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Show 138 .MACLEAY SYSTEM OF displayed in the predominance of a yell?w color ~n thtr vultures and owls in common with the .hon and his con geners. . It is by no means clearly made out that !Ius syst~m ?f nine o-radations over and above that of vanety appltes II\ all de0partments of nature. On the cbntrary, even ~r Swainson gives series in which several of them are onntted. It may be that, in some departments of ~ature, va· riation from the class or order has gone down Into fewer shades than in others; or it may be, that many of the variations have not survived till our era, or have not been as yet detected by naturalists ; in either of which cases there may be a necessity for shorteni_ng the ser~es by the omission of one or two grades. as for Instance tn.be or. S?fb· family. This, however is much to he regretted, as It Introduces an irreo-ularity into the natural system, and consequently throw~ a di~culty and dou~t i.n the way of our investio-atino- it. With these preliminary remarks, I shall p~oceed to inquire what is the natural status of man. That man's pl~ce is to be looked for i~ the ~lass mammalia and sub-longdom vertebrata adm1ts of ~o doubt, from his possessing both the characters on which these divisions are founded. When we descend, however, below the class, we find no settled views on the subject amongst naturalists. Mr. Swainson who alone has given a review of the animal kingdom on the Macleay system unfortunately writes on this subject in a manner which excites a ~uspicion as to his judgment. His arrangement of the first or typical order of the mammalia is therefore to be received with great hesitation. It is as follows:- Typical • Quadrumana Pre-eminently organized for grasping. Sub-typical Ferre . . Claws retractile; Carnivorous. Natatorial Cetacea . • Pre-emineutly aquatic; feet very short. Suctorial . Glires . • Muzzle lengthened and pointed. Rasorlal . Ungulata . Crests and other processes on the head. He then takes the quadrumana, and places it in the following arrangement : Typical . . Sub-typical N atator'ia.: Suctorial ltasorial . Simiadce . . (Monkeys of Old World) Cebidre . (MonkeysofNewWorld.) Unknown. Vespertilionidre (Bats.) Lemuridce (Lemurs.) ANIMATED NATURE. 137 He considers the si.miadre as a. complete circle, and argues t~ence that there Is no room In the range of the animal l~1ngdo~ for man.. Man, he says, is not a constituent part of any Circle, for, If he were, there ouo-ht to be other animals on each hand having affinity to him, whereas there are none, the re~em?lance of the orangs being one of mere analo~y. Mr. Swainson therefore considers our race as standing apart, ~nd forming a link between the unintelligent order. of bemgs an~ the angels ! And this in spite of the glanng fact that, Hl our teeth, hands, and other features. grounded on by nat~u~lists as characteristic, we do not dtffer. mor~ from the simiadce than the bats do from the lemurs-1n sp~te also o~ that resemblance of analogy to the orangs wh1ch he .himself admits, and which, at the least, must be held to Imply a certain relation. He also oyer looks that! t~ough there may be no room for man in the cucle o~ the stmiadre, (this, indeed, is quite true,) there ~ay be In the order, where he actually leaves a place entirely blank, or only to be filled up, as he suo-O'ests by ~ermen !* Another argument in his arrangem~d't is, that 1t leaves th~ grades of classification very much abridged,. there be1ng at the most seven instead of nine. But s~rwus argument on a theory so preposterous may be con .. s1Jered as nearly thrown away. I shall therefore at once procee.d to s~ggest a !lew arrangernent of this portion of the an_Imal k~ngdom, 1.n which man is allowed the place to wh1ch he IS zoologically entitled. I pr.opose that t~e typi?al order of the mammalia should ~e de~1gnateu cheuothena, from the sole character which JS. umversal amongst them, .their pos~essing hands, and ~1th a :egard to that pre-eminent qualification for graspIng w~lCh ha~ been ascr~bed to them-an analogy to the perching h.ab1t of the typiCal order of birds, which is wor .. thy of part1cular notice. The tribes of the cheirotheria I arrange as follows: Typical Sub- typical • .Natatorial Suctorial Rasorial . Bimana. . Simiadre. . V espertilionidm. . Lem uri dee • Cebidre. . • M. r. S wam. son ' s arguments about the entireness of the circle s1m1adre are ?nly too rigid, for fossil geology has since added new genera t?. th1s group nnd the cebidre, and there may be still ful'w ther add1t1ons. |
