit to what I have the honour of writing you, which can be attested by two hundred persons at least, who were witnesses to it as well as myself. This she-wolf was only three days old when I purchased it from a peasant, who had carried it off, after killing the mother. I fed it with milk till it was able to eat flesh. I recommended to those who had the care of it, to caress, and handle it often, with a view to render it as tame as possible. At last, it be­came so familiar that I have taken it to hunt in the woods at the distance of a league from my house, without any danger of losing it. Sometimes, when I was unable to call it back, it returned of its own accord in the night. I was always more certain of keeping it at home when I had a dog; for it was fond of dogs; and those, who had overcome their natural re­pugnance, sported with it, as if they had been [Page 10] animals of the same species. During all this time, it attacked only cats and poultry, whom it strangled, without discovering any inclina­tion to eat them. As soon as she attained the age of twelve months, her ferocity increased, and I began to perceive that she had a strong desire to attack sheep and bitches. I then chained her; because she frequently sprung up­on her master, when he attempted to restrain her. she was at least one year old when I in­troduced her to the acquaintance of the dog who covered her. She has been kept in my gar­den, which is situated in the centre of the town, since the end of November last; and, therefore, no male wolf can be supposed to have had any communication with her. As soon as she came in season, she discovered such an affection for the dog, and the dog for her, that each of them howled frightfully when they were not together. She was first cover­ed on the 28th day of March, and twice each day during the two following weeks. They continued attached to each other more than a quarter of an hour at every embrace, during which time the wolf complained, and seemed to suffer pain; but the dog was perfectly at his ease. Three weeks after, her pregnancy was perceptible. On the 6th day of June, she brought forth four young, whom she still suckles, though they are five weeks old, and have pretty long sharp teeth. They have a [Page 11] perfect resemblance to puppies, having long pendulous ears. One of them is black, with a white breast, which was the colour of the dog. The others will probably be of the colour of the mother. The hair of each of them is courser than that of ordinary dogs. There is but one female, with a very short tail, like the dog, who had scarcely any tail. They promise to be large, strong, and very ferocious. The mother is extremely solicitous concerning their wellfare. . . . . . I doubt whether I shall keep her any longer, having been chagrined by an accident that befell my coachman, whom she bit so cruelly, that he has been confined to his bed these six weeks past. But I will engage, that, if preser­ved, she will again have puppies by the same dog, who is white, with large black spots on the back. I hope, Sir, that what I have said will answer for a reply to your remarks, and that you will no longer hesitate concerning the truth of this singular event.

My doubts are entirely removed, and I am happy to embrace this opportunity of expressing my thanks. The establishment of a rare fact in natural history is a great acquisition. The means of obtaining such facts are always difficult, and often, as we have seen, very dangerous. It was for this last reason that I fequestered my wolf and dog from all society. I had formerly rear­ed a young wolf, who, till the age of twelve months, did no mischief, and followed his ma­ster [Page 12] like a dog. But, in the second year, he committed so many excesses that it was necessa­ry to kill him. I learned by experience, that these animals, though softened by education, re­sume, with age, their natural ferocity. Willing to prevent these inconveniences, I kept my she­wolf always confined along with the dog; and I acknowledge that this method of procuring an union between them, was ill imagined; for, in this state of slavery and disgust, the dispositions of the wolf, instead of being softened, were soured to such a degree, that she was more fe­rocious than if she had been at full liberty; and the dog, having been early detached from his equals, and from the society of men, had assu­med a savage and cruel character, which the bad humour of the wolf served only to augment; so that, during the two last years, their antipa­thy rose to such a degree, that they desired no­thing so much as to devour each other. In the experiment made by the Marquis de Spontin, every circumstance was reversed. The dog was in his ordinary condition: He had all the mild­ness and other qualities which this docile animal acquires by his intercourse with man. The wolf was likewise reared in perfect freedom and fa­miliarity along with the dog, which, by being under no restraint, had lost his repugnance to her; and she, by the same mild management, became susceptible of attachment to him. She, therefore, received him with cordiality, whenever [Page 13] the hour of Nature struck: And, though she seemed to complain and to suffer, she felt more pleasure than pain; for she allowed the opera­tion to be repeated every day, during all the time she was in season. Besides, the proper moment for this unnatural union was seized. The wolf felt the impression of love for the first time. She was only in the second year of her age; and, of course, had not entirely resumed her natural ferocity.

All these circumstances, and perhaps some others which were not observed, contributed to the success of this fertile embrace. From what has been remarked, it would appear, that the most certain method of rendering animals un­faithful to their species, is to place them, like man, in society, and to accustom them gradual­ly to individuals which, without such precau­tions, would not only be indifferent, but hostile to each other. However this matter stands, the Marquis de Spontin has ascertained the fact, that the dog can produce with the wolf even in our climates. I could have wished that the success of this experiment had induced its author to try the union of a wolf with a bitch, and of foxes with dogs. But if this desire should be consider­ed as exorbitant, he must ascribe it to the insa­tiable enthusiasm of a naturalist*.

[Page 14] But to return to our mules. In those I ob­tained from the he-goat and ewe, the number of males was as seven to two; in those from the dog and she-wolf, the males were as three to one; and, in those from the goldfinch and Ca­nary bird, the mules were as sixteen to three. It appears, therefore, to be certain, that the number of males, which is always greater than that of females in pure species, is still greater in mixed species. Hence, the male, in general, has a greater influence on the produce of gene­ration than the female, because he transmits his sex to the greatest number, and because the number of males augments in proportion to the remoteness of the species who intermix. The same thing must happen in the conjunction of different races: By crossing the remotest of these, we will not only procure the most beautiful productions, but the greatest number of males. [Page 15] I have often endeavoured to investigate the rea­son why any religion, or any government, should prohibit the marriage of brothers and sisters. Did men learn, by very antient expe­rience, that the union of brother and sister was less fertile than an intermixture with strangers, or that the former produced fewer males, and feebler and more unhandsome children? It is certain, however, that, from a thousand experi­ments, both in men and the other animals, crossing the breed is the only mode of ennobling and preserving the perfection of the species.

To these facts and experiments, let us add what the antients have said upon this subject. Aristotle tells us, that the mule engenders with the mare, and that the junction produces an ani­mal which the Greeks called hinnus or ginnus. He likewise remarks, that the she-mule easily conceives, but seldom brings the foetus to per­fection *. Of these two facts, the second is more rare than the first; and both happen only in warm climates. M. de Bory, of the royal aca­demy of Sciences, and formerly governour of the American islands, communicated to me a re­cent fact of this kind, in a letter, dated May 7. 1770, of which the following is an extrat.

You will perhaps recollect, Sir, that M. d' Almbert read, last year, in the Academy of Sciences, a letter, which informed him, that a she-mule, in the island of St Domingo, [Page 16] had brought forth a foal. I was desired to write for proper vouchers of the fact; and I have now the honour of sending you the certi­ficate which I received. . . . . My correspon­dent is worthy of the highest credit. He adds, that he has seen mules cover, indiscriminately, she-mules and mares, and likewise she-mules covered by stallions and he-mules.

This certificate is judicially attested, and sign­ed by witnesses of unquestionable veracity. The substance of it is, that, on the 14th day of May 1769, M. de Nort, Knight of St Louis, and late Major of the Royal Legion of St Domingo, had a she-mule brought to him, which was said to be sick; that her belly was remarkably large, and a membrance protruded through the vagina. M. de Nort, believing the animal to be inflated, sent for a Negro farrier, who had been accustom­ed to take care of diseased animals; that this Negro, who arrived in the absence of M. de Nort, had thrown down the mule, in order to give her a draught; that, the moment after the fall, she brought forth a young mule, perfectly formed, and covered with long and very black hair; that the young mule lived an hour; but that, having been both hurt by the fall, and foal died soon after birth, and the mother ten hours after; and, in fine, that the young mule was skinned, and the skin sent, says M. de Nort, to Doctor Matty, who deposited it in the Musaeum of the Royal Society at London.

[Page 17] Other eye-witnesses, and particularly M. Caza­vant, surgeon, add, that the young mule seemed to have been mature, and well formed; that, from the appearance of its hair, head, and ears, it had a greater resemblance to the ass than com­mon mules; that the paps of the mother were swelled, and full of milk; that, when the igno­rant Negro perceived the feet issuing from the vagina, he drew so forcibly as to invert the uterus, and lacerate the parts, which occasioned the death of both mother and foal.

These facts, which appear to be well ascer­tained, demonstrate, that, in warm climates, the mule is not only capable of conception, but of bringing the foetus to full maturity. From my correspondents in Spain and Italy, I learn, that similar events have happened in these countries: But the facts are not so completely authenticated. It still remains to be inquired, whether this St Domingo mule was impregnated by an ass or a mule. The superior resemblance of the young mule to the former seems to indicate, that she had been covered by an ass. The ferocious ar­dour of the ass renders him very indifferent in the choice of females, and makes him attack, with nearly the same avidity, the she-ass, the mare, and the mule.

We may, therefore, consider it as an establish­ed fact, that the he-mule can generate, and the she-mule produce. Like other animals, they have a seminal liquor, and all the organs neces­sary [Page 18] to generation. But mongrel animals are always less fertile, and more tardy than those of a pure species. Besides, mules have never pro­duced in cold climates, seldom in warm regions, and still more seldom in temperate countries*. Hence their barrenness, without being absolute, [Page 19] may be regarded as positive; since their produc­tions are so rare, that a few examples only can [Page 20] be collected. But men were wrong in asserting that mules were absolutely barren, and that all animals proceeding from a mixture of different species were, like the mules, incapable of pro­ducing. The facts formerly related concerning the produce of a he-goat and a ewe, of a dog and a she-wolf, and of Canary birds and gold-finches, demonstrate, that these mongrels are by no means barren, and that some of them are equally pro­lific with their parents.

It is an unhappy circumstance, that a small, and often nominal error, extends over every ob­ject to which it has any relation, and at last not only becomes in an error in fact, but gives rise to a general prejudice, that is more difficult to re­move than the particular opinion from which it originated. A single word, a name like that of mule, which ought solely to represent the idea of the animla proceeding from the ass and mare, has been improperly applied to the ani­mal produced by the horse and the she-ass, and afterward, with still greater impropriety, to all quadrupeds, and all birds, of mixed species: And, [Page 21] as this word mule, in its original acceptation, in­cluded the idea of the barrenness common to the animal proceeding from the ass and mare, this idea of barrenness has been conveyed to all be­ings who have the denomination of mules; I say to all beings; for, independent of quadru­peds, birds, and fishes, mule plants have been fancied, to which, without hesitation, this gene­ral sterility has also been ascribed. None of these beings, however, is absolutely barren. The mule, properly so called, or the animal produced by the ass mare, is not absolutely barren; but its prolific powers, when compared with those of pure species, or even with those of other animals of a mixed species, are much more feeble and uncertain.

All mules, says Prejudice, are vitiated ani­mals, incapable of producing: No animal, says Reason and Experience, though proceeding from two species, is absolutely barren. It ought to be remarked, however, that, in pure, as well as mixed species, the degrees of fertility are very different. In the first, some, like the fishes and insects, multiply, annually, by millions; others, as the birds and small quadrupeds, produce by twenties and dozens; in fine, others, as man, and the larger quadrupeds, produce only one in twelve months. The number produced may be said to be in the inverse proportion of the mag­nitude of animals. The horse and ass bring forth but one in a year; and, in the same pe­riod, [Page 22] the mouse and Guinea pig produce thirty or forty. Hence the fecundity of these small animals is thirty or forty times greater; and, if a scale were formed of the different degrees of fertility, the small animals above enumerated would occupy the highest points, while the horse and ass would be found nearly in the lowest; for the elephant alone is less fertile.

In mixt species, there are also differnt de­grees of fecundity; for animals proceeding from two species partake of two natures, and are, in general, less fertile; and this want of fertility increases in proportion to the infecun­dity of the parents. Hence, if the horse and ass, two animals naturally not very fertile, mix, the original infecundity, instead of diminishing in the mongrel race, must be augemented. The mule will not only be less fertile than its parents, but, perhaps, the most unfertile of all mongrels; because all the other mules which produce, such as those proceeding from the he-goat and ewe, from the goldfinch and Canary bird, &c. are much more fruitful than the ass and horse. It is to this original and particular cause, that the infe­cundity of the mule and bardeau should be re­ferred. A second cause, still more particular, renders the last animal less prolific than the first. The mule proceeding from the ass and mare re­tains the ardent temperament of the father, and, of course, possesses a high degree of prolific power; while the bardeau proceeding from the [Page 23] horse and ass is, like its father, less potent, and less able to engender. Besides, the mare being less ardent than the she-ass, is likewise more fer­tile, since she conceives and retains with more certainty. Thus every circumstance concurs in rendering the mule more prolific than the bar­deau; for ardour of temperament in the male, which is so necessary to successful generation and the number produced, is hurtful in the fe­male, and almost always prevents conception and retention.

This fact holds generally both in man and the other animals. Cold women, joined to ardent men, produce a number of children. A woman, on the contrary, who feels too acutely the emo­tions of love, is seldom fertile. But, in most women who are merely passive, the effect is more certain; because the fruit of generation is less disturbed by the convulsions of pleasure. These are so marked, and so destructive to conception, in some females, such as the she­ass, that she requires cold water to be thrown on her crupper, and even heavy blows, in or­der to repress them. Without such disagreeable aids, the she-ass would never be impregnated, till age abated the fury of her passion. The same means are sometimes employed to make mares conceive.

But, it may be said, that female dogs and cats, who seem to be more ardent than the mare and she-ass, never fail to conceive; and, there­fore, [Page 24] that the fact advanced concerning the in­fecundity of females whose feelings are exqui­site, is too general, and admits of many excep­tions. But the example of dogs and cats, in­stead of being an exception, is rather a confir­mation of the general rule; for, in the bitch, however violent the convulsions of the internal organs may be supposed, they have full time to be appeased during the long interval between consummation and the retreat of the male, who cannot detach himself till the turgidity and irri­tation of the parts subside. The female cat is in a similar situation. Of all females, she ap­pears to be the most ardent in her amours; for she calls to the males with lamentable cries, which announce the most pressing necessity. But, as in the dog, from a particular conforma­tion of the male cat, this violent female never misses conception. Her desires, which are exces­sive, are necessarily tempered with a pain almost equally acute. The glans of the male cat is co­vered with large sharp prickles. The intro­mission of it, therefore, must be extremely pain­ful to the female, who announces her sufferings by loud cries. The pain is so great, that she instantly makes every effort to escape, and the male, to retain her, is obliged to seize her by the neck with his teeth, and to compell submission from the very female who had invited his em­braces

[Page 25] In domestic animals, who are well fed and taken care of, multiplication is greater than in those who continue in a wild state. Of this we have an example in domestic dogs and cats, who produce several times every year; but, when in a natural state, they produce only once in the same period. Domestic birds furnish an example still more striking: Can the fecundity of any species of wild birds be compared to that of a well fed hen, when properly served with a cock? And, even in the human species, what a vast difference betwen the scanty propagation of sa­vages, and the immense population of civilized nations, under the administration of a wise go­vernment? But we here confine ourselves to the fecundity natural to animals in full possession of liberty, the relative fertility of whom is exhi­bited in the following Table, from which some important conclusions may be drawn.

TABLE of the Relative Fecundity of ANIMALS.
Names.Age at which males can engender, and females produce.Times of gestation.Number of young produced at a litter.Age at which males cease to engender, and females to produce.
 MALE.FEMALE.  MALE.FEMALE.
 Years.Years.  Years.Years.
Elephant30302 years1 in 3 or 4 yearslives 200 
Rhinoceros15 or 2015 or 20. . . .1lives 70 or 80 
Hippopotamus. . . .. . . .. . . .1. . . . 
Walrus. . . .. . . .9 months1. . . . 
Camel441 year nearly1lives 40 or 50 
Dromedary44idem1lives 40 or 50 
Horse211 months1, sometimes 2at 25 or 30at 18 or 20
Zebra2211 ditto1, rarely 2at 25 or 30at 18 or 20
Ass2211 do. & more1, rarely 2at 25 or 30at 25 or 30
Buffalo339 months1lives 15 or 18 
Ox29 ditto1, rarely 2at 9at 9
Stag8 do. & more1, rarely 2lives 30 or 35 
Rain-deer228 months1lives 16 
Lama33. . . .1, rarely 2at 12at 12
Man14129 months1, sometimes 2  
Large apes33. . . .1, sometimes 2  
Mouflon15 ditto1, sometimes 2, twice a year in hot climatesat 8at 10 or 12
[Page]Saiga115 months1, sometimes 2lives 15 or 20 
Roebuck25 ditto1, 2, sometimes 3lives 12 or 15 
Chamois goat115 ditto1, 2, rarely 3lives 20 
Goat17 months5 ditto1, 2, rarely 3, and never a­bove 4at 7at 7
Sheep115 ditto1, sometimes 2, twice a year, in warm climatesat 8at 10 or 12
Seal. . . .. . . .several months2 or 3  
Bear22ditto1, 2, 3, 4, and never above 5lives 20 or 25 
Badger. . . .. . . .. . . .3 or 4  
Lion22. . . .3 or 4 once a yearlives 20 or 25 
Leopards and Tiger22. . . .4 or 5 once a year  
Wolf2273 days or more5, 6, to 9, once a yearat 15 or 20at 15 or 20
Dog in a na­tural state9 or 10 months9 or 10 months63 days3, 4, 5, 6at 15at 15
[Page]Isatis. . . .. . . .63 days6 and 7  
Fox11In season in winter, and produces in A­pril3, 4, to 6at 10 or 11at 10 or 11
Jackal. . . .. . . .. . . .2, 3, or 4  
Cat in a natu­ral statebefore 1before 156 days4, 5, or 6at 9at 9
Martin1156 days, it is said3, 4, and 6at 8 or 10at 8 or 10
Pine Weasel11idem3, 4, and 6at 8 or 10at 8 or 10
Polecat11idem3, 4, and 5gener. dur. lifeprod. during life
Weasel1st year1 st year. . . .3, 4, and 5idemidem
Ermineidemidem. . . .idemidemidem
Squirrel11copulates in March, and produces in May3 or 4idemidem
Flying Squirrel. . . .. . . .. . . .3 or 4  
Hedgehog1140 days3, 4, and 5  
Dormice1st year1 st year. . . .3, 4, and 5lives 6 
Musk Rats. . . .. . . .. . . .4, 5, or 6  
Opossums. . . .. . . .. . . .4, 5, 6, and 7  
[Page]Hogs1 year or 9 mos.1 year or 9 mos.4 months10, 12, 15, to 20, twice a yearat 15at 15
Armadillos. . . .. . . .. . . .4 several times a year  
Hare1st year1st year30 or 31 days2, 3, 4, several times a yearlives 7 or 8 
Rabbit5 or 6 months5 or 6 monthsidem4, 5, to 8, seve­ral times a yearidem 
Ferret1st year1st year40 days5, 6, to 9, twice a yearduring life 
Ratsidemidem5 or 6 weeks5 or 6 several times a yearidem 
Field Miceidemidem1 month or 5 weeks9 or 10 several times a year  
Mouseidemidemidem5 or 6 several times a yearidem 
Brown Ratidemidem. . . .12 to 19 thrice a yearidem 
Guinea pig5 or 6 weeks5 or 6 weeks3 weekseight times a year; 1st litter 4 or 5; 2d, 5 or 6; and the others 7, 8, to 11lives 6 or 7, and produces du­ring life 

[Page 30] This is the order in which Nature has present­ed to us the different degrees of fecundity in quadrupeds; and from it we perceive, that this fecundity diminishes in proportion to the mag­nitude of the animal. In general, this same scale of fecundity extends to all the other tribes of animated Nature. Small birds are more prolific than the larger kinds. The same thing holds in fishes, and perhaps in insects. But, confining our remarks to quadrupeds alone, it appears from the above table, that the hog is the only excep­tion to the general rule; for, from the size of his body, he should be ranked with those ani­mals which produce only two or three, once in twelve months, while, in fact, he is equally pro­lific with the small quadrupeds.

This table contains all that is known with re­gard to the fertility of pure species. But the fecundity of mixed species, which is always less than that of the pure, merits particular atten­tion. The reason will be apparent, by suppo­sing, for example, that all the males in the horse species, and all the she-asses, or, rather, all the jack-asses and all the mares, were destroyed: In this case, those mixed animals alone, which we call mules and bardeaux, would be produced; and the number brought forth would be much fewer than that of horses or asses; because the natural conformities or relations between the horse and she-ass, or between the jack-ass and mare, are less than between the horse and mare, or the male [Page 31] and female ass. It is the number of conformi­ties and dissimilarities which constitutes or distin­guishes species; and, since the species of the ass has at all times been separated from that of the horse, it is apparent, that, by mixing these two species, whether by means of females or males, we diminish the number of conformities which constitute the species. Hence the males will en­gender and the females produce seldomer, and with more difficulty; and even those mixed species, if their conformities were fewer, would become entirely barren. Mules of every kind, there­fore, must be rare; because it is only from be­ing deprived of its natural female, that any ani­mal will intermix with a female of a different species. Even when mongrel animals approach each other with some degree of warmth, their produce is neither so certain nor so frequent as in pure species, where the number of conformi­ties is greater. Now, the produce of mixed spe­cies will be less frequent, in proportion to the infecundity of the pure species from whom they proceed; and the produce of animals proceed­ing from mixed species will always diminish in proportion as they recede from the original stock; because the conformities between them and any other animal are augmented. For example, I am persuaded, from the reasons above assigned, that an intercourse between two bardeaux would be abortive. Besides, these animals proceed from two species which are not very fertile, and are [Page 32] also under the influence of the same causs which often prevent the she-ass from conceiving with her own male. I am more uncertain with re­gard to the sterility of mules properly so called; because they are not liable to the last cause of barrenness; for, as the mare conceives more ea­sily than the she-ass, and the jack-ass is more ar­dent than the horse, their respective prolific pow­ers are greater, and their produce not so rare as that of the she-ass and horse. The mules, of course, will be less barren than the bardeaux. I suspect, however, that two mules never engen­der; and I presume, even from the examples of fertile mules, that they owe their impregnation to the ass, rather than to the mule; for we ought not to regard the he-mule as the natural male of the she-mule, though they both have the same name, or rather, differ only in sex.

To explain this matter, let us suppose an or­der of kindred in species, like that which takes place in families. The horse and mare will be brother and sister in species, and parents in the first degree. It is the same with the male and female ass. But, if the male ass is given to the mare, they are only counsins in species, or kin­dred in the second degree. The mule produced by them, participating one half of both species, will be removed to the third degree of kindred. Hence the male and female mule, though pro­ceeding from the same father and mother, in­stead of being brother and sister in species, are [Page 33] only kindred in the fourth degree; and, of course, will produce more difficultly between themselves, than the jack-ass and mare, who are kindred species in the second degree. For the same reason, the male and female mules will not produce so easily between themselves, as with the mare or ass; because the kindred of the latter in species is only in the third degree, while that of the former is in the fourth degree. The infe­cundity, which appears in the second degree, should be more conspicuous in the third, and perhaps absolute in the fourth.

In general, kindred of species is one of those mysteries of Nature, which man can never un­ravel, without a long continued and difficult se­ries of experiments. How can we otherwise learn, than by the union of different species of animals many thousand times repeated, the de­gree of their kindred? Is the ass more allied to the horse than the zebra? Does the wolf ap­proach nearer to the dog than the fox or jackal? At what distance from man shall we place the large apes, who resemble him so perfectly in con­formation of body? Are all the species of ani­mals the same now that they were orginally? Has not their number augmented, instead of be­ing diminished? Have not the feeble species been destroyed by the stronger, or by the tyran­ny of man, the number of whom has become a thousand times greater than that of any other large animal? What relations can be established be­tween [Page 34] kindred species, and another kindred still better known, that of different races in the same species? Does not a race, like the mixed species, proceed from an anomalous individual, which forms the original stock? In the dog spe­cies, there is, perhaps, a race so rare, that it is more difficult to procreate than the mixed species proceeding from the ass and mare. How many questions does this subject admit of; and how few of them are we in a condition to resolve? How many facts must be discovered before we can even form probable conjectures? However, instead of being discouraged, the philosopher ought to applaud Nature, even when she is most mysterious, and to rejoice that, in proportion as he removes one part of her veil, she exhibits an immensity of other objects, all worthy of his researches. For, what we already know ought to point out what may still be known. There is no boundary to the human intellect. It ex­tends in proportion as the universe is displayed. Hence man can and ought to attempt every thing: He wants nothing but time to enable him to ob­tain universal knowledge. By multiplying his observations, he might foresee all the phaeno­mena and all the events of Nature with equal certainty, as if he deduced them from their im­mediate causs: And what enthusiasm can be more pardonable, or rather more noble, than to believe that man is capable, by his labours, to [Page 35] discover all the powers and mysteries of Na­ture!

These labours consist chiefly in making obser­vations and experiments, from which we disco­ver new truths. For example, the union of animals of different species, by which alone we can learn their kindred, has never been suffi­ciently tried. The facts we have been able to collect concerning this union, whether volun­tary or forced, are so few, that we are not in a condition to ascertain the existence of jumars. This name was first given to mules said to have proceeded from the bull and mare; but it has likewise been applied to denote mongrels alledged to have been procreated by the jack-ass and cow. Dr Shaw tells us, that, in the provinces of Tu­nis and Algiers, 'there is a little serviceable beast of burden, called Kumrah, begot betwixt an ass and a cow. That which I saw at Al­giers (where it was not looked upon as a rari­ty) was single hoofed like the ass, but distin­guished from it in having a sleeker skin, with the tail and the head (though without horns) in fashion of the dam's*.

Thus we have already two kinds of jumars, the one proceeding from the bull and mare, and the other from the jack-ass and cow. A third is mentioned by Merolle, and is pretended to proceed from the bull and she-ass. ‘'There was a beast of burden which proceeds from [Page 36] the bull and she-ass, and is obtained by cover­ing the ass with a cow's skin, in order to de­ceive the bull*.'’

But I am equally doubtful concerning the ex­istence of all the three kinds of jumar; though I pretend not to deny the possibility of the fact. I have even enumerated some facts which prove an actual copulation between animals of very different species: But their embraces were ineffec­tual. Nothing seems to be more remote from the amiable character of the dog than the brutal manners and instinct of the hog; and the form of their bodies is as different as their natural dis­positions. I have seen, however, two examples of a violent attachment between a dog and a sow. Even during this very summer 1774, a large spaniel discovered a violent passion for a sow which was in season: They were shut up together for several days; and all the domestics were witnesses of the mutual ardour of these two animals. The dog exerted many violent efforts to copulate with the sow; but the dissimilarity of their organs prevented their union. The same thing happened some years before. Hence animals, though of very different species, may contract a strong affection to each other; for it is certain, that, in the above examples, nothing prevented the union of the dog and sow but the [Page 37] conformation of their organs. It is not equally certain, however, that, if consummation had ta­ken place, production would have followed. It often happens, that animals of different species spontaneously unite. These voluntary unions ought to be prolific, since they imply that the natural repugnance, which is the chief obstacle, is surmounted, and also a conformity between the organs. No fertility, however, has resulted from such commixtures. Of this an example recently passed before my own eyes. In 1767, and some succeeding years, the miller at my estate of Buffon kept a mare and a bull in the same stable, who contracted such a passion for each other, that, as often as the mare came in season, the bull covered her three or four times every day. These embraces were repeated during se­veral years, and gave the master of the animals great hopes of seeing their offspring. Nothing, however, resulted from them. All the inhabi­tants of the place were witnesses to this fact, which proves, that, in our climate at least, the bull cannot procreate with the mare, and renders this first kind of jumar extremely suspicious. I have not equal evidence to oppose to the second kind, which Dr Shaw says proceeds from the jack-ass and cow. I acknowledge, that, though the dis­similarities in structure appear to be nearly e­qual in both cases, the positive testimony of a traveller so well informed as Dr Shaw, seems to give a greater degree of probability to the exist­ence [Page 38] of this second kind of jumar than we have for the first. With regard to the third jumar, proceeding from the bull and she-ass, I am per­suaded, notwithstanding the authority of Merolle, that it has no more existence than the one sup­posed to be produced by the bull and mare. The nature of the bull is still farther removed from that of the she-ass, than from that of the mare: And the unfertility of the mare and bull, which is ascertained by the above examples, should apply with greater force to the union of the bull and ass.

The NOMENCLATURE of APES.

TO teach children, and to address men, are two very different tasks. Children receive, without examination, and even with avidity, the arbitrary and the real, the true and the false, whenever they are presented to them under the form of precepts. Men, on the contrary, re­ject with contempt all precepts which are not founded on solid principles. We shall, there­fore, adopt none of those methodical distribu­tions by which, under the appellation of Ape, a multitude of animals, belonging to very different species, have been huddled together in one in­discriminate mass.

What I call an ape is an animal without a tail, whose face is flat, whose teeth, hands, fingers, and nails resemble those of man, and who, like him, walk erect on two feet. This definition, derived from the nature of the animal itself, and from its relations to man, excludes all animals who have tails; all those who have prominent faces or long muzzles; all those who have crook­ed or sharp claws; and all those who walk more willingly on four than on two legs. According to this precise idea, let us examine how many species of animals ought to be ranked under the denomination of ape. The antients knew only [Page 40] one. The pithecos of the Greeks, and the simia of the Latins, is a true ape, and was the subject upon which Aristotle, Pliny, and Galen insti­tuted all the physical relations they discovered between that animal and man. But this ape, or pigmy of the antients, which so strongly re­sembles man in external structure, and still more strongly in its internal organization, differs from him, however, by a quality, which, though rela­tive in itself, is not the less essential. This qua­lity is magnitude. The stature of man, in ge­neral, exceeds five feet; that of the pithecus, or pigmy, never rises above one fourth of this height. Hence, if this ape had been still more similar to man, the antients would have been ju­stified for regarding it only as an homunculus, an imperfect dwarf, a pigmy, capable of combating with cranes; while man knew how to tame the elephant and conquer the lion.

But, since the discovery of the southern re­gions of Africa and India, we have found another ape possessing this quality of magnitude; an ape as tall and as strong as man, and equally ardent for women as for its own females; an ape who knows how to bear arms, to attack his enemies with stones, and to defend himself with clubs. Besides, he resembles man still more than the pigmy; for, independent of his having no tail, of his flat face, of the resemblance of his arms, hands, toes, and nails to ours, and of his walk­ing constantly on end, he has a kind of visage [Page 41] with features which approach to those of the human countenance, a beard on his chin, and no more hair on his body than men have, when in a state of nature. Hence the inhabitants of his country, the civilized Indians, have not he­sitated to associate him with the human species, under the denomination of Orang-outang, or wild man; while the Negroes, almost equally wild, and as ugly as these apes, who imagine not that civilization exalts our nature, have gi­ven it the appellation of Pongo, which is the name of a beast, and has no relation to man. This orang-outang or pongo is only a brute, but a brute of a kind so singular, that man cannot behold it without contemplating himself, and without being thoroughly convinced that his bo­dy is not the most essential part of his nature.

Thus, we have discovered two animals, the pigmy and the orang-outang, to which the name of ape ought to be applied. There is a third, to which, though more deformed both in relation to man and to the ape, this appellation cannot be refused. This animal, which till now was unknown, and was brought from the East Indies, under the name of gibbon, walks on end, like the other two, and has a flat face. He likewise wants a tail. But his arms, instead of being pro­portioned to the height of his body, like those of man, the orang-outang, or the pigmy, are so enormously long, that, when standing on his two feet, he touches the ground with his hands, [Page 42] without bending either his body or limbs. This ape is the third and last to which the name ought to be applied: In this genus, he constitutes a sin­gular or monstrous species, like the race of thick-legged men, said to inhabit the island of Saint-Thomas*.

After the apes, another tribe of animals pre­sent themselves, to which we shall give the ge­neric name of baboon. To distinguish them more accurately from the other kinds, let it be remarked, that the baboon has a short tail, a long face, a broad high muzzle, canine teeth, proportionally larger than those of man, and callosities on its buttocks. By this definition, we exclude from the baboon tribe all the apes, who have no tail; all the monkeys, whose tails are as long or longer than their bodies; and all those who have thin, sharp pointed muzzles. The antients had no proper names for these ani­mals. Aristotle alone seems to have pointed out one of the baboons under the name simia porca­ria , though he has given but a very imperfect idea of the animal. The Italians first called it babuino; the Germans, bavion; the French, ba­bouin; [Page 43] the British, baboon; and all the modern writers of Latin, papio. We shall call it baboon, to distinguish it from the other species which have since been discovered in the southern re­gions of Africa and India. We are acquainted with three species of these animals: 1. The ba­boon properly so called, which is found in Lybia, Arabia, &c. and is probably the simia porcaria of Aristotle. 2. The mandrill, or ribbed-nose, is still larger than the baboon, has a violet colour­ed face, the nose and cheeks ribbed with deep oblique furrows, and is found in Guinea and in the warmest provinces of Africa. 3. The ou­anderou, which is smaller than the baboon and mandrill; its body is thinner, its head and face are surrounded with a kind of long bushy mane, and is found in Ceylon, Malabar, and other southern regions of India. Thus we have pro­perly defined three species of apes, and three species of baboons, which are all very different from one another.

But, as Nature knows none of our definitions, as she has not classed her productions by bundles or genera, and as her progress is always gradual and marked by minute shades, some intermediate animal should be found between the ape and baboon. This intermediate species actually ex­ists, and is the animal which we call magot, or the Barbary ape. It occupies a middle station between our two definitions. It forms the shade between the apes and baboons. It differs from [Page 44] the first by having a long muzzle and large ca­nine teeth; and, from the second, because it ac­tually wants the tail, though it has an appendix of skin, which has the appearance of a very small tail. Of course, it is neither an ape nor a baboon, but, at the same time, partakes of the nature of both. This animal, which is very common in Higher Egypt, as well as in Barbary, was known to the antients. The Greeks and Romans called it cynocephalus, because its muz­zle resembled that of a dog. Let us now arrange these animals in their proper order: The orang-outang is the first ape; the pigmy the second; and the gibbon, though different in figure, the third; the cynocephalus or magot the fourth ape, or the first baboon; the papio is the first baboon; the mandrill the second; and the ouanderou, or little baboon, the third. This order is neither arbitrary nor fictitious, but agreeable to the scale of Nature.

After the apes and baboons, come the guenons, or monkeys; that is, animals resembling the apes and baboons, but which have tails as long, or longer than their bodies. The word guenon has, for some ages, had two acceptations different from that we have here given it: It is general­ly employed to signify small apes, and sometimes to denote the female of the ape. But, more an­tiently, we called singes, or magots, the apes with­out a tail, and guenons, or mones, those which had long tails. This fact appears from the [Page 45] works of some travellers* in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The word guenon is pro­bably derived from kébos, or képos, which the Greeks employed to denote the long-tailed apes. These kébes, or guenons, are smaller and weaker than the apes and baboons. They are easily di­stinguishable from one another by this difference, and particularly by their long tail. With equal ease, they may be distinguished from the makis or maucaucos; because they have not a sharp muzzle, and instead of six cutting teeth, like the makis, they have only four, like the apes and baboons. We know eight species of gue­nons; and, to prevent confusion, we shall be­stow on each a proper name: 1. The macaque, or hare-lipped monkey; 2. The patas, or red monkey; 3. The malbrouk; 4. The mangabey, or monkey with the upper eye-lids of a pure white colour; 5. The mone, or varied monkey; 6 The callitrix, or green monkey: 7. The moustac, or whiskered monkey; 8. The talapoin; 9. The douc, or monkey of Cochinchina. The antient Greeks knew only two of these guenons, [Page 46] or long-tailed monkeys, namely, the mone and the callitrix, who are natives of Arabia and the northern parts of Africa. They had no idea of the other kinds; because these are only found in the southern provinces of Africa and the East Indies, countries entirely unknown in the days of Aristotle. This great philosopher, and the Greeks in general, were too wise to confound beings by common, and, therefore, equivocal names. They called the ape without a tail pi­thecos, and the monkey with a long tail, kébos. As they knew these animals to be distinct spe­cies, they gave to each a proper name, derived from their most striking characters. All the apes and baboons which they knew, namely, the pigmy, the cynocephalus, or magot, and the simia porcaria, or papio, have their hair nearly of a uniform colour. But the monkey, which we have called mone, and the Greeks kébos, has hair of different colours, and is generally known by the name of the varied ape. This species of monkey was most common, and best known in the days of Aristotle; and, from its most distin­guished character, he called it kébos, which, in Greek, signifies varieties in colour. Thus all the animals belonging to the class of apes, baboons, and monkeys, mentioned by Aristotle, are redu­ced to four, the pithecos, the cynocephalos, the simia porcaria, and the kébos; which we believe to be the pigmy, the magot, or Barbary ape, the baboon, and the mone, or varied monkey, not [Page 47] only because they agree with the characters gi­ven of them by Aristotle, but likewise because the other species must have been unknown to the antients, since they are natives of countries into which the Greek travellers had never penetrated.

Two or three centuries after Aristotle, we find, in the Greek writers, two new names, cal­lithrix and cercopithecos, both relative to the gue­nons, or long-tailed monkeys. In proportion as discoveries were made of the southern regions of Africa and Asia, we found new animals, and other species of monkeys: And, as most of these monkeys had not, like the kébos, various colours, the Greeks invented the generic name cercopi­thecos, or tailed ape, to denote all the species of monkeys or apes with long tails; and, having re­marked, among these new species, a monkey with hair of a lively greenish colour, they called it callithrix, which signifies beautiful hair. This callithrix is found in the south part of Maurita­nia, and in the neighbourhood of Cape de Verd, and is commonly known by the name of the green ape.

With regard to the other seven species of monkeys, mentioned above under the appella­tions of makaque, patas, malbrouk, mangabey, moustac, talapoin, and douc, they were unknown to the Greeks and Latins. The makaque is a native of Congo; the patas, of Senegal; the man­gabey, of Madagascar; the malbrouk, of Bengal; the moustac, of Guinea; the talapoin, of Siam; [Page 84] and the douc, of Cochinchina. All these terri­tories were equally unknown to the antients.

As the progress of Nature is uniform and gra­dual, we find between the baboons and monkeys an intermediate species, like that of the magot between the apes and baboons. The animal which fills this interval has a great resemblance to the monkeys, particularly to the makaque; its muzzle, at the same time, is very broad, and its tail short, like that of the baboons. Being ignorant of its name, we have called it maimon, or pig-tailed baboon, to distinguish it from the others. It is a native of Sumatra. Of all the monkeys or baboons, it alone has a naked tail; and, for this reason, several authors have given it the denomination of the pig-tailed, or rat-tailed ape.

We have now enumerated all the animals of the Old World, to whom the common name of ape has been applied, though they belong not only to different species, but to different genera. To augment the confusion, the same names of ape, cynocephalus, kébos, and cercopithecos, which had been invented by the Greeks fifteen centu­ries ago, have been bestowed on animals pecu­liar to the New World, though so recently dis­covered. They never dreamed that none of the African or East Indian animals had any existence in the southern regions of the New Continent. In America, we have discovered animals with hands and fingers. This similarity was alone [Page 49] sufficient to procure to them the name of apes, without considering that, for the transfe­rence of a name, identity of genus, and even of species, is necessary. Now, these American animals, of which we shall make two clas­ses, under the appellations of sapajous, or mon­keys with prehensile tails; and sagoins, or mon­keys with long tails, which are not prehensile, or want the faculty of laying hold of any ob­ject, are very different from the apes of Asia and Africa; and, in the same manner, as no apes, ba­boons, or monkeys are to be found in the New World, there are neither sapajous nor sagoins in the Old. Though we have already given a ge­neral view of these facts, in our dissertation con­cerning the animals of both Continents, we can now prove them in a more particular manner, and demonstrate, that, of seventeen species, to which all the animals of the Old World called apes, may be reduced, and, of twelve or thir­teen in the New World, to whom this name has been transferred, none of them are the same, or to be found equally in both Worlds; for, of the seventeen species in the Old Continent, three or four apes must first be retrenched, who certainly exist not in America, and to whom the sapajous and sagoins have no resemblance. In the second place, three or four baboons must likewise be retrenched: They are larger than the sapajous and sagoins, and also very different in figure. There remain only nine monkeys with whom [Page 50] any comparison can be instituted. Now, all these monkeys, as well as the apes and baboons, have general and particular characters, which separate them entirely from the sapajous and sa­goins. The first of these characters is to have naked buttocks, and natural callosities peculiar to these parts: The second is to have abajoues, or pouches under the cheeks, in which they can keep their victuals. The third is to have a nar­row partition between the nostrils, and the a­pertures of the nostrils themselves placed in the under part of the nose, like those of man. The sapajous and sagoins have none of these charac­ters. The partition between their nostrils is al­ways very thick; the apertures of their nostrils are situated in the sides of the nose, and not in the under part of it. They have hair on their buttocks, and no callosities. They have no pouches under the cheeks. Hence they differ from the monkeys not only in species, but in genus, since they possess none of the general characters which are common to the whole tribe of monkeys. This difference of genus necessa­rily implies greater differences in species, and shows that these animals are very remote from each other.

It is with much impropriety, therefore, that the names ape and monkey have been applied to the sapajous and sagoins. We must preserve their names, and, instead of associating them with the apes, we should begin by comparing [Page 51] them with one another. These two tribes dif­fer from each other by a remarkable character: All the sapajous use their tail as a finger to hang upon branches, or to lay hold of any object they cannot reach with their hand. The sagoins, on the contrary, have not the power of employing their tail in this manner. Their face, ears, and hair are also different: We may, therefore, sepa­rate them into two distinct genera. In giving the history of the species, I shall avoid all those denominations which can only apply to the apes, baboons, and monkeys, and preserve the names they receive in their native country.

We are acquainted with six or seven species of sapajous, and six of sagoins, most of which have some varieties. We have carefully search­ed all the writings of travellers in order to dis­cover the proper name of each species; because the names they receive in the places they inhabit, generally point out some peculiar characteristic, which alone is sufficient to distinguish them from one another.

With regard to the varieties, which, in this class of animals, are perhaps more numerous than the species, we shall endeavour to refer each of them to their proper kinds. We have had forty of these animals alive, each of which differed more or less from one another; and to us it appears that the whole may be reduced to thirty species, namely, three apes, and an inter­mediate species between them and the baboons; [Page 52] three baboons, and an intermediate species be­tween them and the monkeys; nine monkeys; seven sapajous; and six sagoins. All the others, or at least most of them, ought to be regarded as varieties only. But, as we are uncertain whether some of these varieties may not be distinct spe­cies, we shall endeavour to give all of them proper names.

On this occasion, let us consider terrestrial animals, some of which have a great resem­blance to man, in a new point of view. The whole have improperly received the general name of quadrupeds. If the exceptions were few, we would not have found fault with the application of this name. It was formerly remarked, that our definitions and denomina­tions, however general, never comprehend the whole; that beings always exist which elude the most cautious definitions which ever were in­vented; that intermediate beings are always dis­covered; that several of them, though appa­rently holding a middle station, escape from the list; and that the general names, under which we mean to include them, are incomplete; be­cause Nature should only be considered by uni­ties, and not by aggregates; because man has invented general denominations with the sole view of aiding his memory, and supplying the defects of his understanding; and because he afterwards foolishly considered these general names as realities; and, in fine, because he has [Page 53] endeavoured to comprehend under them beings, and even whole classes of beings, which required different appellations. I can give an example, without departing from the class of quadrupeds, which, of all animals, we are best acquaint­ed with, and, of course, were in a condition to have bestowed on them the most precise de­nominations.

The name quadruped supposes that the ani­mal has four feet. If it wants two feet, like the manati; if it has arms and hands, like the ape; or if it has wings, like the bat, it is not a quadruped. Hence this general term, when applied to these animals, is abused. To obtain precision in words, the ideas they present must be strictly true. If we had a term for two hands similar to that which denotes two feet, we might then say that man was the only biped and bima­nus, because he alone has two hands and two feet; that the manati is a bimonus; that the bat is only a biped; and that the ape is a quadrima­nus, or four-handed animal. Let us now apply these new denominations to all the particular beings to which they belong, and we shall find, that, from about two hundred animals who go under the common name of quadrupeds, thirty-five species of apes, baboons, monkeys, sapajous, sagoins, and makis, must be retrenched, because they are quadrimani, or four-handed; and that to these thirty-five species, the loris, or tailless maucauco, the Virginian, murine, and Mexican [Page 54] opossum, the Egyptian and woolly jerboa's, &c. should be added, because they are four­handed like the apes and monkeys. Thus the list of four-handed animals being at least forty species, the real number of quadrupeds is one fifth diminished. We must likewise retrench twelve or fifteen species of bipeds, namely, the bats, whose fore-feet are rather wings than feet, and likewise three or four jerboa's, because they can walk on their hind feet only, the fore-feet being too short. If we subtract also the manati, which has no hind feet, the arctic and Indian walrus, and the seals, to whom the hind feet are useless; and, if we still retrench those animals which use their fore-feet like hands, as the bears, the marmots, the coati's the a­gouti's, the squirrels, the rats, and many others, the denomination of quadruped will appear to be applied improperly to more than one half of these animals. The whole and cloven-hoof­ed are indeed the only real quadrupeds. When we descend to the digitated class, we find four-handed, or ambiguous quadrupeds, who use their fore-feet as hands, and ought to be sepa­rated or distinguished from the others. Of whole-hoofed animals, there are three species, the horse, the ass, and the zebra. If to these we add the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippo­potamus, and the camel, whose feet, though terminated by nails, are solid, and serve the a­nimals for walking only, we shall have seven [Page 55] species to which the name of quadruped is per­fectly applicable. The number of cloven-hoof­ed animals greatly exceeds that of the whole­hoofed. The oxen, the sheep, the goats, the antilopes, the bubalus, the lama, the pacos, the the giraffe, the elk, the rain-deer, the stag, the fallow-deer, the roebuck, &c. are all cloven­footed, and constitute about forty species. Thus we have already fifty animals, ten whole and forty cloven-hoofed, to whom the name qua­druped is properly applied. In the digitated animals, the lion, tiger, panther, leopard, lynx, cat, wolf, dog, fox, hyaena, badger, polecat, weasels, ferret, porcupines, hedgehogs, arma­dillos, ant-eaters, and hogs, which last consti­tute the shade between the digitated and cloven­footed tribes, form a number consisting of more than forty species, to which the term of qua­druped applies with perfect precision; because, though their fore-feet be divided into four or five toes, they are never used as hands. But all the other digitated species, who use their fore-feet in carrying food to their mouths, are not, in strict propriety of language, quadrupeds. These species, which likewise amount to forty, make an intermediate class between quadru­peds and four-handed animals, being neither the one nor the other. Hence, to more than a fourth of our animals, the name of quadruped does not apply: and, to more than a half of them, the application of it is incomplete.

[Page 56] The four-handed animals fill the interval be­tween man and the animals; and the two-hand­ed species constitute a mean term in the distance between man and the cetaceous tribes. The bipeds with wings form the shade between qua­drupeds and birds; and the digitated species, who use their fore-feet as hands, fill the whole space between the quadrupeds and the four­handed kinds. But I will pursue this sub­ject no farther: However useful it may be for acquiring a distinct knowledge of animals, it is still more so by affording a fresh proof, that all our definitions or general terms want pre­cision, when applied to the objects or beings which they represent.

But why are these definitions and general terms, which appear to be the most brilliant exer­tions of the human intellect, so defective in their application? Does the error necessarily arise from the narrow limits of our understanding? Or, rather, does it not proceed solely from our in­capacity of combining and perceiving at one time a great number of objects? Let us com­pare the works of Nature with those of man. Let us examine how both operate, and inquire whether the mind, however acute, can follow the same route, without loosing itself in the immensity of space, in the obscurity of time, or in the infinity of related beings. When man directs his mind to any object, if his per­ceptions be accurate, he takes the straight line, [Page 57] runs over the smallest space, and employs the least possible time in accomplishing his end. What an expence of thought, how many com­binations are necessary to avoid those deceitful and fallacious roads which at first present them­selves in such numbers, that the choice of the right path requires the nicest discrnment? This path, however, is not beyond the reach of the human intellect, which can proceed without deviating from the straight line. The mind is enabled to arrive at a point by means of a line; and, if another point must be gained, it can only be attained by another line. The train of our ideas is a delicate thread, which extends in length, without any other dimensions. Nature, on the contrary, never moves a step which extends not on all sides, and runs at once through the three dimensions of length, breadth, and thickness. While man reaches but one point, Nature accomplishes a solid, by penetrating the whole parts which com­pose a mass. In bestowing form on brute matter, our statuaries, by the union of art and time, are enabled to make a surface which exactly represents the outside of an object. Every point of this sur­face requires a thousand combinations. Their genius is directly exerted upon as many lines as there are strokes in the figure. The smallest deviation would be a deformity. This marble, so perfect that it seems to breathe, is, of course, only a multitude of points at which the artist arrives by a long succession of labour; because human genius, being unable to seize more than [Page 58] one dimension at the same time, and our senses reaching no farther than surfaces, we cannot pe­netrate matter: But Nature, in a moment, puts every particle in motion. She produces forms by exertions almost instantaneous. She at once developes them in all their dimensions. As soon as her movements reach the surface, the penetra­ting forces with which she is animated operate internally. The smallest atom, when she chooses to employ it, is instantly compelled to obey. Hence she acts, at the same time, on all sides, before, behind, above, below, on the right and left; and, consequently, she embraces not only the surface, but every particle of the mass. How different likewise is the product? What compari­son is there between a statue and an organized bo­dy? How unequal, at the same time, are the pow­ers, how disproportioned the instruments? Man can employ only the power he possesses. Limited to a small quantity of motion, which he can only communicate by the mode of impulsion, his exer­tions are confined to surfaces; because, in general, the impulsive force is only transmitted by super­ficial contact. He neither sees nor touches more than the surfaces of bodies; and, when he wishes to attain a more intimate knowledge, though he opens and divides, still he sees and touches no­thing more than their surfaces. To penetrate the interior parts of bodies, he would require a por­tion of that force which acts upon the mass, or, of gravity, which is Nature's chief instrument. If man could employ this penetrating force as [Page 59] he does that of impulsion, or if he had a sense relative to it, he would be enabled to perceive the essence of matter, and to arrange small por­tions of it, in the same manner as Nature ope­rates at large. It is owing to the want of instru­ments, therefore, that human art cannot ap­proach that of Nature. His figures, his pictures, his designs, are only surfaces, or imitations of surfaces; because the images he receives by his senses are all superficial, and he has no mode of giving them a body.

What is true with regard to the arts, applies likewise to the sciences. The latter, however, are not so much limited; because the mind is their chief instrument, and because, in the for­mer, it is subordinate to the senses. But, in the sciences, the mind commands the senses as often as it is employed in thinking and not in opera­ting, in comparing and not in imitating. Now, the mind, though bound up by the senses, though often deceived by their fallacious reports, is nei­ther diminished in its purity nor activity. Man, who naturally loves knowledge, commenced by rectifying and demonstrating the errors of the senses. He has treated them as mechanical instru­ments, the effects of which must be submitted to the test of experiment. Proceeding thus with the balance in one hand, and the compass in the other, he has measured both time and space. He has cognised the whole outside of Nature; and, be­ing unable to penetrate her internal parts by his [Page 60] senses, his deductions concerning them have been drawn from comparison and analogy. He dis­covered that there exists in matter a general force, different from that of impulsion, a force which falls not under the cognisance of our senses, and which, though we are incapable of using it, Nature employs as her universal agent. He has demonstrated, that this force belongs equally to all matter, in proportion to its mass or real quan­tity; and that its action extends to immense distances, decreasing as the spaces augment. Then, turning his views upon living beings, he perceived that heat was another force necessary to their production; that light was a matter en­dowed with infinite elasticity and activity; that the formation and expansion of organized bo­dies were effects of a combination of all these forces; that the extension and growth of ani­mals and vegetables follow the laws of the at­tractive force, and are effected by an augmenta­tion in the three dimensions at the same time; and that a mould, when once formed, must, by these laws of affinity, produce a succession of o­ther moulds perfectly similar to the original. By combining these attributes, common to the animal and vegetable, he recognised, that there existed in both an inexhaustible, circulating store of organic substance; a substance equally real as brute matter; a substance which continues al­ways in a live as the other does in a dead state; a substance universally diffused, which passes from [Page 61] vegetables to animals by means of nutrition, re­turns from animals to vegetables by the process of putrefaction, and maintains a perpetual circu­lation for the animation of beings. He percei­ved, that these active organic particles existed in all organized bodies; that they were combined, in smaller or greater quantities, with dead mat­ter; that they were more abundant in animals, in whom every thing is alive, and more rare in vegetables, in which death predominates, and life seems to be extinct, organization being surcharged with brute matter; and that plants are, of course, deprived of progressive motion, of heat, and of life, exhibiting no other quality of animation but expansion and reproduction. Reflecting on the manner in which these last are accomplished, he discovered that every living being is a mould that has the power of assimilating the substances with which it is nourished; that growth is an effect of this assimilation; that the development of a living body is not a simple augmentation of volume, but an extension in all dimensions, a penetration of new matter through all parts of the mass; that these parts, by increasing propor­tionally to the whole, and the whole proportion­ally to the parts, the form is preserved and con­tinues always the same, till growth is completed; that, when the body has acquired its full expan­sion, the same matter, formerly employed in augmenting its volume, is returned, as superflu­ous, from all the parts to which it had been as­similated, [Page 62] and, by uniting in a common point, forms a new being perfectly similar to the first, and, to attain the same dimensions, requires only to be developed by the same mode of nutrition. He perceived that man, quadrupeds, cetaceous ani­mals, birds, reptiles, insects, trees, and herbs, were nourished, expanded, and reproduced by the same law; and that the mode of their nutrition and generation, though depending on the same gene­ral cause, appeared to be very different, because it could not operate but in a manner relative to the form of each particular species of being. Proceeding gradually in this investigation, he be­gan, after a sucession of ages, to compare ob­jects. To distinguish them from each other, he gave them particular names; and, to unite them under one point of view, he invented general terms. Taking his own body as the physical model of all animated beings, he measured, exa­mined, and compared all their parts, and he dis­covered that the form of every animal that breathes is nearly the same; that, by dissecting an ape we may learn the anatomy of a man; that, taking another animal, we always find the same fund of organization, the same senses, the same viscera, the sames bones, the same flesh, the same motion of the fluids, the same play and ac­tion of the solids. In all of them he found a heart, veins, and arteries, and the same organs, circulation, respiration, digestion, nutrition, and secretion; in all of them, he found a solid struc­ture [Page 63] composed of the same pieces, and nearly situated in the same manner. This plan pro­ceeds uniformly from man to the ape, from the ape to quadrupeds, from quadrupeds to cetaceous animals, to birds, to fishes, and to reptiles: This plan, I say, when well apprehended by the hu­man intellect, exhibits a faithful picture of ani­mated Nature, and affords the most general as well as the most simple view under which she can be considered: And, when we want to ex­tend it, and to pass from the animal to the ve­getable, we perceive this plan, which had at first varied only by shades, gradually degenerating from reptiles to insects, from insects to worms, from worms to zoophytes, from zoophytes to plants; and, though changed in all its external parts, still preserving the same character, the principal features of which are nutrition, growth, and reproduction. These features are common to all organized substances. They are eternal and divine; and, instead of being effaced by time, it only renews and renders them more con­spicuous.

If, from this grand picture of resemblances ex­hibited in animated Nature, as constituting but one family, we pass to that of the differences, where each species claims a separate apartment, and a distinct portrait, we shall find, that, with the exception of a few large kinds, such as the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the tiger, and the lion, which ought to have parti­cular [Page 64] frames, all the others seem to unite with their neighbours, and to form groups of degra­ded similarities, or genera, represented by our nomeclators in a net-work of figures, some of which are supported by the feet, others by the teeth, by the hair, and others by relations still more minute: And, even the apes, whose form seems to be most perfect, or approaches nearest to that of man, present themselves in a group, and require the utmost attention to be distin­guished from each other; because the privilege of separate species depends less on figure than magnitude; and man himself, though a distinct species, and infinitely removed from that of all other animals, being only of a middle size, has a greater number of neighbouring species than the very large kinds. In the history of the orang-outang, we shall find, that, if figure alone be regarded, we might consider this animal as the first of apes, or the most imperfect of men; because, except the intellect, the orang-outang wants nothing that we possess, and, in his body, differs less from man that from the other ani­mals which receive the denomination of apes.

Hence mind, reflection, and language depend not on figure, or on the organization of the bo­dy. These are endowments peculiar to man. The orang-outang, though he neither thinks nor speaks, has a body, members, senses, a brain, and a tongue perfectly similar to those of man: He counterfiets every human movement; but [Page 65] her performs no action that is characteristic of man. This imperfection is perhaps owing to want of education, or to an error in our judg­ment. You compare, it may be said, an ape in the woods with a man in polished society. But, in order to form a proper judgment of them, a savage man and an ape should be viewed toge­ther; for we have no just idea of man in a pure state of nature. The head covered with bristly hair, or with curled wool; the face veiled with a long beard; two crescents of hairs still gros­ser, by their length and prominency contract the front, and not only obscure the eyes, but sink and round them like those of the brutes; the lips thick and protruded; the nose flat; the aspect wild and stupid; the ears, the body, and the members covered with hair; the breasts of the female long and flabby, and the skin of her belly hanging down as far as her knees; the children wallowing in filth, and crawling on their hands and feet; the father and mother sitting squat on their hams, both hideous, and besmeared with corrupted grease. This sketch, drawn from a savage Hottentot, is a flattering portrait; for the distance between man in a pure state of na­ture and a Hottentot, is greater than between a Hottentot and us. But, if we want to compare the ape to man, we must add the relations of or­ganization, the conformities of temperament, the vehement appetite of the males for the females, the same structure of genitals in both sexes, the [Page 66] periodic courses of the female, the voluntary or forced intermixture of the Negresses with the apes, the produce of which has entred into both species; and then consider, on the supposition that they are not the same, how difficult it is to perceive the interval by which they are sepa­rated.

If our judgment were limited to figure alone, I acknowledge that the ape might be regarded as a variety of the human species. The Creator has not formed man's body on a model abso­lutely different from that of the mere animal. He has comprehended the figure of man, as well as that of all other animals, under one general plan. But, at the same time that he has given him a material form similar to that of the ape, he has penetrated this animal body with a di­vine spirit. If he had conferred the same privi­lege, not on the ape, but on the meanest, and what appears to us to be the worst constructed animal, this species would soon have become the rival of man; it would have excelled all the o­ther animals by thinking and speaking. What­ever resemblance, therefore, takes place between the Hottentot and the ape, the interval which separates them is immense; because the former is endowed with the faculties of thought and of speech.

Who will ever be able to ascertain how the organization of an idiot differs from that of ano­ther man? Yet the defect is certainly in the ma­terial [Page 67] organs, since the idiot is likewise endowed with a soul. Now, as between one man and another, where the whole structure is perfectly similar, a difference so small that it cannot be perceived is sufficient to prevent thought, we should not be surprised that it never appears in the ape, who is deprived of the necessary prin­ciple.

The soul, in general, has a proper action to­tally independent of matter. But, as its divine Author has been pleased to unite it to the body, the exercise of its particular acts depends on the state of the material organs. This dependence is apparent, not only from the case of idiots, but from people affected with delirium, from sleep, from new born infants, who cannot think, and from very old men, whom the power of think­ing has forsaken. It is even probable, that the chief effect of education consists not so much in instructing the mind, or maturing its operations, as in modifying the material organs, and bring­ing them into the most favourable state for the exercise of the sentient principle. Now, there are two kinds of education, which ought to be carefully distinguished, because their effects are extremely different; the education of the indi­vidual, which is common to man and the other animals; and the education of the species, which appertains to man alone. A young animal, both from natural encitements and from example, learns, in a few weeks, to do every thing its pa­rents [Page 68] can perform. To an infant, several years are necessary before it acquires this degree of perfection; because, when brought forth, it is incomparably less advanced, weaker, and more imperfectly formed, than the smaller animals. In early infancy, the mind is nothing, when com­pared to the powers it will afterwards acquire. In receiving individual education, therefore, the infant is much slower than the brute; but, for this very reason, it becomes susceptible of that of the species. The multiplicity of succours, the continual cares, which this state of imbecillity for a long time requires, cherish and augment the attachment of the parents. In training the body, they cultivate the mind. The time employed in strengthening the former gives an advantage to the latter. The bodily powers of most ani­mals are more advanced in two months than those of the infant in two years. Hence the time employed in bestowing on the infant its in­dividual education is as twelve to one, without estimating the fruits of what follows after this period, without considering that animals sepa­rate from their parents as soon as they can pro­vide for themselves, and that, not long after this separation, they know each other no more. All education ceases the moment that the aid of the parents become unnecessary. This time of edu­cation being so short, its effects must be very li­mited: It is even astonishing that the animals acquire, in two months, all that is necessary for [Page 69] them during the rest of life: If we suppose that a child, in an equal period, were strong enough to quit his parents, and never return to them, would there be any perceptible difference be­tween this infant and a brute? However inge­nious the parents, they would not have time suf­ficient to modify and prepare his organs, or to establish the smallest communication of thought between their minds and his. They could not excite his memory by impressions frequently e­nough reiterated. They could not even mollify or unfold the organs of speech. Before a child can pronounce a single word, his ears must be struck many thousand times with the same sound; and, before he can make a proper application of it, the same combination of the word and the object to which it relates, must be many thou­sand times presented to him. Education, there­fore, which alone can develope the powers of the mind, must be uninterruptedly continued for a long time. If stopt, not at two months, as in the animals, but even at the age of one year, the mind of the infant, having received no instruc­tion, would remain inactive like that of the idiot, the defect of whose organs prevents the recep­tion of knowledge. This reasoning would ac­quire redoubled strength, if the infant were born in a pure state of nature, if it were confined to the sole tutorage of a Hottentot mother, and were enabled by its bodily powers to separate from her at the age of two months, would it not [Page 70] sink below the condition of the idiot, and, with regard to its material part, be entirely levelled with the brutes? But in this condition of nature, the first education requires an equal time as in the civilized state; for in both, the infant is e­qually feeble, and equally slow in its growth; and, consequently, demands the care of its pa­rents during an equal period. In a word, if abandoned before the age of three years, it would infallibly perish. Now, this necessary, and so long continued intercourse between the mother and child, is sufficient to communicate to it all that she possesses: And though we should falsely sup­pose, that a mother, in a state of nature, posses­ses nothing, not even the faculty of speech, would not this long intercourse with her infant produce a language? Hence a state of pure nature, in which man is supposed neither to think nor speak, is imaginary, and never had an existence. This necessity of a long intercourse between pa­rents and children produces society in the midst of a desert. The family understand each other both by signs and sounds; and this first ray of intelligence, when cherished, cultivated, and com­municated, unfolds, in process of time, all the germs of cogitation. As this habitual intercourse could not subsist so long, without producing mu­tual signs and sounds, these signs and sounds, always repeated and gradually engraven on the memory of the child, would become permanent expressions. The catalogue of words, though [Page 71] short, forms a language which will soon extend as the family augments, and will always follow, in its improvement, the progress of society. As soon as society begins to be formed, the educa­tion of the infant is no longer individual, since the parents communicate to it not only what they derive from Nature, but likewise what they have received from their progenitors, and from the society to which they belong. It is no long­er a communication between detached indivi­duals, which, as in the animals, would be limited to the transmission of simple faculties, but an in­stitution of which the whole species participate, and whose produce constitutes the basis and bond of society.

Even among brute animals, though deprived of the sentient principle, those whose education is longest appear to have most intelligence. The elephant, which takes the longest time in acqui­ring its full growth, and requires the succour of its mother during the whole first year of its ex­istence, is also the most intelligent of all animals. The Guiney-pig, which is full grown, and ca­pable of generating at the age of three weeks, is for this reason alone, perhaps, one of the most stupid species. With regard to the ape, whose nature we are endeavouring to ascertain, how­ever similar to man, he is so strongly marked with the features of brutality, that it is distin­guishable from the moment of his birth. He is then proportionally stronger and better formed [Page 72] than the infant: He grows faster: The support of his mother is only necessary for a few months: His education is purely individual, and conse­quently as limited as that of the other animals.

Hence the ape, notwithstanding his resem­blance to man, is a brute, and, instead of ap­proaching our species, holds not the first rank among the animals; because he is by no means the most intelligent. The relation of corporeal resemblance alone has given rise to the prejudice in favour of the great faculties of the ape. He resembles man, it has been said, both externally and internally; and, therefore, he must not only imitate us, but do every thing which we perform. We have seen, that all the actions which ought to be denominated human, are relative to society; that they depend, at first, on the mind, and af­terwards on education, the physical principle of which is the long intercourse that necessarily subsists between the parents and children; that, in the ape, this intercourse is very short; that, like the other animals, he receives only an indi­vidual education; and that he is not susceptible of that of the species. Of course, he can per­form no human actions, since no action of the ape has the same principle, or the same design. With regard to imitation, which appears to be the most striking character of the ape-kind, and which the vulgar have attributed to him as a pe­culiar talent, before we decide, it is necessary to inquire whether this imitation be spontaneous or forced. Does the ape imitate us from inclina­tion, [Page 73] or because, without any exertion of the will, he feels the capacity of doing it? I appeal to all those who have examined this animal with­out prejudice, and I am convinced that they will agree with me, that there is nothing voluntary in this imitation. The ape, having arms and hands, uses them as we do, but without thinking of us. The similarity of his members and or­gans necessarily produces movements, and some­times successions of movements, which resemble ours. Being endowed with the human struc­ture, the ape must move like man. But the same motions imply not that he acts from imi­tation. Two bodies which receive the same im­pulse, two similar pendulums or machines, will move in the same manner. But these bodies or machines can never be said to intimate each other in their motions. The ape and the human body are two machines similarly constructed, and ne­cessarily move nearly in the same manner. But parity is not imitation. The one depends on matter and the other on mind. Imitation pre­supposes the design of imitating. The ape is in­capable of forming this design, which requires a train of thinking; and, consequently, man, if he inclines, can imitate the ape; but the ape can­not even incline to imitate man.

This parity is only the physical part of imi­tation, and by no means so complete as the si­militude, from which, however, it proceeds as an immediate effect. The ape has a greater resem­blance [Page 74] to us in his body and members, than in the use he makes of them. By observing him attentively, we easily perceive, that all his move­ments are brisk, intermittent, and precipitous; and that, in order to compare them with those of man, we must adopt another scale, or rather a different model. All the actions of the ape are derived from his education, which is purely a­nimal. To us they appear ridiculous, inconse­quent, and extravagant; because, by referring them to our own, we assume a false scale, and a deceitful mode of measuring. As his nature is vivacious, his temperament warm, his disposi­tions petulant, and none of his affections have been softened or restrained by education, all his habitudes are excessive, and resemble more the movements of a maniac than the actions of a man, or even of a peaceable animal. It is for this reason that we find him indocile, and that he receives with difficulty the impressions we wish to make on him. He is insensible to cares­ses, and is rendered obedient by chastisement alone. He may be kept in captivity, but not in a domestic state. Always melancholy, stub­born, repugnant, or making grimaces, he may be said to be rather conquered than tamed. The species, of course, have never been rendered do­mestic in any part of the world, and, conse­quently, is farther removed from man than most other animals: For docility implies some analo­gy between the giver and the receiver of in­struction. [Page 75] It is a relative quality, which cannot be exerted but when there is a certain number of common faculties on both sides, that differ only between themselves, because they are ac­tive in the master, and passive in the scholar. Now, the passive qualities of the ape have less relation to the active qualities of man than those of the dog or elephant, who require no more than good treatment to communicate to them the delicate and gentle sensations of faithful at­tachment, voluntary obedience, grateful service, and unreserved devotion.

In relative qualities, therefore, the ape is far­ther removed from the human race than most other animals. His temperament is also very different. Man can inhabit every climate. He lives and multiplies in the northern as well as the southern regions of the earth. But the ape exists with difficulty in temperate countries, and can multiply only in those which are warm. This difference of temperament implies others in organization, which, though concealed, are not the less real: It must likewise have a great influence on his natural dispositions. The ex­cess of heat, which is necessary to the constitu­tion and vigour of this animal, renders all his qualities and affections inordinate. No other cause is requisite to account for his petulance, his salaciousness, and his other passions, which appear to be equally violent and disorderly.

[Page 76] Thus the ape, which philosophers, as well as the vulgar, have regarded as a being difficult to define, and whose nature was at least equivocal, and intermediate between that of man and the animals, is, in fact, nothing but a real brute, en­dowed with the external mark of humanity, but deprived of thought, and of every faculty which properly constitutes the human species; a brute inferior to many others in his relative powers, and still more essentially different from the hu­man race by his nature, his temperament, and the time necessary to his education, gestation, growth, and duration of life; that is, by all the real habitudes which constitute what is called Nature in a particular being.

The ORANG OUTANGS, or the PONGO* and JOCKO**.

WE shall give the history of these two ani­mals under one article; because it is not improbable they belong to the same species. [Page 78] Of all the apes, they have the greatest resem­blance to man; and, consequently, deserve par­ticular attention. We have seen the small orang­outang, or jocko, alive, and have preserved its skin. But, of the pongo, or great orang-outang, we can only give the relations of travellers. If these were faithful, if they were not often ob­scure, false, and exaggerated, we could not he­sitate in pronouncing it to be a different species from the jocko, a species more perfect, and ap­proaching nearer to that of man. Bontius, who was chief physician of Batavia, and has left us some excellent remarks on the natural history of that part of the Indies, says expressly*, that he saw, with admiration, some individuals of this [Page 79] species walking on their two feet, and, among others, a female (of which he gives a figure) who seemed to have a sense of modesty, who covered herself with her hand when men ap­peared of whom she had no acquaintance, who wept, groaned, and seemed to want nothing of humanity but the faculty of speech. Lin­naeus *, upon the authority of Kjoep, and some other voyagers, tells us, that the orang-outang is not deprived of this faculty; that he thinks, speaks, and expresses himself by a kind of hissing words. This author calls him homo nocturnus, and, at the same time, gives such a description of him, that it is impossible to ascertain whether he is a brute or a man. It may, however, be remarked, that, according to Linnaeus, this being, whatever he is, exceeds not the half of the hu­man stature; and, as Bontius takes no notice of the magnitude of his orang-outang, we may presume that they are the same. But this orang­outang of Linnaeus and Bontius would not be the true kind, which is larger than the tallest man. Neither is he the jocko, which I have [Page 80] seen alive; for, though he was of the same size with that described by Linnaeus, he differed in every other character. I saw him frequently, and I can affirm, that he neither spoke, nor ex­pressed himself by hissing, and that he did no­thing which a well trained dog could not per­form. Besides, he differs in almost every article from Linnaeus's description of the orang-outang, and corresponds better with the satyrus of the same author. For these reasons, I suspect the truth of the description of this homo nocturnus. I even doubt of his existence. It has probably been a white Negro, a Chacrelas*, whom the voyagers quoted by Linnaeus have superficially examined and falsely described: For the Chacre­las, like the homo nocturnus of this author, have white, woolly, frizled hair, red eyes, a feeble voice, &c. But they are men, and neither hiss, nor are they pigmies of thirty inches high: They think and act like other men, and are also of the same size.

Throwing aside, therefore, this ill described being, and supposing a little exaggeration in the recital of Bontius concerning the modesty of his female orang-outang, there only remains a brute creature, an ape, of which we shall find more pointed information in writers of better credit. Edward Tyson, a celebrated English anato­mist, who has given an excellent description [Page 81] both of the external and internal parts of the orang-outang, tell us, that there are two species, and that the one he described is not so large as the other, which is called barris * or baris by travellers, and drill by the English. This barris or drill is the large orang-outang of the East Indies, or the Pongo of Guiney. Gas­sendi having advanced, upon the authority of a voyager called St Amand, that, in the island of Java, there was creature which constituted the shade between man and the ape, the fact was strenuously denied. To prove it, Peiresc produ­ced a letter from M. Noël, (Natalis), a physi­cian who resided in Africa, from which it ap­peared , that large apes were found in Guiney under the denomination of barris, who walk on two legs, have much more gravity and intelli­gence than the other species, and are extremely desirous of women. Darcos, and afterwards Nieremberg and Dapper§, give nearly the same account of the barris. Battel calls it pon­go, [Page 82] and describes it in the following manner: 'The greatest of these two monsters is called Pongo, in their language; and the lesser is cal­led Engeco. This Pongo is in all proportion like a man; but that he is more like a giant in stature than a man; for he is very tall, and hath a man's face, hollow eyed, with long hair upon his brows. His face and ears are with­out hair, and his hands also. His body is full of hair, but not very thick, and it is of a dunnish colour. He differeth not from a man, but in his legs, for they have no calf. He goeth al­ways upon his legs, and carrieth his hands clasped on the nap of his neck, when he goeth upon the ground. They sleep in the trees, and build shelters for the rain. They feed upon fruit that they find in the woods, and upon nuts, for they eat no kind of flesh. They cannot speak, and have no understanding more than a beast. The people of the country, when they travel in the woods, make fires where they sleep in the night; and in the morning, when they are gone, the Pongoes will come and sit about the sire, till it goeth out; for they have no understanding to lay the wood together. They go many together, and kill many Negroes that travail in the woods. Ma­ny times they fall upon the elephants, which come to feed where they be, and so beat them with their clubbed fists, and pieces of wood, [Page 83] that they will run roaring away from them. Those Pongoes are never taken alive, because they are so strong, that ten men cannot hold one of them; but yet they take many of their young ones with poisoned arrows. The young Pongo hangeth on his mother's belly, with his hands fast clasped about her; so that, when the country people kill any of the females, they take the young one, which hangeth fast upon his mother.*.' It is from this explicit passage that I have derived the names pongo and jocko. Battel farther remarks, that, when one of these animals dies, the others cover his body with branches and leaves of trees. Pur­chas adds in a note, that, in the conversations he had with Battel, he learned that a pongo car­ried off a young Negro from him, who lived a whole year in the society of these animals; that, on his return, the Negro said, that they had ne­ver injured him; that they were generally as tall as a man, but much thicker; and that they were nearly double the volume of an ordinary man. Jobson assures us, that, in places frequent­ed by these animals, he saw a kind of habitations composed of interlaced branches of trees, which would at least protect them from the scorching rays of the sun. 'The apes of Guiney,' says Bosman, 'which are called smitten by the Fle­mish, [Page 84] are of a yellow colour, and grow to a great size. I saw with my eyes one which was five feet high. These apes have an ugly appearance, as well as those of another species perfectly similar in every respect, except that four of them would hardly be as large as one of the former kind. . . . They are capable of being taught almost every thing we choose.' Gauthier Schoutten remarks, 'that the apes called orang-outangs by the Indians are nearly of the same figure and size with men, only their back and reins are covered with hair, though there is no hair on the fore part of their bodies; that the females have two large breasts; that their visage is coarse, their nose flat, and even sunk, and their ears like those of men; that they are robust and active; that they defend themselves against armed men; that they are passionately fond of women, who cannot pass through the woods, without being suddenly attacked and ravished by these apes.' Dampier, Froger, and other travellers, assure us, that the orang-outangs carry off girls of eight or ten years of age to the tops of trees, and that it is extremely difficult to rescue them. To these testimonies we may add that of M. de la Brosse, who assures us, in his voyage to Angola in the year 1738, that the orang-outangs, which he calls quimpezés, 'endeavour to surprise the Ne­gresses, [Page 85] whom they detain for the purpose of enjoying them, and entertain them plentiful­ly. I knew a Negress at Loango who remain­ed three years with these animals. They grow from six to seven feet high. They erect huts, and use bludgeons in their own defence. They have flat faces, broad flat noses, flat ears, skins clearer than those of Molattoes, long thinly scattered hairs in several parts of their bodies, bellies extremely tense, and flat heels raised behind about half an inch. They walk upon two or four feet, at pleasure. We purchased two young ones, a male of fourteen months of age, and a female of twelve,' &c.

We have thus enumerated the most certain facts we could collect concerning the great orang­outang or pongo; and, as magnitude is the chief character by which it differs from the jocko, I persist in thinking that they are of the same spe­cies: For, two circumstances are at least possible: 1. The jocko may be a permanent variety, a race much smaller than that of the pongo. In fact, they both inhabit the same climate; they live in the same manner; and, of course, ought to re­semble each other in every article, since they both receive equally the influences of the same soil and sky. In the human species, have we not an example of a similar variety? The Laplander and Fin, though they live under the same climate, differ nearly as much in stature, [Page 86] and much more in other qualities, than the jocko differs from the great orang-outang. 2. The jocko, or small orang-outang, which we have seen alive, as well as those of Tulpius, Tyson, and others which have been brought to Europe, were all, perhaps, young animals, who had ac­quired only a part of their growth. The one I saw was about two feet and a half high; and the Sieur Nonfoux, to whom it belonged, assu­red me that it exceeded not two years of age. On the supposition, therefore, that its growth were proportional to that of man, it might, if it had lived, arrived at the height of more than five feet. The orang-outang of Tyson was still younger; for it was only about two feet high, and its teeth were not perfectly formed. Those of Tulpius and Edwards were nearly of the same stature with the one I saw. Hence it is probable, that these young animals, if possessed of liberty in their own climate, would have acquired with age the same height and di­mensions which travellers have ascribed to the great orang-outang. Of course, till better infor­mation be received, we must regard these two animals as constituting but one species.

The orang-outang which I saw, walked al­ways on two feet, even when carrying things of considerable weight. His air was melancho­ly, his gate grave, his movements measured, his dispositions gentle, and very different from those of other apes. He had neither the impatience [Page 87] of the Barbary ape, the maliciousness of the ba­boon, nor the extravagance of the monkeys. It may be alledged, that he had the benefit of in­struction; but the other apes, which I shall com­pare with him, were educated in the same man­ner. Signs and words were alone sufficient to make our orang-outang act: But the baboon required a cudgel, and the other apes a whip; for none of them would obey without blows. I have seen this animal present his hand to conduct the people who came to visit him, and walk as gravely along with them as if he had formed a part of the company. I have seen him sit down at table, unfold his towel, wipe his lips, use a spoon or a fork to carry the victuals to his mouth, pour his liquor into a glass, and make it touch that of the person who drank along with him. When in­vited to take tea, he brought a cup and saucer, placed them on the table, put in sugar, poured out the tea, and allowed it to cool before he drank it. All these actions he performed, with­out any other instigation than the signs or ver­bal orders of his master, and often of his own accord. He did no injury to any person: He even approached company with circumspection, and presented himself as if he wanted to be ca­ressed. He was very fond of dainties, which every body gave him: And, as his breast was diseased, and he was afflicted with a teazing cough, this quantity of sweetmeats undoubtedly contributed to shorten his life. He lived one [Page 88] summer in Paris, and died in London the follow­ing winter. He eat almost every thing; but preferred ripe and dried fruits to all other kinds of food. He drank a little wine; but sponta­neously left it for milk, tea, or other mild li­quors. Tulpius*, who gives a good description and a figure of one of these animals, that had been presented to Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, makes nearly the same observations with regard to it, as I have already related. But, if we wish to distinguish the instincts peculiar [Page 89] to this animal from the improvement it receives by education, we must compare the facts of which we have been eye-witnesses, with the rela­tions of travellers who have seen it in a state of nature, in the full possession of liberty, and in captivity. M. de la Brosse, who purchased from a Negro two orang-outangs, whose age exceed­ed not twelve months, does not say that they had been instructed by the Negro. It appears, on the contrary, that they spontaneously per­formed most of the actions above recited. ‘'These animals,' he remarks, 'have the in­stinct of sitting at table like men. They eat every kind of food, without distinction. They use a knife, a fork, or a spoon, to cut or lay hold of what is put on their plate. They drink wine and other liquors. We carried them a­board. At table, when they wanted any thing, they made themselves be understood to the cabbin-boy: And, when the boy refused to give them what they demanded, they sometimes be­came enraged, seized him by the arm, bit, and threw him down. . . . . . The male was seized with sickness in the road. He made himself be attended as a human being. He was even bled twice in the right arm: And, whenever he found himself afterwards in the same con­dition, he held out his arm to be bled, as if he knew that he had formerly received benefit from that operation.'’

[Page 90] Henry Gross informs us, vol. 1. pag. 233.

That some places towards the hills are covered with immense impenetrable forests, that afford a shelter for wild beasts of all sorts. But in that which forms the inland boundary of the Carnatic Rajah's dominions, there is one sin­gular species of creatures, of which I had heard much in India, and of the truth of which the following fact, that happened some time before my arrival there, may serve for an attestation.

Vancajee, a merchant of that country, and an inhabitant on the sea coast, sent up to Bom­bay to the then governour of it, Mr Horne, a couple of those creatures before mentioned, as a present, by a coasting vessel, of which one Captain Boag was the master, and the make of which, according to his description, and that of others, was as follows.

They were scarcely two feet high, walked erect, and had perfectly an human form. They were of a sallow white, without any hair, ex­cept in those parts that it is customary for man­kind to have it. By their melancholy, they seemed to have a rational sense of their capti­vity, and had many of the human actions. They made their bed very orderly in the cage in which they were sent up, and on being view­ed, would endeavour to conceal, with their hands, those parts that modesty forbids mani­festing. The joints of their knees were not re-entering, like those of monkeys, but saliant, [Page 91] like those of men; a circumstance they have (if I mistake not), in common with the orang­outangs in the eastern parts of India, in Su­matra, Java, and the Spice-islands, of which these seem to be the diminutives, though with nearer approaches of resemblance to the human species. But, though the navigation from the Carnatic coast to Bombay is of a very short run, of not above six or seven degrees, whether the sea air did not agree with them, or that they could not brook their confinement, or that Captain Boag had not properly consulted their provision, the female sickening first, died; and the male giving all the demonstrations of grief, seemed to take it to heart so, that he refused to eat, and, in two days after, followed her. The Captain, on his return to Bombay, report­ing this to the governour, was by him asked, What he had done with the bodies? He said he had flung them over board. Being further asked, why he did not keep them in spirits? He replied bluntly, that he did not think of it. Upon this, the governour wrote afresh to Van­cajee, and desired him to procure another couple, at any rate, as he should grudge no expence to be master of such a curiosity. Van­cajee's answer was, he should very willingly oblige him, but that he was afraid it would not be in his power: That these creatures came from a forest about seventy leagues up the country, where the inhabitants would sometimes [Page 92] catch them on the skirts of it; but that they were so exquisitely cunning and fly, that this scarcely happened once in a century.

Francis Pyrard* relates, ‘'That, in the pro­vince of Sierra Leona, there is a species of a­nimals called baris, who are strong and well limbed, and so industrious, that, when proper­ly trained and fed, they work like servants; that they generally walk on the two hind feet; that they pound any substances in a mortar; that they go to bring water from the river in small pitchers, which they carry full on their heads. But, when they arrive at the door, if the pitchers are not soon taken off, they allow them to fall; and, when they perceive the pit­cher overturned and broken, they weep and lament.’ Father Jarric, quoted by Nierem­berg , says the same thing, nearly in the same terms. With regard to the education of these animals, the testimony of Schoutten accords with that of Pyrard.

'They are taken,' he re­marks, 'with snares, taught to walk on their hind feet, and to use their fore feet as hands in performing different operations, as rinsing glasses, carrying drink round the company, turning a spit,' &c. 'I saw, at Java,' says Guat, 'a very extraordinary ape. It was a female. She [Page 93] was very tall, and often walked erect on her hind feet. On these occasions, she concealed with her hands the parts which distinguish the sex. Except the eye-brows, there was no hair on her face, which pretty much resembled the grotesque female faces I saw among the Hotten­tots at the Cape. She made her bed very neat­ly every day, lay upon her side, and covered herself with the bed-clothes. . . . When her head ached, she bound it up with a handker­chief; and it was amusing to see her thus hooded in bed. I could relate many other little articles which appeared to be extremely singular. But I admired them not so much as the multitude; because, as I knew the design of bringing her to Europe to be exhibited as a shew, I was inclined to think that she had been taught many of these monkey-tricks, which the people considered as being natural to the animal. She died in our ship, about the lati­tude of the Cape of Good Hope. The figure of this ape had a very great resemblance to that of man,' &c. Gemelli Carreri tells us, that he saw one of these apes, which cried like an in­fant, walked upon its hind feet, and carried a matt under its arm to lie down and sleep upon. These apes, he adds, appear, in some respects, to have more sagacity than men: For, when the fruits on the mountains are exhausted, they come down to the sea coasts, where they feed [Page 94] upon carbs, oysters, and other shell-fishes. There is a species of oyster called taclovo, which weighs several pounds, and commonly lies open on the shore. The ape, when he wants to eat one of them, being afraid left it should close on his paw, puts a stone into the shell, which prevents it from shutting, and then eats the oyster at his ease.

'The apes along the banks of the river Gam­bia,' says Froger, 'are larger and more mis­chieveous than in any part of Africa: The Ne­groes dread them, and cannot travel alone in the country, without running the hazard of being attacked by these animals, who often present them with a stick, and force them to fight. I have heard the Portuguese say, that they have often seen them hoist up young girls, a­bout seven or eight years old, into trees, and that they could not be wrested from them without a great deal of difficulty. The most part of the Negroes imagine them to be a fo­reign nation come to inhabit their country, and that they do not speak for fear of being compelled to work.'

'We might dispense,' another traveller* re­marks, 'with seeing a number of apes at Ma­cacar; because a rencounter with them is often fatal. It is necessary to be always well armed to defend ourselves against their attacks. . . . [Page 95] They have no tail, and walk always erect on their two hind feet, like men.'

These are nearly all the facts, concerning this animal, which have been related by voyagers who are least credulous, and deserve most credit. I have quoted the passages entire, because every article is important in the history of a brute which has so great a resemblance to man. And, that we may be enabled to ascertain the nature of this animal with the greater precision, we shall now mark the differences and conformities which make him approach or recede from the human spe­cies. He differs from man externally by the flat­ness of his nose, by the shortness of his front, and by his chin, which is not elevated at the base. His ears are proportionally too large, his eyes too near each other, and the distance between his nose and mouth is too great. These are the only differences between the face of an orang-outang and that of a man. With regard to the body and members, the thighs are proportional­ly too short, the arms too long, the fingers too small, the palm of the hands too long and nar­row, and the feet rather resemble hands than the human foot. The male organs of generation differ not from those of man, except that the prepuce has no fraenum. The female organs are extremely similar to those of a woman.

The orang-outang differs internally from the human species in the number of ribs: Man has only twelve; but the orang-outang has [Page 96] thirteen. The vertebrae of the neck are also shorter, the bones of the pelvis narrow, the but­tocks flatter, and the orbits of the eyes sunk deeper. He has no spinal process on the first vertebra of the neck. The kidneys are round­er than those of man, and the ureters have a different figure, as well as the bladder and gall-bladder, which are narrower and longer than in the human species. All the other parts of the body, head, and members, both external and in­ternal, so perfectly resemble those of man, that we cannot make the comparison without being astonished that such a similarity in structure and organization should not produce the same ef­fects. The tongue, and all the organs of speech, for example, are the same as in man; and yet the orang-outang enjoys not the faculty of speaking; the brain has the same figure and proportions; and yet he possesses not the power of thinking. Can there be a more evident proof than is exhibited in the orang-outang, that matter alone, though perfectly organized, can produce neither language nor thought, unless it be animated by a superior principle? Man and the orang-outang are the only animals who have buttocks and calfs of the legs, and who, of course, are formed for walking erect; the only animals who have a broad chest, flat shoulders, and vertebrae of the same structure; and the only animals whose brain, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, stomach, and intestines are perfectly si­milar, [Page 97] and who have an appendix vermiformis or blind-gut. In fine, the orang-outang has a greater resemblance to man than even to the baboons or monkeys, not only in all the parts we have mentioned, but in the largeness of the face, the figure of the cranium, of the jaws, of the teeth, and of the other bones of the head and face; in the thickness of the fingers and thumb, the figure of the nails, and the number of vertebrae; and, lastly, in the con­formity of the articulations, the magnitude and figure of the rotula, sternum, &c. Hence, as there is a greater similarity between this ani­mal and man, than between those creatures which resemble him most, as the Barbary ape, the baboon, and monkey, who have all been designed by the general name of apes, the In­dians are to be excused for associating him with the human species, under the denomination of orang-outang, or wild man. As some of the facts we have related may appear suspicious to those who never saw this animal, we shall sup­port them by the authority of two celebrated anatomists. Tyson* and Cowper dissected him [Page 98] with the most scrupulous exactness, and have gi­ven us the results of the comparisons they made [Page 99] between the different parts of his body with that of man. I have translated this article from the [Page 100] English, that the reader may be enabled to form a judgment of the almost entire resem­blance between this animal and the human spe­cies. [Page 101] I shall only remark, for the better under­standing of this note, that the English are not confined, like the French, to a single name to denote apes. Like the Greeks, they have two denominations, the one for the apes without tails, which they call apes *, and the other for the apes with tails, which they call monkeys. The apes of Tyson could be no other than those which we denominate pithecus or pigmy, and the cynocephalus or Barbary ape. I should like­wise remark, that this author gives some resem­blances and differences which are not sufficiently accurate.

1. Tyson makes it peculiar to man and the o­rang-outang, to have the hair on the shoulders directed downward, and that of the arms up­ward. The hair of most animals, it is true, is directed backward or downward; but there are some exceptions. The sloth, and the least ant-eater have the hair of their anterior parts directed backward, and that of the crupper and reins di­rected [Page 102] forward. Hence this character is of no great moment in the comparison of the orang-outang with man.

2. In the passage quoted from Tyson, I took no notice of the four first differences; because they are either too slight, or ill founded. The first is the difference of stature, which is an un­certain and gratuitous character, especially as the author acknowledges that his animal was very young. The second, third, and fourth are derived from the form of the nose, the quan­tity of hair, and other minute relations. I re­trenched several other differences; for example, the twenty-first, drawn from the number of teeth. It is certain that both the human spe­cies and this animal have an equal number of teeth. If the latter had only twenty-eight, as our author remarks, it was owing to his youth; and, it is well known, that man, when young, has not a greater number.

3. The seventh difference is also very equivo­cal: The testicles of children are situated very high; and this animal, being young, ought not to have had them pendulous.

4. The forty-eight mark of resemblance, and the twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifth marks of dif­ference, are derived from the figure or presence of certain muscles, which, as they vary in most individuals of the human species, ought not to be regarded as essential characters.

[Page 103] 5. All the resemblances and differences drawn from parts too minute, as the processes of the vertebrae, or derived from the position and mag­nitude of certain parts, should only be consider­ed as accessory characters; so that the whole detail of Tyson's table may be reduced to the resemblances and differences we have pointed out.

6. I shall mention some characters of a more general nature, some of which have been omit­ted by Tyson, and others imperfectly related. 1. Of all the apes, baboons, and monkeys, the orang-outang alone wants those pouches with­in the cheeks, into which they put their food, before they swallow it; for the inside of his mouth is the same as in man. 2. The gibbon, the Barbary ape, all the baboons, and all the monkeys, except the douc, have flat buttocks, with callosities on them. The orang-outang alone has plump buttocks without callosities. The douc likewise has no callosities; but his buttocks are flat and covered with hair; so that, in this respect, the douc forms the shade be­tween the orang-outang and the monkeys. 3. The orang-outang alone has calfs of the legs and fleshy buttocks. This single character shows that he is best formed for walking erect; only his toes are very long, and his heel rests with more difficulty on the ground than that of man. He runs with more ease than he walks; and, to enable him to walk easily and long, he would [Page 104] require artificial heels higher than those of our shoes. 4. Though the orang-outang has thir­teen ribs, and man but twelve. This difference does not make him approach nearer to the ba­boons or monkeys than it removes him from man; because the number of ribs varies in most of those species, some of them having twelve, others eleven, others ten, &c. Hence the only differences between the body of this animal and that of man are reduced to two, namely, the figure of the bones of the pelvis, and the con­formation of the feet. These are the only parts worthy of consideration, by which the orang-outang has a greater resemblance to the other apes than he has to man.

From this expiscation, which I have made with all the exactness I was capable of, a judg­ment may be formed concerning the orang-outang. If there were a scale by which we could descend from human nature to that of the brutes, and if the essence of this nature consisted entirely in the form of the body, and depended on its organization, the orang-outang would approach nearer to man than any other animal. Placed in the second rank of beings, he would make the other animals feel his superiority, and oblige them to obey him. If the principle of imitation, by which he seems to mimic human actions, were a result of thought, this ape would be still farther removed from the brutes, and have a greater affinity to man. But, as we for­merly [Page]

Plate CCLII. JOCKO.

[Page 105] remarked, the interval which separates them is immense; and the resemblance in figure and organization, and the movements of imita­tion which seem to result from these similarities, neither make him approach the nature of man, nor elevate him above that of the brutes.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The orang-outang has no pouches within his cheeks, no tail, and no callosities on his but­tocks; which last are plump and fleshy. All his teeth are similar to those of man. His face is flat, naked, and tawny. His ears, hands, feet, breast, and belly, are likewise naked. The hair of his head descends on both temples in the form of tresses. He has hair on his back and loins, but in small quantities. He is five or six feet high, and walks always erect on his two feet. We have not been able to ascertain whe­ther the females, like women, are subject to periodical courses; but analogy renders this matter almost unquestionable.

THE PIGMY*.

ARISTOTLE remarks, 'that there are animals whose nature is ambiguous, and are partly allied to man, and partly to qua­drupeds; such as the pigmies, the kebes, and the cynocephali. The kebe is a pigmy with a tail; and the cynocephalus is perfectly similar to the pigmy, except that it is larger and stronger, and has a longer muzzle, approach­ing nearly to that of the bull-dog, from which circumstance its name has been derived. Its manners are likewise more ferocious, and its [Page 107] teeth are stronger than those of the pigmy, and have a greater resemblance to those of the dog.' From this passage, it is apparent, that neither the pigmy nor the cynocephalus men­tioned by Aristotle have a tail; for he says, that the pigmies with tails are called kebes, and that the cynocephalus resembles the pigmy in every article, except the muzzle and teeth. Hence Aristotle takes notice of two apes without tails, the pigmy and cynocephalus, and other apes with tails, to which he gives the denomination of kebes. Now, to compare our own knowledge with that of Aristotle, we shall remark, that we have seen three species of apes without tails, the orang-outang, the gibbon, or long armed ape, and the magot, or Barbary ape, and that the pigmy is none of these three species; for the orang-outang and gibbon could not be known to Aristotle, since these animals are only found in the southern parts of Africa and India, which were not discovered in his time; besides, they have characters very different from those he a­scribes to the pigmy. But the third species, which we call the magot, or Barbary ape, is the cynocephalus of Aristotle; for it has no tail; its muzzle resembles that of a bull-dog; and its canine teeth are long and thick. Besides, this animal is common in Asia Minor, and other east­ern provinces which were known to the Greeks. The pigmy belongs to the same country; but we know it only from the relations of travel­lers. [Page 108] But, though we have never been able to procure this ape, its existence is equally real with that of the cynocephalus. Gesner and John­ston have given figures of the pigmy. M. Bris­son mentions his having seen it, and he distin­guishes it from the cynocephalus or Barbary ape, which he likewise saw. He confirms Aristotle's remark, that these two animals resemble each other in every thing, except that the cynocepha­lus has a longer muzzle than the pigmy*.

We remarked, that the orang-outang, the pig­my, the gibbon, and the Barbary ape, are the only animals to which the generic name ape ought to be applied; because they alone want the tail, and walk spontaneously, and oftener on two feet than on four. The orang-outang and the gibbon are very different from the pigmy and Barbary ape. But, as the two latter have a perfect resemblance, except in the length of the muzzle and the largeness of the canine teeth, the one has frequently been mistaken for the o­ther. They have always been mentioned under [Page 109] the common appellation of ape, even in lan­guages which have one name for apes without tails, and another for those which have tails. In German, both the pigmy and Barbary ape are called aff, and ape in English. It is only in the Greek language that each of these animals has a proper name. Cynocephalus is rather an adjec­tive than a proper substantive; and for that rea­son we have not adopted it.

From the testimony of the antients, it appears, that the pigmy is more mild and docile than all the other apes with which they were acquaint­ed, and that it was common in Asia as well as in Lybia, and other provinces of Africa which were frequented by the Greek and Roman tra­vellers. Hence I presume that the following passages of Leo Africanus and Marmol ought to be applied to the pigmy. They tell us, that the apes with long tails, which are shown in Mau­ritania, and which the Africans call mones, come from the Negro country; but that the apes with­out tails are natives, and very numerous in the mountains of Mauritania, Bugia, and Constan­tina: 'They have,' says Marmol, 'the feet, the hands, and the countenance of a man, and are extremely malicious and full of spirit. They live upon herbs, corn, and all kinds of fruits. They go in troops into the gardens or fields; but, before they leave the thickets, one of them ascends an eminence, from which he views the country; and, when he sees no person, he [Page 110] gives the signal, by a cry for the rest to pro­ceed, and removes not from his station as long as they continue abroad. But, whenever he perceives any person approaching, he screams with a loud voice; and, by leaping from tree to tree, they all fly to the mountains. Their flight is worthy of admiration; for the females, though they carry four or five young ones on their backs, make great springs from branch to branch. Though extremely cunning, vast numbers of them are taken by different arts. When wild, they bite desperately; but by car­resses they are easily tamed. They do much mischief to the fruits and corn; for they gather it together in heaps, cut it, and throw it on the ground, whether it be ripe or not, and de­stroy more than they eat or carry off. Those who are tamed perform things which are al­most incredible, and imitate every human ac­tion*.' Kolbe relates nearly the same facts with regard to the apes of the Cape of Good Hope. But, from his figure and description, it is obvious, that these apes are baboons, and have a short tail, a long muzzle, pointed nails, &c.; and that they are much larger and stronger than the apes of Mauritania. We may, therefore, presume, that Kolbe has copied the passage from Marmol, and attributed to the baboons of the [Page 111] Cape the manners and dispositions of Maurita­nian pigmies.

The pigmy, the Barbary ape, and the baboon, were known to the antients; these animals are found in Asia Minor, Arabia, Upper Egypt, and in all the northern parts of Africa. Hence this passage of Marmol may be applied to all the three. But it corresponds not with the baboon; for it mentions, that these apes have no tails. Neither is it the Barbary ape, but the pigmy, of which this author treats; for the Barbary ape is not easily tamed, and, instead of four or five, it generally produces only two young. But the pigmy, being smaller, should produce a greater number. Besides, it is milder and more docile than the Barbary ape, who is never perfectly tamed. For these reasons, I am convinced that it is not the Barbary ape, but the pigmy, to which the passage in the above author ought to be ap­plied. The same remark is applicable to a pas­sage of Rubruquis; when mentioning the apes of Cathay, he remarks, 'That, in every article, they are fashioned like man. . . . That they are more than a foot and a half high, and all covered with hair; that they live in caverns; that, in order to seize them, the natives put strong inebriating liquors in the caverns they frequent;. . . . that they assemble together to drink these liquors, crying chinchin, from which they have obtained the name of chinchin; and that, after intoxicating themselves, they fall [Page 112] asleep, when they are easily taken by the hun­ters.' These characters correspond with the pigmy, and by no means with the Barbary ape. The latter we have seen alive, and never heard it cry chinchin. Besides, it is much more than a foot and a half high, and has not so great a resemblance to man as the author alledges. We have the same reasons for applying to the pigmy the figure and remark of Prosper Alpinus: He tells us, that the small apes without tails, which he saw in Egypt, tame sooner and more easily than any other; that they have likewise more sa­gacity and industry, and are gayer and more fro­licsome. Now, the Barbary ape is thick, and of a considerable stature; it is a dirty, ferocious, melancholy animal, and is never fully tamed. Hence the characters given by Prosper Alpinus to his ape without a tail, apply not to the Bar­bary ape, and can belong to no other animal than the pigmy.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The pigmy has no tail, and his canine teeth are not proportionally larger than those of man. He has a flat face; his nails are likewise flat, and rounded like those of the human species. He walks on two feet, and is about a foot and a half in length. His disposition is mild, and he is easily tamed. The antients alledge, that the female is subject to the menstrual discharge, and analogy permits us not to doubt the fact.

The GIBBON, or Long-armed APE*.

THE Gibbon keeps himself always erect, e­ven when he walks on four feet; because his arms are as long as both his body and legs. We have seen him alive. He exceeded not three feet in height; but he was young, and in cap­tivity. Hence we may presume, that he had not acquired his full dimensions, and that, in a natural state, he might arrive at four feet. He has not the vestige of a tail. But he is distin­guished [Page 114] from the other apes by the prodigious length of his arms: When standing erect on his hind feet, his hands touch the ground; and he can walk on his four feet without bending his body. Round the face there is a circle of white, which gives him a very extraordinary appear­ance. His eyes are large, but deep sunk. His ears are naked. His face is flat, of a tawny co­lour, and pretty similar to that of man. After the orang-outang and the pigmy, the gibbon would make the nearest approach to the human figure, if he was not deformed by the excessive length of his arms; for, in a state of nature, man would likewise have a strange aspect. The hair and the beard, if neglected, would form round his countenance a circle similar to that which surrounds the face of the gibbon.

This ape appeared to be of a tranquil dispo­sition, and of gentle manners. His movements were neither too brisk nor precipitant. He re­ceived mildly what was given him to eat. He was fed with bread, fruits, almonds, &c. He was afraid of cold and moisture, and did not live long in a foreign climate. He is a native of the East Indies, and particularly of Coroman­del, Malacca, and the Molucca islands*. It ap­pears [Page 115] that he is likewise found in more northern provinces, and that we ought to refer to the gibbon, the ape of the kingdom of Gannaura, on the frontier of China, to which some travel­lers have given the name of fefé .

The gibbon varies in size and colour. There are two in the royal cabinet, of which the se­cond, though an adult, is much smaller than the first, and is brown in all the parts where the o­ther is black. But they so perfectly resemble each other in every other article, that they un­questionably belong to the same species.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The gibbon has no tail. There are slight cal­losities on his buttocks. His face is flat, brown, and surrounded with a circle of gray hairs. His canine teeth are proportionally larger than those of man. The ears are naked, black, and round. The arms are enormously long. He walks on his two hind feet, and is about a foot and a half or three feet high. The female, like women, is subject to a periodical evacuation.

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Plate CCLIII. GREAT GIBBON.

[Page]

Plate CCLV. MAGOT.

The MAGOT, or BARBARY APE*.

OF all the apes without tails, the Magot agrees best with the temperature of our climate. We kept one several years. In sum­mer, he delighted to be in the open air; and, in winter, he might be kept in a room without fire. Though by no means delicate, he was al­ways melancholy, and sometimes dirty. He used the same grimaces to mark his anger, or to express his appetite. His movements were brisk, his manners gross, and his aspect more ugly than [Page 118] ridiculous. When agitated with passion, he ex­hibited and grinded his teeth. He filled the pouches of his cheeks with the food which was given him, and generally eat every thing, ex­cept raw flesh, cheese, and whatever had under­gone a kind of fermentation. When about to sleep, he loved to perch upon an iron or wooden bar. He was always chained; because, though he had been long in a domestic state, he was not civilized, and had no attachment to his masters. He seems to have been ill educated; for I have seen others of the same species more intelligent, more obedient, more gay, and so docile as to learn to dance, to make gesticulations in cadence, and to allow themselves peaceably to be clo­thed.

This ape, when erect upon his two hind legs, is generally two feet and a half, or three feet high; the female is smaller than the male. He walks more willingly on four feet than on two. When resting, he commonly supports his body on two prominent callosities, which are situated where the buttocks ought to be: The anus is placed higher. Hence his body is more inclined than that of a man, when sitting. He differs from the pigmy or ape properly so called: 1. Because his muzzle is thick and long, as in the dog; but the face of the pigmy is flat; 2. Because he has very long canine teeth; 3. Be­cause his nails and fingers are neither so flat nor so round; and, 4. Because he is larger, more [Page 119] squat, and of a more ferocious and untractable disposition.

There are some varieties in this species. We have seen magots of different sizes, and with hair more or less deeply coloured, and more or less bushy. It even appears, that the five ani­mals described and drawn by Prosper Alpinus, under the denomination of cynocephali *, are all magots, which differ only in magnitude, and in some other characters too slight to constitute distinct species. It likewise appears that the species is pretty generally diffused over all the warm climates of the Old Continent, and that they are found in Tartary, Arabia, AEthiopia, Malabar, Barbary, Mauritania, and as far as the Cape of Good Hope.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The magot has no tail, though there is a small portion of skin which has the appearance of one. He has cheek-pouches, large prominent callo­sities on his buttocks, canine teeth, proportional­ly longer than those of man, and the under part of the face turned up, like the muzzle of a bull-dog. He has down on his face; the hair on his body is of a greenish brown colour, and that on his belly is a whitish yellow. He walks on the two hind feet, but oftener on four. He is three feet or three feet and a half high; and some of this species appear to be still larger. The females are subject to a periodical discharge.

[Page]

Plate CCLIV. SMALL GIBBON.

[Page]

Plate CCLVI. MAGOT.

The BABOON, properly so called*.

IN man, the physiognomy is deceitful, and the figure of his body gives no indication of the qualities of his mind. But, in the brute creation, we may judge of the disposition by the aspect; for every internal quality appears externally. For example, in looking at the apes and baboons, it is easy to perceive, that the latter ought to be the most savage and mischievous. Their manners differ as much as their figures. The orang-ou­tang has the greatest resemblance to man; and he is the most grave, docile, and intelligent of the whole race. The Barbary ape, which begins to recede from the human figure, and approaches to that of the brutes by his muzzle and canine teeth, is brisk, disobedient, and nasty. The ba­boons, who resemble man in the hands only, and who have a tail, sharp nails, a large muzzle, &c. have the air of ferocious beasts, which they are in effect. The baboon, of which a figure is [Page 122] here given, I saw alive. He was not perfectly hideous; and yet he excited a degree of horror. Perpetually grinding his teeth, fretting and chafing with rage, his owner was obliged to keep him confined in an iron cage, the bars of which he moved so powerfully with his hands, that he inspired the spectators with terror. He is a squat animal, whose compact body and ner­vous members indicate strength and agility. He is covered with long close hair, which gives him the appearance of being larger than he is in re­ality. His strength, however, is so great, that he would easily overcome one or several men, if not provided with arms*. Besides, he is con­tinually agitated by that passion which renders the gentlest animals ferocious. He is insolently salacious, affects to show himself in this situa­tion, and seems to gratify his desires, per manum suum, before the whole world. This detestable action recalls the idea of vice, and renders dis­gustful the aspect of an animal, which Nature seems to have particularly devoted to such an uncommon species of impudence; for, in all o­ther [Page 123] animals, and even in man, she has covered these parts with a veil. In the baboon, on the contrary, they are perpetually naked, and the more conspicuous, because the rest of the body is covered with long hair. The buttocks are likewise naked, and of a blood red colour; the testicles are pendulous; the anus is uncovered, and the tail always elevated. He seems to be proud of all those nudities; for the presents his hind parts more frequently than his front, e­specially when he sees women, before whom he displays an effrontery so matchless, that it can originate from nothing but the most inor­dinate desire*. The magot, and some others, have the same inclinations; but, as they are smaller and not so petulant, they are taught mo­desty by the whip. The baboon, however, is perfectly incorrigible, and nothing can tame him.

Notwithstanding the violence of their passion, [Page 124] these animals produce not in temperate climates. The female generally brings forth but one young at a time, which she carries between her arms, in a manner fixed to her pap. Like women, she is subject to a periodical evacuation, which is common to her with the other female apes who have naked buttocks. These baboons, though mischievous and fierce, are not carnivo­rous. They live chiefly on fruits, roots, and seeds*. They assemble in troops for the purpose of robbing gardens: They throw the fruit from hand to hand, and over the walls; and they make great havock in all the cultivated lands.

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Plate CCLVII. LARGE BABOON.

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Plate CCLVIII. SMALL BABOON.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The baboon has cheek-pouches and large cal­losities on his thighs, which are naked, and of a blood colour. His tail is arched, and about se­ven or eight inches long. The canine teeth are proportionally much longer and larger than those of man. The muzzle is very thick and long; the ears are naked; the body is massy and con­tracted; the members are thick and short; the organs of generation are naked and flesh-colour­ed. The hair is long, bushy, of a reddish brown, and pretty uniform over the whole body. He walks oftener on four than on two feet. When erect, he is three or four feet high. In this spe­cies, there seem to be races still larger, and others much smaller. We have given figures both of the large and small kinds, in which we can per­ceive no other difference but that of magnitude. This difference, however, proceeds not from age; for the small baboon appeared to be an a­dult as well as the large. The females are sub­ject to the menstrual discharge*

* In August 1779, a male baboon, remarkable for its mag­nitude, strength, and beautiful colours, was exihibited at Edin­burgh. It was generally thought to be a variety of the man­drill described by Gesner, Buffon, Ray, Linnaeus, and Bris­son. But, as it differed from the mandrill of these authors in [Page 126]a number of characters, the Translator caused a drawing of it to be made. [See the plate]. The mandrill is said not to exceed two feet in length. But this baboon, when erect, was near five feet high. The mandrill is represented as a good-natured, though not a sportive animal. This baboon, on the contrary, was excessively fierce, presented uniformly to the spectators the most threatening aspect, and attempted to seize every person who came within reach of his chain. On such occasions, he made a deep grunting noise, and tossed up his head almost perpetually. The baboon described by Buffon ‘presented his hind parts more frequently than his front, especially when he saw women.’ But this baboon uniformly presented his face, and allowed no person to ap­proach him behind. The Count de Buffon remarks, that the mandrill is an animal of the most disgusting deformity, and that he perpetually licks a snot which runs from his nose. But the baboon under consideration was an animal of great beauty, and had no visible distillation from his nostrils.

Since writing the above, Mr Pennant obligingly communi­cated to the Translator the proof sheet of a new and elegant edition of his excellent Synopsis of Quadrupeds, in which is contained the following accurate description of this animal, under the appellation of the Great Baboon.

GREAT BABOON.
Papio; Gesner. quad. p. 560. Simia Sphynx; Linn. syst. nat. p. 35. Le Choras. Simia mormon; Alstroemar Schreber. p. 92. tab. 8. MUS. LEV.

Baboon with hazel irides; ears small and naked; face ca­nine, and very thick; middle of the face and forehead naked, and of a bright vermilion colour; tip of the nose of the same; it ended truncated like that of a hog: Sides of the nose broadly ribbed, and of a fine violet blue; the opening of the mouth small; cheeks, throat, and goat-like beard, yellow: Hair on the forehead is very long, turns back, is black, and forms a kind of pointed crest. Head, arms, and legs, covered with short hair, yellow and black intermixed; the breast with long, whitish, yellow hairs; the shoulders with long brown hair.

[Page 127]Nails flat; feet and hands black: Tail four inches long, and very hairy: Buttocks bare, red, and filthy; but the space about them is of a most elegant purple colour, which reaches to the inside of the upper part of the thighs.

This was described from a stuffed specimen in Sir Ashton Lever's museum. In October 1779, a live animal of this species was shown at Chester, which differed a little in co­lour from the above, being in general much darker. Eyes much sunk in the head, and small. On the internal side of each ear was a white line, pointing upwards. The hair on the forehead turned up, like a toupée. Feet black; in other respects resembled the former.

In this I had an opportunity of examining the teeth. The cutting teeth were like those of the rest of the genus; but, in the upper and lower jaw, were two canine, or rather tusks, near three inches long, and exceedingly sharp and pointed.

This animal was five feet high, of a most tremendous strength in all its parts; was excessively fierce, libidinous, and strong.

Mr Schreber says, that this species lives on succulent fruits, and on nuts; is very fond of eggs, and will put eight at once into its pouches, and, taking them out one by one, break them at the end, and swallow the yolk and white: Re­jects all flesh-meat, unless it be dressed: Would drink quan­tities of wine or brandy: Was less agile than other baboons: Very cleanly; for it would immediately fling its excrements out of its hut.

That which was shown at Chester was particularly fond of cheese. Its voice was a kind of roar, not unlike that of a lion, but low and somewhat inward. It went upon all fours, and never stood on its hind legs, unless forced by the keeper; but would frequently sit on its rump in a crouch­ing manner, and drop its arms before the belly.

Inhabits the hotter parts of Africa; Pennant's Synops. of quad. Edit. 2. in 4to, p. 173.

To this description very little can be added. In the indi­vidual shown at Edinburgh, which was probably the same that Mr Pennant afterwards saw at Chester, the colours of the face were distinct and unmixed. The ribbed cheeks were of a sky-blue colour. A vermilion line began a little above the eyes, and running down between them, and on each side of [Page 128]the nose, spread over the snout. The inside of the ears was blue, which, softening from purple, terminated in vermilion. The beard, at the roots, was of the same dark brown colour with that on upper part of the body; but it soon changed into a deep orange, and ended in yellow. The hairs on the belly were of an ash-colour, and speckled like the sides of a partridge. The rump was of a vermillion colour; and the beautiful colours on the hips were only gradations from red to blue. If it had any callosities on the buttocks, they were not apparent. The penis was nearly of the same red colour with the rump; that of the testicles was more fiery, and sof­tened into a light blue, which likewise spread over the inside of the thighs.—It was very fond of the ears of wheat, the grains of which it dexterously picked out, one by one, with its teeth.

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Plate CCLIX. MANDRILL.

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Plate CCLX. MANDRILL.


[Page] The MANDRILL*, or Ribbed Nose BABOON.

THE uggliness of this baboon is perfectly disgusting. His nose, or rather his two nostrils, are flat, from which a snot perpetually runs, and he licks it into his mouth with his tongue. His head is very large, and his muzzle long. His body is squat, and his buttocks are of a blood colour. His anus is conspicuous, and situated almost as high as the loins. His face is of a violet colour, and surrounded on each side with deep longitudinal wrinkles, which [Page 130] augment the sullenness and deformity of his aspect. He is likewise larger, and perhaps strong­er than the baboon; but, at the same time, he is more peaceable, and less ferocious. We here give figures of both the male and the female, which we have seen alive. Whether they had received a better education, or if they be natu­rally more gentle than the baboon, they appear­ed to be more tractable and less impudent; but they were equally disagreeable.

This species of baboon is found on the Gold Coast, and in the other southern provinces of Africa, where he is called boggo by the Negroes, and mandrill by the Europeans. Next to the orang-outang, he is the largest of all the apes or baboons. Smith relates*, that he had a pre­sent [Page 131] of a female mandrill, which was only six months old, and that it was as large as an adult baboon. He adds, that these mandrills walk al­ways on two feet; that they weep and groan like men; that they have a violent passion for women, which they never fail to gratify when they find a woman at a distance from relief.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The mandrill has cheek-pouches, and callo­sities on the buttocks. The tail exceeds not two or three inches. The canine teeth are much thicker and longer than those of man. The muzzle is very thick, very long, and furrowed on each side with deep longitudinal wrinkles. The face is naked, and of a blueish colour. The ears, as well as the palm of the hands and soles of the feet, are naked. The hair is long, [Page 132] of a reddish brown upon the body, and gray upon the breast and belly. He walks on two feet oftener than on four. When erect, he is four or four and a half feet high; and some of them seem to be still larger. The females are subject to the menses.

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Plate CCLXI. FEMALE MANDRILL.

The OUANDEROU* and the LOWANDO*.

THOUGH these two animals appear to belong to the same species, we have pre­served to each of them the proper names they receive in Ceylon, which is their native coun­try; because they constitute, at least, two di­stinct and permanent races. The body of the ouanderou is covered with brown and black hairs; it has a bushy head, and a large beard. The body of the lowando, on the con­trary, is covered with whitish hairs, and the hair on its head and beard is black. In the same country, there is a third race or variety, which [Page 134] is probably the common stock of the other two; for the hair on its body, head, and beard, is of one uniform white colour. These three ani­mals are not apes, but baboons, of which they have all the characters both in figure and dispo­sitions. They are wild, and even ferocious. Their muzzle is long, their tail short, and they are nearly of the same size and strength as the baboons. Their bodies are indeed less squat, and their hind parts seem to be more feeble. That of which we have given a figure, was ex­hibited to us under false appellations, both with regard to its name and climate. Its owners told us, that it came from the continent of America, and that it was called cayouvassou. I soon re­collected that this word cayouvassou is a Brasili­an term, which is pronounced sajuouassou, and signifies sapajou; and, consequently, that it was improperly applied; since all the sapajous have very long tails. But the animal under conside­ration is a baboon with a very short tail. Be­sides, not a single species of baboon exists in A­merica. Errors with regard to climate are very common, especially among those who exhibit wild beasts: When they are ignorant of the cli­mate and the name of an animal, they fail not to give it a foreign denomination, which, whether true or false, equally serves their purpose.

These baboon-ouanderous, when not tamed, are so mischievous, that they must be kept in iron cages, where they are frequently agitated [Page 135] with vast fury. But, when taken young, they are easily tamed, and appear to be even more susceptible of education than the other baboons. The Indians delight in instructing these animals, and pretend that the other apes, that is, the monkeys, have a great respect for the baboons, who are possessed of more gravity and intelli­gence. In a state of liberty*, they are extreme­ly wild, and keep perpetually in the woods. If we may credit travellers, those which are all white are the strongest and most mischievous. They are violently fond of women, strong e­nough to ravish them when found alone, and often injure them so as to prove fatal.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The ouanderous has cheek-pouches, and cal­losities on the buttocks. The tail is seven or eight inches in length. The canine teeth are longer and larger than those of man. The muzzle is thick and long. The head is envi­roned with a broad mane, and a large beard of coarse hairs. The body is pretty long, and thin behind. In this species, there are races which vary in colour. Some have the hair on the bo­dy black, and a white beard; in others, the hair on the body is whitish, and the beard black. They walk more frequently on four than on two feet; and, when erect, they are three or three and a half feet high. The females are subject to the periodical evacuation.

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Plate CCLXIII. OUANDEROU.

The MAIMON, or Pig-tailed BA­BOON*.

THE apes, baboons, and monkeys, form three tribes, with intervals between each, the first of which is filled by the magot, and the second by the maimon. The latter constitutes the link or shade between the baboons and mon­keys, as the magot does between the apes and baboons. In effect, the maimon resembles the baboons by the thickness and largeness of his muzzle, and by his short, arched tail; but he differs from them, and approaches the monkeys, by the smallness of his size, and the mildness of his nature. Mr Edwards has given a figure and description of the maimon, under the denomi­nation of the pig-tailed ape. This peculiar cha­racter [Page 138] is sufficient to distinguish him; for, of all the baboons or monkeys, he alone has a naked, slender, and arched tail, like that of a pig. He is nearly of the size of the magot, and has so strong a resemblance to the macaque, or hare-lipped monkey, that he might be regarded as a variety of this species, if his tail were not totally different. He has a naked, tawny face, chesnut-coloured eyes, black eye-lids, a flat nose, and thin lips, with some stiff hairs, but too short to form whiskers. He has not, like the apes and baboons, his testicles and penis prominent and apparent; the whole organs are concealed un­der the skin. Hence the maimon, though vi­vacious and full of fire, has none of that impu­dent petulance peculiar to the baboons. He is gentle, tractable, and even caressing. He is found in Sumatra, and probably in other sou­thern provinces of India; of course, he endures with difficulty the cold of our climate. The one we saw in Paris lived only a short time, and that which Mr Edwards described, existed only twelve months in London*.

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Plate CCLXII. MAIMON

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The maimon has cheek-pouches, callosities on the buttocks, and a naked, curled up tail from five to six inches in length. The canine teeth are not proportionally longer than those of man. The muzzle is very large; the orbits of the eyes are prominent above; the face, the ears, the hands, and the feet are naked and flesh-colour­ed. The hair on the body is of an olive black colour, and of a reddish yellow on the belly. He sometimes walks on two, and sometimes on four feet. When erect, he is two feet, or two feet and a half high. The female is subject to the menstrual flux.

The MACAQUE or Hare-lipped MONKEY*, and the EGRET*.

OF all the guenons, or monkeys with long tails, the macaque makes the nearest ap­proach to the baboons. Like them, his body is [Page 141] short and squat, his head and muzzle large, his nose flat, his cheeks wrinkled, and, at the same time, he exceeds most of the other monkeys in size. He is also extremely ugly; so that he might be regarded as a small species of baboon, if his tail were not long and bushy, while that of the baboons in general is very short. This species is a native of Congo, and other southern provinces of Africa. It is numerous, and subject to several varieties in size, in colour, and in the disposition of the hair. The body of that described by Hasselquist was more than two feet long; and those we have seen exceeded not a foot and a half. The one we have denominated egret, because it has a crest or tuft of hair on the top of the head, appears to be only a variety of the macaque, which it resembles in every article, except this, and some other slight differences in the hair. They are both of mild manners, and extremely tractable. But, independent of a dis­agreeable musky odour which they both diffuse, they are so dirty, so ugly, and so loathsome, that, when they make their grimaces, they cannot be viewed without horror and disgust. These monkeys go often in troops, especially in their expeditions to rob gardens. Bosman relates, that they take in each paw a quantity of millet, [Page 142] and an equal quantity under their arms and in their mouths; that they return thus loaded leaping on their hind feet, and, when pursued, they drop the stalks which they held under their arms and in their hands, preserving only what they carry in their teeth, to enable them to run with more speed on their four feet. He adds, that they examine, with the most scrupulous accuracy, every stalk of millet they pull, and, if it does not please them, they throw it on the ground, and tear up others. By this delicacy of choice, they do more damage than by their robberies*.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The macaque has cheek-pouches and callosi­ties on his buttocks. His tail is from eighteen to twenty inches long. His head is large, his muzzle very thick, and his face naked, livid, and wrinkled. His ears are covered with hair. His body is short and squat, and his limbs thick and short. The hair on the superior parts of his body is of a greenish ash-colour, and of a yel­lowish gray on the breast and belly. He has a small crest of hair on the top of the head. He walks on four and sometimes on two feet. The length of his body, comprehending that of the head, is about eighteen or twenty inches. In this species, there appear to be races much lar­ger, [Page]

Plate CCLXIV. MACAQUE.

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Plate CCLXV. AIGRETTE.

[Page 143] and others much smaller, such as that of the following.

The egret seems to be only a variety of the macaque: He is about one third less in all his dimensions. Instead of a small crest of hair on the top of the head, as in the macaque, the egret has an erect, pointed tuft. The hair on his front is black; but that on the front of the ma­caque is greenish. The tail of the egret is like­wise proportionally larger than that of the ma­caque. The females of both kinds have perio­dic evacuations.

The PATAS* or red MONKEY.

THE Patas belongs to the same country, and is nearly of the same size with the macaque; but his body is longer, his face less hideous, and his hair more beautiful. He is re­markable for the brilliancy of his robe, which is of so vivid a red as to have the appearance of being painted. We have seen two varieties of this species. The first has a black line above the eyes, which extends from ear to ear. The se­cond differs from the first only in the colour of this line, which is white. Both have long hair under the chin and round the cheeks, which makes a fine beard: But, in the first, it is yel­low, and, in the second, white. This variety seems to indicate others in the colour of the hair; and I am inclined to think, that the monkey [Page 145] mentioned by Marmol*, which is of the colour of a wild cat, and said to come from the Negro country, is a variety of the patas.

These monkeys are not equally dexterous as the other kinds; and, at the same time, they are extremely inquisitive. ‘'I have seen them,' says Brue, 'descend from the tops of the trees to the extremities of the branches, in order to ad­mire the barks as they passed. They stare for some time, seem to be entertained with what they have seen, and then give place to those who come after. They became so fami­liar as to throw branches at the Frenchmen, who returned the compliment by the shot of their muskets. Some of them sell, others were wounded, and the rest were struck with a strange consternation. One party raised hide­ous cries; another collected stones to throw at the enemy: Some of them, with their bowels in their hands, attempted to throw their in­trails at the spectators. At last, perceiving the combat to be at least equal, they retired.'’

It is probably of this species of monkey which le Maire speaks of in the following terms: ‘'The havock which these monkeys make in the fields of Senegal, when the millet and other grains are ripe, is not to be expressed. They as­semble [Page 146] to the number of forty or fifty. One of them stands sentinel on a tree, listens, and looks about on all sides, while the others are busy. When he perceives any person, he sets up loud shrieks to alarm the band, who obey the signal, fly off with their prey, leaping from tree to tree with prodigious agility. The fe­males, who carry their young in their arms, fly with the rest, and leap as if they were load­ed with no burden*'’

Though, in every region of Africa, the species of apes, baboons, and monkeys, are very nume­rous, some of which are pretty similar; yet it is remarked by travellers, that they never inter­mix, and that each species commonly inhabits a different quarter of the country

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The patas has cheek-pouches and callosities on his buttocks. His tail is as long as both his body and head. The top of his head is flat. His muzzle, body, and legs, are long. He has black hair on his body, and a narrow band of the same colour above his eyes, which extends from ear to ear. The hair on the upper parts of his [Page]

Plate CCLXVI. BLACK BANDED PATAS.

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Plate CCLXVII. WHITE BANDED PATAS.

[Page 147] body is almost red, and that on the under parts, as the throat, breast, and belly, is of a yellow gray colour. This species varies in the colour of the band above the eyes. It is black in some, and white in others. They walk oftener on four than on two feet. When enraged, they a­gitate not their jaws, like the other monkeys. From the point of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, they are about a foot and a half or two feet in length. Some of them, as appears from the relations of travellers, are larger. The fe­males menstruate.

The MALBROUCK*, and CHI­NESE-BONNET**

THESE two monkeys seem to be of the same species, which, though different in some respects from that of the Macaque, makes so near an approach to it, that we are doubtful whether the macaque, the egret, the malbrouck, and the Chinese-bonnet, are only four varieties, or permanent races, of the same species. As these animals produce not in our climate, we cannot ascertain the identity or diversity of their species, but must judge from the differences in their figure and in their external qualities. The macaque and the egret are so similar, that we presumed them to be one species. It is the same with the malbrouck and Chinese-bonnet. But, as the latter differ from the former more than they differ between themselves, we thought it best to separate them.

Our presumption, with regard to the diversity of these two species, is founded, 1. On the dif­ference [Page 149] in their figure; 2. On that of the colour and disposition of the hair; 3. On the different proportions in the skeletons of the two kinds; and, in fine, on the two former being natives of the southern regions of Africa, while the two latter are natives of Bengal. This last consideration is of equal weight with any of the others; for we have shown, that, in wild animals totally in­dependent of man, the distance of climate is a pretty certain indication of remoteness of spe­cies. Besides, the malbrouck and Chinese-bon­net are not the only species or races of monkeys found in Bengal* It appears, from the evi­dence of travellers, that there are four varieties, namely, white, black, red, and gray monkeys. They alledge that the black kind are most easi­ly tamed. Those we saw were of a reddish gray colour, and appeared to be tame, and even docile.

'These animals,' travellers remark 'steal fruits, and particularly the sugar cane. One stands sentinel on a tree, while the others load themselves with the booty. If he perceives any person, he cries houp, houp, houp, with a [Page 150] loud and distinct voice. The moment this signal is given, the whole troop throw down the canes they held in their left hand, and run off on three feet. When pursued hard, they quit what they had in their right hand, and save themselves by climbing trees, which are the usual places of their abode. They leap from tree to tree; and even the females, though loaded with their young, which they hold firmly, leap like the others; but they sometimes fall. These animals are never more than half-tamed, and always require a chain. Even in their own country, they never pro­duce, when in bondage: They require to be at perfect freedom in the woods. When fruits and succulent plants fail, they eat insects, and sometimes descend to the margins of rivers, and the sea-coast, to catch fishes and crabs. They put their tail between the pincers of the crab, and, whenever the pincers are closed, they carry it quickly off, and eat it at their leisure. They gather cocoa nuts, and are well acquainted with the method of extracting the juice for drink, and the kernel for food. They likewise drink the zari which drops from the bamboos, which they place on the tops of trees, in order to extract the liquors; and they use it occasionally. They are taken by means of a cocoa nut, with a small hole made in it. They put their paw into the hole with difficul­ty [Page 151] because it is narrow; and the people who are watching, seize them before they can dis­engage themselves. In the provinces of India inhabited by the Bramins, who kill no ani­mals, the number of monkeys, which are high­ly venerated, is almost infinite. They come in troops into the cities, and enter the houses at all times with perfect freedom; so that those who sell provisions, and particularly fruits, pot-herbs, &c. have much difficulty in preser­ving their commodities.' In Amadabad, the capital of Guzarat, there are three hospitals for animals, where lame and sick monkeys, and even those who, without being diseased, choose to dwell there, are fed and cherished. Twice every week, the monkeys in the neighbourhood as­semble spontaneously in the streets of the city. They then mount upon the houses, each of which has a small terrace, or flat roof, where they lie during the great heats. On these two days, the inhabitants fail not to lay upon these terraces rice, millet, sugar canes, and other fruits in their season; for, if these animals, by any accident, find not their provisions in the accustomed place, they break the tiles which cover the rest of the house, and commit great outrages. They never eat any thing, without thoroughly examining it; and, when full, they fill their cheek-pouches for another occasion. In places frequented by the monkeys, the birds dare not build their nests on [Page 152] the trees; for they never fail to destroy the nests, and dash the eggs on the ground*.

Neither the tiger nor other ferocious animals are the most formidable enemies to the mon­keys; for they easily make their escape by their nimbleness, and by living on the tops of trees, where nothing but serpents have the art of sur­prising them. ‘'The apes,' a traveller re­marks, 'are masters of the forests; for their dominion is not disputed either by the tiger or lion. The only animals they have to dread are the serpents, who make perpetual war up­on them. Some of these serpents are of a pro­digious size, and swallow an ape in a moment. Others are smaller, but more agile, and go in quest of the apes on the trees. . . . . They watch the time when the apes sleep &c.'’

Distinctive Characters of these Species.

The malbrouck has cheek-pouches and callo­sities on his buttocks. The tail is nearly as long as both the body and head. The eye­lids are flesh-coloured, and the face of a cinere­ous [Page]

Plate CCLXVIII. MALBROUK

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Plate CCLXIX. CHINESE BONNET.

[Page 153] gray. The eyes and muzzle are large. The ears are large, thin, and flesh-coloured. He has a band of gray hair, like the mone or varied monkey; but the superior parts of his body are of a uniform yellowish brown colour, and the inferior are of a yellowish gray. He walks on four feet, and is about a foot and a half long from the point of the muzzle to the origin of the tail.

The Chinese-bonnet appears to be a variety of the malbrouck. They differ in the two fol­lowing articles: In the former, the hair on the top of the head is disposed in the form of a flat bonnet, from which its name has been derived, and its tail is proportionally longer. The fe­males of both these races are subject to a perio­dic evacuation.

The MANGABEY*, or MONKEY with white EYE-LIDS.

WE have had two individuals of this species, both of which were sent to us under the appellation of Madagascar apes. It is easy to distinguish the mangabeys from all the other monkeys by a very remarkable character. Their eye-lids are naked, and of a very splendid white colour. They have a thick, broad, long muzzle, and a prominent ring round their eyes. Some of them have the hair on the head, neck, and upper part of the body, of a yellow brown colour, and that on the belly white. In others, the hair on the head and body is lighter; and they are distinguished from the rest by a broad collar of white hair, which surrounds their neck and cheeks. Both carry their tail arched, and the hair on it is long and bushy. They come from the same country as the vari, or ruffed mau­cauco; and, as they resemble him in the length [Page]

Plate CCLXX. MANGABEY.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXI. MANGABEY with a white Collar.

[Page 155] of the muzzle and tail, in the manner of car­rying the latter, and in the varieties of colour, they seem to form the shade between the makis and the guenons, or long-tailed monkeys.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The mangabey has cheek-pouches and callo­sities on the buttocks. The tail is as long as both the body and head. He has a prominent ring round the eyes, and the upper eye-lid is extremely white. The muzzle is thick and long. The eye-brows consist of stiff, crisped hair, and the ears are black and almost naked. The hair on the superior parts of the body is brown, and that on the inferior is gray. There are va­rieties in this species: Some of them are of a uniform colour; others have a white circle round the neck, and round the cheeks, in the form of a beard. They walk on four feet, and are nearly a foot and a half long, from the ex­tremity of the muzzle to the origin of the tail. The females of these species menstruate.

The MONA,* or varied MONKEY.

THE mona is the most common of the mon­keys. We had one alive for several years. The mona and the magot agree best with the temperature of our climate. This circumstance is alone sufficient to prove, that the mona is not a native of the southern regions of Africa and the East Indies; and, in fact, it is found in Bar­bary, Arabia, Persia, and other parts of Asia [Page 157] which were known to the antients*, who called it kebos, cebus, or coephus, on account of the va­riety of its colours. Its face is brown, with a kind of beard interspersed with white, yellow, and a little black. The hair on the top of the head and neck is a mixture of yellow and black: That on the back is a mixture of red and black. The belly, as well as the inside of the thighs and legs, are whitish. The external parts of the legs and feet are black, and the tail is of a deep gray colour. There are two small white spots, one on each side of the root of the tail, a crescent of gray hair on the front, and a black band from the eyes to the ears, and from the ears to the shoulder and arms. Some have called it nonne from a corruption of mone or mona, and o­thers the old man, on account of its gray beard. But the vulgar appellation of varied monkey is best known, and corresponds with the Greek name kebos, and Aristotle's definition of the monkey with a long tail, and various colours.

In general, the monkeys have milder disposi­tions than the baboons, and their character is less melancholy than that of the apes. They are extravagantly vivacious; but have no fero­city; for they become tractable the moment their attention is fixed by fear or restraint. The mona is particularly susceptible of education, and even of some attachment to those who take [Page 158] care of him. The one we kept allowed him­self to be touched and carried about by the peo­ple with whom he was acquainted; but, to o­thers, he permitted not this freedom, and even bit them. He likewise endeavoured to obtain his liberty: He was fixed with a long chain. When he could either break the chain or disen­gage himself, he fled to the fields, and, though he did not spontaneously return, he allowed himself to be taken by his master. He eat every thing, roasted meat, bread, and particular­ly fruits. He likewise searched for spiders, ants, and insects* When several morsels were thrown to him at once, he filled his cheeks with them. This practice is common to all the ba­boons and monkeys, to whom Nature has gi­ven pouches in their cheeks, where they can keep a quantity of food sufficient to nourish them for a day or two.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The mona has cheek-pouches, and callosities on the buttocks. The tail is about two feet long, and more than half a foot longer than both the body and head. The head is small [Page]

Plate CCLXXII. MONA.

[Page 159] and round; the muzzle is thick and short; and the face is of a bright tawny colour. He has a gray band upon the front, and a black band extending from the eyes to the ears, and from the ears to the shoulders and arms. He has a kind of gray beard, formed by the hairs on his throat, which is longer than the others. The hair on the body is a reddish black, and whitish on the belly. The outside of the legs and feet are black; and the tail is of a grayish brown colour, with two white spots on each side of its root. He walks on four feet; and his length, from the point of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, is about a foot and a half. The female is subject to the menses.

The CALLITRIX, or GREEN-MONKEY*.

CALLITRIX is a term employed by Ho­mer, to denote, in general, the beautiful colour of the hair of animals. It was not till several ages after Homer's time, that the Greeks applied this name to particular species of mon­keys. Its application to the animal under con­sideration is peculiarly proper. The body is of a beautiful green colour, the throat and belly are white, and the face is of a fine black. He is found in Mauritania, and in the territories of antient Carthage. Hence it is probable that he was known to the Greeks and Romans, and [Page 161] that it was one of those long-tailed monkeys to which they gave the name of callitrix. In the neighbourhood of Egypt, both on the AEthiopian and Arabian side, there are white monkeys, which the antients have likewise denoted by the generic name of callitrix. Prosper Alpinus and Pietro della Valle* mention these white mon­keys. We have not seen this white species: It is perhaps only a variety of the green monkey, or of the mona, which is very common in these countries.

The green monkey seems also to be found in Senegal, as well as in Mauritania and the Cape de Verd islands. M. Adanson relates, that the woods of Podor, along the river Niger, are fil­led with green apes. 'I discovered apes,' says he, 'only by the branches they throw down from the tops of the trees; for, in other respects, they are so silent and nimble in their gambols, that it would be difficult to perceive them. I killed one, two, and even three, before the others seemed to be alarmed. However, after most of them were wounded, they began to take shel­ter; [Page 162] some of them concealed themselves be­hind the large branches, some descended on the ground, and the greatest number sprung from the top of one tree to another. . . . . . . During this operation, I continued to shoot, and, in the space of twenty fathoms, I killed twenty-three in less than an hour, and not one one of them uttered the smallest cry, though they frequently assembled in troops, grinded their teeth, and assumed a threatening aspect, as if they meant to attack me;' Voyage au Se­negal, par M. Adanson, p. 178.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The callitrix has cheek-pouches and callosi­ties on the buttocks. The tail is much longer than both the body and head. The head is small, the muzzle long, and the face and ears are black. Instead of eye-brows, a band of black hairs runs along the bottom of the front. The body is of a vivid green mixed with a little yellow. He walks on four feet; and the length of his body, comprehending that of the head, is about fifteen inches. The female is subject to the menstrual flux.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXIII. CALLITRIX.

THE MUSTACHE*.

THE mustache seems to belong to the same country as the macaque; because, like the latter, his body is shorter and more squat than in the other monkeys. It is probably the same animal which the voyagers to Guinea have cal­led white-nose *; because the lips below the nose are of a bright white colour, and the rest of the face is of a blackish blue. There are al­so two tufts of yellow hair under the ears, which [Page 164] give it a singular appearance; and, as it is, at the same time, very small, it appears to be the most beautiful of all the monkeys.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The mustache has cheek-pouches and callosities on the thighs. Its tail is much longer than the body and head, being nineteen or twenty inches in length. Its face is of a blueish black colour, with a large white mark which extends over the whole upper lip, which is naked, except a border of black hairs that surrounds the mar­gins of both lips. Its body is short and squat. It has two tufts of bright yellow hair under the ears, and likewise a tuft of curled hair on the top of the head. The hair on the body is of a greenish ash-colour, and that on the breast and belly is of a whitish ash-colour. It walks on four feet; and, from nose to tail, exceeds not eighteen inches in length. The female is subject to the menstrual flux.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXIV. MUSTAX.

THE TALAPOIN*.

THOUGH the size of this monkey be small, its figure is beautiful. Its name seems to indicate that it comes from Siam, and the other eastern provinces of Asia. It is certain, however, that it is a native of the Old Conti­nent, and exists not in the New; because it has cheek-pouches and callosities on the buttocks, neither of which characters belong to the sago­ins or sapajous, the only American animals who can be compared to the monkeys. But, inde­pendent of the name, I am inclined to think that this monkey is more common in the East Indies than in Africa; because it is affirmed by voyagers, that most of the apes in this part of Asia are of a brownish green colour. ‘'The apes of Guzarat are of a brownish green co­lour, and have long white beards and eye-brows. These animals, which the Banians, [Page 166] from a religious principle, allow to multiply without end, are so familiar, that numbers of them perpetually enter the houses; and the sellers of fruits and confections have much difficulty in preserving their wares*.'’

M. Edwards has given a figure and descrip­tion of a monkey, under the denomination of the middle-sized black ape, which seems to make a nearer approach to the talapoin than any other. I here add Edwards's description, and refer to the figure he has given, that the reader may compare the two animals. If the size and co­lour be excepted, they have such a resemblance to each other, that they may be regarded as spe­cies very nearly allied, if not varieties of the same species. In this case, as we are not certain [Page]

Plate CCLXXV. TALAPOIN

[Page 167] that our talapoin is a native of the East Indies, and as Edwards assures us, that his monkey came from Guinea, we must refer the talapoin to the same climate, or rather suppose that it is common to the southern regions of both Africa and Asia. It is probably the same species of black apes mentioned by Bosman, under the name of Baurdmannetjes, whose skin, he re­marks, is an excellent fur*.

The DOUC*, or Cochin-China Monkey.

THE Douc is the last of that class of ani­mals which we have called apes, baboons, and monkeys. Without being precisely any of these three kinds, he participates of each. He is allied to the monkeys by the length of his tail, to the baboons by his size, and to the apes by his flat face. He seems, by a particular cha­racter, to form the shade between the monkey's and sapajous: In these two tribes of animals, the monkeys are distinguished by naked buttocks, and all the sapajous have these parts covered with hair: Of all the monkeys the douc has hair on the buttocks, like the sapajous. He resembles them also in the flatness of the muzzle. But, upon the whole, he has much more affinity to [Page 169] the monkeys than to the sapajous, from which he differs by his tail not being prehensile, and by other essential characters. Besides, the inter­val which separates the two tribes is immense; for the douc and all the monkeys belong to the Old Continent, and all the sapajous are natives of the New World. It may likewise be remark­ed, that, as the douc, like the monkeys, has a long tail, but has no callosities on the buttocks, he forms the shade between the orang-outangs and monkeys; as the gibbon does on another account, having no tail, like the orang-outangs, but, like the monkeys, having callosities on the buttocks. Independent of these general rela­tions, the douc has peculiar characters which render him distinguishable, at first sight, from the apes, baboons, monkeys, and sapajous. His robe, which is variegated with many colours, seems to indicate the ambiguity of his nature, and distinguishes his species in a conspicuous manner. Round his neck there is a collar of a purplish blue colour. A white beard sur­rounds his cheeks. His lips are black, and he has a black ring round his eyes. His face and ears are red, the top of his head and body gray, the breast and belly yellow. His legs are white below and black above. His tail is white, with a large spot of the same colour on the loins. The feet are black, with several shades of diffe­rent colours.

[Page 170] This animal, which I was assured came from Cochin-China, is likewise found in Madagascar; and it is the same with what Flacourt men­tions, under the name of Sifac, in the following terms: 'In Madagascar, there is another species of white monkey, with a tawny collar, which frequently walks on the two hind legs. It has a white tail, and two tawny spots on the flanks. It is larger than the vari (maucauco), and small­er than the varicossi (vari). This species is call­ed Sifac, and feeds upon beans. It is very fre­quent about Andrivoura, Dambourlomb, and Ranafoulchy*.' The tawny collar, the white tail, and the spots on the flanks, indicate, in the clearest manner, that the Sifac of Madagascar is the same species with the douc of Cochin-China.

Travellers assure us, that, in the stomachs of the large apes in the southern provinces of Asia, bezoars are found of a superior quality to those of the goats and gazelles. These large apes are the ouanderou and the douc; and, of course, to them the production of the bezoars must be referred. It is alledged, that the bezoars of the ape are always round, while the other kinds are of dif­ferent figures.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXVI. DOUC.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The douc has no callosities on the buttocks, but is every where covered with hair. His tail is not so long as his body and head. His face is covered with a reddish down. The ears are naked, and of the same colour with the face. The lips, as well as the orbits of the eyes, are brown. The colours of the hair are vivid and various. He has a purplish brown collar round his neck. He has white on his front, head, body, arms, legs, &c. and a kind of yellowish white beard. The top of the front and the up­per part of the arms, are black. The under parts of the body are of a cinereous gray and a whitish yellow colour. The tail and under part of the loins are white. He walks as often on two as on four feet. When erect, he is three and a half or four feet high. It is uncertain whether the females of this species be subject to the menstrual discharge.

The SAPAJOUS* and the SA­GOINS

WE now pass from the Old Continent to the New. All the four-handed animals formerly described, and which were compre­hended under the generic names of apes, baboons, and monkeys, belong exclusively to the Old Con­tinent; and all the rest, whose history we are a­bout to relate, are found only in the New World. We first distinguish them by the two generic names sapajous and sagoins. The feet of both are constructed nearly in the same man­ner with those of the apes, baboon, and mon­keys. But they differ from the apes by having tails. They differ from the baboons by the want of cheek-pouches and callosities on their buttocks. In fine, they differ from the apes, baboons, and monkeys, by having the portion between their nostrils very broad and thick, and the apertures placed to a side and not under the nose. Hence the sapajous and sagoins differ not only specifically, but generically from the apes, [Page 173] baboons, and monkeys. When compared with each other, we likewise find that they differ in generic characters; for all the sapajous have pre­hensile tails, which are so constructed that the animals can use them as fingers to lay hold of any thing. This under part of the tail, which they fold, extend, curl up, or unfold at pleasure, and by the extremity of which they suspend themselves on the branches of trees, is generally deprived of hair, and covered with a smooth skin. The tails of all the sagoins, on the con­trary, are proportionally longer than those of the sapajous, and are straight, flaccid, and entire­ly covered with hair; so that they can neither use the tail in laying hold of any thing, nor in suspending themselves. This differnce alone is sufficient to distinguish a sapajou from a sa­goin.

We know eight sapajous, which may be re­duced to five species: 1. The ouarine or gouariba of Brasil. This sapajou is as large as a fox, and differs from the alouate of Cayenne in colour only. The hair of the ouarine is black, and that of the alouate is reddish; and, as they re­semble each other in every other respect, I con­sider them as belonging to the same species. 2. The coaita, which is black like the ouarine, but not so large. The exquima seems to be a variety of this species. 3. The sajou, or sapajou properly so called, is small, of a brown colour, [Page 174] and commonly known by the name of the ca­puchin monkey. Of this species there is a va­riety, which we shall call the gray sajou, to di­stinguish it from the brown sajou. 4. The sai, which some travellers have called the weeper, is somewhat larger than the sajou, and has a broad­er muzzle. There are two kinds, which differ only in colour, the one being reddish brown, and the other whitish red. 5. The saimiri, which is commonly called the orange monkey. It is the smallest and most beautiful of the sa­pajous.

We are acquainted with six species of sagoins: 1. The saki, which is the largest, and whose tail is covered with hair so long and bushy, that it has been called the fox-tailed monkey. There seems to be a variety in this species. I have seen two, both of which appeared to be adults; but the one was almost twice as large as the o­ther. 2. The tamarin is generally black, with the four feet yellow. But they vary in colour; for I have seen some of them brown, and spotted with yellow. 3. The ouistiti, which is remark­able for large tufts of hair round its face, and an annulated tail. 4. The marikina, which has a mane round the neck, and bushy hair, like the lion, at the end of the tail. From this circum­stance it has received the appellation of the lion­monkey. 5. The pinche, whose face is of a beautiful black colour, with hair which descends [Page 175] from the top and each side of the head, in the form of long smooth tresses. 6. The mico is the most beautiful of the sagoins. Its hair is of a silver white colour, and its face is as red as ver­milion.

We proceed to the history and description of each of these sapajous and sagoins, most of which have hitherto been unknown.

The OUARINE* and ALOUATE.

THE Ouarine and Alouate are the largest four-handed animals in the New Conti­nent. In size they much exceed the largest monkeys, and approach to the magnitude of [Page 177] baboons. They have prehensile tails, and con­sequently belong to the family of sapajous, in which they hold a distinguished rank, not only by their stature, but also by their voice, which resounds like a drum, and is heard at a great distance. Maregrave relates*, 'That, every morning and evening, the ouarines assemble in the woods; that one of them takes a more e­levated station, and gives a signal with his hand for the others to sit around and listen to him; that, when he peceives them to be all seated, he begins a discourse, in a tone so loud and rapid as to be heard at a great distance; and a person would be led to think that the whole were crying together; that all the rest, how­ever, keep the most profound silence; that, when he stops, he gives a signal with his hand for the others to reply; that, in an instant, the whole cry together, till he commands silence by another signal, which they obey in a mo­ment; that the first resumes his discourse or song; and that, after hearing him attentively for a considerable time, the assembly breaks up.' These facts, which Marcgrave says he has often witnessed, may perhaps be exaggerated, and seasoned a little with the marvellous: The whole may be founded on the terrible noise made by these animals. They have a kind of osseous drum in their throat, in the concavity of which the sound is augmented, multiplied, and [Page 178] makes a howling noise. Hence these sapajous have been distinguished from all others by the name of howlers. We have never seen the ou­arine, but have the skin of an alouate, and like­wise a dried foetus of the same species, in which the bone of the throat, the instrument of the great noise he makes, is already perceptible*. According to Marcgrave, the ouarine has a large square face, black and brilliant eyes, short, round­ish ears, and a tail naked at the extremity, which adheres firmly to every thing it can embrace. The hair on the whole body is black, long, smooth, and lustrous; that on the chin and throat is longer, and forms a kind of round beard; and that on the hands, feet, and part of the tail, is brown. The female is of the same colour with the male, and differs from him on­ly in being smaller. The females carry their young on their back, and leap with them from branch to branch, and from tree to tree. The young embrace with their arms and hands the narrowest part of the mother's body, and remain firmly fixed as long as she is in motion. Be­sides, [Page 179] these animals are so wild and mischievous, that they can neither be conquered nor tamed. They bite cruelly; and, though not carnivorous, they fail not to excite terror by their frightful voice, and their ferocious aspect. As they feed only upon fruits, pot-herbs, grain, and some in­sects, their flesh is not bad eating*. ‘'The hunt­ers,' Oexmelin remarks, 'bring home in the evening the monkeys they kill in the country of Cape Gracias-a-Dio. They roast one part of these monkeys, and boil the other: The flesh is good, and resembles that of the hare; [Page 180] but it is sweetish, and requires a great deal of salt in dressing. The fat is very good, and as yellow as that of a capon. We lived upon these animals during all the time we remained there, because we could procure no other food, and the hunters supplied us daily with as many as we could eat. I went to see this species of hunting, and was surprised at the sagacity of these animals, not only in distinguishing par­ticularly those who make war against them, but, when attacked, in defending themselves and providing for their own safety. When we approached, they all assembled together, uttered loud and frightful cries, and threw at us dried branches which they broke off from the trees. Some of them voided their excre­ments in their hands, and threw them at our heads. I likewise remarked, that they never abandoned one another; that they leapt from tree to tree with incredible agility; and that they flung themselves headlong from branch to branch, without ever falling to the ground; because, before reaching the earth, they always caught hold of a branch either with their hands or tail; so that, if not shot dead at once, they could not be laid hold of; for, even when mortally wounded, they remain fixed to the trees, where they often die, and fall not till they are corrupted. More than four days af­ter death, I have seen them firmly fixed to the trees; and fifteen or sixteen of them are fre­quently [Page 181] shot before three or four of them can be obtained. What is singular, as soon as one is wounded, the rest collect about him, and put their fingers into the wound, as if they meant to sound it; and, when much blood is discharged, some of them keep the wound shut, while others make a mash of leaves, and dexte­rously stop up the aperture. This operation I have often observed with much admiration. The females bring forth but one young, which they carry in the same manner as the Negresses do their children. The young monkey em­braces its mother's neck with the two fore-feet, and with the two hind it lays hold of the mid­dle of her back. When she wants to give it suck, she takes it in her paws, and presents the breast to it, like a woman. . . . There is no o­ther method of obtaining the young but by killing the mother; for she never abandons it. When she is killed, it falls from her, and may then be seized. When these animals are em­barrassed, they assist each other in passing a brook, or from one tree to another. . . . Their cries are heard at the distance of more than a league*.'’

Most of these facts are confirmed by Dam­pier [Page 182] : He assures us, however, that the females generally produce two young, one of which the [Page 183] mother carries between her arms, and the other on her back. In general, the sapajous, even of the smallest species, are not very prolific; and it is probable that the largest produce not above one or two at a time.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The ouarine has the apertures of the nostrils placed at a side, and not under the nose; the partition of the nostrils is very thick. He has neither cheek-pouches, nor callosities on the buttocks, which are covered with hair, like the rest of the body. He has a long, prehensile tail, black, long hair, and a large concave bone in his throat. He is of the size of a grey­hound; and the long hair under his neck forms a kind of round beard. He generally walks on four feet.

The alouate has the same characters with the ouarine, and only differs from him by having a larger beard, and the hair of a reddish brown colour. I know not whether the females of these species be subject to the menses: From a­nalogy, I should presume that they are not, ha­ving generally found, that the apes, baboons, and monkeys with naked buttocks, are alone subject to this evacuation.

The COAITA* and EXQUIMA.

NEXT to the ouarine and alouate, the co­aita is the largest of the sapajous. I saw one of them at the palace of the Duke of Bouil­lon, [Page 185] where, by its familiarity, and even its ca­resses, it procured the affection of those who had the charge of it. But, notwithstanding all the care and attention it received, it was unable to resist the cold of the winter 1764. It died, to the regret of its master, who was so obliging as to send it to me, to be placed in the Royal Cabinet. I saw another in the house of the Marquis de Montmirail. This was a male, and the former a female. Both were equally trac­table and well tamed. Hence this sapajou, by its mild and docile disposition, differs much from the ouarine and alouate, who are so wild that no art can tame them. Neither has it, like them, an osseous pouch in the throat. Like the oua­rine, its hair is black, but rough. The coaita likewise differs from all the other sapajous, by having only four fingers on his hands. By this character and his prehensile tail, he is easily di­stinguished from the monkeys, who have all five fingers, and a flaccid tail.

The animal called exquima by Marcgrave, is a species very nearly allied to the coaita, and is perhaps only a variety of it. This author seems to have been deceived when he tells us, that the exquima is a native of Guiney and Congo. The figure he has given of it was alone sufficient to have convinced him of his error; for it repre­sents this animal with a tail rolled up at the point, a character which belongs exclusively to the sa­pajous. Of course, Marcgrave's exquima is not [Page 186] a monkey of Guiney, but a sapajou with a pre­hensile tail, which had been transported thither from Brasil. The name exquima, or quima, by abstracting the article ex, and which ought to be pronounced quoima, is not very different from quoaita, the manner in which several authors spell the name coaita, Hence every circum­stance concurs in establishing Marcgrave's exqui­ma, which he calls a Guiney monkey, to be a Brasilian sapajou, and a variety only of the co­aita, which it resembles in dispositions, size, co­lour, and the prehensile tail. The most remark­able difference is, that the exquima has whitish hair on the belly, and a white beard, two inches long, under the chin*. Our coaitas have neither a beard nor white hair on the belly. But these differences seem not sufficient to constitute two distinct species; for we learn from the evidence of travellers, that some coaitas are black and others white, and some have beards and others no beards: 'There are,' says Dampier, 'great droves of monkeys, some of them white, but most of them black; some have beards, others [Page 187] are beardless. They are of a middle size, yet extraordinary fat at the dry season, when the fruits are ripe; and they are very good meat, for we ate of them very plentifully. The In­dians were shy of eating them for a while; but they soon were persuaded to it, by seeing us feed on them so heartily. In the rainy sea­son they have worms in their bowels. I have taken a handful of them out of one monkey we cut open; and some of them seven or eight feet long. They are a very waggish kind of monkey, and played a thousand antick tricks as we marched at any time through the woods, skipping from bough to bough, with the young ones hanging at the old ones backs, making faces at us, chattering, and, if they had oppor­tunity, pissing down purposely on our heads. To pass from top to top of high trees, whose branches are a little too far asunder for their leaping, they will sometimes hang down by one another's tails in a chain; and swinging in that manner, the lowermost catches hold of a bough of the other tree, and draws up the rest of them*.' All these facts, even the worms in the intestines, correspond with our coaitas. M. Daubenton, in dissecting these animals, found a great number of worms, some of which were from twelve to thirteen inches long. It is obvi­ous, therefore, that the exquima of Marcgrave is [Page 188] a sapajou of the same species, or, at least, of a species very nearly allied to that of the coaita.

We must likewise remark, that, if the animal mentioned by Linnaeus, under the name of Diana *, is really, as he says, the exquima of Marcgrave, he has omitted the prehensile tail, which is the most essential character, and ought alone to determine whether this diana belongs to the genus of sapajous, or to that of the monkeys, and, of course, whether it is found in the Old or the New Continent.

Independent of this variety, the characters of which are conspicuous, there are other varieties, though less remarkable, in the species of the co­aita. That described by M. Brisson had whi­tish hair on all the under parts of the body. But those I have seen were entirely black, and had very few hairs on the inferior parts of the body, where the skin appeared, and was equally black with the hair. Of the two coaitas men­tioned by Mr Edwards, the one was black and [Page 189] the other brown. On account of the length and slenderness of their legs and tail, they were called spider monkeys.

Some years ago, a coaita was sent me, under the denomination of chamek, which, I was told, came from the coast of Peru. I shall give a de­scription of it in the margin*, from which it will appear that this chamek of Peru, with the exception of a few varieties, is the same animal with the coaita of Guiana.

These sapajous are very dexterous and intel­ligent. They go in companies, and mutually warn and assist each other. It uses its tail as a fifth hand, and seems to employ this instrument more than either its hands or feet. To balance [Page 190] this advantage, Nature has deprived this animal of a thumb. We are assured that it seizes fishes with its tail; which is by no means incredible; for we have seen one of our coaitas lay hold in this manner of a squirrel, which had been put into its chamber as a companion. They have the address to break the shells of oysters, in or­der to eat them*. It is certain, that, in order to pass from one tree to another, whose branches are too distant for a leap, they form a chain, by hanging down, linked to each other by their tails, and swinging in that manner till the lowest catches hold of a branch, and draws up the rest. They sometimes pass rivers by the same expe­dient. [Page 191] The females bring forth but one or two young, which they always carry on their back. They eat fish, worms, and insects; but fruits are their common food. When the fruits are ripe, they become very fat, and their flesh is then said to be excellent*.

Distinctive Characters of these Species.

The coaita has neither cheek-pouches nor cal­losities on the buttocks. He has a very long, prehensile tail. The partition of the nostrils is very thick, and their apertures are placed at a side, and not under the nose. He has only four fingers on his hands or fore feet. Both his hair and skin are black. His face is naked and tawny. His ears are also naked, and resemble those of man. He is about a foot and a half in length; and his tail is longer than the body and head together. He walks on four feet.

The exquima is nearly of the same size with the coaita, and has likewise a prehensile tail. But his colour, instead of being black, is varie­gated. The hairs on his back are black and yellow, and white on the throat and belly. He has, besides, a remarkable beard. These diffe­rences, [Page 192] however, are not sufficient to constitute two distinct species; especially as some coaitas are not entirely black, but are whitish on the throat and belly. The females of these two species are not subject to the periodical evacua­tion.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXVII. COAITA.

The SAJOU*, or Capuchin Monkey.

WE are acquainted with two varieties of this species, the brown sajou, or capu­chin monkey; and the gray sajou, which dif­fers from the brown in colour only. They are [Page 194] both of the same size, and have the same figure and dispositions. They are both very agile, and their nimbleness and dexterity are extremely a­musing. We have had them alive; and, of all the sapajous, their constitution seems to be best adapted to our climate. If kept in a chamber during the winter, they live comfortably for se­veral years. We can even give several exam­ples of their producing in this country. Two young ones were brought forth in the M. de Pompadour's lodging at Versailles; one in the house of M. de Reaumur at Paris, and another in Mad. de Poursel's in Gatinois*. But, in this country, they never produced above one at a time, while, in their native climate, they often produce two. Besides, these sajous are very whimsical in their taste and affections. They are fond of particular persons, and discover the greatest aversion to others.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXVIII. BROWN CAPUCHIN MONKEY.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXIX. GRAY CAPUCHIN MONKEY.

[Page 195] We remarked a singularity in these animals, which makes the females be often mistaken for the males. The clitoris is prominent, and ap­pears to be as large as the penis of the male.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The sajous have neither cheek-pouches, nor callosities on their buttocks. Their face and ears are flesh-coloured, with a little down above. The partition of the nostrils is thick, and their apertures are placed at a side, and not under the nose. The eyes are chesnut-coloured, and situ­ated near each other. The tail is prehensile, naked below at the point, and very bushy every where else. In some, the hair is black and brown, both round the face, and upon all the upper parts of the body. In others, the hair round the face is gray, and of a brownish yel­low on the body. The hands are always black and naked. From the point of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, they exceed not a foot in length. They walk on four feet. The females are not subject to the menses.

The SAI*, or WEEPER.

WE have seen two varieties of this species; the first was of a blackish brown co­lour; and the second, which I have called Sai with a white throat, has white hair on the breast, throat, and round the ears and cheeks. It differs from the first by having less hair on the face. But, in every other article, they per­fectly resemble each other. Their dispositions, size, and figure, are the same. Travellers have mentioned these animals under the name of weepers ; because they make a plaintive noise, and, when irritated, have the appearance of crying. Others have called them musk monkeys, [Page 197] because, like the maucauco, they have a musky odour*. Others have given them the name of macaque , which they borrowed from the ma­caque of Guiney. But the macaques are mon­keys with flaccid tails; while the former belong to the sapajous, because their tails are prehen­sile. The females have only two paps, and pro­duce two young at a time. They are mild, do­cile, and so timid, that their common cry, which resembles that of a rat, becomes a kind of groan­ing when they are threatened with danger. In this country, they eat May-bugs and snails in preference to all other food. But, in Brasil, their native climate, they live chiefly on grains and wild fruits, which they gather from the trees, and rarely descend upon the earth.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The sais have neither cheek-pouches nor cal­losities on their buttocks. The partition of their nostrils is very thick, and the apertures are pla­ced at a side, and not under the nose. The face is round and flat, and the ears are almost naked. The tail is prehensile, and naked below toward its extremity. Upon the upper parts of the body, the hair is of a blackish brown colour, and, on the inferior parts, of a pale yellow or dirty white. These animals exceed not fourteen in­ches in length; and their tail is longer than both body and head. They walk on four feet. The females are not subjected to the menses.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXXI. SAI with a WHITE THROAT

[Page]

Plate CCLXXX. SAI or WEEPER.

The SAIMIRI*, or Orange Monkey.

THE Saïmiri is commonly known by the name of the golden, orange, or yellow sa­pajou. It is common in Guiana; and there­fore has received from some voyagers the ap­pellation of the Cayenne Sapajou. From the gracefulness of its movements, the smallness of its size, the brilliant colour of its hair, the large­ness and vivacity of its eyes, and its round vi­sage, the saïmiri has uniformly been preferred to all the other sapajous: It is indeed the most beautiful of this tribe. But it is likewise the [Page 200] most delicate*, and the most difficult to trans­port and preserve. From these characters, and particularly from that of the tail, which is on­ly half-prehensile, and, though not so muscular as that of the sapajous, is not absolutely useless and flaccid, the saïmiri seems to form the shade between the sapajous and the sagoins.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The saïmiri has neither cheek-pouches nor callosities on the buttocks. The partition of his nostrils is thick, and their apertures are pla­ced at a side, and not under the nose. He may be said to have no fore head. His hair is of a brilliant yellow colour; and he has two flesh­coloured rings round his eyes. His nose is ele­vated at the base, and flattened at the point. The mouth is small, the face flat and naked; and the ears are garnished with hair, and a little pointed. The tail is half-prehensile, and longer than the body. From the point of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, he exceeds not ten or eleven inches in length. He stands with ease on his two hind legs; but he commonly walks on four. The female is not subject to the men­ses.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXXII. SAMIRI or ORANGE MONKEY.

The SAKI*, or Fox-tailed Monkey.

THE Saki, which is commonly called the fox-tailed monkey, because its tail is gar­nished with very long hair, is the largest of the sagoins. When full grown, it is about seven­teen inches long, while the largest of the other five species exceeds not nine or ten. The hair on the body of the saki is very long, and that on the tail is still longer. His face is reddish, and co­vered with a whitish down. He is easily di­stinguished from all the other sagoins, sapajous, and monkeys, by the following characters.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The saki has neither cheek-pouches nor cal­losities on his buttocks. His tail is flaccid, not prehensile, and one half longer than both head and body. The partition of the nostrils is very thick, and the apertures placed at a side. The face is tawny, and covered with a fine, short, whitish down. The hair on the upper parts of the body is blackish brown, and that on the belly and other inferior parts is reddish white. The hair on the body is still longer than that on the tail, beyond the point of which it hangs near two inches. The hair on the tail is gene­rally blackish brown, like that on the body. This species seems to vary in colour. Some sa­kis have the hair both on the body and tail of a reddish yellow colour. This animal walks on four feet, and is near a foot and a half in length. The females are not subjected to the periodical evacuation.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXXIII. SAKI or FOX TAILD MONKEY.

The TAMARIN*, or Great-eared Monkey.

THIS species is much smaller than the pre­ceding, and differs from it in several cha­racters. The tail of the tamarin is covered with short hair, while that of the saki is garnished with hair remarkably long. The tamarin has also large ears, and yellow feet. It is a beauti­ful animal, very lively, and easily tamed, but [Page 204] so delicate that it cannot long resist the incle­mency of our climate.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The tamarin has neither cheek-pouches nor callosities on the buttocks. The tail is flaccid, and twice the length of the body and head. The partition between the nostrils is very thick, and the apertures are placed at a side. The face is of a dusky flesh-colour. The ears are square, large, naked, and of the same colour; and the eyes are chesnut. The upper lip is di­vided nearly like that of the hare. The head, body, and tail, are covered with soft, blackish brown hair, and the hands and feet with short orange coloured hair. The body and limbs are finely proportioned. This animal walks on four feet; and the head and body together ex­ceed not seven or eight inches in length. The females are not subject to the menses.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXXIV. TAMARIN or GREAT EARD MONKEY.

The OUISTITI*, or Striated Monkey.

THE Ouistiti is still smaller than the tama­rin, both the head and body not exceeding half a foot in length. His tail is more than a foot long, and, like that of the maucauco, mark­ed with alternate rings of black and white; the hair on the tail is still longer, and more bushy than that of the maucauco. The face of the ouistiti is naked, and of a dark flesh-colour. [Page 206] He has two tufts of long white hair before his ears, which conceal them when we look the a­nimal in the face. Mr Parsons has given a good description of this animal in the Philosophical Transactions*; and Mr Edwards, in his Glean­ings, has given an excellent figure of it. He remarks, that, of several he saw, the largest weigh­ed not above six ounces, and the smallest only four and a half; and judiciously adds, That the supposition that the small AEthiopian monkey mentioned by Ludolph, under the denomination of fonkes, or guereza, was the same animal with the ouistiti, is without any foundation. It is certain, that neither the ouistiti, nor any other sagoin, exists in AEthiopia; and the fonkes or guereza of Ludolph is probably the maucauco or loris, which are common in the southern regions of the Old Continent. Mr Edwards farther re­marks, that, when the ouistiti is in good health, its hair is very bushy; that one of those he saw, [Page 207] which was very vigorous, fed upon several things, as biskets, fruits, pot-herbs, insects, and snails; that, one day, being unchained, it dart­ed upon a small china golden fish that was in a basin, which it killed and devoured with avi­dity; and that, afterward, small eels were pre­sented to it, which, at first, frighted it, by twist­ing round its neck; but that it soon overcame and ate them. Mr Edwards subjoins a fact, which proves that these small animals might be multiplied in the southern parts of Europe: He tells us that they produced young in Portugal, where the climate is favourable to them. They are at first very ugly, having hardly any hair on their bodies; and they adhere firmly to the teats of the mother. When they have become a little larger, they fix themselves upon her back or shoulders; and, when she is fatigued by carrying them, she rubs them off against a wall, and the father instantly allows them to mount upon his back, in order to assist the mother*.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The ouistiti has neither cheek-pouches nor callosities on the buttocks. His tail is flaccid, very bushy, annulated with alternate bars of black and white, or rather of brown and gray, and twice as long as the head and body. The [Page 208] partition of the nostrils is very thick, and the apertures are placed at a side. The head is round. The top of the front is covered with black hair; and above the nose there is a white spot without hair. The face is likewise almost naked, and of a deep flesh-colour. On each side of the head, before the ears, is a tuft of long white hairs. The ears are roundish, flat, thin, and naked. The eyes are of a reddish chesnut colour. The body is covered with gray ash­coloured hair, interspersed with a little yellow on the throat, breast, and belly. He walks on four feet; and often exceeds not half a foot in length. The females do not menstruate.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXXV. OISTITI or STRIATED MONKEY.

The MARIKINA*, or Silky Monkey.

THE Marikina is commonly distinguished by the name of the small lion-ape. We reject this compound denomination, because the markina is not an ape, but a sagoin. Besides, he has no more resemblance to a lion than a lark has to an ostrich, there being no other relation be­tween them but a kind of mane round the face of the marikina, and a tuft of hair at the end of his tail. His hair is long, silky, and vivid. He has a round head, a brown face, red eyes, and round naked ears, concealed under the long hair which surround his facé: These hairs are [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page 210]of a bright red colour, and those on the body and tail are pale yellow, almost white. This animal has the same manners, the same vivacity, and the same inclinations with the other sagoins. Its constitution seems to be more robust; for we have seen one that lived five or six years in Paris, without anyother precaution than keeping in during the winter in a warm room.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The marikina has neither cheek-pouches nor callosities on the buttocks. His tail is flaccid, or not prehensile, and almost twice as long as both the head and body. He has round naked ears, long reddish hairs around the face, and bright yellow­ish white hairs, nearly of an equal length, on the rest of the body, with a considerable tuft at the extremity of the tail. He walks upon four feet; and exceeds not eight or nine inches in length. The female is not subject to the men­ses.

[Page]

Plate CCLXXXVI. MARIKINI or SILKY MONKEY.

The PINCHE*, or Red-tailed Monkey.

THE Pinche, though very small, is larger than either the ouistiti or the tamarin. Including head and body, it is about nine inches long, and the length of the tail is, at least, eighteen inches. It is rendered remarkable by a kind of smooth white hair upon the top and sides of the head, especially as this colour is won­derfully contrasted by that of the face, which is black, and interspersed with a gray down. The eyes are black, and the tail, from its origin to near the middle, is of a lively red, where it changes to a brownish black, which continues [Page 212] to the point. The hair on the superior parts of the body is of a yellowish brown colour; that on the breast, belly, hands, and feet, is white. The whole skin is black. The throat is naked and black, like the face. Though its figure be singular, it is a beautiful animal. Its voice is soft, and rather resembles the chanting of a small bird than the cry of a quadruped. It is extreme­ly delicate, and requires great precautions to be transported from America to Europe*.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The pinche has neither cheek-pouches nor callosities on the buttocks. His tail is not pre­hensile, and is more than twice the length of the head and body. The partition of the no­strils is thick, and the apertures are placed at a side. The face, throat, and ears are black; on the head are long white hairs. The muzzle is broad, and the face round. The hair on the body is pretty long, of a yellowish brown or reddish colour till near the tail, where it becomes [Page]

Plate CCLXXXVII. PINCHE or RED MONKEY.

[Page 213] orange; on the breast, belly, hands, and feet, it is white, and shorter than on the body. The tail, from the origin to one half of its length, is a vivid red, then brownish red, and toward the point it is black. He is about nine inches in length, and walks on four feet. The females are not subject to the menstrual evacuation.

The MICO*, or fair MONKEY.

WE owe our knowledge of this animal to M. de la Condamine; and, therefore, we shall transcribe the account he has given of it: 'The monkey, of which the Governour of Para made me a present, is the only one of the kind that had been seen in this country. The hair on its body was of a beautiful silvery white colour; and that on its tail was a shining chesnut approaching to black. Its ears, cheeks, and muzzle, were of so lively a vermilion co­lour, that it had the appearance of being the work of art. I kept it for twelve months; and, now that I am in sight of the French coast, it is still alive. But, notwithstanding all my precautions to defend it against the cold, it fell a victim to the rigour of the season be­fore my arrival. . . . I have preserved it in aquavitae, which will be sufficient to show that [Page 215] my description is not exaggerated*.' From this narration it is obvious, that M. de la Con­damine's description will apply to no other ani­mal than the Mico; and that it is a distinct, and probably a very rare species. Though remark­able for the beauty of its hair, and the lively red which adorns its face, it was never mention­ed by any former author or traveller.

Distinctive Characters of this Species.

The mico has neither cheek-pouches nor cal­losities on-the buttocks. The tail is about one half longer than the head and body, and is not prehensile. The partition of the nostrils is thin­ner than that of the other sagoins; but their a­pertures are placed at a side. Its face and ears are naked, and of a vermilion colour. The muzzle is short; the eyes are distant from each other; the ears are large; the hair is of a beautiful sil­very white colour, and that of the tail of a glossy brown, approaching to black. It walks on four feet, and exceeds not seven or eight inches in length. The females are not subject to the menses.

NOTICES of some Animals which are not expressly treated of in the Course of this Work.

WE have now finished, according to the ex­tent of our ability, the history of quadrupeds. But, to render it still more complete, those of which we could not procure an exact know­ledge must not be passed over in silence. Their number is small; and, even of this small num­ber, several of them are only varieties of the species already described.

NOTICE I.
The White, or POLAR BEAR*.

THE white bear is a famous animal in our most northern regions. It is mentioned by Marten, and some other voyagers. But none [Page]

Plate CCLXXXVIII MICO or FAIR MONKEY

[Page 217] of their descriptions are so complete as to enable us to ascertain whether it differs in species from the common bear. If what they have said, how­ever, be exact, it is probably a distinct species. But, as we know that the wolf varies in differ­ent climates, some of them being black, others brown, others white, and others variegated, co­lour is a character of no value in constituting different species. I saw two small bears which had been brought from Russia, and were entire­ly white*; and yet they were unquestionably of the same species with our Alpine bears. These animals likewise vary greatly in size. As they live long, and become very thick and fat in places where they have plenty of nourishment, and are not disturbed, the character drawn from magnitude is equivocal. Hence we are not au­thorised to conclude, that the bear of the nor­thern seas is a peculiar species, solely because he [Page 218] is white and larger than the common kind*, The difference of habits seems not to be more decisive than that of colour and magnitude. The bear of the northern seas feeds upon fishes. He never quits the margins of the sea, and often in­habits the floating islands of ice. But, if we consider that the bear is an animal which eats every thing, that, when pressed with hunger, he has no choice, and that he is not afraid of wa­ter, these habits will not appear sufficient to form distinct species. The fish eaten by the sea-bears is rather a kind of flesh, being chiefly the car­casses of whales, walruses, and seals. The cli­mate produces no other animals. Neither does it afford grains or fruits; and, consequently, the bear is under the necessity of subsisting on the productions of the sea. Is it not probable that our bears, if transported to the mountains of Spitzbergen, and finding no food upon land, would take to the sea in quest of subsistence?

Colour, size, and mode of living, being insuf­ficient, no other essential characters remain but those which may be derived from figure. Now [Page 219] all that voyagers have said of the sea-bear, a­mounts only to this, that his head, body, and hair are longer than those of our bear, and that his skull is much harder. If these differences were real and considerable, they would be suffi­cient to constitute another species. But I am not certain that Marten has examined with ac­curacy, and that the other writers who copied him, have not exaggerated*. 'These white bears,' he remarks, 'are quite otherwise shaped than those that are seen in our country; they have a long head like unto a dog, and a long neck, and they bark like dogs that are hoarse, and all their whole body is much otherwise shaped than ours. They are slenderer in the body, and a great deal swifter;' Marten's voy­age to Spitzbergen, p. 100. This description furnishes the following remarks: 1. That the author does not make these bears larger than ours; and, consequently, that we ought to su­spect the evidence of those who tell us that the sea-bear is sometimes thirteen feet in length. 2. That hair as soft as wool is not a specific cha­racter; for, to render hair soft, and even more bushy, it is only necessary that an animal be frequently in the water, as appears from the land [Page 220] and water beavers. The latter, who dwelt of­tener in the water than on land, have coarser and less bushy hair: And, I am inclined to think, that the other differences are neither real nor so conspicuous as Marten would have us to believe; for Dithmar Blefken, in his description of Ice­land, mentions these bears, and assures us that he saw one killed in Greenland, which raised itself on the two hind feet, like our bears; but he says not one word which indicates that the white bear of Greenland is not entirely similar to ours*. Besides, when these animals find prey on land, they never go to sea in quest of food. They devour rain-deer, and such other animals as they can seize. They even attack men, and never fail to dig up dead bodies. But hunger, which they often feel in these de­sert and barren lands, obliges them to frequent the water, in quest of seals, young walruses, and [Page 221] whales. They take up their residence on islands of ice, on which they are often seen floating at a distance, and never abandon their station as long as they can find abundance of food. When these boards of ice are detached in the spring, the bears allow themselves to be carried along; and, as they cannot regain the land, or abandon the ice on which they are embarked, they often perish in the open sea. Those who arrive with the ice on the coasts of Iceland or Norway*, are starved to such a degree, that they devour every thing they meet, which may have given rise to the prejudice, that these sea-bears are more fierce and voracious than the common kind. Some authors tell us, that the sea-bears are amphibious like the seals, and that they can live as long as they please under water. But the contrary is evident from the manner of hunt­ing them: They are incapable of swimming long, and never accomplish above a league at a time. They are followed by a small boat, and are soon worn out with fatigue. If they could dispense with respiration, they would dive to the bottom, in order to rest themselves. But, when they dive, it is only for a few seconds; and, for [Page 222] fear of drowning, they allow themselves to be killed on the surface of the water*.

Seals are the common prey of the white bears. But the walrus, from whom they some­times carry off the young, pierces them with its tusks, and puts them to flight. The whale like­wise overwhelms them by its weight, and ba­nishes them from the places they frequent. They sometimes, however, devour the young whales. All bears are naturally very fat; and the white­bears, who live upon animals loaded with grease, are fatter than the common kind. Their fat is very like that of the whale. The flesh of these bears is not bad, and their skin makes a very warm and durable fur.

SUPPLEMENT.

I here give a figure of the white sea bear, from a drawing sent me by the late Mr Colinson. If this drawing be exact, it is certain that the sea bear is a different species from the land bear. The head is so long, when compared with that of the common bear, that this character alone is sufficient to constitute a distinct species: And those voyagers adhere to truth when they tell us, that the figure of the sea bear is totally dif­ferent from ours, and that its head and neck are much longer. From the drawing it like­wise appears, that the feet, instead of resembling the human hand, like those of the land bear, are formed nearly like the feet of a large dog, and other carnivorous animals of this kind. Besides, from several relations, it appears, that some of these bears are much larger than the land bear. [Page] [...] [Page] [...] [Page 222] [...] [Page 223] [...] [Page 224] Gerard de Veira asserts, that, after killing one of these bears, he measured the skin, and found it to be twenty-three feet long, which is more than triple the length of the common bear*. We likewise find, from the Collection of Voyages to the North, that these sea bears are larger and more ferocious than ours. But, in the same Collection, it is said, that, though these bears are differently formed, and have the head and neck much longer, and the body more slender and agile, they are nearly of the same size with the common kind.

All voyagers also agree, that the sea bears have the bones of the head so hard, that no blow of a club, though sufficient to bring an ox to the ground, can stun them; and that their voice rather resembles the barking of an engraged dog than the deep murmuring cry of the common bear. Robert Lade assures us, that, in the en­virons of the river Rupper, he killed two sea bears of a prodigious size; that these famished and ferocious animals attacked the hunters with such impetuosity, that they killed several Sava­ges, and wounded two Englishmen. In page 34. of the third Dutch Voyages to the North, we are told, that the sailors killed, on the coast of Nova Zembla, a sea bear whose skin was thir­teen feet long. Upon the whole, therefore, I [Page]

Plate CCLXXXIX. WHITE or POLAR BEAR.

[Page 225] am inclined to believe, that this animal, so much celebrated for its ferocity, is really a much lar­ger species than our bear.

II.
The COW of TARTARY*.

M. GMELIN, in the New Memoirs of the Academy of Petersburg, has given a description of a Tartarian cow, which, at first sight, appears to differ from all those we have enumerated un­der the article buffalo. ‘'This cow,' says he, 'which I saw alive, and had a drawing made of it is Siberia, came from Calmuck. It was about two and a half Russian ells in length. [Page 226] By this standard we may judge of its other dimensions, the proportions of which have been accurately observed by the painter. The body resembles that of a common cow. The horns are bended inward. The hair on the body and head is back, except on the front and ridge of the back, where it is white. It has a mane on the neck; and the whole body, like that of a buck, is covered with very long hair, which descends as far as the knees, and makes the legs appear short. It has a bunch on the back. The tail resembles that of a horse, and is white and very bushy. The fore legs are black, the hind ones white, and the whole resemble those of the ox. Upon the heels of the hind feet, there are two tufts of long hair, the one before and the other behind; and, on the fore feet, there is but one tuft placed behind. The excrements are more solid than those of cows; and, when the animal discharges urine, it draws its body backward. It lows not like an ox, but grunts like a hog. It is wild, and even ferocious; for, except the man from whom it receives its food, it gives blows with its head to every person who comes near it. It hardly suffers the presence of do­mestic cows: Whenever it perceives one of them, it grunts, which it seldom does on any other occasion.' To this description M. Gmelin adds, 'That it is the same animal mentioned by Rubruquis in his travels into Tartary: [Page 227] That there are two species of it among the Calmucks, the first called Sarluk, which I have already described, and the second Chainuk, which differs from the other by the largeness of its head and horns, and also by the tail, which at its origin resembles that of the horse, and terminates like that of a cow. But they both have the same natural dispositions.'’

In the whole of this description, there is only a single character which indicates the Calmuck cows to be a particular species, and that is their grunting instead of a lowing. It every other ar­ticle, they have so strong a resemblance to the bison, that they must belong to the same species, or rathe the same race. Besides, though the author says, that these cows do not low, but grunt, he acknowledges that they very rarely utter that kind of sound. Perhaps it was an af­fection peculiar to the individual he saw; for Rubruquis, and the other writers whom he quotes, mention not this grunting. Perhaps the bisons, when enraged, likewise make a grunting noise. Even our bulls, particularly in the rutting season, have a hollow, interrupted voice, which has a greater resemblance to grunting than to lowing. I am persuaded, therefore, that this grunting cow of Gmelin is nothing else but the bison, and does not constitute a particular species.

III.
The TOLAI, or BAIKAL HARE*.

THIS animal is very common in the neigh­bourhood of Lake Baikal in Tartary. It is somewhat larger than the rabbit, which it re­sembles in the figure of the body, the fur, the gait, the colour, the taste of the flesh, and the habit of digging a retreat in the earth. Their internal structure is likewise the same; and there is no difference but in the length of the tail, that of the tolai being considerably longer. [Page 229] Hence it is extremely probable that this animal is only a variety in the species of the rabbit. Rubruquis, when treating of the animals in Tar­tary, says, 'There are rabbits with a long tail, and black and white hairs at the point. . . . There are no stags, few hares, a vast number of gazelles,' &c. This passage seems to insi­nuate, that our short-tailed rabbit is not found in Tartary*, or rather, that it has undergone some variations in that climate, and particular­ly in the length of the tail; for, as the tolai re­sembles the rabbit in every other respect, it is unnecessary to consider them as belonging to different species.

IV.
The ZISEL, or EARLESS MARMOT.

SOME authors, and among others Linnaeus, [Page 230] have doubted whether the Zisel or Ziesel *, (ci­tellus) be a different animal from the hamster (cricetus). They have, indeed, a great resem­blance to each other, and inhabit nearly the same countries. They differ, however, in so many characters, that I am convinced they con­stitute two distinct species. The zisel is smaller than the hamster. Its body is long and slender, like the weasel; but that of the hamster is thick like the rat. It has no external ears, but two auditory passages concealed under the hair. The ears of the hamster are short; but they are broad, and very conspicuous. The zisel is of a uniform cinereous gray colour; but the hamster has three large white spots on each side of the breast. These differences, when joined to this circum­stance, that the two animals, though they inha­bit the same regions, never intermix, are suffi­cient [Page 231] to remove every doubt with regard to the diversity of their species, though they resemble one another in the shortness of the tail and legs, in having teeth like those of the rat, and even in natural habits, such as digging retreats in the earth, laying up magazines of provisions, de­stroying the corn, &c. Besides, what must re­move every doubt on this subject, Agricola, an exact and judicious writer, in his treatise on sub­terraneous animals, gives a description of both animals, and distinguishes them so clearly, that it is impossible to confound them*. Hence we may conclude, that the hamster and zisel are very different species, and perhaps as remote from each other as the weasel from the rat.

V.
The ZEMNI, or PODOLIAN MARMOT*.

IN Poland and Russia there is another animal called ziemni or zemni, which is of the same ge­nus with the zisel, but larger, stronger, and more mischievous. The head is pretty thick, the body slender, and the ears short and rounded. It has four large cutting teeth, which project out of the mouth, the two in the under jaw being thrice as long as the two in the upper. The feet are very short, covered with hair, divided into five toes, and armed with crooked claws. The hair is soft, short, and of a mouse-gray co­lour. The tail is of a moderate size. The eyes are as small, and equally concealed as those of the mole. Rzaczinski gives it the denomination of the little earth dog. This author seems to be the only one who mentions the zemni, though [Page 233] it be very common in some of the Northern provinces*. Its natural dispositions and habits are nearly the same with those of the hamster and zisel. It bites cruelly, eats voraciously, and lays waste the corn fields and gardens. It digs a habitation in the earth, and feeds upon grains, fruits, and pot-herbs, of which it lays up ma­gazines in its retreat, where it passes the winter.

VI.
THE POUC.

RZACZINSKI mentions another animal which is larger than the domestic rat, and called pouch by the Russians. It digs a retreat in the earth, and lays waste the gardens. This animal was so numerous near Suraz in Volhinia, that the in­habitants were obliged to abandon the culture of their gardens. It is perhaps the same with Seba's Norwegian rat, of which he gives a figure and description.

VII.
THE PEROUASCA.

RUSSIA and Poland furnish another animal: In the language of the former country it is cal­led perewiazka, and in that of the latter prze­wiaska *, or gridled weasel. It is smaller than the polecat, and covered with whitish hair, rayed transversely with several bands of yellowish red. It lives in the woods, and burrows in the ground. Its skin is a beautiful fur.

VIII.
The SOUSLIK, or CASAN MARMOT.

IN Casan, and the provinces watered by the Wolga, as far as Austria, there is a small animal [Page 235] called souslik in the Russian language, which fur­nishes a beautiful fur. In figure and short­ness of tail, it has a great resemblance to the short-tailed field mouse. But it is distinguished from the mouse or rat kind by its fur, which is every where interspersed with small spots of a bright and shining white. These spots exceed not a line in diameter, and are placed at the distance of two or three lines from each other. They are more conspicuous and better defined upon the loins than on the shoulders and head. Mr Pennant, a well known and very able Natu­ralist, favoured me with one of these sousliks, which had been transmitted to him from Austria, as an animal unknown to the Naturalists. I re­cognised it to be the same animal with that of which I had a skin in my possession, and of which M. Sanchez* sent me the following no­tice: 'Great numbers of the rats called Sousliks are taken in the barks loaded with salt in the river Kama, which desend from Solikamski, where there are salt pits, and fall into the Wolga, above the town of Casan, at the con­fluence [Page 236] of the Teluschin. The Wolga, from Simbuski to Somtof, is covered with these salt barks; and it is in the lands adjacent to these rivers, as well as in the barks, where the sousliks are taken. They have obtained the denomination of souslik, which signifies nice-tased, because they are extremely fond of salt.'.

SUPPLEMENT.

I now give a figure of this animal, which is not in the original work. Prince Galitzin, at the desire of M. de Buffon, was so obliging as to send eight sousliks, with the necessary pre­cautions for preserving them alive, till they should arrive in France. These eight animals arrived in Petersburg, after a long journey from Siberia. But, notwithstanding all the attention paid to them, they died in passing from Peters­burg to France. The instructions from Siberia were, to feed them only with grain or hemp­seed; to give them as much air as possible; to put a considerable quantity of sand in their cage, because, in their natural state, they burrow in light soils.

[Page]

Plate CCXC. SOUSLIK

[Page 237] These animals generally dwell in the deserts, and dig holes in the declivities of mountains, provided the earth be blackish. Their holes are not of equal depths, and are seven or eight feet long, never straight, but winding, and have from two to five entries, the distances of which are unequal, being from two to seven feet asunder. In these holes they make diffe­rent apartments, and amass in them their winter provisions during the summer. In the culti­vated fields, they collect ears of corn, pease, lint, and hemp seeds, and place them separately in different departments of their holes. In uncul­tivated lands, they collect the seeds of various herbs. During summer, they feed upon grains, herbs, roots, and young mice; for, when the mice are large, the souslik is unable to kill them. Beside their magazines of provisions, these ani­mals dig separate holes some feet distant from the former, in which they repose. They throw all their ordure out of their retreats. The fe­males bring forth from two to five young at a litter, which are blind and naked, and begin not to see till after the hair appears. The time of gestation is not exactly known.

IX.
The SIBERIAN, or GILDED MOLE*.

IN Siberia, there is a mole called the gilded mole, whose species is probably different from the common kind; because it wants the tail, has a very short muzzle, the hair mixed with green and a gold-colour, and only three toes on the fore feet, and four on those behind, while the com­mon mole has five toes on all the feet. We are ignorant of the proper name of this animal.

X.
The WHITE WATER RAT.

THE water rat of Europe is found in Canada; but its colours are different. It is brown on the [Page 239] back; and the rest of the body is white, and in some places yellow. The head, muzzle, and end of the tail are white. The hair is softer and more glossy than that of our water-rat. But, in every other article, these animals are perfectly similar, and undoubtedly belong to the same species. The white hair is an effect of cold; and it is probable, that white water-rats may be found in the North of Europe, as well as in Canada.

XI.
THE GUINEY HOG*.

THOUGH this animal differs from the com­mon hog in some characters, I presume that it [Page 240] is the same species, and that these differences are only varieties produced by the influence of cli­mate. Of this we have an example in the Siam hog, which likewise differs from that of Europe; and yet it is unquestionably the same species, since they intermix and produce together. The Guiney hog is nearly of the same figure with ours, and of the same size with the Siam hog, that is, smaller than the wild boar, or the do­mestic hog. It is an original native of Guiney, and has been transported to Brasil, where it has multiplied prodigiously. It is domestic, and perfectly tame. It has short, red, shining hair, and no bristles, even on the back. The neck and crupper, near the origin of the tail, are covered with longer hairs than those on the rest of the body. Its head is not so large as that of the European hog, from which it differs in the figure of the ears, which are very long, sharp-pointed, and lie back upon the neck. Its tail is also much longer, reaching near the ground, and entirely destitute of hair. This race, which, according to Marcgrave, is peculiar to Guiney, is found likewise in Asia, and parti­cularly in the island of Java*, from whence [Page 241] they seem to have been transported by the Dutch to the Cape of Good Hope*.

XII.
The ETHIOPIAN, or CAPE VERD BOAR.

IN the neighbourhood of Cape Verd, there is another hog or boar, which, from the number [Page 242] of his teeth, and the enormous size of the tusks in his upper-jaw, appears to be a peculiar race, if not a different species from that of all the o­ther hogs, and approaches toward the babiroussa. These tusks have a greater resemblance to ivory horns than to teeth. They are half a foot long, five inches in circumference at the base, and bended nearly like the horns of a bull. This character alone is not sufficient to constitute a difference in species. But, what supports this presumption, he likewise differs from all other hogs in the length of the aperture of his nostrils, in the great breadth and figure of his jaws, and in the number and form of his grinders. How­ever, we have seen the tusks of a wild boar, which was killed in the woods of Burgundy, and made an approach to the Cape Verd boar: Its tusks were about three inches and a half long, and four inches in circumference at the base. They had also a double bend, like the horns of a bull. They appeared likewise to consist of solid ivory; and, it is certain, that this boar must have had larger jaws than the common kind. [Page 243] Hence we may presume, that the Cape Verd boar is only a simple variety, a particular race, in the species of the common hog.

SUPPLEMENT.

We formerly suggested, that the wild boar of Cape Verd appeared to be a different race, and perhaps a different species from all the other hogs. The celebrated M. Allamand, professor of Natural History at Leyden, was kind enough to send us an engraving of this animal, and af­terwards wrote M. Daubenton in the follow­ing terms:

I believe, Sir, that the wild boar represent­ed in the plate which I sent you, is the same with that pointed out by you under the deno­mination of the Wild Boar of Cape Verd. This animal is still living (May 5. 1767) in the me­nagerie of the Prince of Orange. I visit him occasionally, and always with fresh pleasure. I cannot help admiring the singular form of his head. I have written to the Governour of the Cape of Good Hope, begging him, if pos­sible, to transmit me another. But of this I have little hope; because, even at the Cape, it was regarded as a monster, which had never hitherto been seen by any person. If, how­ever, I succeed in my request, I shall send the animal to France, that you and M. de Buffon [Page 244] may have an opportunity of examining it. We tried to make the one in our possession copulate with a sow; but, as soon as she was presented to him, he darted upon her with fury, and tore her to pieces.

We have copied the engraving transmitted to us by M. Allamand. M. Pallas, and M. Vos­maër have used the same figure, and each of them have given a description of this animal. M. Allamand, in his letter to M. Daubenton, dated at Leyden, October 31. 1766, remarks, that the head is the most singular part of this boar, which chiefly differs from that of our hogs by two un­common appendixes, in the form of ears, at the side of each eye.

We shall here remark, that the disdain and cruelty, mentioned by M. Allamand, of this wild boar to the sow when in season, seems to prove it to be a different species from our hogs. A farther proof arises from the difference in the form of the head, both external and internal. However, as it approaches the hog much near­er than any other animal, and as it is found not only in the neighbourhood of Cape Verd, but not very distant from the Cape of Good Hope, we shall call it the African boar, and give the history and description of it from the writings of Pallas and Vosmaër.

Vosmaër calls it the wild African boar, or the boar with a large snout, and distinguishes it, with propriety, from the Guiney hog with long [Page 245] pointed ears, from the American pecari, and from the Indian babiroussa.

'M. de Buffon,' he remarks, 'speaking of a part of the jaws, the tail and feet of a singular wild boar of Cape Verd, preserved in the royal cabinet, says, that it has cutting teeth: But no such teeth appear in our subject.'

Hence M. Vosmaër insinuates, that it is not the same animal. We have seen, however, that M. Allamand and I agree, that this Cape de Verd boar, of which I have had an opportunity of ex­amining a part of the head only, is found, not­withstanding, to be the same large snouted hog which M. Vosmaër said was unknown to all the naturalists.

M. Tulbagh, Governour of the Cape of Good Hope, who transmitted this wild boar to Europe, writes, that it was taken between Caffraria and the country of the great Namaquas, about two hundred leagues from the Cape, and that it was the only one of the species which had been there seen alive. M. Vosmaër likewise received the skin of an animal of the same species, which ap­peared to differ in some particulars, from the live animal.

This animal was kept in a cage;

and, as I was informed,' M. Vosmaër remarks, 'that he was not mischievous, I opened the door of his cage. He came out, without showing any marks of rage. He gaily frisked about in quest of food, and greedily devoured whatever was given him. [Page 246] Having left him alone for a few moments, I found him, on my return, busy in digging the earth, where, notwithstanding the pavement was made of small bricks well cemented, he had already made a hole of an incredible size, with a view, as we afterwards discovered, to reach a common sewer which passed below at a great depth. I caused his labour to be inter­rupted; and it was not without much trouble, and the assistance of several men, that we could overcome his resistance, and make him return to his cage. His resentment was expressed by sharp and mournful cries. He seems to have been taken in the African woods when he was very young; for he has grown considerably since his arrival in Europe, and is still alive (1767). He passed the last winter very well, though the frost was severe, and he was con­fined during the greatest part of that season.

In agility, he exceeds the hogs of this coun­try. He freely allows himself to be stroaked with the hand, and even with a stick. He seems to be pleased with rough friction; for it was by this means that we made him remain quiet when the painter drew his picture. When provoked or rudely pushed, he retires back­ward, always facing the assailant, and shaking or striking forcibly with his head. When let loose after long confinement, he is very gay, leaps, and pursues fallow-deer, and other ani­mals. On these occasions, he erects his tail, [Page 247] which is commonly pendulous. He emits a strong odour, which is not disagreeable; but I cannot compare it to any other smell. When I stroaked him with the hand, this odour ap­proached to that of new cheese. He eats all kinds of grains. His food, when on ship-board, was maize, and as much fresh herbage as could be procured. But, after he had tasted barely and European wheat, with which other animals in our menagerie are fed, he preferred this kind of food, and roots dug out of the earth. He was so fond of rye-bread, that he followed any person who had a piece of it. When he eats or drinks, he supports himself on the knees of his fore feet; and he often rests in this position. His senses of hearing and smelling are very acute; but his sight is limited by the smallness and situation of his eyes, which prevent his seeing objects around him, because they are placed higher and nearer each other than in other hogs, and there are two large excrescences at the sides and below the eyes. He has more sagacity than the common hog.

The figure of the head is terrible. The flatness and breadth of the nose, joined to the length of the snout, the singular excrescences rising from the sides of the eyes, and the strong tusks, give to the animal a monstrous aspect. The length of the body is about four Rhenish feet.

[Page 248]The figure of the body makes a near ap­proach to that of the domestic hog: He ap­pears to be smaller, hsi back being flatter, and his legs shorter.

When compared with other hogs, his head is deformed both in figure and dimensions. The muzzle is large, flat, and very hard. The nose is moveable, a little bended laterally toward the base, and terminates obliquely. The nostrils are large, distant from each other, and appear only when the head is raised. The upper lip is hard, and thick at the side. Round the tusks it is prominent and pendulous, forming behind them a kind of oval cartilaginous protuberance, which covers the corners of the muzzle.

This animal wants fore teeth both above and below but the gums are smooth, rounded, and hard.

The tusks of the upper jaw are an inch thick at the base, crooked, and project out of the mouth five inches and a half, and terminate in an obtuse point. On the side of each of them there is a kind of furrow. Those of the un­der jaw are much smaller, less crooked, and almost triangular. By continual friction a­gainst the upper tusks, they appear to be cut obliquely. We were prevented from exami­ning the grinders by the furious resistance of the animal.

In proportion to the head, the eyes are small, placed higher, and nearer each other and the' [Page 249] ears, than in the common hog. The iris is of a deep brown colour, and the cornea white. The upper eye-lids are garnished with brown, stiff, erect, and very close ciliae, which are longer in the middle than at the two sides. There are no ciliae on the under eye-lids.

The ears are pretty large, more round than pointed, covered in the inside with close yel­low hair, and bend back toward the animal's body. Under the eyes there is a kind of bul­bous or glandular fac; and immediately be­low that, appear two round, flat, thick, and horizontal excrescences, about two inches and a quarter in diameter. . . . . . In a straight line between these excrescences and the muz­zle, there is, on each side of the head, a hard, round, sharp protuberance.

The skin seems to be very thick, filled with lard in the ordinary places, but flaccid on the neck, groin, and dewlap. In some places it appears to be slightly furrowed, unequal, and as if the upper part of it fell off by intervals. Thinly dispersed over the body are some tufts of hairs, consisting of three, four, or five, long­er and shorter, and placed in a straight line near one another. The front, and between the ears, seem to be wrinkled, and are adorned with very close, white, and brown hairs. From thence, toward the base of the muzzle, de­scends a narrow band of black and gray hairs, which, separating in the middle, fall upon each [Page 250] side of the head. On the nap of the neck, and the anterior part of the back, the bristles are the longest and most close: Their colour is a dusky brown and gray. Some of them are seven or eight inches long: In thickness they exceed not those of the common hog, and they split in the same manner. These bristles are not straight, but slightly inclined. Upon the back, their number is so small, that the skin appears to be naked. The flanks, breast, belly, sides of the head and neck, are garnish­ed with small white bristles.

The feet, like those of our hogs, are divi­ded into two black, pointed hoofs. The tail is naked, hangs perpendicularly, and terminates almost in a point.

The colour of the head is blackish; but that of the back and belly is a bright reddish gray.'

Notwithstanding these differences pointed out by M. Vosmaër, and the repugnance which this boar discovered to the sow that was presented to it, I am uncertain whether it is not a variety only of our European hog. This species varies greatly in Asia, Siam, and China. My uncer­tainty is increased by having found, about thir­ty years ago, an enormous head of a wild boar that was killed in my own woods, the tusks of which were nearly as large as those of the Cape boar.

[Page 251] Besides, M. Comerson informs me, that there are wild boars in Madagascar, whose head, from the ears to the eyes, is of the ordinary form; but that below the eyes is a protuberance which gradually tapers to the end of the snout, so that the animal appears to have two heads, the half of the one sunk into the other. The flesh of this hog is slimy and insipid. This information made me suspect, that the animal I had first mentioned under the denomination of the Wild Boar of Cape Verd, because its head was brought from the neighbourhood of that Cape, and af­terwards called it the Wild African Boar, because it exists in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, is likewise found in the island of Madagascar.

Addition by Professor Allamand.

M. de Buffon, in his history of the hog, has shown, that the hog eludes all those methodical distributions into classes and genera, the distin­guishing characters of which are derived from particular parts of the body. Though his rea­sons are not to be answered, they would have acquired additional force, if he had been ac­quainted with the animal under consideration. It is a wild boar sent from the Cape of Good [Page 252] Hope, in the year 1765, to the menagerie of the Prince of Orange, which has hitherto been unknown to the Naturalists. Beside the many singularities which make the European hog a detached species, this animal exhibits fresh ano­malies, which distinguish him from all the other varieties of the same genus; for the figure of his head is not only different, but he has no cut­ting teeth, from which most of our Nomencla­tors have drawn their distinctive characters, though the number of the teeth is by no means uniform, even in our domestic hogs.

To M. Tulbagh, Governour of the Cape of Good Hope, who misses no opportunity of trans­mitting to Europe the curious productions of that country, we are indebted for this wild boar. In his letter, he remarks, that this animal was taken about two hundred leagues from the Cape, and that it was the first which had ever been seen there alive. The last year, however, he sent another, which is still living; and, in 1767, he transmitted a skin, of which we have only been able to preserve the head. These circumstances seem to indicate, that this animal is not rare in its native country. I know not whether Kolbe means to speak of these boars in the following passage. 'In the country occupied by the Dutch, we rarely meet with wild hogs: As there are few woods, which are their common retreats, they have no motive to frequent these territo­ries. Besides, the lions, tigers, and other ra­pacious [Page 253] pacious animals, prevent the multiplication of the hogs, by devouring great numbers of them*.' He adds no description; and, there­fore, no conclusion can be drawn. Besides, he ranks among the number of Cape hogs the large ant-eater, which is an American animal, and has no resemblance to the hog. What credit is due to an author so ill informed?

The body of our African boar resembles that of the European kind: But it differs widely in the form of the head, which is of an enormous size. The most conspicuous objects are the large tusks which spring from each side of the upper jaw, and are directed almost perpendicularly up­ward. They are near seven inches long, and terminate in a blunt point. Two similar tusks, but smaller and thinner, rise from the under jaw, and apply themselves exactly to the external side of the superior tusks when the mouth is shut. These are powerful arms, which he may use to advantage in his native country, where he must be often exposed to the attacks of carnivorous animals.

His head, which is large and flat before, ter­minates in an ample snout, nearly equal in dia­meter to the breadth of the head, and of a hard­ness which approaches to that of horn. He uses it, like our hogs, in digging the earth. His eyes are small, and situated so far forward in the head, that he can only see straight before him. They [Page 254] are nearer each other and the ears, than in our European boars. Below the eyes, there is a de­pression in the skin, which forms a kind of wrinkled sac. The inside of his ears are closely covered with hair. A little lower, and near the side of the eyes, the skin rises and forms two ex­crescences, which, when viewed at a certain di­stance, have a perfect resemblance to a couple of ears, being of the same figure and size, and, though not moveable, they lie nearly in the same plane with the fore-head. Still lower, be­tween these excrescences and the tusks, there is a large wart on each side of the head. It is easy to perceive, that a configuration of this kind must give a very singular aspect to the animal. When viewed in front, we think we see four ears up­on a head which has no resemblance to that of any known animal, and inspires terror by the largeness of its tusks.

Pallas* and Vosmaër, who have given good descriptions of this boar, tell us, that, when he arrived in Holland, he was very mild and tame; that, as he had been several months on board the vessel, and had been taken young, he was become almost domestic; but that, when pursued by strangers, he retired slowly backward, and presented his front with a menacing air; and even those who were daily near him were not with­out apprehensions of danger. One day he con­ceived [Page 255] a resentment against his keeper, whom he wounded so desperately in the thigh with his tusks, that the poor man died next day. To prevent similar accidents, he was taken out of the menagerie, and so closely imprisoned that no body could approach him. He died in about twelve months, and his skin is preserved in the Prince of Orange's cabinet. The other one, which is now in the same menagerie, is still very young, and his tusks exceed not two inches in length. When allowed to come out of the place where he is confined, he testifies his joy by leap­ing, bounding, and running with much more a­gility than our hogs. On these occasions he carries his tail perfectly erect. The inhabitants of the Cape, on account of his swiftness, give him the denomination of hartlooper, or courser.

This animal unquestionably forms a genus di­stinct from all the other known races of hogs. Though he resembles them in the body, the want of cutting teeth, and the singular structure of the head, are characters too marked to be ascribed to the influence of climate, especially as there are hogs in Africa which differ from ours only by being smaller. Besides, it would appear that he cannot produce with our hogs. A Guiney sow was presented to him. After smelling her for some time, he pursued her into a narrow place from which she could not escape, and tore her to pieces with his tusks. He afterwards abused a common sow to such a degree, that she was [Page 256] carried off, in order to save her from destruc­tion.

It is wonderful that this animal, which, as I formerly remarked, seems not to be rare in its native country, has not been mentioned by any traveller, or at least in terms so vague, that no idea can be formed of it. Flacourt* tells us, that in Madagascar there are wild boars which have two horns on the side of the nose, resem­bling two callosities; and that these animals are nearly as dangerous as in France. M. de Buf­fon imagines, that this passage relates to the babiroussa, and perhaps he may be right: But it may, with equal probability, relate to our boar. These horns, which resembled two callosities, may have been the tusks of this boar, as well as those of the babiroussa, though extremely ill de­scribed; and, what Flacourt adds, that these ani­mals are dangerous, seems to correspond better with our African boar. M. Adanson, when speaking of a wild boar he saw in Africa, ex­presses himself in these terms: 'I saw,' says he, 'one of those enormous wild boars peculiar to Africa, and which, I believe, have never been mentioned by any Naturalist. It was black, like the European wild boar, but vastly larger in size. It had four large tusks, the two su­perior of which bended in a semicircular form toward the front, and had the appearance of [Page]

Plate CCXCI. BOAR of CAPE VERDE

[Page 257] horns.' M. de Buffon supposes, that M. Adan­son means to describe the babiroussa; and, were it not for his authority, I should have been led to believe, that M. Adanson intended to point out our African boar; for, if he had the babi­roussa under his inspection, I cannot compre­hend how he should remark, that it had never been mentioned by any Naturalist. He is too much conversant in Natural History, not to know that the babiroussa has been often described, and that its head is found in almost every Musaeum in Europe.

But in Africa there is, perhaps, another spe­cies of wild boar, with which we are still unac­quainted, and was the animal seen by M. Adan­son. This conjecture is supported by the de­scription which M. Daubenton has given of a part of the jaws of a Cape Verd wild boar. His remarks clearly prove, that it differs from our boars, and would apply directly to the one un­der consideration, if there had not been cutting teeth in each of these jaws.

*
Descript. du Cap de Bonne-esperance, tom. 3. p. 43.
*
Pallas, Miscellanea Zoologica; et ejusdem Spicilegia Zoologica, Fasciculus Secundus.
*
Hist. de la grand isle Madagascar, p. 152.
Hist. Nat. du Senegal, p. 76.

I willingly assent to most of M. Allamand's reflections. But I persist in believing, as he himself at first believed, that the Cape Verd boar which I mentioned, and the jaws described by M. Daubenton, belong to the same species, tho' [Page 258] the former had no cutting teeth; for in no ani­mal is the number and order of the teeth so va­rious as in the hog kind. This difference alone seems not sufficient to constitute two species of the African wild boar and that of Cape Verd, especially as all the other characters of the head appear to be the same.

XIII.
THE MEXICAN WOLF*.

AS the wolf is a native of cold climates, he must have passed by the northern lands, as he is [Page 259] found equally in both Continents. We have mentioned black and gray wolves in North A­merica. It appears that this species is diffused as far as New Spain and Mexico; and that, in this warm climate, it has undergone some alte­rations, without having his nature or dispositions changed; for the Mexican wolf has the same figure, appetites, and habits as the European or North American wolf; and all of them appear to be the same species. The Mexican wolf, or rather the wolf of New Spain, where he is more common than in Mexico, has five toes on the fore feet, and four on those behind. The ears are long and erect; and the eyes sparkle like those of our wolf. But the head is twice as large, the neck thicker, and the tail less bushy. Above the mouth, there are some bristles as large, but not so stiff, as those of the hedge-hog. Upon an ash-coloured ground, the body is marked with some yellow spots. The head is of the same colour with the body, and marked with transverse brownish lines, and the front is spotted with yellow. The ears are gray, like the head and body. There is a long yellow spot on the neck, another on the breast, and a [Page 260] third on the belly. On the flanks are transverse bands from the back to the belly. The tail is gray, with a yellow spot in the middle. The legs are barred with gray and brown. This is the most beautiful of all wolves, and its skin should be esteemed for its variety of colours*. But nothing indicates it to be a different species from the common kind, which varies from gray to white, from white to black, and a mixture of both, without changing its species: And we learn from Fernandes, that those wolves of New Spain vary like the European wolf; for, even in this country, they are not all marked accor­ding to our description, some of them being of a uniform colour, and even totally white.

XIV.
THE ALCO.

WE formerly remarked, that, in Peru and Mexico, before the arrival of the Europeans, there were domestic animals called alco, which were nearly of the same size and dispositions with our small dogs; and that, from this con­formity, and because they were equally faithful and attached to their masters, the Spaniards gave them the name of Mexican or Peruvian dogs. The species of these animals, indeed, seems not to differ essentially from that of the dog. Besides, the word alco might, perhaps, be a generic and not a specific term. Recchi has left us a figure of one of these alcos, which, in the Mexican language, was called Ytzcuinte Por­zotli. It was prodigiously fat, and probably degraded by its domestic state, and by too much nourishment. The head is represented to be so small, that it has no proportion to the size of the body. Its ears are pendulous, which is an­other mark of slavery. The muzzle resembles that of a dog; the fore part of the head is white, and the ears are pretty yellow. The neck is so short, that there is no interval between the head [Page 262] and shoulders. The back is arched, and cover­ed with yellow hair. The tail is white, short, and pendulous, and descends no lower than the thighs. The belly is large, tense, and marked with black spots. It has six conspicuous paps. The legs and feet are white; and the toes, like those of the dog, are armed with long sharp claws*. Fabri, who gives this description, con­cludes, after a long dissertation, that this animal is the same with the alco; and I believe his con­clusion is well founded. But this appellation must not be regarded as exclusive; for there is another race of dogs in America to which it ap­plies with equal propriety. Beside the dogs, Fernandes remarks, which the Spaniards trans­ported from Europe to America, there are three other species, which are pretty similar to ours, both in their nature and dispositions; neither is their figure altogether different. The first and largest of these American dogs is called Xoloizt­cuintli. He is often three cubits long; and, what is remarkable, he is totally destitute of hair, and only covered with a soft close skin, marked with yellow and blue spots. The se­cond is covered with hair, and of the size of our small Maltese dogs. He is marked with [Page 263] white, black, and yellow. His deformity, though singular, is not disagreeable: His back is arched; and his neck so short, that it seems to proceed immediately from the shoulders. He is named in his own country michuacanens. The third, which likewise resembles our small dogs, is called techichi. But he has a wild and me­lancholy aspect. The Americans eat his flesh*.

From comparing the testimonies of Fabri and Fernandes, it is obvious, that the second dog, which this last author calls michuacanens, is the same with the ytzcuinte porzotli, and that this species of animal existed in America before the arrival of the Europeans; and the same must have been the case with the techichi. I am per­suaded, therefore, that the word alco was a ge­neric name, which applied equally to both, and perhaps to other races or varieties that we are unacquainted with. But, as to the first, Fernan­des seems to have been deceived both with re­gard to the name and the animal. No author mentions naked dogs in New Spain. This race, commonly called Turkish dogs, come from In­dia, and other warm climates of the Old Con­tinent; and, it is probable, that those seen in America by Fernandes, had been transported thither, especially as he mentions his having seen this kind in Spain, before his departure for America. The proof is still farther corrobo­rated [Page 264] by the circumstance of this animal's having no American name: Fernandes gives it the bor­rowed one of Xoloitzcuintli, which is the name of the Mexican wolf. Thus, of these three species or varieties of American dogs, there re­main only two, which are called indiscriminate­ly alco; for, independent of the far alco, which served as a lap-dog to the Peruvian ladies, there was a meagre and melancholy alco, which was employed in the chace; and, it is by no means impossible, that the three races, apparently diffe­rent from those of our dogs, spring from the same stock. The dogs of Lapland, Siberia, Ice­land, &c. must have passed, like the foxes and wolves, from the one Continent to the other, and degenerated by the influence of the climate and a domestic state. The first alco, with the short neck, approaches the Iceland dog; and the techichi of New Spain is, perhaps, the same animal with the koupara *, or crab-dog of Gui­ana, which in figure resembles the fox, and in hair the jackal. He has been called the crab-dog, because he chiefly lives upon crabs and other crustaceous animals. I have seen only one skin of this Guiana animal; and I am unable to de­termine whether it is a particular species, or whether it should be referred to those of the dog, fox, or jackal.

XV.
THE TAYRA, GALERA, OR GUINEY WEASEL*.

THIS animal, of which Mr Brown has given a figure and description, is of the size of a small rabbit, and has a considerable resemblance to the weasel or martin. He digs an habitation in the earth, and has great strength in his fore-feet, which are much shorter than those behind. His muzzle is long, a little sharp, and garnished with whiskers. The under jaw is much shorter than the upper. He has six cutting and two canine teeth in each jaw, without reckoning the grinders. His tongue is rough, like that of the cat. His head is oblong, as well as the eyes, which last are placed at an equal distance between the ears and the point of the muzzle. His ears [Page 266] are flat, and resemble those of man. His feet are strong, and adapted for digging. The me­tatarsal bones are long; and he has five toes on all his feet. His tail is long, and tapers to a point. His body is oblong, and has a great re­semblance to that of a large rat. He is covered with brown hairs, some of which are longer than others. This animal appears to be a small species of martin or polecat. Linnaeus imagi­ned, that the black weasel of Brasil might be the galera of Mr Brown; and, indeed, the two de­scriptions afford some reason for the conjec­ture*. Besides, this black weasel of Brasil is likewise found in Guiana, where it is called tayra ; and I suspect that the word galera is a [Page 267] corruption derived from tayra, which is the true name of this animal.

XVI.
THE MERIAN OPOSSUM*.

THIS animal is a native of the same cli­mate, and belongs to a neighbouring species with the other opossums. Sibilla Merian is the first writer who has given a figure and a short [Page 268] account of it*. Seba afterwards gave Merian's figure for the female, and added a new figure for the male, with a kind of description. This animal, says he, has very brilliant eyes, which are surrounded with a circle of deep brown hair. The body is covered with soft hair, or rather wool of a reddish yellow colour, but of a bright red on the back. The front, muzzle, belly, and feet, are whitish yellow. The ears are naked, and pretty hard. On the upper lip, and also above the eyes, there are long hairs in the form of whiskers. Its teeth, like those of the dormouse, are very sharp. Upon the tail of the male, which is naked, and of a pale red colour, there are dusky red spots, which appear not on the tail of the female. The feet resemble the hands of an ape; those before have the four toes, and the thumb garnished with short, blunt, nails; but on the hind feet the thumb alone has a flat, blunt nail, the other four toes being arm­ed with small sharp claws. The young of these animals grunt nearly in the same manner as a pig. The paps of the female resemble those of the murine opossum. Seba properly remarks, [Page 269] that, in the figure given by Merian, the feet and toes are ill represented*. The females pro­duce five or six at a litter. The tail is very long, and prehensile, like that of the sapajous. The young mount upon the back of the mother, and adhere firmly with their tails twisted round hers. In this situation she carries them about with great nimbleness and security.

XVII.
The AKOUCHI, or OLIVE CAVY.

THE akouchi is pretty common in Guiana and other parts of South America. It differs from the agouti by having a tail, which is want­ing in the agouti. The akouchi is generally smaller than the agouti, and its hair is not red, but of an olive colour.

These are the only differences we know be­tween the akouchi and agouti, which, however, seem to be sufficient to constitute two distinct species.

SUPPLEMENT.

In the original work we remarked, that the akouchi was a different species from the agouti; because the former had a tail, and the latter had no tail. The akouchi differs from the agou­ti still more in magnitude, being no larger than a young rabbit of six months old. The akou­chi is found only in extensive woods. He feeds on the same fruits, and has nearly the same manners with the agouti. In the islands of Saint Lucia and Grenada he is called agouti. His flesh is white, and has the flavour of a young rabbit; and he is ranked amongst the finest game in South America. When the akouchis are pursued by dogs, rather than take the wa­ter, they allow themselves to be taken. M. de la Borde informs us, though I doubt the fact, that the females produce only one, or at most two young at a litter. They are easily tamed, and have a small cry like that of the Guiney pig; but it is seldom heard.

We have given a figure of this animal, drawn from a well preserved skin. Messrs Aublet and Olivier assure me, that, in Cayenne, the hare is called agouti, and the rabbit akouchi; but that the agouti is the best food; and, speaking of the game of this country, they inform me, that [Page]

Plate CCXCII. ACOUCHI.

[Page 271] the armadillos are still better food, except the nine-banded armadillo, which has a strong smell of musk; that, after the armadillos, the paca is the best game, because its flesh is wholesome and fat: The next in order are the agouti and a­kouchi. They likewise maintain, that the red couguar is used as food, and that its flesh has the taste of veal.

XVIII.
The TUCAN, or MEXICAN SHREW*.

FERNANDES has given the name of Tucan to a small quadruped of New Spain, whose size, fi­gure, and natural habits, make it approach near­er to the mole than to any other species. It appears to be the same animal described by Se­ba under the denomination of the red mole of America; at least, the descriptions of the two [Page 272] authors correspond sufficiently to justify this conjecture. The tucan is perhaps somewhat larger than our mole. It is equally fat and fleshy, and its legs are so short that the belly touches the ground. The tail is short; the ears are small and round; and the eyes are so mi­nute that they can scarcely be of any use to the animal. But it differs from the mole in the co­lour of the hair, which is reddish yellow, and in the number of toes, having only three be­fore and four behind, while the mole has five toes on all the feet. It seems to differ from the mole in other articles: Its flesh is good eating, and it possesses not the instinct of discovering its retreat after having once left it, but, at eve­ry time, is obliged to dig a new hole; so that, in certain soils, which are agreeable to these a­nimals*, the holes are so numerous, and so near each other, that circumspection is necessary to walk there with safety.

XIX
The BRASILIAN SHREW*.

WE mention this animal under the denomi­nation of the Brasilian shrew; because we are ignorant of its proper name, and it has a great­er resemblance to the shrew than to any other animal. It is, however, considerably larger, being about five inches long from the extremi­ty of the muzzle to the origin of the tail, which is not two inches, and, consequently, is propor­tionally shorter than that of the common shrew. It has a pointed muzzle, and very sharp teeth. Upon a brown ground-colour, three pretty large black bands extend longitudinally from the head to the tail, under which the scrotum appears hanging between the hind feet. This animal, says Marcgrave, sports with the cats, who dis­cover no inclination to eat it. In the same man­ner the cats kill the European shrews, but never eat them.

XX
THE ROCK CAVY*.

THIS animal, which is a native of Brasil, is neither a rabbit nor rat, but seems to partake of both. It is about a foot long, by seven inches in circumference. Its general colour is the same with that of our hares; and its belly is white: Its upper lipe is divided in the same manner, and it has the same large cutting teeth, and whiskers round the mouth and on the sides of the eyes. But its ears are rounded like those of the rat, and so short that they exceed not the height of a finger's breadth. The fore legs are not above three inches in length, and those behind are a little longer. The fore feet have four toes covered with a black skin, and arm­ed with small short claws. The hind feet have only three toes, and the middle one is the longest. [Page 275] It has no tail. Its head is somewhat longer than that of the hare, and its flesh is like that of the rabbit, which it resembles in its manner of living* It likewise retires into holes: It does not, however, dig the earth, like the rab­bit, but conceals itself in the clefts of rocks. Hence it is easily seized in its retreat. It is hunted as game, and its flesh is preferable to that of our best rabbits. The animal men­tioned by Oviedo, and afterwards by Charle­voix and du Perrier de Montfraisier, under the denomination of cori, appears to be the same with the aperea or rock cavy. In some parts of the West Indies, these animals may, perhaps, be reared in warrens, or in houses, like our rabbits; and this may be the reason why some of them are red, white, black, and variegated. This conjecture is not without foun­dation; for Garcilasso informs us, that, in Peru, [Page 276] there are wild and domestic rabbits which have no resemblance to those of Spain*.

XXI.
THE TAPETI, or BRASILIAN HARE.

THE tapeti seems to make a near approach to the species of the hare or rabbit. It is found in Brasil, and many other parts of America. In figure, it resembles the European rabbit; and it resembles the hare in size and colour, only it is a little browner. Its ears are very long, and shaped like those of the hare. Its hair is red on the fore head, and whitish on the throat. Some of them have a white circle [Page 277] round the neck; but others have a white throat, breast, and belly. They have black eyes, and whiskers like our rabbits; but they want the tail*. The tapeti resembles the hare in its manner of living, in fecundity, and in the quality of its flesh, which is extremely good. Like the hare, it dwells in the fields or in the woods, and burrows not, like the rabbit The animal of New Spain, mentioned by Fer­nandes, under the name of citli, appears to be the same with the tapeti of Brasil; and both are perhaps only varieties of the European hares, who have passed by the northern lands from the one Continent to the other.

Some other species of animals might be added to the preceding list; but the accounts given of them are so vague, that I choose rather to con­fine myself to what is known with some de­gree of certainty, than to give way to con­jecture, or to exhibit creatures of imagination as real species. But, notwithstanding this limi­tation, intelligent men will easily perceive, that my history of quadrupeds is as complete as they could possibly expect. It comprehends a great number of new animals, and none of those who were formerly known are omitted.

[Page 278] The preceding notices, though composed of twenty-one articles, contain not above nine or ten distinct species; for all the others are only varieties. The white bear is only a variety of the common kind; the Tartarian cow, of the bison; the Guinea and Cape-Verd hogs, of the common hog, &c. Hence, by adding these ten species to about one hundred and eighty, whose history we have given, the total number of quadrupeds, the existence of which is pro­perly ascertained, exceeds not two hundred species upon the surface of the whole known world.

ADDITIONS from the Supplementary Volume.

THE CRAB-EATER*.

THE name crab-eater, or crab-dog, has been given to this animal, because crabs are his principal food. He has a very little rela­tion to the dog or fox, to which some travellers have compared him. He seems to be more nearly allied to the opossums; but he is much larger, and the female crab-eater carries not her young, like the female opossum, in a pouch under her belly. Hence the crab-eater appears to be a detached species, and different from all those we have formerly described.

In the figure, the long naked, scaly tail, the large thumbs without claws on the hind feet, [Page 280] and the flat claws on the fore feet, are remark­able. This animal, whose skin is preserved in the royal cabinet, was young when it was trans­mitted to us. It is a male; and the following is a description of it.

The length of the whole body, from the nose to the origin of the tail, is about seven­teen inches. Before, it is six inches three lines high, and six inches and a half behind. The tail, which is grayish, scaly, and naked, is fif­teen inches and a half long, ten lines in circum­ference at the origin, and gradually tapers to a point.

As the legs of this animal are very short, he has, at a distance, some resemblance to a ter­rier. The head is not very different from that of a dog, and exceeds not four inches one line in length, from the point of the nose to the occiput. The eye is not large; the edges of the eye-brows are black; and, above the eye, there are hairs of an inch and a quarter in length. There are similar hairs on the side of the cheek near the ear. The whiskers are black, and a­bout an inch and a half long. The opening of the mouth is near two inches. The upper jaw is armed, on each side, with a crooked canine tooth, which reaches beyond the under jaw. The ear is brown, naked, broad, and round at the extremity.

The hair on the body is woolly, and inter­spersed with other long stiff black hairs. These [Page 281] long hairs increase upon the thighs and the spine of the back, which is totally covered with them, and form a kind of mane from the middle of the back to the origin of the tail: They are three inches long, of a dirty white colour from the base to the middle, and after­wards of a dark brown as far as the point. The hair on the sides, as well as on the belly, is yel­lowish white; but it approaches more to yel­low toward the shoulders, and on the thighs, neck, breast, and head, where this yellow tinc­ture is mixed in some places with brown. The sides of the neck are yellow; and the legs and feet are of a blackish brown colour. There are five toes on each foot. The fore foot is an inch and three quarters long, the largest toe nine lines, and the furrowed claw two lines. The toes are a little bended, like those of the rat, the thumb alone being straight. The hind feet are an inch and eight lines long, the largest toe nine lines, and the thumb half an inch. The thumb is thick, broad, and at a distance from the toes, as in the apes. The nail of the thumb is flat; but those of the other toes are crooked, and reach beyond their points. The thumb of the fore foot is straight, and not removed from the other toe.

M. de la Borde informs me, that this animal is very common in Cayenne, and that it al­ways frequents the savannahs, and other marshy places.

[Page 282] 'It climbs trees,' he remarks, 'with great dexterity, and continues oftener upon them than on the ground, especially during the day. It has fine teeth, and defends itself a­gainst the dogs. Crabs are its principal nou­rishment, and it is always fat. When unable to draw the crabs from their holes with its foot, it introduces the tail, which it uses as a hook. The crab sometimes lays hold of the tail, and makes the animal cry. This cry has some resemblance to that of a man, and is heard at a great distance. But its or­dinary voice is a kind of grunting like pigs. The female produces four or five young at a litter, and deposits them in the hollows of old trees. The natives of the country eat its flesh, which resembles that of a hare. These ani­mals are easily tamed, and they are fed in the houses, like dogs and cats, with all kinds of victuals. Hence their taste for crabs is by no means exclusive.'

It is alledged, that there are two species of crab-eaters in Cayenne. The first is the ani­mal we have already described: The other is not only a different species, but belongs to a different genus. Its tail is totally covered with hair, and it seizes crabs with its paws only. These two animals resemble each other in the head alone; and they differ in the figure and proportions of the body, as well as in the struc­ture of the feet and claws.

[Page]

Plate CCXCIII. CRAB EATER.

[Page]

Plate CCXCIV. ANONYMOUS ANIMAL.

ANONYMOUS ANIMAL.

WE here give the figure of an undescribed a­nimal, the drawing of which was made by the Chevalier Bruce, who permitted me to copy it. This animal, which we shall call anonymous, till we learn its real name, has some similarities to the hare, and others to the squirrel. Mr Bruce gave the following account of it in writing.

In Lybia, on the south side of the lake formerly called Palus Tritonides, there is a very singular animal, from nine to ten inches long, with ears nearly as long as the half of the body, and pro­portionally broad, a circumstance which takes place in no other quadruped, except the long-eared bat. Its muzzle resembles that of the fox; and yet it seems to approach nearer to that of the squirrel. It lives on the palm-trees, of which it eats the fruit. It has short retractile claws, and is a very beautiful crea­ture. Its colour is white mixed with a little gray and a bright yellow. The inside of the ears is naked in the middle only. They are covered with brown hair mingled with yellow, and garnished within with large white hairs. The end of the nose is black, the tail yellow, and black at the point. The tail is pretty [Page 284] long, but of a different form from that of the squirrel; and all the hair, both on the body and tail, is very soft.

MADAGASCAR RAT.

IN the figure is represented a small animal from Madagascar, which was drawn alive, when in the possession of the Countess of Marsan. It appeared to make a nearer approach to the spe­cies of the palm-squirrel than to that of the rat; for I was assured that it frequented the palm-trees. I have not been able to procure farther information concerning this animal. It may be remarked, however, that, as its claws did not project, it seemed to constitute a species very dif­ferent from that of the rat, and to approach nearer to the palm-squirrel. To this animal may be referred the rat on the south-west coast of Madagascar, mentioned by the Dutch voyagers; for they tell us, that these rats live in the palm-trees, and eat the dates; that their body is long, their muzzle sharp, their legs short, and their tail long and spotted*. These characters cor­respond so well with those represented in the figure of our Madagascar rat, as to induce us [Page]

Plate CCXCV. MADAGASCAR RAT.

[Page 285] to believe that the animal formerly mentioned belongs to this species.

It lived several years with the Countess of Marsan. Its movements were extremely brisk, and its cry was nearly similar, though much weaker, than that of the squirrel. Like the squirrels, it carried its food to its mouth with the fore paws, erected its tail, and leaped about. It bit desperately, and could not be tamed. It was fed with almonds and fruits. It never came out of its cage, except in the night; and it endured the winters very well in an apartment where the cold was moderated by a small fire.

THE END.
[As the COUNT DE BUFFON has observed no sy­stematic order in his History of Quadrupeds, the following Index, in which the Animals are arranged according to the improved Edition of MR PENNANT'S Synopsis, will, in some mea­sure, supply that defect.]

SYSTEMATIC INDEX.

DIV. I. HOOFED QUADRUPEDS.

PENNANT's Synopsis.BUFFON.
No.Species.Page.No.Species.Vol.Page.
GENUS I. HORSE.GENUS I. HORSE.
1GEnerous 1. HORSE iii306
2Dshiketei4    
3Ass83Assib398
4Zebra134Zebravi264
5Quacha14 Mulesviii1
II. OX.II. BULL.
1Bull151Oxiii423
 A. Great Indian16    
 B. Small Indian17    
 C. Abyssinianib    
 D. Bouryib    
 E. Tinianib    
 F. Lantib    
 G. Europeanib    
 H. American19 H. Bisonvi198
2Grunting202Cow of Tartaryviii225
3Buffalo243Buffalovi151
4Musk274Muskib191
 A. Cape28    
5Dwarf305Dwarfvi164
[Page 288]III. SHEEP.III. SHEEP.
1A. Common331A. Commoniii462
 B. Cretanib B. Cretanvi211
 C. Hornless34 C. Hornlessiii472
 D. Many-hornedib D. Many-hornedib484
 E. Long-haredib    
 F. African35 F. Africanvi212
 G. Broad-tailed35 G. Broad-tailedib208
 H. Fat-rumped36    
 H*. Wild38    
2Bearded46    
IV. GOAT.IV. GOAT.
1Ibex491Ibexvi363
2Caucasan51    
 a. Domestic53 a. Domesticiii462
 b. Angora55 b. Angoraib498
 c. Syrian56 c. Syrianvi378
 d. African57 d. Africanvi379
 e. Whidawib e. Judavi378. 390
 f. Capricornib f. Capricornib373
V. GIRAFFE.V. GIRAFFE.
1Camelopard581Camelopardvii109
VI. ANTILOPE.VI. ANTILOPE.
1Gnou62    
2Chamois642Chamoisv363
3Blue66    
4AEgyptian674AEgyptianvi408
5Leucoryx68    
6Algazel696Algazelib414
7Indian707Indianvii40
8Harnessed718Harnessedib12
9Guinea729Guiney, or Grimmib14
10 Royalib10Royalib27
11Indostan73    
12White-footed74    
13Swift7613Nanguer, or Swiftvi409
14Redib14Nagor, or redvii39
15Striped7715Condoma, or stripedib8
16Common7816Commonvi412
 a. Brown80 a. Brown, or Lidméeib413
 b. Smooth-hornedib b. Smooth-hornedib414
17Barbary8117Barbary, or Gazelleib397
[Page 289]18Flat-horned8118Flat horned, or Kevelvi400
19White faced8219White-faced, or Pygar­gusib417
20 Springerib    
21Chinese8421Chinese, or Tzeiranib405
22Scythian8622Scythian, or Saigaib393
23Corine8923Corineib401
24Cervine9024Cervinevii1
25Senegal9125Senegal, or Kobavi405
26Gambian9226Gambian, or Kobib406
VII. DEER.VII. DEER.
1Elk931Elkvi315
2Rain992Rain-deerib316
3Fallow1013Fallowiv113
4Stag1024Stagib72
5Virginian104    
6Spotted Axis1056Axis vi230
7Middle-sized Axis106    
8Great Axisib    
9Porcine107    
10 Rib-facedib    
11Roe108    
 A. Tail-less109    
11Mexican11011Roeiv120
12Gray11112Mexican, or Cariacouvii30
VIII. MUSK.VIII. MUSK.
1Tibet1121Tibet Muskvii44
2Brasilian1142Brasilian, or Cuguacu­eteib31
3Indian1153Indian, or Meminaib28
4Guineaib4Guineyib27
IX. CAMEL.IX. CAMEL.
1Arabian1171Arabianvi119
 b. Bactrian120 a. Bactrianib18
2Lama1212Lamavii133
3Pacos1243Pacosib134
X. HOG.X. HOG.
1Common1261Commoniii500
 a. Guinea128 a. Guineyviii239
[Page 290]b. Siam128 b. Siamiii522
 c. Chinese129 c. Chineseibib
2AEthiopianib2AEthiopian, or Cape Verd viii241
3Cape-Verd132    
4Mexican1334Mexican or Pecariv271
5Baby-roussa1345Babiroussavii58
XI. RHINOCEROS.XI. RHINOCEROS.
1Two-horned1361Two-hornedvi92
2One-horned1382One-hornedib116
XII. HIPPOPOTAME.XII. HIPPOPOTAMUS.
1Hippopotame1421Hippopotamusvi277
XIII. TAPIR.XIII. TAPIR.
1Long-nosed1481Tapirvi243
XIV. ELEPHANT.XIV. ELEPHANT.
1Great1501Elephantvi1
2American160    

DIV. II. DIGITATED QUADRUPEDS.

SECT. I. ANTHROPOMORPHOUS.

PENNANT's Synopsis.BUFFON.
No.Species.Page.No.Species.Vol.Page.
**
XV. APE.XV. APE.
1GREAT1661GREAT, or Jocko and Pongoviii77
2Pigmy1682Pigmyib106
3Long-armed1703Long-armed, or Gib­bonib112
 a. Lesserib a. Lesserib115
4Barbary1714Barbary, or Magotib117
****
BABOONS.BABOONS.
5Great1735Greatib125
6Ribbed-nose1756Ribbed noseib129
7Wood176    
8Yellowib    
[Page 291]9Cinereous176    
10Blue-faced177    
11 Brownib    
12 Littleib    
13Crested178    
14 Pigtailib14Pigtail viii137
15Dog-faced179    
16 b. Ursine181    
17Mottled18217Mottledib121
 b Little183    
18 Lion-tailedib    
 d. Bearded Men184    
******
MONKEYS.MONKEYS.
19 Purple facedib19Purple-faced, or Ouan­derouviii132
20Palatine185    
21 Hare-lippedib21Hare-lipped, or Maca­queib140
22Spotted18622Spotted, or Exquimaib184
23Long-nosed187    
24Yellowish188    
25 Greenib25Green, or Callitrixib160
26White-eyelid18926White-eyelid, or Man­gabeyib154
27Mustache19027Mustacheib163
28White-noseib    
29Talapoin19129Talapoinib165
30 Negroib    
31Egret19231Egretib140
32 Moneib    
33Red19333Red, or Patasib144
34Chinese19434Chineseib148
35Bonnetted195    
36Variedib36Variedib156
37Cochin China19637Cochin-Chinaib168
38Tawnyib    
39Goat197    
40Full-bottomib    
41Bay198    
42Annulatedib    
43Philippineib    
[Page 292]AMERICAN.AMERICAN.
44Preacher19944Preacher, or Ouarine viii176
45 a. Royal20045 a. Royal, or Alouateibib
46Four-fingered20146Four-fingered, or Co­aitaib184
47Fearful20247Fearful, or Sajouib193
48Capucin20348Capuchinibib
49Weeper20449Weeper, or Saiib196
50Orange20550Orange, or Saimiriib199
51Horned206    
52 Antiguaib    
53Fox-tailed20753Fox-tailed, or Sakiib201
54Great-eared20854Great-eared, or Tama­rinib203
55Striated20955Striated, or Ouistitiib205
56Silky21056Silky, or Marikinaib209
57 Red-tailedib57Red-tailed, or Pincheib211
58Fair21158Fair, or Micoib213
XVI. MAUCAUCO.XVI. MAUCAUCO.
1Tail-less2121Tail-lessvii232
2Loris213    
3Woollyib3Woollyib223
4Ringtail2144Ringtailibib
5Ruffed2155Ruffed, or Mongousib226
6Tarsier2166Tarsierib171
7Little217    
8Flying218    

DIV II. SECT. II. SIMPLY DIGITATED.

PENNANT's Synopsis.BUFFON.
No.Species.Page.No.Species.Vol.Page.
XVII. DOG.XVII. DOG.
1FAITHFUL2191FAITHFULiv1
2Wolf2312Wolfib20
3Mexican2333Mexican viii258
4Fox2344Fox iv214
 b. Cross Foxib b. Cross Foxib222
 c. Black Fox235    
 d. Brant Foxib    
 e. Karagan Foxib    
 f. Corsak Fox236    
5Arctic2385Arcticvii268
[Page 293]6Antarctic240    
7Gray241    
8Silveryib    
9Barbary2429Barbaryvii355
10 Schakalib10Jackalibib
11Capesch246    
12Surinam247    
13Zerda248    
XVIII. HYAENA.XVIII. HYAENA.
1Striped2501Stripedv226
2Spotted252    
XIX. CAT.XIX. CAT.
1Lion2541Lionv64
2Tiger2572Tigerib153
3Panther2603Pantherib167
4Leopard2624Leopardibib
5Lesser Leopard263    
6Hunting2646Hunting, or Guepardvii249
7Ounce2657Ouncev167
8Brasilian2668Brasilian, or Jaguarib187
9Mexican2679Mexican, or Ocelot vii243
10Puma26910Puma, or Couguar v197
11Jaguar27011Jaguar, or Jaguaretteib190
12Cape271    
13 Cayenneib13Cayennevii249
14Bengal272    
15Manul274    
16 Commonib16Commoniv49
 a. Angora275 a. Angoraib57
 b. Tortoise shell276    
 c. Blueib c. Blueib56
 d. Longheadedib    
17New Spain277    
**
LYNX.LYNX.
18 Mountainib18Mountain, or wild cat of Carolinavii253
19Serval27819Servalib241
20Lynx27920Lynxv206
21Bay281    
22 Caspianib    
[Page 294]23Persian28323Persian, or Caracalv221
 b. Lybian284 b. Lybian, or Caracal of Bengalib224
XX. BEAR.XX. BEAR.
1Black2851Blackv16
 a. American286 a. Americanib19
2Polar2882Polar viii216
3Wolverene2913Wolverenevii282
4Glutton2934Gluttonib274
5Raccoon2955Raccoonv46
XXI. BADGER.XXI. BADGER.
1Common2971Commoniv226
 b. American298    
2Indian299    
XXII. OPOSSUM.XXII. OPOSSUM.
1Virginian3011Virginianv404
2Mollucca3032Molluccaib430
3Javan305    
4Kanguru306    
5Murine3085Murineib435
6Mexican3096Mexicanib438
7Cayenneib7Cayenne, or Crab-eaterviii279
8New Holland310    
9Short-tailed311    
10 Phalangerib10Phalangervii174
11Merian31211Merian viii267
XXIII. WEASEL.XXIII. WEASEL.
1Common3131Commoniv257
2Stoat, or Ermine3142Stoat, or Ermineib262
3S. Am. fitchet3153Martin of Guiana,iv243
4Fitcher3164Fitchet, or Polecatib248
5Sarmatian317    
6Siberian318    
7Ferret3197Ferretib252
8Martin3208Martinib249
9Pine3219Pineib245
10Sable32210Sablevii309
11Fisher328    
12Madagascar32912Madagascar, or Van­sireib221
13Pekan33013Pecanib307
[Page 295]14Vison33014Visonvii307
15White-cheeked331    
16Grisonib16Grisoniv266
17Guiney33217Guiney viii265
18 Guianaib    
19Woolly333    
20 Ichneumonib20Ichneumonvii210
21Four toed33621Four-toedib166
22Yellow337    
23Mexican338    
24Brasilian34024Brasilianv53
25Stifling34125Stiflingvii296
26Striated34226Striatedib297
27Skunk34327Skunkibib
28Zorilla34428Zorillaib298
29 Ratelib    
30Quoll345    
31Blotched346    
32 Civetib32Civetv239
 b. Zibet348 a. Zibetibib
33Genet34933Genetib254
34 Fossaneib34Fossanevii219
XXIV. OTTER.XXIV. OTTER.
1Greater3511Greateriv232
2Brasilian353    
3Lesser354    
4Saricovienne3554Saricovienne, or Cay­enne otterib237
5Sea3565Seavii321

DIV. II. SECT. III. Without Canine Teeth.

PENNANT's Synopsis.BUFFON.
No.Species.Page.No.Species.Vol.Page.
XXV. CAVY.XXV. CAVY.
1Capibara3601Cabiaivii64
2Restless3612Restless, or Guiney-pigiv296
3Rock3623Rock, or Apereavii274
4Patagonian3635Spotted, or Paca,v392
5Spottedib    
6Long nose3646Long-nosedib58
7Olive3657Olivevii269
8Javan366    
[Page 296]9Cape3669Capeiv348
10Musk36710Muskv261
XXVI. HARE.XXVI. HARE.
1Common3681Commoniv137
2Varying370    
3American372    
4Rabbit3734Rabbitib155
 b. Angora374    
 c. Hoodedib    
5Baikalib5Baikalvii228
6Cape375    
7Brasilian3767Brasilianib276
8Alpine377    
9Ogotona379    
10 Calling380    
XXVII. BEAVER.XXVII. BEAVER.
1Castor3831Castorv21
2Musk3882Muskib260
XXVIII. PORCUPINE.XXVIII. PORCUPINE.
1Crested3901Crestedvii69
2Brasilian3922Brasilianib76
3Canada3943Canadaib83
XXIX. MARMOT.XXIX. MARMOT.
1Alpine3961Alpineiv339
2Quebec3972Canadaib346
3Maryland3983Marylandibib
4Hoaryib    
5Bobak3995Bobakvii198
6Earless4036Earless viii229
7Gundi405    
8Quill-lessib    
XXX. SQUIRREL.XXX. SQUIRREL.
1Common4061Common iv268
 c. White-legged407    
2Ceylon408    
3Abyffinianib    
4Javan409    
5Bombayib    
6Ruddyib    
7Gray4107Grayv321
[Page 297]8Black411    
9Hudson's Bay412    
10Varied41310Variedvii176
11 Fairib    
12Brasilian414    
13 Mexicanib    
14Palm41514Palmv328
15Barbary41615Barbaryibib
 c. Plantaneib    
*      
16Sailing41716Sailingib312
17Severn river418    
18 Flyingib18Flyingib307
19Hooded419    
XXXI. DORMOUSE.XXXI. DORMOUSE.
1Striped4221Striped, or ground squirrelv329
2Fat4232Fativ325
3Garden4243Gardenib332
4Common4254Commonib334
5Earless426    
XXXII. JERBOA.XXXII. JERBOA.
1Egyptian4271Egyptianvii201
2Siberian4292Siberian, or flying hareib202
 b. Middleib    
 c. Pigmy430    
3Cape432    
4Torrid433    
XXXIII. RAT.XXXIII. RAT.
1Labrador435    
2Circassian436    
3Tamarisk437    
4Black4384Blackiv275
5Brown4395Brownib336
6American441    
 b. Curacoib    
7Water4427Waterib290
8Mouse4438Mouseib282
9Field4449Fieldib285
10Harvest445    
11Oriental446    
12Barbary447    
[Page 298]13Mexican447    
14 Virginianib    
15Wandering447    
16Beech448    
17 Rusticib    
18Little449    
****
19Rock450    
20Oeconomic451    
21Red452    
22Garlic453    
23 Soricineib    
******
24Lemming45424Lemmingvii316
25 Ringed457    
26Hudson'sib    
27 Hare tailed458    
28 Social459    
29 Meadow46029Meadowiv293
30 Gregarions461    
********
31Hamsterib31Hamstervii178
32 Vormela465    
33Yaikib    
34 Zarizin466    
35Sandib    
36 Songar367    
37 Baraba368    
****
******
38 Blind46938Blind, or Zemni viii232
39 Danurian471    
40 African472    
41Cape473    
42 Talpine474    
XXXIV. SHREW.XXXIV. SHREW.
1Musky4761Muskyv261
2Perfuming477    
3Mexican4783Tucanvii271
4Brasilianib4Brasilianib273
5Murine479    
6Foetidib6Foetidiv305
7Water4807Waterib308
8Minute481    
[Page 299]9Pigmy481    
10White throatedib    
11 Square-tailed482    
12Carinatedib    
13Unicornib    
XXXV. MOLE.XXXV. MOLE.
1European4831Europeaniv309
 b. Yellow484    
2Varying485    
3Radiated4863Siberian viii238
4Long-tailedib    
5Brownib    
6Red487    
XXXVI. HEDGEHOG.XXXVI. HEDGEHOG.
1Common4881Commoniv300
2Siberian489    
3Asiatic4903Asiaticvii86
4Guiana491    

DIV. II. SECT. IV. Without Fore-teeth.

PENNANT's Synopsis.BUFFON.
No.Species.Page.No.Species.Vol.Page.
XXXVII. SLOTH.XXXVII. SLOTH.
1Three-toed4941Three-toedvii150
2Two-toed4962Two-toedib151
XXXVIII. ARMADILLO.XXXVIII. ARMADILLO.
1Three banded4971Three-bandedv366
2Six-banded4982Six-bandedib369
3Eight banded5003Eight bandedib371
4Nine-bandedib4Nine-bandedib373
5Twelve-banded5015Twelve-bandedib375
6Eighteen-banded5026Eighteen-bandedib377

DIV. II. SECT. V. Without Teeth.

PENNANT's Synopsis.BUFFON.
No.Species.Page.No.Species.Vol.Page.
XXXIX. MANIS.XXXIX. MANIS.
1Long-tailed5041Long tailedv355
2Short-tailed5052Short tailedibib
[Page 300]XL. ANT-EATER.XL. ANT-EATER.
1Great5071Great v333
2Middle5082Middle ib334
3Striped509    
4Least5104Leastibib

DIV. III. PINNATED QUADRUPEDS.

PENNANT's Synopsis.BUFFON.
No.Species.Page.No.Species.Vol.Page.
XLI. WALRUS.XLI. WALRUS.
1Arctic5141Arcticvii354
2Indian5172Indianib370
XLII. SEAL.XLII. SEAL.
1Common5181Commonvii336
2Mediterranean520    
3Long-necked521    
4Falklandib    
5Tortoise-headed522    
6Rubbon523    
7Leporineib    
8Great5248Greatib340
9Roughib    
10 Hooded525    
11Harpib    
12 Little52612Littleib338
13Ursineib    
14 Bottle-nose53114Bottle-nose, or Sea­lionib347
15 Leonine534    
XLIII. MANATI.XLIII. MANATI.
1Whale-tailed536    
2Round-tailed5402Round-tailedvii374
3Sea Ape544    

DIV. IV. WINGED.

PENNANT's Synopsis.BUFFON.
No.Species.Page.No.Species.Vol.Page.
XLIV. BAT.XLIV. BAT.
1Ternate5481Ternatev281
2Roussetteib    
[Page 301]3Rougette5493Rougetteib282
4Spectre5524Spectreibib
5Javelin5535Javelinvii234
6Leafib6Leafib235
7Cordated554    
8Peruvianib    
9Bull-dog5559Bull-dogv303
10Senegal55610Senegalib302
11Pouchib    
12 Bearded55712Beardedib305
13New Yorkib    
14 Striped55814Stripedib306
15Moluccaib15Molucca, or Cephalotevii236
16 Horse-shoe55916Horse-shoeiv324
17Noctuleib17Noctuleiv322
18Serotine56018Serotineib323
19 Pipistrelle56119Pipistrelleibib
20Barbastelleib20Barbastelleibib
21 Common41121Commonib319
22Long-earedib22Long-earedib322

INDEX.

A
  • ABUSSEID SERAFI gives an erroneous description of the musk, which is followed by Aldrovandus, vol. vii. pag. 46. note.
  • Abyss. See Deluge.
  • Acara, a kingdom on the Gold Coast, produces hinds of an ex­ceeding small size, vii. 27. n.
  • Addas, or Addax, a name for the antilope, vi. 415. 417.
  • Adil, the same with the chryseos, or lupus aureus of the antient Greeks, vii. 255. n.
  • Adimain, or large sheep of Senegal and India described, vi. 215.
  • Adive described, vii. 257. n.; is fond of leather, ib. seems to have an involuntary instinct for crying when it hears others of the same species do so, ib.; is fond of human bodies, 265. n. See Jackall.
  • Aegagropili, a kind of balls found in the stomachs of ruminating animals, vi. 441.
  • Aethiopia said to be the only country which produces the ca­melopard, vii. 117. n.
  • Aetna; some account of its eruptions, i. 410.; their effects ne­ver extend to the distance of three or four hundred leagues, 433. A proof that the fire is lodged in the upper part of the mountain, 437.
  • Africa; its interior parts as little known to us as to the antients, i. 148. iii. 133. Circumnavigated in the time of Alexander the Great, ib. Accounts of a circumnavigation in the ninth century, 149. This continent probably as rich in gold as Mexico and Peru, 152. Remarkable for the variety of peo­ple it contains, iii. 194. Produces fewer lions now than for­merly, v. 66. Produces a greater number of elephants than Asia, vi. 37. None of the South American animals found there, vii. 177.
  • African sheep described, vi. 212. n. Perhaps the adimain of Leo Africanus, ib.
  • [Page 304] African goat the same with Seba's American stag, vii. 39.
  • African stag with reddish hair, vii. 24.
  • Agouti, or long nosed Cavy described, v. 58. Is a voracious and cunning animal, ib.; bites fiercely, and is very mischie­vous, 59. Produces two or three at a time, 60. Peculiar to the southern parts of America ib. A smaller species called agouchi, 61. Erroneously described by Marcgrave, whose er­ror has been followed by all other writers but Brisson and Buffon, ib. Is the most common quadruped in Guiana, 62.
  • Agricula described, vii. 36. n.
  • Ai, the Brasilian name of a species of sloth, derived from its voice, vii. 151. n.
  • Aiotochtli, the Mexican name of the armadillo, v. 138.
  • Air subjected to the action of a number of power, vi. 256.
  • Akonchi, or olive cavy described, viii. 269. Differs but little from the agouti, ib. Reckoned among the finest game in South America, 270.
  • Alagtaga, the Tartarian name of a species of jerboa, vii. 202. n. The animal described, 204.
  • Albours, a famous volcano near Mount Taurus, i. 413.
  • Alce. See Elk.
  • Alco, the Mexican or Peruvian dog, described, viii. 261. A species lives wholly on crabs and crustaceous animals, 260.
  • Aldrovandus copies an error of Abusseid Serasi in describing the musk, vii. 46. Follows Gesner in describing the Porcu­pine, 74. Has given an erroneous figure of a sow-badger, v. 4.
  • Alexander the Great was the first European who mounted an Elephant, vi. 29.
  • Alexandrians keep tame ichneumons, vii. 216. n.
  • Algazel, the Arabic name of a species of antilope, vi. 407. The same with the Aleppo Gazelle.
  • Alicant dog, iv. 41.
  • All Saints Bay, abounds with small ugly monkeys, viii. 197. n.
  • Allocamelus of Gesner, the same with the Lama, vii. 136.
  • Alouate, or king of the monkeys, a variety of the ouarine, viii. 176. n. A savage animal, and makes a horrid noise, 178. n.
  • Alpague vicuna, vii. 134. n.
  • Amahut, the Indian name of a tree on which the sloths live, vii. 157. n.
  • [Page 305] Amadabad; three hospitals for animals in that city, viii. 151. Strange relation of the behaviour of the monkeys in that neighbourhood, ib.
  • Amazon river runs more than 1000 leagues, i. 268. Receives more than 60 considerable rivers, 273. Its course described, 319. The Indians who dwell on its banks are fond of the flesh of monkeys, viii. 179.
  • Ambergris superseded the use of civet, and has itself ceased to be admired as a perfume, v. 253.
  • America much infested with volcano's, i. 416. Produces none of the animals common in the warm parts of the Old Conti­nent, vii. 77. Produced no horned cattle similar to those of Europe, till they were imported, v. 96.; nor sheep nor goats, 99.; wild boars, nor domestic hogs, 100.; nor dogs nor cats, 103. 107.
  • American savages destitute of the principle of love, v. 130. 131.; may be considered as a new race of men, iii. 188. v. 139.; make a kind of balls of seals skin, which they use as rafts, vii. 347.
  • Andira guacu, v. 283. n.
  • Animalcules in semine masculino. See Generation.
  • Animals; analogies between them and vegetables, ii. 1. Di­stinguished from vegetables by sensation, 6. Uncertain whe­ther brutes have sensation or not, 7. Exceed plants in the number of species, 9. Differ more from each other than plants, ib. Distinguishable from each other by their manner of co­pulation, 10. Of their reproduction. See Reproduction. Their nutrition. See Nutrition. Their generation. See Generation. Account of the idea conveyed by the word animal, ii. 216. Large animals less prolific than small ones, 255. Those which produce but one at a birth, acquire nearly their full growth before they are capable of propagation, 257. Many animals propagate rather by a kind of compression than co­pulation, 259. Difference among them with regard to sexes, 260. Alterations which happen in the body, as preparatives to generation, 261. See Organic matter. Diversities with re­gard to their teeth, 456. Animals furnished with hands seem to have the most sagacity, iii. 46. 292. Such as have no hands, cannot have any idea of magnitude, and, therefore, are often terrified, iii. 46. A dissertation on their nature, 208. Animals have some senses of exquisite acuteness; but [Page 306] in general they are not all equal to man, 229. Their feelings more exquisite than those of man, 238. Of domestic animals. 301. Animals vary according to the different climates in which they live, 356. Of their degeneracy, 407. Cruelly treated by man, 426. Females more useful than males, 434. Most of them superior to man in agility, swiftness, strength, and courage, iv. 5 Changes produced on them by educa­tion, 60. Large animals fewer in number than small ones, 65. Of wild animals, 66. Are less fierce in cold countries, 68. Are the least subject to changes or variations of any kind, 71. Their faculties perpetually diminishing, 73. Of carnivorous animals, 164. These are but few in number, ib. Some of them detest sharp cries, v. 52. Of those peculiar to the Eastern Continent, 90. A list of them 111. Of those pe­culiar to the New World, 112. Of those common to both Continents, 123. Not above 200 species of them existing on the earth, 146. Remarks on the ridiculous methods of classing them, 147. Those of America proved to be distinct from the animals of the Eastern Continent, v. 112. Domestic animals differ considerably from wild ones of the same species, vi. 155. Animals in general grow torpid, and avoid each other, in win­ter, vii. 90. The unity of species more fixed in large than in small animals, 98. Animals in general more happy than men, 156. Notices of some which are not expressly mentioned in the book, viii. 216. An anonymous animal of Lybia descri­bed by Mr Bruce, 283.
  • Ant-eater described, v. 333. Three species of them; the great, the middle, and the least, ib. A fourth mentioned by Brisson, from Seba, but seems to be suspicious, 338. Six species men­tioned by Seba, ib. The great ant-eater fights terribly with his fore-feet, and is almost invincible when he lies on his back, and uses all the four, ib. Dr Maudhuit's description of the great ant-eater, 347. M. de la Borde's observations concern­ing it, 348. His description of the middle ant-eater, 350.; and of the least ant-eater, 352.
  • Anta, a kingdom of Africa, produces great numbers of elephants, vi. 35. n.
  • Anta, a name for the Tapir, vi. 243. n. Eats a kind of clay in the night. 246. n. Is dazzled by the light of torches, and easily taken, 247. n.
  • Ante, another name for the Tapir, vi. 244. n.
  • [Page 307] Antilopes; thirteen different species of them, vi. 393. The common Antilope described, 412. Indian Antilopes have more spirit than those of other countries, 414. n. All the different kinds of them found in Asia and Africa, 415. Diffi­culty of arranging them, 416. The larger kinds more com­mon in Africa than India, 422. The eyes of those in the neighbourhood of Alexandria so beautiful, that they are spo­ken of figuratively in praising the eyes of the ladies, 423. n. The different kinds particularly described, vii. 1. et seq.
  • Antiparos; Tournefort's description of a remarkable cavern in that island, 1. 452.
  • Appennine mountains abound with Porcupines, vii. 73.
  • Aper in India, vii. 58. n.
  • Aper Mexicanus, v. 272. n.
  • Aperea, viii. 274. n.
  • Aperea Brasiliensibus, v. 119. n.
  • Apes imitate the actions of men completely, iii. 46. This imi­tation proceeds not from their genius, but merely from their organization, 280. Their bad character, vi. 3. Their no­menclature, viii. 39. Definition of an ape, ib. The same with the Pithecus of the Greeks, and Simia of the Latins, 40. The ape called Orang-Outang, very much resembles man, ib. The name of Ape ought to be given to an East Indian animal called Gibbon, 41. Several species of apes in Senegal, 45. n. The whole may be reduced to 30 species, 51. Apes of Guinea described, 83. Are very fond of women, 84. Description of an ape which exactly resembled an infant, 115. Ape of Bar­bary described, 117. See Barbary Ape, and Magot. Four species of apes found in Malabar, 135. The white apes first ravish women and then strangle them, ib. n. Immense num­bers found in Africa, from Arquin to Sierra Leona, 146. A very beautiful ape of Guinea described, 167. n.
  • Apossums, v. 405. n.
  • Aquiqui, viii. 176. n.
  • Arabata, a kind of American monkeys, make an horrid noise, viii. 179. n.
  • Arabia Petraea, exceedingly destitute of water, i. 477. vi. 124. 127.
  • Arabians said to have invented the mariner's compass, i. 153. Their stature, complexion, &c. iii. 109. Marmol and Boulaye's account of them 110. Remarks on them by another travel­ler, [Page 308] ib. Their horses the most beautiful, iii. 357. Their de­scent, way in which they are treated, swiftness, &c. 365. et seq. Surmount many difficulties by means of their camels, vi. 128. First took notice of the musk, vii. 45.
  • Archipelago Islands, only the tops of mountains, i. 448. Their inhabitants excellent swimmers and divers, iii. 125.
  • Arctic dog. See Isatis.
  • Aral, a salt-water lake near the Caspian Sea, described, i. 328.
  • Arequipa, a celebrated American volcano, i. 416.
  • Argali, or Siberian sheep, described, vi. 222. n. Monstrous size of the horns, 223. Young foxes very frequently take shelter in them when knocked off, ib.
  • Aries pilosus, vi. 212. n. Guineensis five Angolensis, vi. 212. n.
  • Aries laniger, vi. 208.
  • Aristotle, the only antient writer on zoology who merits atten­tion, pref. 1. His theory of generation, ii. 71. A mistake of his concerning the seminal fluids of women, 241. Asserts that there were no asses in Scythia, 417. That they degene­rate in cold climates, ib. His remarks concerning the copu­lation of animals of different species, iv. 28. His account of the lion, v. 73. 79. His errors copied by other natural historians, ib. Makes no mention of the tiger, v. 87. His remarks on the Bubalus, vi. 163. His Bonasus the same with the Bison of the Latins, 168. His description of an animal called the Hip­pelaphus, vi. 236. Applies almost equally to the rain-deer, and stag of Ardennes, ib. Makes no mention of the Camelo­pard, vii. 110. Makes mention of six amphibious animals, of which only three are now known, 325. Was acquainted with the seal, 342. Observes that no animal possessed of crooked, or retractile claws, is social, 436. His assertions concerning the copulation of mules, viii. 15. His remarks concerning pigmies, 106.
  • Armadillo described, v. 361. Six different species of it, 365. Three banded Armadillo, 366. Six banded, 369. Nine banded 373. Twelve banded, 375. The last is the largest of the genus. ib. Eighteen banded, 377. Called also the weasel Armadillo, ib. Mistakes of Linnaeus concerning this animal, 379. The crust is a real bone composed of several pieces, 383. These creatures are not afraid of the bite of a rattlesnake, 386.
  • [Page 309] Asia may be reckoned the most antient country in the world, i. 32. Volcano's very numerous there, 413. Beauty of the Asiatic women, iii. 123. Produces none of the South Ame­rican animals, vii. 77.
  • Ass described, iii. 398. Has the appearance of a degenerated horse, ib.; but is not so in reality, 411. Entirely differ­ent from the horse in his disposition, 412. Least infest­ed with vermin of all quadrupeds, 414. The female exceed­ingly lascivious. 415. Directions with regard to their breed­ing, ib. Different races of them, 416. Account of their mi­grations, 417. Of the wild asses, 419. None found in Ame­rica, 420. Asses flesh more disagreeable than that of horses, 421. The skin applicable to many purposes, 422. They can carry more weight, in proportion to their bulk, than any other animal, ib. Description of a very beautiful ass sent to the Grand Seignior from AEthiopia, vi. 270. n. These animals are now almost equally diffused all over the globe, 272. An ass destroys the generation of a horse; but the reverse does not take place, vii. 419. Has a tendency to sterility, 423. 425. Rules concerning the propagation of asses, 425. Asses less fertile than mares, viii. 23. Means to be used to make them conceive, ib.
  • Assapanick, a name for the flying squirrel, v. 307.
  • Avicenna's account of the musk, vii. 46. n.
  • Axis, Sardinian hind, or stag of the Ganges, described, vi. 230, 238. Is found in Barbary, and is probably the same with the spotted fallow-deer of the Cape of Good Hope, 233. Forms an intermediate shade between the stag and fallow-deer, ib.
  • Azore Islands, only the tops of mountains, 1. 448.
B
  • Babiroussa, or Indian hog, described, vii. 58. Has prodigious tusks; yet is less formidable than the wild boar, 60. Is an excellent swimmer, 61.
  • Baboon differs very much from an ape, v. 121. Called papie by the Latins, 233. Has been mistaken for the hyaena, ib. The animal described, viii. 121. Is a strong and ferocious [Page 310] animal, ib. 126. Is excessively lascivious, 123. Great Ba­boon described, 126. Description of the Ribbed-nose Ba­boon. See Mandril. Of the Pig-tailed Baboon. See Maimon.
  • Badger described, iv. 226. An unsocial animal, who spends three-fourths of his life in his dark abode, ib. Is obliged to leave his hole by the fox, 227. Defends himself furiously when pursued by dogs, ib. Is an exceeding sleepy animal, 228.; and remarkably cleanly, ib. Cannot bear cold, 229. Is subject to the itch, ib. Two species mentioned by Du­fouilloux; but this ought to be considered as a vulgar error, 230. Badgers perhaps exist in America, ib.; but not in Asia or Africa, 231. Was unknown to the Greeks, ib. Approach­es to no other species of quadrupeds, ib.
  • Baikal, a great lake of Asia, described, i. 335.
  • Baikal hare. See Tolai.
  • Baltic Sea ought to be regarded as an immense lake, supported by a great number of rivers, i. 292.
  • Barbary horses described, iii. 357.
  • Barbastelle. See Bat.
  • Baris, or Barris, a kind of Orang-Outang, viii. 81. n.
  • Barrere's notions concerning the formation of downs, moun­tains, and the duration of the sea upon the earth, i. 498. His opinion concerning the formation of mountains contro­verted, 500.
  • Bat described, iv. 317. A monstrous animal, 318. The bats fly aukwardly, and with difficulty; yet seize flies, gnats, and espe­cially moths, during their flight, 319, 320. A vast quantity of their dung found in a cavern by M. Buffon, 320. Are viviparous animals, and will even carry their young when flying, 321. Sleep during the winter, and at any time can remain several days without food, ib. There are seven species, 322. All the species described, 322. 324. Ternate bat de­scribed, v. 281. There are two species of Ternate bats; the lesser of the size of a crow, and the larger as big as a large hen, 284. These large bats are very mischievous, and often wound people in the face, 286. Probably furnished the an­tients with the notion of harpies, ib. These creatures will intoxicate themselves with palm wine, 288. Are very nume­rous in the islands of Manilla, where the natives kill them for food, ib. n. The American bats can suck the blood of sleep­ing [Page 311] men and cattle, without waking them, 289. Their flesh tastes like that of the hare, 291. The foregoing description, according to M. de la Nux, is exaggerated, 291. His ac­count of them, 292. Are not carnivorous, 300. Senegal bat described, 302. Bull dog bat, 303. Bearded bat, 305. Striped bat, 306. Javelin bat, vii. 234.
  • Bear described, v. 1. Two kinds, the land and sea bear, or the white bear of the frozen sea, ib. The land bears distin­guished into the brown and black, 2. Brown bear described, 2. Black bears are not carnivorous, 3. A red kind of bears are as carnivorous and voracious as wolves, 4. Three kinds of bears in Norway, ib. One of these species said to feed on ants, 5. Bears are found in all rude and desert countries, 6. Are savage and solitary animals, 7. Are not torpid during the winter, though they pass part of that time without pro­visions, ib. The males of the brown species devour the cubs, 8. In the northern countries, the bears are said to be intoxi­cated by throwing ardent spirits on honey, after which they are easily taken, 11. In Canada and Louisiana they live in decayed trees, and have their habitations 30 or 40 feet high, ib. Method of purifying their grease, 12. Bears are excellent swimmers, 13. Enjoy, in an exquisite manner, the senses of seeing, hearing, and feeling, 14. Have some gross resem­blances to man, ib. Accounts of some domestic bears, 15. Cannot endure each other's society, unless brought up toge­ther from their earliest infancy, 17. Difference between an European and American bear, 19. White or Polar bear de­scribed, viii. 216. Is falsely said to be more dangerous than the other kind, 221. Feeds commonly on seals, 223. Has the bones of the head so hard, that no blow of a club can bring him to the ground, 224.
  • Beaver described, v. 21. Is said to be among quadrupeds what the bee is among insects, 22. Has no pretensions to rationa­lity, 24.; on the contrary, he is considerably inferior to some animals, 26. 27. Account of their method of operating and building their huts, 28. When a society is ruined by hunt­ers, the rest disperse and become vagabond, 36. Some of these creatures are solitary, of which kind are all the Euro­pean beavers, 39. It hath been falsely asserted, that the bea­ver cannot live upon land without water, 41. Accounts of [Page 312] a tame beaver, 26. 41. Beavers are enemies to the otter, 42. The perfectly black and perfectly white furs most esteemed, 43. This animal furnishes the castoreum, ib. See Castoreum. Beavers can be so effectually tamed, that they will fish for their masters, 45. Have received from Nature a gift almost equal to that of speech, vi. 4.
  • Bedas, a race of Ceylonese savages described, iii. 100. Are a peculiar race of men, ib. 180.
  • Bees; an eulogium on them, iii. 283. Our admiration of them ill founded, 284. The genius of solitary bees inferior to that of the gregarious species, 285. Bees, taken separately, have less genius than many other animals, ib.; why they act in concert with one another, 286. The hexagonal cells of the bee furnish an argument of its stupidity, 290. Bees are not more ingenious than wasps, hornets, &c. 292. The provi­sions of the bee and other industrious animals, are only use­less and disproportioned masses, 297.
  • Behemoth, the Hebrew name of the hippopotamus, vi. 277. n.
  • Beori, vi. 244. n.
  • Bergen; vast numbers of raw hides exported from thence, vi. 499.
  • Bezoar, said to be the production of one species of animals only, vi. 424; but without sufficient reason, 426. 431. A kind of bezoar from apes, 429.; different from the true bezoar, 430. The true kind described, ib. It is found in a great number of different animals, 432. Most quadrupeds, and even croco­diles and large serpents, produce a kind of bezoars, 440.
  • Birds; their sagacity and foresight arise merely from instinct, iii. 297. Instead of knowing the future, they are ignorant even of the past, 298. Why domestic poultry make nests worse than wild fowls, ib.
  • Bison Jubatus, vi. 151. The bison is not properly a distinct species of animals, 154. 157. 172. 188. Origin of the word bison 157. The bison of the Latins the same with the bona­sus of Aristotle, 168. Bison of America might proceed ori­ginally from the European bison, 170. Bisons vary greatly in size, &c. 185. They have degenerated in America, 187.
  • Black sea receives more water from the rivers which run into it than is sufficient for its support, i. 36. Might have formerly been only a large lake joined by a narrow communication to the Caspian, ib. Ought still to be considered rather as a lake [Page 313] than a gulf of the ocean, 38. Is the only sea that freezes totally; and why, 47. Its direction similar to that of rivers, 253. According to Diodorus Siculus, it was originally a great lake or river, 323. A notion of Mr Tournefort's con­cerning it refuted, ib. Receives more rivers than the Medi­terranean, 325. Is less clear and salt than the ocean, 327. Its tempests more violent and dangerous, ib.
  • Black cattle fond of licking themselves, by which means balls of hair are formed in their stomachs, iii. 455.
  • Blind mouse. See Water shrew.
  • Boar. See Wild Boar, and Ethiopic and Cape Verd boar.
  • Bobak described, vii. 198.
  • Bonasus, vii. 150. The same with the bison of the Latins, 168.
  • Bonavista: An incredible number of goats on that island, iii. 493.
  • Bones; the manner in which they grow, ii. 473. Analogy be­tween their growth and that of wood, 474. Become more solid as we advance in years, 477. Are softer in women than in men, ib.
  • Bos, iii. 423. n. vi. 151. n.
  • Bosner, an East India island, where much bezoar is found, vi. 437. n.
  • Bosphorus will, in time, probably, be filled up, i. 323.
  • Bouc estain, vi. 363. n. Bouc savage, ib.
  • Bourguet gives a specimen of a theory of the earth, but would probably not have succeeded had he gone on with it, i. 122. First remarked the regularity of the angles of mountains, 240. See Mountain.
  • Brain cannot be the fountain of sensation, iv. 173. Is only a species of mucilage, and hardly organized, 174. Is an organ of secretion and nutrition, 175. Is not proportionally larger in man than other animals, 176. Ought not to be regarded as an organic part of the nervous system, 177. Why the compression of it destroys sensation, ib. Facts which shew that the brain is not the organ of sensation, ib.
  • Brasilian cat. See Jaguar.
  • Brasilian weasel. See Coati mondi.
  • Britain formerly a part of the Continent, i. 489. 491.
  • Brittany, a province in it overwhelmed with sand, 508.
  • [Page 314] Brocks, a name for young dear, when their horns begin to be visible, iv. 87.
  • Brutes. See Animals.
  • Bubalus, or cervine antilope, described, vii. 1. The name im­properly given to the buffalo by the modern Latins, vi. 152. vii. 1. Resembles the stag, the gazelles, and the ox, 2.; hath but little resemblance to the elk, 4.; hath been called the Barbary cow, ib. Described by Caius, under the name of Buselaphus, 6.
  • Bucks, vi. 384. n.
  • Buffalo described, vi. 150. Has no name either in Greek or Latin, ib. n. Is a native of the warm regions of Africa and the Indies, and was not transported into Italy till the seventh century, 152. Mistake of Belon concerning it, ib. Refuses to copulate with our common black cattle, 192. Is the dir­tiest of domestic animals next to the hog, ib. The milk of the female buffalo is worse than that of the cow, but yielded in larger quantity, 193. The skin is of more use than the flesh, ib. Very robust buffaloes in the kingdoms of Aunau and Tonquin, 195. n. Are very dangerous when attacked and wounded, 196. The sight of the buffaloes at the Cape of Good Hope is bad, 203.
  • Buffle, vi. 150. n.
  • Buffon holds the most distinguished rank among natural histori­ans, Pref. xi. Some of his sentiments of a dangerous tenden­cy, xii. n. Vol. ii. 70. n. His meaning strangely misrepre­sented by a former translator, Pref. xvii. n.
  • Bull-dog, iv. 40.
  • Burnet's Theory of the Earth, i. 109. See Earth. Gives nei­ther facts nor observations in support of his theory, 119. Falls into an error with regard to the deluge, 127. See Deluge.
C
  • Cabiai, or thick-nosed Tapir, described, vii. 64. Cannot live in a cold climate, 65. This assertion contradicted, 67. Has some slight relations to the hog, ib. Escapes from hunters by taking the water, ib.; a peaceable animal, and a native of South America, 66.
  • [Page 315] Cuby-bara, vii. 64. n.
  • Cagui, viii. 201. n. 205. n. 209. n. 211. n. 214. n.
  • Cajeta; a mountain curiously split by an earthquake near that place, i. 455.
  • Caitaia, viii. 199. n.
  • Calicut, formerly a celebrated city, now decayed, and mostly covered with the sea, i. 495. The women there have some­times ten husbands, iii. 99. The inhabitants lengthen their ears to such a degree, that they sometimes hang down below their shoulders, ib. Their legs sometimes as thick as the body of an ordinary man, ib. People with such thick legs also found in other places, 100.
  • Callitrix, or Green Monkey described, viii. 160.; found in Mau­ritania and the territories of antient Carthage, ib.
  • Calmar; Needham's observations on the milt of that fish, ii. 62. 186. Animalcules in it of an extraordinary size, 186. Some bodies discovered in it like spiral springs, ib. Particu­lar description of these bodies, 187. 188.
  • Calmuck Tartars described, iii. 68.
  • Camel described, vi. 118. Two species of that animal, ib. n. The Persians have several kinds, 120. n. The Persian Am­bassador's account of the camel to M. Constance, 122. n. The whole species limited to a zone of three or four hundred leagues in breadth, 123. A native of Arabia, ib. Camels can live several days without drink, 124. Are of vast use to the Arabs, 126. Can travel 50 leagues in one day, 127. Camels can smell water at the distance of half a league, 131. Why they can live so long without drinking. 134. Their nature considerably changed by constraint, slavery, and la­bour, 135. Exist no where in a natural state, 138. Are guided by the sound of the human voice, or some instrument, 139. Become furious during the rutting season, 140. Are more valuable than elephants, 145. Method of preserving their flesh for food, 146. n. Their dung makes excellent feuel, 147. Might be made to live and be useful in other coun­tries, 148.
  • Camelus, vi. 118. n. 119. n. 122. n. vii. 133. n.
  • Camelopard described, vii. 109. One of the largest and most beautiful of quadrupeds, ib. The species confined to the deserts of AEthiopia, and some provinces in the fourth of Africa and India, 110. Belon's description of the Camelopard, 112. [Page 316] Gillius's description, 113. Hasselquist's description censured; 115. 122. Mr Allamand's description of the horns, 123. His description of the whole animal, 129. The length of its fore legs misrepresented, 129.
  • Camelopardalis, vii. 112. et seq.
  • Campagnol, iv. 293. n.
  • Canis, iv. 196. n. 214. n. 226. n. vii. 255. n. 268. n. viii. 264. n. 279. n.
  • Cape of Good Hope, famous for its tempests, i. 390. Account of the manner in which they are produced, ib.
  • Cape Verd boar described, viii. 241. A different race from all other hogs, 243. Account of one kept in the menagerie of the Prince of Orange, ib. Refused to copulate with a sow, and tore her in pieces, 244. M. Vosmaer's account of another tame one, 245. Digs the earth with surprising ease and quickness, ib. The animal may, perhaps, be a variety of the common hog, 250. M. Comerson's account of boars in the island of Madagascar, 251. Mr Allamand's description of the Cape Verd boar, 251. Runs much more swiftly than the common hogs, 255. Mr Adanson's description of an African boar, 256. There may, perhaps, be another species which Adanson means to describe, 257.
  • Capivard, vii. 64. n.
  • Capra, iii. 486. n. iv. 120. n. vi. 363. n. 364. n. 394. n. 407. n. 408. n. 419. n. vii. 14. n. 38. n. 44. n.
  • Capreolus, iv. 120. n. vii. 44. n.
  • Capriolus, iv. 120. n.
  • Capricorne, vi. 363. n.
  • Capybara, v. 116. n.
  • Caracal described, v. 221. Is different from the lynx, ib. Is common in Arabia, Barbary, &c. 222. Is obliged to content himself with the remains of a lion's, or other wild beast's meal, ib. Why he hath been called the lion's provider, ib. Is about the size of a fox, but much stronger and more fero­cious, 223. May be trained to hunting, ib. Mr Bruce's de­scription of a Nubian Caracal, 224. This species no larger than a common cat, 225.
  • Cardites found in vast numbers in some places, i. 221.
  • Caribbees described, iii. 175.
  • Caribou, vi. 328. n.
  • Carigueya, v. 119. n. 405. n.
  • [Page 317] Carmel; some curious petrefactions found on that mount, i. 207.
  • Carnivorous animals. See Animals.
  • Caspian Sea is a real lake, and communicates with no other sea in the world, i. 37. Is represented as nearly round in antient charts, 253.
  • Castor, v. 21. n. 260. n. 261. n.
  • Castoreum, a substance found in the body of the beaver, and used in medicine, v. 43. Hath a very offensive smell, 270.
  • Cat described, iv. 49. Is extremely amorous, and the female more so than the male, 51. The male has an inclination to devour the young, ib.; which the female will sometimes do, 52. In Cyprus, the cats were trained to hunt serpents, ib. Physical cause of the cat's watching, 53. These animals cannot be entirely tamed, ib. Are extremely hardy and vi­vacious, 55. Wild cat described, ib. Wild cats found in all countries of the world, 56. Pietro della Valle's description of a species of Persian cats, ib. Have a perfect resemblance to the cat of Angora, 57. Whence the beauty of these cats proceeds, ib. Father Tertre's description of American cats, 59. Cats sometimes sleep so profoundly, that they can scarce be awaked, 63. Sometimes their breath has an odour of musk, 64. Chinese cats have pendulous ears, ib. Some cats observed in France with pencils of hair at their ears, 65. De­scription of the Lion by the name of cat, &c. v. 64. n.
  • Catanea destroyed by an earthquake in 1683, i. 411.
  • Cataract. See Cheselden.
  • Catus, iv. 49. n.
  • Caverns; dissertation on them, i. 442. Are in a manner pecu­liar to mountains, 450. Frequent in the Archipelago Islands, ib. Description of the cavern in Derbyshire, called the Devil's Hole, 451. Of the cavern in Antiparos, the cave of Trophonius, and several others, 452. 453. Caverns are fre­quent in all countries infested with volcanos and earthquakes, 454. The labyrinth of Crete is a natural cavern augmented by art, ib.
  • Cavia, iv. 296. n. v. 392. n. vii. 83. n.
  • Cavy, a name for the Guinea-pig, iv. 296. n. Long nosed Cavy. See Agouti. Spotted Cavy. See Paca.
  • Cay. viii. 196. n.
  • Caymiri, viii. 199. n.
  • [Page 318] Cayopollin, v. 438. n.
  • Cayouassou, viii. 193. n.
  • Cemas, vi. 410. n.
  • Cephos, viii. 113. n.
  • Cerf, vii. 8. n.
  • Cerigo; an island which abounds in porphyry, i. 206.
  • Ceropithecus, viii. 129. n. 140. n. 141. n. 160. n. 163. n. 168. n. 176. n. 184. n. 193. n. 196. n. 199. n. 201. n. 203. n.
  • Cervus, iii. 74. n. 113. n. 120. n. vi. 316. n. 317. n. vii. 31. n. 32. n. 110. n. 114. n.
  • Ceylon said to have been separated from the peninsula of India by an earthquake, i. 488. 496. Account of the natives, iii. 100.
  • Chacal, vii. 255. n.
  • Changes of land into sea, and sea into land, i. 483.
  • Chamean, vi. 119. n.
  • Chamois goat described, vi. 363. See Goat.
  • Charlevoix's description of the cataract of Niagara, i. 280. See Niagara.
  • Chat, vii. 77.
  • Cheselden's account of a man affected with a strabismus, in con­sequence of a blow, iii. 6. Of a lad whom he cured of a cataract, 9.
  • Chevre, iii. 486. n.
  • Chevrotains or small antilopes described, vii. 22. Have a re­semblance to the stag, but differ from him prodigiously in size, ib. Different species of them described, 23. Hinds of the size of a hare found in the East Indies, 26. n. Exceed­ing small ones found in some parts of Africa, 27. n. Are very easily tamed, ib. There are only two species of them known, 28. Are so delicate that they can scarce be trans­ported to Europe, and soon die there, ib.
  • Chimpanzee, viii. 77. n.
  • Chinche, vii. 297. n.
  • Chinese described, iii. 71.
  • Chinese Bonnet, viii. 148. A variety of the Macaque, ib. Found in the East Indies, 149. Their method of stealing sugar canes, ib. Distinctive characters of the species, 153.
  • Circassia produces very beautiful women, iii. 119.
  • Circumcision, a very antient custom, ii. 401. How practised in Persia, the Maldivia Islands, &c. 402.
  • [Page 319] Civet described, v. 239. Two species of the animal, 240. Has nothing in common with the cat but agility of body, 243. Description of the perfume called civet, ib. This must not be confounded with the musk, ib. The two species of civets have never been properly distinguished, 244. The civets, though originally natives of Africa and Asia, can live in tem­perate, and even cold countries, 249. Great numbers of civets kept in Holland, ib. Manner of collecting the perfume, 250. Exceeding strength of civet as a perfume, 251. These animals naturally savage, and even ferocious, 252. Civet now little used, 253. Account of a civet kept at Fort Mine, on the African coast, ib.
  • Civette, v. 239. n.
  • Clay perfectly analogous with sand, i. 184.
  • Coaita, a species of monkey described, viii. 184. Cannot bear cold, 185.
  • Coal-mines sometimes take fire, but never burn like volcanos, i. 441.
  • Coati, or Brasilian weasel described, v. 53. Two varieties of the species, ib. Difference between the Coati and the Ra­coon, 54. This animal, by some, confounded with the sow­badger, ib. Mistake of Aldrovandus concerning it, ib. The Coati has a custom of gnawing the extremity of his own tail, 55. Inferences from this fact, ib. Is an animal of prey, 56.
  • Coati-mondi, a name given by some authors to the Coati, v. 53. Is a variety of the same species, ib. Account of one kept by Linnaeus, 56. Has an unaccountable aversion to hog's bristles, ib. Is a very sleepy animal, 57.
  • Cochon d'eau, vii. 64. n.
  • Cockles; vast numbers of petrified ones found in some places, i. 221.
  • Comets must sometimes fall into the sun, i. 66. Consequences of their falling perpendicularly, and of falling obliquely, i. 67. How they may detach a quantity of matter from the sun, ib. Such an event might possibly produce other changes in the solar system, ib. n. A comet of no great size might detach a 650th part of the sun's bulk, 68. A comet, supposed by Whiston to be the cause of the deluge, 99. 104. That the earth was at first an uninhabitable comet, 101. Its atmos­phere was a chaos of heterogeneous materials, ib. Hence the [Page 320] heat of the earth may last 6000 years, ib. Whiston's account of the formation of the earth, 103.
  • Condoma, or striped antilope, described, vii. 8. Has a head like a stag, but horns like those of a goat, 9. Approaches to the Strepsiceros of Caius, ib. Greatly resembles the wild goat of the Cape of Good Hope, 11.
  • Coqualin, vii. 176. n.
  • Cordeliers, the highest mountains in the world, i. 237. Extend from the equator beyond the tropics on both sides, ib. Ter­minate in vast plains watered by the greatest rivers in the world, 243.
  • Cornu ignotum, vi. 407, n.
  • Cornu Ammonis, found in vast quantities in some places, i. 221.
  • Coudous, or Indian Antilope described, vii. 40. A very large animal, 41. Perhaps is one of those called nil-gauts, 42.
  • Couguar described, v. 197. A very ferocious and cruel ani­mal. 198. Is very common in South America, ib. Is afraid of fire, 199. The flesh is good food, ib. Couguar of Pensyl­vania described, 200. Black Couguar described, 201. This last species sometimes called the black tiger or cat, 202. Mr Pennant's description of that animal, ib. n. Is the same with the animal called Jaguarette, 203. M. de la Borde's descrip­tion of the animal, ib. Becomes perfectly tame and peaceable in a domestic state, 205. Account of a tame one, called the Paltroon Tiger, ib.
  • Couti, v. 58. n.
  • Cow. See Ox.
  • Cow of Tartary described, viii. 225. Differs from all the species of buffaloes, ib. The difference consists only in their grunt­ing, instead of lowing, 227.
  • Crab-eater described, viii. 279. At a distance resembles a ter­rier, 280. Is very common at Cayenne, 281. M. de la Borde's description of it, 282.
  • Crystal, a new and spurious production, i. 199.
  • Cuandu, v. 119. n. vii. 77. n. 79. n.
  • Cuguacu, v. 118. n. 138. n. 197. n. 198. n.
  • Cuniculus, iv. 155. n. 296. n. v. 58. n. 392. n. vii. 202. n. 317. n. viii. 228. n. 230. n.
  • Currents; a dissertation on them, i. 351. Of their origin, 359. Ought to be regarded as large rivers, and subject to the same [Page 321] laws with the land rivers, 361. Account of the most remark­able currents in the world, 362. In mountainous places of the sea, the currents are necessarily violent, 364. Hence they are very rapid and dangerous in the Indian ocean, ib. Are produced by the coasts repelling the water of the sea to different distances, 365. The currents of the ocean have scooped out our valleys, and formed our mountains, ib.
D
  • Dalenpatius pretends to have discovered several kinds of animals in the semen, ii. 131.
  • Dama, iv. 113. n.
  • Dasypus, v. 366. n.
  • Dead sea; account of the water it receives by rivers, and of what it loses by evaporation, i. 271.
  • Death; its natural cause common to animals and vegetables, ii. 478. Cannot be avoided, 479. We ought not to be afraid of it, 487. Is not attended with much pain, ib. The terror of death is greatest at a distance, 488. Death may be oc­casioned by continued pain, 491. Account of the death of Charles XII. ib. Many of the female sex die through the terror of death, 492. The author's doctrine confirmed by the un­certainty of the signs of death, 493. A certain condition of life has a great resemblance to death, 494. We ought not, therefore, to be hasty in burying persons supposed to be dead, ib.
  • Deer; that species of animals described, iv. 74. n.
  • Deluge could not have transported from the ocean all the shells which are found on dry land, i. 14. Nor could it have dis­solved the substance of the earth, 15. According to Whiston, the deluge happened on Wednesday 28th November, 104. Supposed to be occasioned by the tail of a comet, ib. And by the waters of the abyss, 105. How, on this supposition, the waters of the deluge were disposed of, 106. Burnet's hypothesis concerning it, 111. Woodward's hypothesis of an universal dissolution by the water, 113. The face of the earth before the deluge, much the same as now, 118. Wood-ward's hypothesis insufficient, 120. And likewise Whiston's, [Page 322] 121. Bourguet's theory, 123. Scheutzer's opinion, 126. The face of the earth could not be changed by the deluge, 129. Ought only to be considered as a supernatural mode of punishing human wickedness, 130. Could not possibly be the effect of any physical cause, 132. The earth, or at least some parts of it, must have been in a different situation before the deluge, from what it is now, 193. Examples of different de­luges, 507.
  • Delos arose from the bottom of the sea, i. 442. Why called Pelagia, 443.
  • Des Cartes, the first who explained natural appearances on the principles of mechanism, ii. 47. How he attempted to ex­plain the formation of the soetus on these principles, 81.
  • Devil's hole; a cavern in Derbyshire, described, i. 451.
  • Didelphis, v. 407. n.
  • Dog described, iv. 1. In a wild state is formidable to all ani­mals, 2. Importance of this species in the system of nature, 4. Wild dogs differ from wolves only by the facility with which they are tamed, 7. Vast numbers of wild dogs in A­merica, 8. Great varieties among dogs, 9. Shepherd's dog approaches nearer to the primitive race than any other, 16. The largest dogs found in those countries which produce the most beautiful of the human race, 18. Irish grey hound cal­led by the antients the dog of Epirus or Albania, ib. Pliny's description of a battle between one of these dogs, first with a lion and then with an elephant, ib. Dogs degenerate in hot climates 23. Their flesh preferred by the negroes to that of all other animals. ib. An unsuccessful experiment made by Buffon, to make a dog copulate with a she wolf, 24. An­other unsuccessful attempt to make a fox copulate with a bitch, 26. A successful experiment of making a wolf copu­late with a bitch. 27. n. Another of the same kind, viii. 7. Thirty varieties of dogs enumerated, iv. 30. Dogs not per­fectly formed at birth, 33. Genealogical table of dogs ex­plained, 37. Account of a bitch who suckled puppies and cats, without having any connection with a male, 42. Siberian dogs of different kinds described, 43. Mr Colinson's description of those which draw carriages in Siberia, 45. Of the wild dogs, 47. The fox described under the name of dog, 214. n.
  • Domestic animals. See Animals.
  • [Page 323] Dorcas, iv. 120. n.
  • Dordrecht; a terrible inundation there in 1446, i. 492. The city separated from the main land by a similar inundation in 1421, p. 493.
  • Dormouse, or sleeper, iv. 334. Specimens of these animals not easily procured, ib. Two species of them found in Italy, 335. Sleeps during the winter, ib.
  • Douc, or Cochin-China monkey described, viii. 168.
  • Drake's account of the Acridophagi, or locust eaters of AEthio­pia, iii. 135.
  • Dreams brought as a proof of the memory of brutes, iii. 256. Are produced independent of the mind, 257. In dreaming we have sensations, but no ideas, 258. They never occur during profound sleep, 259. Difference between our dreams and those of brutes, 261.
  • Drill, viii. 77 n.
  • Dromedary described, vi. 118. Their great swiftness, 129. n. 130. n. Whence the bunches on the backs of these animals, and of the camel, proceed, 137. Dromedaries produced at Dresden, 149.
  • Dugon, or Indian Walrus, described, vii. 370. Is distinct from the sea-lion, 371; called by some the sea-bear, or the sea-cow, 371. 372.
  • Dumb people have no abstract and general knowledge, iii. 36. Account of one who suddenly began to speak, ib. Dumb persons taught to speak by Pereire, 38.; and by Mr Braid-wood of Edinburgh, 39. n.
E
  • Earth, supposed by Whiston to have undergone various changes from the tail of a comet, i. 2. Burnet's imaginations con­cerning it, 3. Principal appearances of the globe explained by Woodward from the action of an internal; abyss, ib. Ge­neral description of the earth, 4. Shows itself to be only the ruins of a world. Our knowledge of it only superficial, 6. Matter of which it is composed four times heavier than that of the sun, ib. Its upper stratum composed of decayed ani­mals and vegetables, 12. Its strata always parallel to each [Page 324] other, ib. 15. Great changes must have taken place on the surface of the earth in those ages immediately succeeding the creation, 13. It must have acquired a considerable degree of solidity before the deluge, 15. Could not have been dissolved by the deluge, ib. 16. Horizontal position of its strata, ow­ing to the operation of waters, 15. 18. 28. Why the strata in mountains are inclined to the horizon, 15. Figure of the earth not perfectly spherical, owing to its diurnal revolution, 17. How a true theory of the earth is to be established, 34. Enumeration of its principal phaenomena as a planet, 59. Of its figure, and the materials of which it is composed, 84. Whether its parts are homogeneous, 87. Whiston's theory of the earth, 97.—108. His hypothesis erroneous, but inge­nious, 99. Fertility of the earth before the deluge, occasion­ed by a central fire, 103. Figure of the earth changed from a perfect sphere, 106. Remarks on Whiston's theory, 107. Burnet's theory defective, 109. Woodward's theory, 113—117. Futility of his system pointed out, 114. Examination of various theories and their absurdities, 118—132. Bour­guet's account of the earth before and after the deluge, and how it is again to be destroyed, 123. Leibnitz's theory dif­ferent from all others, 124. The earth was formerly a fixed and luminous star, ib. Division of the globe into two belts of land and two of water, 133. Antient continent the prin­cipal belt, ib. Number of square leagues it contains, 135. New continent the other belt, 135. What parts of the earth are to be reckoned the most antient, 136. Remarks on the division of the earth, 138. First discoveries of the New Con­tinent, 140. Ignorance of the antients concerning the extent of the earth, 141. A much greater space occupied by sea than land, 142. Discoveries by different circumnavigators, 143. Formation of the different strata of the earth, 157—187. Figure assumed by the earth when in a melted state, 158. Interior parts composed of vitrified matter, 159. Formerly the earth must have been covered with water, ib. Changes on its surface, with the reasons of them, 160. Table of the different beds of earth found at different depths, in certain places, 163. The upper stratum composed of decayed vege­table and animal matter, 167. Arrangement of the strata, 170. Fishes, the first inhabitants of the globe, 174. The strata of the earth not arranged according to their specific [Page 325] gravities, 179. Probable conjecture concerning the forma­tion of the globe, 181. Sand and clay, the scoriae of burnt matter, 187. Observations of different authors on the various changes which have taken place on the surface of the earth, 223. Of the inequalities on the earth's surface, 228—250. These inequalities necessary to life and vegetation, 228. Physical necessity for its irregularity, 229. Proofs of the au­thor's theory, 243. Of the materials of the earth, and how they are arranged, 244. Surface of the earth most unequal in countries thinly inhabited, 282. The author's theory first suggested, from observing the correspondence between the angles of opposite mountains, 366. Summary of the doctrine concerning the earth, 512.
  • Earthquakes; dissertation upon them, i. 408.; are produced by volcanoes, 417. Accounts of several terrible earthquakes, 418. Gentile's remarks on earthquakes, 427. Whether earth­quakes are capable of raising mountains, 429. See Mountain. Earthquakes of two kinds described, 432.; causes of those which extend their effects over wide regions, 434.
  • Echinus, iv. 300. n.
  • Ecureuil d'Amerique, v. 326. n.
  • —Suisse, v. 329. n.
  • —Volant, v. 307. n.
  • Eggs; Experiments upon them by Fabricius ab Aquapendente, ii. 86.; how they are disposed within the body of a hen, ib. Harvey's system of generation by means of eggs, ii. 89. See Generation. Eggs constitute the first class of organic beings, 219.; are only instruments for supplying the place of uteri in those animals deprived of this organ, 242. The term Egg applied by anatomists to things of a very opposite nature, 243.
  • Elephant, the most respectable animal in the world except man, vi. 1. Is able to kill a lion with his tusks, 6. His immense strength, ib.; hath been exceedingly esteemed in all ages, 7. Account of the famous white elephant in India, said to be 300 years old, 8. n. Elephants in a wild state are not san­guinary, 10. The hunters only dare attack the straggling ones, 11. These animals are extremely suspicious, and sen­sible of injuries, 12. Their sense of smelling is exceedingly acute, ib. They are excellent swimmers, 13. An enraged elephant can be stopped only by fire, 14. n. Account of their [Page 326] manner of generating, 15. Never generate in a domestic state, 16.; method of hunting and taming them, 18. A tame elephant is the most gentle and obedient of all domestic ani­mals, v. 25. Instance of his great strength and sagacity, 26. n. 40.—43. Method of conducting an elephant, 27. Ex­treme affection of the elephant for its guide, ib. The species extremely numerous, and why, 28. Never change their cli­mate, 29. Why elephants are no longer useful in war, 30. Manner of using them in war in the East, 32. The African elephants cannot be tamed without difficulty, 33 No wild elephants now found on this side of Mount Atlas, 34. Mr Adanson's account of the elephants at Senegal, 34. n. Are more numerous in Africa than in Asia, 37.; overturn the houses of the negroes, ib. n. Have a contempt for all other animals, ib. The largest elephants found in the south of In­dia and the east of Africa, 38. The Asiatic elephants in ge­neral larger than the African ones, ib. Those of Ceylon ex­cell all others, ib. n. Prince of elephants and manner of feeding them, 41. n. Of their extreme longevity, 42. Elephants of a white or red colour highly valued, 43. The properties of the elephant particularly considered, 47. Inconveniencies to which the elephant is subject from the figure of his body, 54. Water is as necessary to the elephants as air, 63. Many of the Indians devoutly regard the elephant's tail, 65. n. The growth of the elephant retarded by his being kept in a do­mestic state, 67. He loves wine, arrack, the smoke of tobacco, but hates bad smells, and will fly at the sight of a hog, 71. Some remarkable accounts of the properties of the elephant by the Marquis de Montmirail and others, 72.—81. The prodigious tusks and bones attributed to he mammouth, belong­ed in reality to the elephant, 82. Some account of the vast size of over grown elephants, and the bones of the mammouth found in Siberia, 82.—88. Mistake corrected with regard to the manner of their copulation, 90.
  • Elk described, vi 315. Unknown to the Greeks, 317.; and to the Latins before the time of Julius Caesar, ib. Existed for­merly in the forests of Gaul and Germany, 322. Is found in lower latitudes in America than in Europe, 324. Ame­rican elks described, 327. n. Comparison of the elk with the stag, 328. How the elk is killed by the glutton, 340. De­scription of the Elk in the memoirs of the Academy, 344.
  • [Page 327] Particular description of the elk, and the manner of hunting him, 347.—350. Is subject to the falling sickness, 348. n. Account of an elk kept by the Duke of Richmond, 351.
  • Elk of Africa described, vii. 3. n.
  • Empacassa, an animal resembling the buffalo, described, vii. 43 n.
  • Equus, iii. 306. n. 399. n. vi. 264. n.
  • Erinaceus, iv. 300. n. vii. 86. n.
  • Ermine described, iv. 262. Becomes white in winter, 263. Has always a slight tinge of yellow in the temperate climates, ib. Pontoppidan's remarks on this animal, 264.
  • Ethiopian boar. See Cape Verd Boar.
  • Ethiopians described, iii. 134.
  • Eunuchs, their properties, ii. 407. Of the different modes of castration, 404.
  • Euriceros, iv. 113 n.
  • Exquima, a kind of monkey described, viii. 184. Perhaps only a variety of the coaita, 185. The same with the animal call­ed Diana by Linnaeus, 188. Differences between the exquima and coaita, 191.
  • Eyes of the human species strongly express the passions, ii. 438.
  • Of the different colours of the eyes, 439.
  • Eye-brows and eye lids, their use, ii. 441.
F
  • Fallow-deer described, iv. 113. Approaches nearly to the stag, ib. The flesh of this animal preferred by dogs to all others, 114. Differences between the fallow deer and the stags. 114.—118.
  • Faras, or Ravale, v. 406. n.
  • Fecundity of different animals, table of it, viii. 26.
  • Felis, iv. 49. n. v. 64. n. 153. n. 168. n. 197. n. 206. n. 240. n. vii. 249. n.
  • Ferret described, iv. 252. A different species from the polecat, ib. Female ferrets die if their desires for a male are not gra­tified, 253. Excessively sleepy animals, ib. A natural enemy to the rabbit, ib; how employed to hunt the rabbits, 254. Brought from Africa to Spain, according to Strabo, ib.; [Page 328] uncertain whether it is the ictis of the Greeks, 255.; pretty strong proof against their identity, ib.
  • Fial-mus, vii. 316. n.
  • Fial rache, vii. 258. n.
  • Field-mouse, iv. 42. 85. 293.
  • —Long-tailed described, iv. 285. Very generally and copi­ously diffused, especially through elevated countries, ib. A single animal will sometimes amass a whole bushel of acorns, nuts, &c. 287. Is an exceedingly prolific animal, 289. They devour one another, ib.
  • —Short-tailed field-mouse more generally diffused than the former, iv. 293.; does great damage by cutting the stalks of corn, ib.; resembles the water-rat in its internal structure more than any other animal, 294.
  • Fishtal, vi. 206. n.
  • Fissures of the earth necessarily assume a perpendicular direction, and why, i. 42. Their sides correspond as exactly as those of a split piece of wood, 43. 470.; vary greatly in their extent, ib. 470. Cause of the large fissures, ib. Dissertation on per­pendicular fissures, 442.; their origin hitherto unexplained, 458.; are often filled with concretions, sometimes regular and transparent, and sometimes earthy and opaque, 463.; are found in flint rocks as well as in stone, 469.
  • Foetus; discourse on its formation, ii. 271. Is either male or female, according as the organic particles prevail in the male or female semen, 274. Why a foetus cannot be produced in the body of the male, 278. Placenta and membranes pro­duced at the same time with the foetus, 279. Why two foe­tuses are not produced instead of one foetus with a placenta, &c. 80. Sexual parts of the male foetus derived solely from the father, and the rest of the body from the mother, and vice versa, 283. The foetus is formed by a mixture of the or­ganic particles of both sexes, 286. Attempt to explain its formation, 287. The whole foetus formed at the same time, 289. The whole perhaps formed in a moment, 294. How foetuses may be formed in the vagina, ib. Instances of their being found in the ovaria, Fallopian tubes, &c. 295.; of their being formed in the testicles of men, 296.; how this may happen, and how virgins may produce moles, 297. 298. Of the expansion, growth, and delivery of the foetus, 302. Two kinds of growth distinguishable in the foetus, ib. How [Page 329] the fundamental and essential parts of an animal body may be discovered, 304. The double parts of the body produced on each side of the single parts by a species of vegetation, 305. The spinal marrow and vertebrae appear to be the real axis of all the double parts of the body, and the source from whence they proceed, ib. Prooss that the double parts pro­ceed from the single ones, 306. An attempt to explain the manner in which the foetus is expanded, 309. Size of the foetus at different periods of pregnancy, 314.—318. Why labour pains at last come on, 319. The most natural birth is when the foetus escapes without bursting the membranes, 321. Explanation of the uses of the umbilical chord, mem­branes, &c. to the foetus, 322. Of the existence of the alan­tois in the human species, 324. Whether the child may re­spire before its birth, 325. Of the circulation of the blood before birth, 326. Of the nourishment of the foetus, 328. The imagination of the mother cannot affect the foetus, 332. Of the times of gestation, 334. Various opinions concern­ing the causes of delivery, 336. The author's reasons for supposing that it is occasioned by the menstrual blood, 339. Why delivery is always followed by an haemorrhage in the human species, 344. No haemorrhage attends the delivery of cows, sheep, and other animals, 344.
  • Fossa, vii. 219. n.
  • Fossane described, vii. 219. Why called the genet of Madagas­car, ib. The genitals of the male have an odour of musk, ib. Is very difficult to tame, 220. Is the same with the animal called Berbe in Guinea, ib.
  • Fossil shells; dissertation upon them, i. 188. Prodigious quan­tities of them found in some places, ib. An ignorant porter in the 16th century, first asserted that they were really shells, in opposition to the learned, 189. An astonishing mass of shells discovered by Reaumur, 190. Mr Reaumur's observa­tions concerning them, 191. 192. the above mentioned mass could not be the effect of the deluge, 193. How such pro­digious quantities might be collected, 194. Shells are the me­dium employed by Nature in the formation of most kinds of stones, 195. Are never found in common rock, granite, or free-stones, 199. Are found on the tops of the highest moun­tains, 200. Strange opinion of Leibnitz and an Italian au­thor concerning them, 203. Are to be met with in almost [Page 330] all countries, 205.—214. Woodward's opinion concerning their position, 217. His assertions not universally true, 218. Whole mountains, rocks, and extensive quarries often full of them, 221.
  • Fox described, iv. 214. The method of hunting him, 216. How he gets the better of wild bees, wasps, and hornets, 218. Will not copulate with bitches, 221. Of the foxes of diffe­rent countries, 224.
  • Foyna, iv. 239. n.
  • Furo, iv. 252. n.
  • Furunculus, iv. 252. n.
  • Furor uterinus, a species of madness, ii. 423. Sometimes proves fatal, 424.
G.
  • Gainus, iv. 239. n.
  • Galeopithecus, viii. 205. n.
  • Galera, or Guiney weasel described, viii. 265. A small species of martin or polecat, 266.; has a strong odour of musk, ib. n.
  • Generation of animals; a dissertation upon it, ii. 49. Attempt to solve it by the hypothesis of organic matter, 50. Proof of the hypothesis drawn from the resemblance of children to their parents, 59. Examination of different systems, 64. Plato's system, ib. Final causes not to be admitted in reasoning on this subject, 69. Aristotle's system considered, 71. Opinions of Hippocrates, 81. His system preferable to that of Aristotle, 85. Aquapendente's observations on eggs, 86. Gives no clear idea of generation, 88. Harvey's system, ib. His observations concerning the growth of the chick, 91.—94. Concerning the growth of the foetus in deer, 94.—96. Supposes all ani­mals to proceed from eggs, and that generation is a work of the uterus alone, 96. 97. His system uncertain and obscure, 98. Observations of Malphigius on eggs, 101.—105. Harvey censured for want of accuracy, 105. His experiments com­pared with those of De Graaf on rabbits, 107.—113. De Graaf and Malphigius better observers than Harvey, 113. No eggs exist in the testicles of females, 115. Malphigius and Valisnieri the most exact writers on generation, 116. Account of their [Page 331] observations and experiments, 116.—126. Lewenhoeck's sys­tem of generation by animalcules, 127.—137. Both the ovi­cular and animalcular system attended with insuperable ob­jections, 138.—146. A celebrated experiment by Nuck in fa­vour of eggs, 146. inconclusive, 147. Experiments of the author, shewing that the small moving bodies observed in the seminal fluids are not animalcules, 150.—192. Comparison of these with the experiments of Lewenhoeck, 193.—211. Reflections on these experiments, with a full explanation of the author's system, 212.—254. Of the varieties in the gene­ration of animals, 255.—270.
  • Genet described; v. 254. Is more easily tamed than the martin, 255. Requires a warm climate for its subsistance and multi­plication, ib. A particular kind of genet described, 257.
  • Genetta, v. 254. n.
  • Geography; a dissertation upon it, i. 133.—156.
  • Gerboise; vii. 202. n.
  • Gerbua; ib.
  • Germ; immense quantity of matter produced by a single one, ii. 35.
  • Gibbon, or long armed ape, described, viii. 113. Etymology of the word Gibbon, ib. Is of a tranquil disposition and gentle manners, 114. Called the Fesé in the kingdom of Gannaura, on the frontier of China, 115. n. Derivation of the word Fesé, ib.
  • Gibraltar; no double current runs through the Straits, as has been asserted, i. 313.
  • Giraffe; see Camelopard.
  • Glis; iv. 235.—339. vii. 198.
  • Glouton; vii. 274. n.
  • Glutton described, vii. 274. First taken notice of by Olaus Mag­nus, 275. His incredible voracity, 277.—280. n. Account of one kept alive in France, 282. Description of a voracious American animal called Carcajou, 285. A similar animal de­scribed, 289.
  • Goat described, iii. 486. Is superior to the sheep, 491. Is na­turally a friend to man, 493. Does not thrive well in plain countries, 495.
  • —Wild goat, Chamois goat, &c. described, vi. 363. Both these were unknown to the Greeks, ib. Are to be considered as one species with the domestic goat, 377. All the ten species of [Page 332] goats, mentioned by different authors, ought to be reduced to one, 380. Goats are subject to the vertigo, 382. The wild and chamois goats only found in deserts, and on the highest and most rugged mountains, 383. Hunting the wild goat is very laborious, and sometimes dangerous, 385.
  • Grimm, or Guinea antilope described, vii. 14. Has a yellow hu­mour secreted in its eyes, smelling like a mixture of musk and castoreum, 18.
  • Grison, or gray weasel described, iv. 266. Doth not belong to the weasel tribe, 267.
  • Guariba, viii. 176. n.
  • Guib, or harnessed antilope, described, vii. 12.
  • Guiney-pig described, iv. 296. Is an excessively salacious and prolific animal, 297.
  • Gulo wielfrass, vii. 274. n.
H
  • Hamster, or German marmot, described, vii. 178. Is the most destructive of all the rats, ib. The hamsters destroyed by the pole-cats, 185. They likewise devour each other, ib. Become torpid in winter, and cannot be awaked even by an electrical shock, 187. Particular account of the appearance of the ham­ster, when torpid, and in what manner he awakes, 193.—196. Seems to have no other passion but that of rage, 196. Even the male and female hamsters devour each other, 197. Is not a marmot, 198.
  • Hare described, iv. 137. Multiplies very fast, 143. Does not chew the cud, 145. Has an acute sense of hearing, but his sight is bad, 146. Surprising instances of instinct in the hare to preserve itself from danger, 147. Measled hares love marshy and watery grounds, 149. Mountain hares larger and better than those of the plains, 149. Become white in high moun­tains, and in northern regions, during winter, 149. Hares are equally diffused over all climates, 150. Their flesh is not re­lished by the Eastern nations, 151. Manner of hunting them, 152. Hares often make holes in the clefts of rocks, 153. Will sometimes catch mice like cats, according to Pontoppidan, ib.
  • [Page 333] Haut, vii. 151. n. 158. n.
  • Hearing; a discourse on that sense, iii. 26. Is liable to decep­tions in some instances, ib. Curious instance of a deception with regard to the sound of a bell, 27. Of the different tones of sounds, 28. Why some sounds are more agreeable than others, 31. Of the reflection of sounds, and the organs of hearing, 33. Of deafness, 34. Those who have bad ears, and unmusical voices, hear better with one ear than the other, 34. Of trumpets and funnels for assisting the hearing, 35.
  • Hedge-hog described, iv. 300. The female devours her offspring when confined, 302. Is a malevolent animal, ib. Very ge­nerally diffused, 303.
  • Herinaceus, iv. 300. n. 304. n.
  • Hiam, vii. 44.
  • Hippopotamus described, vi. 277. Imperfectly known to the antients, 278. No precise information obtained concerning him till the middle of the 16th century, 279. His skin is im­penetrable, unless steeped in water, 281. Columna's descrip­tion of this animal inferior to Zerenghi's, 285. Prodigious strength of the hippopotamus, 293. The species is not nume­rous, 295. Sometimes confounded with the sea-cow, 297. The hippopotamus mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, 304. Ob­servations on the method of preparing the animal's skin, 305. His blood employed by the Indian painters as one of their colours, 314.
  • Hircus, vi. 206. n. vii. 33. n.
  • Hog, hog of Siam, and wild boar, described, iii. 500. Is not a distinct species from the wild boar, 501. Is approached by no other species of animals, ib. The fat of the hog differs from that of almost every other animal, 509. The hog is the most rude and brutal of all quadrupeds, 511. His sense of feeling is very imperfect, insomuch that mice will sometimes eat into his back without disturbing him, 512. Is subject to a leprous disease, ib. Best method of fattening hogs, 513. Wild boars never attack or devour other animals, 518. Me­thod of hunting them, 520. Hogs have multiplied greatly in America, 521. The boar, by becoming domestic, degenerates in cold countries, 522.
  • —Mexican hog described, v. 271. Is the most numerous and re­markable of all the animals in the New World, ib. Goes by a great variety of names, ib. n. Has a remarkable aperture [Page 334] on his crupper, 272. Might easily be rendered domestic, 273. Never intermixes with the European hogs, 275. Two distinct species of these animals mentioned by M. de la Borde, 276. His description of them, 277.
  • —Guiney-hog described, viii. 239. Is domestic and perfectly tame, 240.
  • Hog-stag described, iv. 111.
  • Hoitzlacuatzin, vii. 76. n.
  • Homo duplex; or a dissertation upon the internal qualities of man, iii. 264.
  • Homo sylvestris, viii. 77. n.
  • Hooded serpent; a stone found in its head, vi. 440.
  • Horse described, iii. 306. His excellent character, ib. Is rarely seen in a natural state, 307. Is not ferocious, even when wild, 308. Accounts of them by different authors, 309. Directions for weaning foals, 314. 315. When the colts ought to be dressed, 316. The horse's mouth endowed with great sensibi­lity, 318. Explanation of the technical terms employed to express the different external parts of a horse, 320. n. Of the properties which distinguish a good horse, 320.—335. Of the propagation of horses, 335.—344. Of crossing the breeds of horses, 346. Of different kinds of horses, 357. Remarkable instance of the swiftness of an English race-horse, 361. Of the feeding of horses in different countries, 385. Horses of­ten removed from the dominion of their masters form the link between domestic and wild ones, 394.
  • Hottentots are not true Negroes, iii. 176. Kolbe's account of their method of extirpating one of the testicles of their males, ib.
  • Huanuca-Chama, vii. 133. n.
  • Human species; varieties of it in the different countries of the world, iii. 57.
  • Hurricanes; dissertation on them, i. 386.
  • Hyaena described, v. 226. This animal confounded with the jackal, the civet, the glutton, and the baboon, ib. He is so­litary, extremely ferocious, and can never be tamed, 235. Tears the dead bodies of men and animals out of the earth, 236. More absurdities related of the hyaena than of any other quadruped, ib. Account of a hyaena shewn at St Ger­main, 237. Great strength of the hyaena, 238.
  • [Page 335] Hymen; whether that membrane exists or not, ii. 415.
  • Hystrix, vii. 69. n. 76. n. 83. n.
I
  • Jackal described, vii. 255. Varies every where in size, 256. Dif­fused all over Asia, from Armenia to Malabar, 259. The same with the Thos of the antients, 263. Dig up the bodies of men though buried ever so deep, 264. Will eat leather, skins, tallow, and even excrements, 265. More troublesome than the hyaena, ib.
  • Jaguar described, v. 187. The most cruel and formidable ani­mal in America, 188. Is said to attack savages rather than Europeans, 189. Account of one sent to France from New Spain, 193. Manoncour's remarks on the jaguars of Guiana, 194. Is sometimes killed by the ant-eater, 196.
  • Jaguara, v. 188. n.
  • Jaguarete, v. 94. n.
  • Jarff, vii. 274.
  • Javelin Bat. See Bat.
  • Ibex, vi. 363. n. 394. n.
  • Ichneumon described, vii. 210. Is domestic in Egypt like the cat in Europe, ib. Hunts and eats every living creature, 211. Destroys the eggs of the crocodile, and the young crocodiles themselves, 212. There are no distinct species of ichneumons, 213. Hasselquist's description censured, 214. n. Ichneumons cannot be easily reared in temperate climates, 217.
  • Ignavus, vii. 151. n.
  • Jerboas described, vii. 201. Four distinct species of them, ib. Cannot walk, but advance by leaping, 207. M. Gmelin's re­marks on its internal structure, 207.
  • Indian Walrus See Walrus.
  • Infancy; discourse on it, ii. 269.
  • Infibulation; how performed, ii. 403.
  • Jocko described, viii. 77. See Orang Outang.
  • Isatis, or Arctic dog described, vii. 268. Is peculiar to the nor­thern regions, 270. Why called the Cross Fox, 271. Mr Co­linson's remarks on this animal by the name of Cossac, 172.
  • [Page 336] Islands; a discourse on the origin of new ones, i. 442. Are either produced suddenly by the operation of subterraneous fires, or accumulated by the sediment of the waters, ib. Ac­counts of the rising of many new islands, 443. et seq. New islands never appear but in the neighbourhood of old ones, 449. Why there are few islands in open seas, ib.
  • Isthmus of Suez; would produce a great inundation if cut, i. 39.
K
  • Kebos, viii. 156. n.
  • Kevel, or flat horned antilope, described, vi. 400.
  • Krietsch, vii. 178. n.
  • Knmrak; a creature begot between an ass and a cow, viii. 35.
L
  • Lacerta, v. 356. n.
  • Lacertus, v. 355. n.
  • Lakes; a dissertation on them, i. 290. Wherein they differ from mediterranean seas, 322. Different kinds of lakes described, 330. 331. How salt lakes may be produced, ib. Enumera­tion of some of the most remarkable lakes, 333. Account of a lake in Bohemia, from whence often issue violent winds, 338.
  • Lama described, vii. 133. No exact history of this animal hither­to given, 135. The animal mentioned by Gesner under the name of Allocamelus, 136.; and by Matthiolus under that of Elaphocamelus, ib. Peru is their native country, 138. Are extremely lascivious, yet copulate with difficulty, 141. Cannot be made to quicken their pace, ib. n. When wild, they will climb the highest rocks, 143.
  • Lamantin, vii. 375. n.
  • Land; a general view of it, i. 10. Was formerly covered with the ocean, 12.—17. In what manner it emerged from under the ocean, 30. Reasons for supposing the dry land and the ocean to change places with each other, 31. 32. Instances [Page 337] of these changes, 40. Dissertation on the changes of land in­to sea, 483.
  • Leem, vii. 316. n.
  • Leming, or Lapland marmot described, vii. 316. Inhabit the mountains of Norway and Lapland, 318. Sometimes appear in such numbers as to cover the whole surface of the earth, ib. n. Are thought by the vulgar to fall from the clouds, 319.
  • Lemmar, vii. 316. n.
  • Lemur, vii. 223.—231.
  • Leo, v. 64. vii. 348.
  • Leopard described, v. 169. Was unknown to the antients, ib. Is called Engoi at Congo, and Antamba at Madagascar, 184. See Ouence and Panther.
  • Lepus, iv. 137. n. 155. n. viii. 228. n. 276. n.
  • Lepusculus, 4. 155. n.
  • Lidmée, or brown antilope described, vi. 413. n.
  • Life; table of the duration of it, ii. 498.
  • Lion described, v. 65. The species very numerous and fierce in the southern regions of Africa, 68. The lion is capable of being tamed, 69. His generous temper, 70. The American lion has no mane, 74. Lions may be kept alive, and even propagate, in temperate countries, 77. Aristotle's mistakes concerning the lion, 79. The senses of smelling and fight less acute in the lion than in other animals, 81. His manner of hunting his prey, 82. Is fond of the flesh of camels and young elephants, 85. How hunted, 85.
  • Loris, or tail-less Maucauco described, vii. 231. Differs from all other quadrupeds in the number of its vertebrae, ib. Thevenot's description of it, 233.
  • Loutre, vii. 231.
  • Lowando described, viii. 133.
  • Lupus, iv. 196. n. v. 206.—226. vii. 255.
  • Lutra, iv. 233. n. 236. n. vii. 321. n.
  • Lynx described, v. 206. The finest skins of lynxes come from Siberia and Canada, 209. Mistake of Mr Klein concerning it, 208.—210. The lynx prefers cold to temperate countries, 213. Fables of the antients concerning this animal, 215. Description of a Canadian lynx, 217. Norwegian lynx de­scribed, 218.
M
  • [Page 338]Macaque and Egret described, viii. 140. Are mild and tractable animals, but extremely dirty and disagreeable, 141.
  • Macauco. See Maki.
  • Madagascar; account of the inhabitants of that island, iii. 160.
  • Magot, or Barbary ape described, viii. 117.
  • Maimon, or pig-tailed baboon described, viii. 137.
  • Makis, or maucaucos, described, vii. 223. Seem to be confined to Madagascar, Mosambique, and the lands adjacent to these islands, 229. Constitute the shade between the long tailed monkeys and digitated quadrupeds, 230.
  • Malbrook and Chinese bonnet described, viii. 148. Approach very near to the Macaque, ib.
  • Man; his natural history, ii. 353. Is better acquainted with other objects than himself, ib. Ought first to acquire distinct ideas of the two substances of which he is composed, 354. All our knowledge derived from comparison, 355. Existence of the soul self-evident, ib. We are less certain of the existence of external than of internal objects, 357. Comparison of the mind with the body, 358. of man with other animals, 361. Proofs of the immateriality of the human soul, 361.—367.
  • Man of the wood, viii. 375.
  • Manati described, vii. 374. First described by Oviedo, 376. Another description, 382. M. de la Condamine's description more perfect than any other, 385. This animal found on the coasts and rivers of Africa as well as in America, 387.
  • Manatus, vii. 375. n.
  • Mandrill, or ribbed nose baboon described, viii. 129. Has a violent passion for women, 131.
  • Mangabey, or monkey with white eye-lids described, viii. 154.
  • Manhood; discourse on that state of the human body, ii. 436.
  • Mamcou, v. 406. n.
  • Manis, or scaly lizard described, v. 355. Two species of it, the long and short tailed, ib. Seem to constitute the last shade between quadrupeds and insects, 360. How they defend themselves against beasts of prey, ib. n.
  • Manitou, v. 406. n.
  • [Page 339] Margay, or Cayenne cat described, vii. 249. Is a ferocious and cruel animal, 250. The same with the Pichou of Louisiana, ib. The Guepard likewise belongs to this genus, 251. and the tiger-wolf, ib. Descriptions of tiger-cats by M. de la Borde and M. Condamine, 252. 253.
  • Marikina, or silky monkey described, viii. 209.
  • Marmose, or Marmosa, v. 245. n.
  • Marmot described, iv. 339. Is easily tamed when taken young, 340. Has some resemblance both to the bear and to the rat, 341. Is very subject to be rendered torpid by cold, 342. Some of these animals are said to allow themselves to be loaded with hay, and drawn by others like a cart, 343. Be­come extremely lean towards the end of the sleeping season, 344. The Greeks were unacquainted with this animal, and Pliny is the first Latin author who takes notice of it, 345. Marmot of Canada described, 346. Marmot of Kamtschatka, and of the Cape of Good Hope, described, 348. The latter sometimes known by the name of the Rock badger, 349. Other marmots described, vii. 198.
  • Marriage. See Puberty.
  • Marta, iv. 245. n.
  • Martarus; iv. 245. n.
  • Martes, iv. 229. n. 245. n. vii. 309. n.
  • Martin described, iv. 239. Cannot be perfectly tamed, 241, Sometimes sleeps two days successively, and at other times sleeps none for as long, 242.
  • Martin of Guiana described, 243.
  • Marshes; of their effects, i. 473. Account of the most remark­able marshes in Europe, 478.
  • Mazames described, vii. 30. The word, in the Mexican language, is a generic name for the stag, the fallow-deer, and the roe­buck.
  • Meles, iv. 226. n. v. 239. n. vii. 210. n.
  • Memina described, vii. 28. n.
  • Merian opossum described, viii. 267. Merian's mistake with re­gard to it, 269.
  • Mico, or fair monkey described, viii. 214. Never described by any traveller but M. Condamine, 215.
  • Modena; peculiarity of the soil in that duchy, i. 481.
  • Mole described, iv. 309. Is more amply endowed with gene­rative organs than any other animal, 310. Is most annoyed [Page 340] by the inundations of rivers, 311. Curious method of form­ing an habitation for its young, 312. Does not sleep during the winter, 313. Frequents only cultivated countries, 314. Mole of the Cape of Good Hope described, 315. Pensylvania mole described, 316. Raises not the earth like the European moles, ib. Siberian mole described, viii. 238.
  • Mona, or varied monkey described, viii. 156. Is fond of ants and other insects, 158.
  • Monax, or marmot of Canada. See Marmot.
  • Mone, viii. 156. n.
  • Monghos, vii. 210. n.
  • Mongooz, vii. 224 n.
  • Mongous, vii. 224. n.
  • Moschus grimmia, vii. 14. n.
  • Moschus moschiferus, vii. 45. n.
  • Mouffetes, or stinking pole-cats described, vii. 295. Have been confounded with each other, and with animals of very diffe­rent species, 296. Diffuse a most intollerable odour, 299.—305.
  • Mouflon, and other sheep described, vi. 205. Is the primaeval stockof all the other sheep, 228. Few now exist in Corsica, 229.
  • Moulds, internal; attempt to define them, and explain genera­tion by them, ii. 33.
  • Mountains; how formed by the motion of the waters, i. 20.—30. Tropical mountains more elevated than those of the temperate climates, 231. Their figures very different, 233. Their tops at a distance resemble the waves of the sea, 234. The nearer we approach the Equator, the higher are the mountains, 237. The contours of all mountains resemble the works of regular fortifications, 241. Mountains have not been formed by subterraneous fires, 429. Nor by earthquakes, 43 [...]. Composition of their internal parts, 461.
  • Mouse described. vi. 282. May be tamed to a certain degree, ib. Prodigious increase of these animals, 283. Why some people have a horror at them, ib. White and red mice found in different countries, 284.
  • Mules; dissertation on them, viii. 1. Differences between the mules produced by a jack-asa and a mare, and those produ­ed by a horse and a female ass, ib. Remarks on the mules produced by a he-goat and ewes, 4. On those produced be­tween a dog and wolf, 6. Aristotle's remarks on the offspring [Page 341] of a mule with a mare, 15. Proofs of the fecundity of com­mon mules, 15—21.
  • Mus, iv. 275. n. 285. n. 290. n. 293. n. 296. n. 305. n. 334. n. 339. n.; v. 58. n. 261. n. 392. n. 406. n. 435. n. 438. n.; vii. 202. n. 316. n.; viii. 229. n. 233. n. 235. n. 267. n.
  • Musaraneus, iv. 305. n.
  • Mussascus, v. 260. n.
  • Musk described, vii. 44. This animal first taken notice of by the Arabians, 45. Guiney musk described, vii. 27.
  • Musk rats of Canada and Muscovey described, v. 260. These animals ought not to be confounded with each other, or with the musk-rat of the Antilles, 261. M. Sarrasin's observations on the Canadian musk-rat, 263. Differences between this animal and the beaver, 267. Their odour, though agreeable to the Europeans, is extremely disgustful to savages, 269. Musk-rat of Muscovey has never been examined alive, or dis­sected by any Naturalist, 270.
  • Musmon, vi. 205. n.
  • Musquask, v. 260. n.
  • Mustache monkey described, viii. 163. Called White-nose by the voyagers to Guinea, ib. Is the most beautiful of all the mon­keys, 164.
  • Mustela, iv. 232. n. 239. n. 245. n. 248. n. 252. n. 257. n. 262. n.; v. 254. n. 328. n.; vii. 210. n. 220. n. 274. n. 309. n. 321. n.; viii. 267. n.
  • Myrmecophaga, v. 333.
N
  • Nature: First view of it, vi. 249.; may be considered as an im­mense living power, ib.; wants only the power of creating and annihilating to render her omnipotent, 250. View of the different bodies which constitute the system of Nature, 252. Second view of Nature, vii. 89. Consideration of the different species of animals by which the earth is inhabited, ib.
  • Negroes; account of different nations of them, iii. 140. et seq.
  • Niagara; Charlevoix's account of the famous cataract there, i. 280. Is not less than 140 or 150 feet high, 281.
  • Nil-gaux, vii. 42. n.
  • [Page 342] Northwest, or Northeast passage to China; of its existence, [...] 144.
  • Nutrition and growth of animals; dissertation on it, ii. 39.
O
  • Ocean kept in perpetual motion since the beginning of time, i. 7. 17. Its bottom as irregular as the surface of the dry land, 7. Mountains, currents, calms, &c. in different parts of the ocean, 8. Different kinds of plants and animals found in it, 9. Its waters must have remained for a great number of years on the earth, 11. Flux and reflux of the ocean are the causes of the horizontal position of the strata of the earth, 18. Waters of the ocean have a constant motion from east to west, 31. 32. May again cover the earth, 41. General account of the changes produced by its flux and reflux, 57. The saltness of the ocean proceeds from banks of salt in its bottom, and likewise from the salts brought down by rivers, 275. Its water excessively cold at great depths, ib. Is not more salt at the bottom than at the surface, 276. Sulphureous springs, beds of bitumen, &c. found at the bottom of the sea, 276.
  • Ocelot, or Mexican cat described, vii. 243. The most beautiful of all spotted animals, 245. Is excessively fond of blood, 246. Cannot be tamed, 247.
  • Odobenus, vii. 355. n.
  • Old age; dissertation upon it, ii. 470.
  • Olive cavy. See Akouchi.
  • Onager, vi. 264. n.
  • Opossum, v. 405. n.
  • Opossum of Virginia described, v. 404. Has a cavity under the belly, in which the young are received and suckled, ib. The same with the great oriental philander of Seba, 407. Re­marks on his account of these animals, 411. The opossum is an original native of the warm countries of America, 422. Its time of gestation probably much shorter than that of other quadrupeds, 423. Its pouch not to be regarded as indispen­sibly necessary for the preservation of the young, 424. The young opossums never quit the teats with their mouths till they have strength to walk, 425. Manner of the opossum's catching its prey, 427. Is easily tamed, but has a disagree­able [Page 343] appearance and smell, 428. M. de la Borde's account of three tame opossums, 429. The opossum is not the same with the East India animal called coescoes, 430. Murine o­possum described, 435. The birth of the young in this species still more premature than in the former, 436. Mexican o­possum described, 438. Have an ugly aspect, 440.
  • Orang-outang described, viii. 77. The same with the pongo and Jocko, ib. Have the greatest resemblance to man of all the apes, 78. Bontius's account of them, ib. This account suspicious, 80. Dr Tyson's description, ib. Accounts by other authors, 81. Buffon's account of one which he saw, 86. Of the natural instincts of these animals, distinguished from what they acquire by education, 89. Comparison of the body of the orang-outang with a human body, 95. Has a greater resemblance to man than to baboons or monkeys, 97. Tyson's account of him criticised, 101.
  • Organic matter defined, ii. 36. How distinguished from brute matter, ib. By means of organic matter Nature forms orga­nized bodies, 37.
  • Ortohula, vii. 306. n.
  • Ossa, v. 406. n.
  • Otter described, iv. 232. The young otters less handsome than the old ones, 233. Is of a savage disposition, and cannot be tamed, 234. The species probably extend over all temperate climates, 235. Cayenne otters described, 236. Sea otters described, vii. 321. Canadian otter described, 324.
  • Oanderou described, viii. 133.
  • Ouarine and alouate described, viii. 176. Exceed the largest monkeys in size, and approach to that of the baboons, ib. Marcgrave's account of their oratory, 177. Remarkable in­stances of their sagacity, 180.
  • Ouaikare, vii. 151. n.
  • Ovis, iii. 462. n. vii. 133. n.
  • Ouistiti, or striated monkey described, viii. 205. Might be multiplied in the southern countries of Europe, 207.
  • Ounce described, v. 167. Taught by the Persians and others to hunt, 179. 182.
  • Ox described, iii. 423. The word, in common acceptation, de­notes black cattle in general, without regard to sex, ib. n. The cow may be used in ploughing, 435. Of castrating black cattle, 436. The copulation or contact of oxen produces [Page 344] warty tumours on cows, 437. This disease never appears in Britain, ib. n. Of the propagation of black cattle, 438. Of their bellowing, 442. Marks of a good ox, 443. Of rumi­nation, 448. Of milk, 453. Of the use of salt in fattening oxen, 454. They ought to be prevented from licking them­selves, 455. Of the Siberian and Norway oxen, &c. 459.
P
  • Paca, or spotted cavy described, v. 392. Is an animal pecu­liar to America, ib. Is with difficulty taken alive, 394. Ac­count of a tame one, 395. Is a very cleanly animal, 396. Gnaws wood surprisingly, 400. M. de la Borde's account of the animal, 402.
  • Pacasse, a species of buffalo in Congo, described, vii. 42.
  • Pacos. See Lama.
  • Pag. v. 392. n. 394. n.
  • Panther described, v. 167.
  • Papio, viii. 121. n.
  • Pardalis, vii. 243. n.
  • Pasan, vi. 407. n.
  • Patagonian giants; account of them, iii. 186.
  • Patas, or red monkey described, viii. 144. Is less dexterous than the other monkeys, but extremely inquisitive, 145.
  • Pecari, v. 271. n.
  • Pekan and Vison described, vii. 307. The Pekan strongly re­sembles the pine-weasel, 308.
  • Perouasca described, viii. 234.
  • Petit-gris, v. 321. n.
  • Phalanger, or Surinam oposssm described, vii. 174.
  • Philander, v. 406. 436. 438. vii. 174.
  • Phoca, vii. 348. n.
  • Pholidotus, v. 355. n.
  • Pichou, vii. 249. n.
  • Pigmy described, viii. 106. Aristotle's remarks on pigmies, &c. ib. Pigmies were, by the antients, accounted more mild and docile than other apes, 109.
  • Piloris, a species of wood-rats described, v. 262. n.
  • [Page 345] Pinche, or red-tailed monkey described, viii. 211. Is a beautiful animal, but extremely delicate, 212.
  • Pine-weasel, or yellow-breasted martin described, iv. 235. The female seizes the nests of squirrels, ducks, and buzzards, 246.
  • Pismire-eater, v. 333. n.
  • Pithecus, viii. 206. n.
  • Planets, how formed, i. 58. Discoveries made concerning their revolutions by Galileo and Newton, 61. Difficulties attend­ing the explanation of the planetary motions, 62. Their re­volutions accounted for, from an impulsive and attractive force, 63. Probable cause of the impulsive forces, ib. Orbits of the planets nearly circular, ib. Conjecture concerning the formation of planets by the falling of a comet into the sun, 64. Have probably received their centrifugal forces all at one time, 66. All of them, together with their satellites, not equal to 1/ [...]th of the sun, 67. Might be driven off in a li­quid state, all at once, by the stroke of a comet, 68. Their densities decrease in proportion to their distance from the sun, and why, ib.
  • Platyceros, iv. 113.
  • Polatouche, v. 307. n.
  • Polecat described, iv. 248. Might be usefully employed in di­minishing the number of rabbits, 249. Is confined to the temperate climates, 250.
  • Pongo, See Orang-outang.
  • Porc-epic, vii. 69.
  • Porcellus, vii. 178. n.
  • Porcupine described, vii. 69. Cannot dart its quills to a di­stance, 71. Can exist and multiply in cold countries, 73. Brasilian porcupine described, 76. Canada porcupine descri­bed, 83. Is a sleepy animal, 85.
  • Porcus, iv. 304. viii. 240.
  • Pouc described, viii. 233.
  • Preacher monkey described, viii. 176. n.
  • Prosimia, vii. 233. n.
  • Pteropus, v. 283.
  • Puberty; dissertation on it, ii. 400. Marriage the natural state of the human species after puberty, 422.
  • Putorius, iv. 248. n.
Q
  • Quato, viii. 184.
  • Quojas-marrou, viii. 77. n.
R
  • [Page 346]Rabbit described, iv. 155. Their surprising fecundity, 157. Have a great respect for their fathers, 161. Are fond of heat, 162.
  • Racoon described, v. 46. Dilutes in water every thing he in­tends to eat, 48. Account of a tame one, 49.
  • Rains occasion great changes on the surface of the earth, i. 51. Dissertation upon their effects, 473.
  • Rain-deer described, vi. 315. Is mentioned by Julius Caesar, 320. 322. Was confounded with the elk by Pliny, 323. Is found in more northerly regions than the elk, 324.—326. Great advantages derived by the Laplanders from these crea­tures, 330.—333. Cannot bear the warmth of a southern climate, ib. The rain-deer for drawing sledges, produced by a mixture of the wild and domestic kinds, ib. Manner of travelling in the sledges, 334. Similarity between them and the stags, ib. The rain-deer defends himself against the wolf, 339. But is killed by the glutton, 340. Methods used by the Laplanders of hunting the wild rain-deer, 343.
  • Rangier, vi. 317. n.
  • Rat described, iv. 275. Several small animals confounded un­der this name, 277. The whole species are natives of tempe­rate climates, 279. Have never multiplied farther north than Sweden, 280. Brown rat described, 336. Approaches to the nature of the water-rat, 337. Madagascar rat described, viii. 284. Water-rat described, iv. 290. White water-rat described, viii. 239.
  • Rat de bois, v. 406. n.
  • Rat savage, ib.
  • Reproduction of animals; dissertation on it, ii. 16.
  • Rhenos, vi. 317. n.
  • Rhinoceros described, vi. 92. Was unknown to the antient Greeks, ib. n. Account of one brought to London from Ben­gal, 99. The horn of the rhinoceros esteemed by the Indi­ans, on account of its imaginary medical virtues, 105. The rhinoceros is an exceedingly brutal and untractable animal, subject to paroxysins of rage, which nothing can appease, 106. Does great damage to the cultivated fields, 108. Ex­cessive hardness of his skin, 111. Has the senses of hearing and smelling very acute, but bad eyes, 113. Account of one brought to France, 114. Is capable of being tamed, 115.
  • [Page 347] River-horse, vi. 278. n.
  • River-pard, vi. 278. n.
  • River-hog, vii. 64. n.
  • Rivers generally run perpendicular to the sea-coasts where they empty themselves; i. 10. Follow the direction of the moun­tains from whence they derive their origin, 11. Some bury themselves under ground, ib, Sometimes block up seas, and form new lands; 36. Produce great changes on the surface of the earth, 51. Have angles corresponding to each other on their opposite banks, ib. Dissertation upon them, 251.
  • Rock cavy described, viii. 274. Partakes of the nature of the rabbit and rat, ib.
  • Roe-deer described, iv. 120. His method of escaping from hounds, 121. Their horns, while soft, are extremely sen­sible, 127. M. de la Borde's account of the American roc­deer, 135.
  • Rosmarus, vii. 355. n.
  • Rosomaka, vii. 274. n.
  • Rougette, v. 282. n.
  • Rupicapra, v. 206. 363.
S
  • Sable described, vii. 309. Mr Gmelin, the first who gave a figure of the animal, ib. Manner of hunting them, 313.—315. This animal is probably the same with the Satherius of Aristotle, 313.
  • Sable mice; vii. 316. n.
  • Saccawinkee, viii. 201. n.
  • Sagouy, viii. 205. n.
  • Sai, or weeper described, viii. 196. Called also musk monkeys, ib. Are mild, docile, and very timid animals, 197.
  • Saimiri, or orange monkey, described, viii. 199. Is a very beau­tiful animal; but very delicate, ib.
  • Sajou, or capuchin monkey, described, viii. 193. Their consti­tution well adapted to temperate climates, 194.
  • Saki, or fox-tailed monkey, described, viii. 201.
  • Sapajous and Sagoins, described, viii. 172. Five different spe­cies of sapajous, 173. Six species of sagoins, 174.
  • Saricovienne, vii. 32. n.
  • Sarigoy, v. 405. n.
  • Satyri sylvestres, viii. 77. n.
  • [Page 348] Satyrus Indicus, ib.
  • Sayga, or Scythian Antilope, described, vi. 393.
  • Schismus, iv. 239. n.
  • Schwein, iii. 500. n.
  • Sciurus, iv. 268. n. 325. n. v. 307. n. 312 n. 321. 328. n.
  • Sea communicates with certain lakes, i. 11. Gains on some places of the earth, and loses on others, 31. Its bottom per­petually filling up, 33. Dissertation upon seas, 290. Upon the inequalities in the bottom of the sea, 351.
  • Sea-ox, vi. 278. n.
  • Sea-lion. See Seal.
  • Seals described, vii. 330. Is the model from whence the poets formed the Tritons, Sirens, &c. 331. Colour of the seal's hair becomes white with age, 338. n. Account of a very big one shown at London, 341. n. Three distinct species of this animal, 342. The seal seems to be entertained with thunder and lightening, and is fond of receiving rain, 345. Is very tenacious of life, ib. The sea-lion perhaps a species of seal, 347. That animal described, 348.
  • Seeing; dissertation on that sense, iii. 1.
  • Senses in general; dissertation upon them, 40.
  • Serval, or mountain cat, described, vii. 240. Is an exceedingly ferocious animal, 241.
  • Seruoi, v. 405. n.
  • Sheep described. iii. 462. The species could not have subsisted without the assistance of man, 463. Is the most stupid of all quadrupeds, 465. These two positions controverted, 463.—465. n. Some other assertions controverted, 468. n. Worms frequently found in their livers, 478. Account of the sheep of different countries, 482—485.
  • Shrew-mouse described, iv. 305. Seems to fill the interval be­tween the rat and the mole, ib. A disease of horses falsely attributed to the bite of this animal, 306. Brasisian shrew described, viii. 273.
  • Siegen-boek, iii. 469. n.
  • Simi-vulpa, v. 406. n.
  • Simia, vii. 223. 231. n. viii. 77. n. 106. n. 117. n. 121. n. 129. n. 137. n. 140. n. 154. n. 160. n. 163. n. 176. n. 184. n. 194. n. 198. n. 201. n. 203. n. 205. n. 209. n. 211. n.
  • Singe, viii. 106. n.
  • Siyah-gush, v. 221. n.
  • [Page 349] Skunk, vii. 297. n.
  • Sloths described, vii. 151. Constitute the last term of existence in the order of animals endowed with flesh and blood, 155. Their miserable situation, 156. Are very tenacious of life, 158. Are peculiar to South America, 160. Account of a tame one, 161. M. de la Borde's account of the sloths in Cayenne, 163.
  • Sorax, iv. 305. n.
  • Souslik, or Casan marmot described, viii. 234. Is extremely fond of salt, 236.
  • Spider monkey, viii. 184.
  • Squashe, vii. 296. n.
  • Squirrel described, iv. 268. Approaches to the nature of birds, 269. Sails over rivers on a piece of the bark of a tree, ib. Few varieties of the species, 271. Squirrels are natives of cold rather than warm climates, 272. Fat squirrel described, 325. Sleeps during the winter, 327. The fat squirrels do not inhabit very cold countries, 331. Garden squirrel de­scribed, 332. Flying squirrel, described, v. 307. Manner of its flying described, 309. Resembles the bat, 311. Sailing, or great flying squirrel, described, 312. Account of a tame one, 316. Gray squirrel, 321. Palm-squirrel, Barbary squirrel, and ground squirrel, 328. Coquallin, or varied squirrel, vii. 176.
  • Stag, or red deer, described, iv. 74. Of the knowledge neces­sary for a huntsman, 77.
  • Stein boek, vi. 363. n.
  • Strata of the earth; why always in a horizontal position, i. 15. 18. 28. Those of stones in quarries almost all horizontal, or regularly inclined 25. Preserve the same thickness through­out their whole extent, 26. Beds of sand and gravel are an exception to the general rule concerning the formation of strata, 26. Those formed by rivers, how distinguished from the original strata of the earth, 27. No river-shells found in the original strata, 28. Dissertation on the formation of strata, 157.
  • Strepsiceros, vii. 8. n.
  • Surikate, or four toed weasel, described, vii. 167. Cannot sub­sist long in a cold climate, 168.
  • Surmulot, iv. 336. n.
  • Sus, iii. 500. n. v. 272. vii. 59. 64. viii. 240. 242.
T
  • [Page 350]Tajacu, v. 272. n.
  • Tajovanicus, v. 355.
  • Talapoin monkey, described, viii. 165.
  • Talpa, iv. 309. n. viii. 239. n.
  • Tamandua, v. 333. n.
  • Tamanoir, v. 333. n.
  • Tamarin, or great-eared monkey, described, viii. 203.
  • Tanrec and tendrac, or Asiatic hedge-hog, described, vii. 86. Sleep in the winter, during which time their hair falls off, 88.
  • Tapeti, or Brasilian hare, described, viii. 276.
  • Tapir described, vi. 243. The largest animal of America, ib. Supposed by some naturalists to belong to the hippopotamus, 247. Is a mild and timid animal, 248.
  • Tarandus, vi. 317. n.
  • Tardigradus, vii. 151. n.
  • Tarsier, or woolly jerboa, described, vii. 171. Is remarkable for the length of its hind legs, ib.
  • Tatu, v. 369. n.
  • Tatus, v. 369. n.
  • Taxus, iv. 226. n. v. 226. n.
  • Tayra, Galera, or Guinea weasel, described, viii. 265. Is a small species of martin, or polecat, 266.
  • Tepe Maxtlaton, vii. 249. n.
  • Tides; dissertation on their causes and effects, i. 339.
  • Tiger described, v 153. Holds the second rank among carni­vorous animals, ib. Is said to follow the rhinoceros for the sake of eating his dung, 155. His prodigious strength, 156. His excessive serocity, 159. Account of a combat between a tiger and two elephants, 160. The species more rare than the lions, 164. The skin much esteemed in China, 165.
  • Tiger cat, vii. 241.
  • Tigers; dissertation on them, v. 87.
  • Tigris, v. 153. 188. 197.
  • Tlacootzlotl, vii. 243.
  • Tolai, or Baikal hare, vii. 228. Resembles the rabbit, ib.
  • Tragelaphus, v. 205.
  • Tragulus, vii. 14. n. 22. n. 27. n. 33. n. 45. n.
  • Tragus, vi. 412. n. vii. 45. n. 110. n.
  • Trichecus, vii. 355. n. 375. n.
  • [Page 351] Tucan, or Mexican shrew, described, viii. 271. The same with the red mole of Seba, ib. Has not sagacity sufficient to dis­cover its retreat, after having once left it, 272.
V
  • Vacca, viii. 225. n.
  • Vache, vii. 2. n.
  • Vampire, or spectre, described, v. 281.
  • Vansire described, vii. 221. Is not a ferret, as some have thought, ib. The same with the Java weasel of Seba, ib. Re­sembles an animal called the nems, 223. Description of that animal, ib.
  • Vari, vii. 223. n.
  • Vespertilio, iv. 381. n. v. 281. n. vii. 234. n.
  • Vesuvius; account of its first eruption, i. 412.
  • Viper; has been said to suck cows, goats, and sheep, iii. 497. n.
  • Virginity; its signs equivocal, ii. 417.
  • Vison described, vi. 307. Has a great resemblance to the mar­tin, 308.
  • Viverra, iv. 252. n. v. 53. n. 240. n. 254. n. vii. 210. n.
  • Unau. Se Sloths.
  • Volcanoes may be the cause of considerable earthquakes, i. 47. Dissertation on them, 408.
  • Ursus, iv. 226. n. 313. n. vi. 46. n. 53. n.
  • Urus, vi. 151. n. Is the same animal with the common bull in its wild state, 171.
  • Vulpes, iv. 214. n. v. 46. n. 53. n. 406. n. vii. 268. n.
W
  • Walrus described, vii. 354. Is seldom seem but in the northern seas, 357. Formerly much more diffused than at present, 365. Can live for some time in a temperate climate, 367. Indian Walrus or dugon described, 370.
  • Water; subterraneous collections of it exist, especially under large plains, i. 54.
  • Water elephant, vi. 278.
  • Water-shrew, or blind mouse described, iv. 308.
  • Water spouts; account of them and their causes, i. 398.
  • Weasel described, iv. 257. Rarely found in the northern coun­tries, ib. Cannot be tamed, 258. This assertion contra­dicted, 260.
  • Whirlwinds; account of them, i. 394. Produced by [...] winds, 395.
  • [Page 352] Whirlpools accounted for, i. 396.
  • Whiston's theory of the earth, i. 97. See Earth.
  • Widdor Schaaf, iii. 462. n.
  • Wieprz lesny, iii. 500. n.
  • Wild animals. See Animals.
  • Wild boar. See Hog.
  • Winds: Of regular ones, i. 367. Of irregular ones, 386.
  • Wolf described, iv. 196. Has a very strong carnivorous appe­tite, ib Frequently dies of hunger, ib. Has a great resem­blance to the dog, 197. May be tamed whilst young, 198. Is a solitary animal, 199. Differences between the wolf and dog, 201. Great strength of the wolf, 204 Method of hunting this animal, 205. Ferocity of the wolf comes on about the age of eighteen months, 208. Mistake of the au­thor concerning the existence of wolves in Scotland, 210. n. Black wolf described, 212. Mexican wolf described, viii. 258.
  • Woodward's theory of the earth, i. 113.
X
  • Xoloizcuintli, viii. 258. n.
Y
  • Ysquipatl, vii. 296. n.
  • Ysard, vi. 364. n.
  • Ysarus, vi. 364. n.
  • Ytzcuinte porzotli, viii. 262. n.
Z
  • Zebra described, vi. 264. Is perhaps the most elegant of all quadrupeds, ib. Is neither a horse nor an ass, 265. Is not the Onager of the antients, 266. Approaches to the nature of the ass and the horse, 272. 273. Of the same species with the fertile mule of Tartary called Czigithai, 274.
  • Zebu, or dwarf ox described, vi. 150. 240.
  • Zibet. See Civet.
  • Zemni, or Podolian marmot described, viii. 232.
  • Zisel, or earless marmot described, viii. 229. Is very different from the hamster, 231.
  • Zits jan, viii. 232. n.
  • Zobel, vii. 309. n.
  • Zobela, vii. 309. n.
FINIS

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