most remarkable are the three species of common European
mures, the domestic mouse, the rat, and the mus decu-
manus or surmulot, which appear to have introduced themselves
wherever man has taken up his abode. All of these
are found tin North America, vvhere there are many
peculiar7 species. Hie rat ië ; found in all the islands Of* the
Pacific, and in the isle of Oualan the decumanus has
made its appearance near the dwellings | of mén» The
Antilles havé the pilori, or mus pilorides.* | In other
instances a more exact examination has established a different
opinion, in regard to species which had* been ?thought
to exist in parts of the earth remote from each other. The
rabbit of the straits of Magellan resembles: the lepus euni-
culus of Linnaeus, and has been supposed to be thec-sa'ine
tribe ; which appeared so much the more remarkable, as rabbits
are mentioned as existing in these coasts in the voyage
of Pigafetta, who accompanied Magalhaens in the voyage of
discovery which made them known. Baron Cuvier and
M.: Lesson have come to the conclusion that it is decidedly
a distinct species.-f*
The bruta or edentata are distributed in a remarkable
manner. All the sloths are of American birth, not only the
existing species but likewise those huge monsters now, as it
seems, extinct, which; Baron Cuvier has termed megatherium
and megalonyx. The armadillos belong to the same region
as well as the myrmecophag®, which are replaced in the old
continent by the octeropus and the manis of Africa,by^an-
other manis, the Indian pangolin, and by the monotremes of
Terra Australis.
Hoofed animals are considered as forming thesecond great
division of mammiferous quadrupeds. As their species are
much less numerous and their bulk greater than that of animals
which have fingers or claws, theirdistribution is more
accurately known.
Of elephants and rhinoceroses it is well known, that several
species exist distributed separately to the hot regions of Asia
* Lesson v. 445.
•jf Cuvier, Règne'Animal.—Lesson, Hist., des Mammif.
and Africa.* The extinct races, organized as it would appear
to >be > inhabitants of cold* regions) weremuch> more widely
dispersed: the" extinct elephant was. capable of enduring
the climate of the north, and existed in both o f the great
contirientsrf'
The tapir was longs ‘supposed jto' be&peculiar to America,
in a livingi state; though the remains of-two^extinct species
have been discovered; in Europe. Another living species of
Tapir has lately been disGoverediin Sumatra and Malacca:
it appears to have been, long: iwell known in China, and it is
described,»according to M. Lesson,-in ,pïany Chinese books.
The sjp^iés belonging to the hyrax and the 'hog tribes,
are peculiar to warm climates, and to limited regions) The
wild boar wanders fartherj towards the north than any of his
congeners. He is found in: various parts of Europe); but has
never been seen t©.(the.no rthward q# the Baltic. This species
accordingly is not ^indigenous in America,though the warm
parts w f America are very - congenial : to it ,:‘ domestic- hogs
have run wild there, and have jfbrmed^hbr’ds vast numbers.
Among ruminant animals; the Camelopardalis, antelopes,
and goats, are confined to thé old continent. ■ So&e peculiar
specie#) of sheep are found in America, and Some tribes
which are considered as representatives -offthe camel and the
antelope, as wellÜs others which bear the same relation to
the musk; no s p e c te ili eifber of these kinds being common
to both continents.
Some species of the deer and ox kinds inhabit very cold
climates, and these have .found their way through the arctic
countries from Europe and Asia to America, or in a contrary
direction. Thqse species which are unable to sustain inclement
seasons, have a : limited range in either continent.
A survey of the t habitations of the reptile tribes would
furnish a number of facts of a parallel kind toi those which I
* M. Lesson describes three species of plewolena proper to India, Java, and Sumatra,
tom iv.
V Bongainville’s Voyage round the World.—Pennant’s History of Quadrupeds.
—Cuvier Règne-Animal.—Mem. sur les Elephans, vivans et fossiles, par M. Cuvier,
Annales du Muséum.