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Show 28o \ DIS ~ ERT. IV. '--v--' H I S 'f 0 'R Y 0 F M ·E X I C 0. have happened of this kind in our own time in Mexico (~). There is 110 other diffimib.rity therefore between thofe two patr of quadrupeds, except that the births of the bitches generated by that couple of dogs are mot•e freq_uent than thofe of the mule~. Befidcs, who has i11fonned Mr. Buffon, that the Gzbbon arld Mtt·· goto, the Mammon and Pappion (four forts of apes); do not copulate..~ too-ether, and produce a fruitful individual? The author has not m:de any experiment of it, nor cited any other naturalifi: who had; and notwitbftanding he decides that all the above mentioned quadrupeds are fo many. different fpecies. The difiinCI:ion of the ' fpecies of quadrupeds adopted by him is therefore very doubtful and uhcertain, and we cannot know whether certain quadrupeds, which he reckons different fpecies, are not one fingle fpecies; and on the contrary, if others which he believes to be one fpecies, may not be fpeci.fically different. But leaving this afide, it would be fnfficient to caufe a great diffi-dence of the divifion which Mr. Buffon has made of quadrupeds, to perceive the contradiCtions which appear in this and the other parts of his hi.£l:ory, though in other refpeCl:s it is extremely .valuable. In the difcourfe which he gives in the twenty-ninth .vG1urne, ot1' the Degeneuacy of Anitnals,'lle afl1rms, 'that if we af·e to Ienumerate the quadru_Reds proper to the new cohtinent, we lhall find fifty different fpecies; and in the enumeration which he makes of 'the quadrupeds df both continents, he f..1ys, that thofe of America hardly make forty fpecies. In the above enumeration he reckons the tame goat, !. rthe · ihamois goat, and wild goat, three different fpecies; and ·in voL Xxiv. · treating of thofe animals, he fays, that thofe three quadmpeds, and i:he" other fix or [even fpecies of geats which are difringuifhcd by different names, are all of one at1d the fame fpecies. So that we ought to abate the eight or nine fpecies from the one hundred afld thirty •which he non1- b'ers in the old continent. In the above mentioned· enumeration he counts the dog, the moufe, and marmotte; and adds, that no one of (d) Among!l: others worthy of mention nrc the rq,eatcd births of n mule got by ~n nfs -and a mare, Oil the farm called Forrfi· ofZtwila, ncar to the (ciJy of Lugos, thr property of D. F. G. Rubalcaba. This mule conceived by an af3, and brought forth a mule in 1762, and another in 1763. thofe H I & 'f 6 R Y 6 F M E X I c o. thofe qu~drup~ds wi~ in Amei·ica; but freating '<lftt-rwards of the animals common td bdd'i_ 'coh'tinents, lie fays, '' that the marmots and mice are common· to each contineHt, although •it is difficult to decide if fuel\ American quadrupedS. ate df the {am·e fpecies with thofe of the old continent; and in vol. x~i. he affirms, that mice were carried to Amet ica in European· veffels. With ref peel: to dogs, which, in the above enamerafioh', he He'nies' td America, he grants them to it in 1 I • r ' , " vo . xxx .. 1? he affiri1'l.s that the Xoloitzcut'nt!i, the ltzcuintfpotzotli, a~d 1'echzcht, were three different breeds of the fame fpecies of dogs With thofe of' the old continent. This Jketch is fufficient to f11cw that r:rr. BtJffon, notwidHl:anding his gr·eat genius and great diligence, fomet1mes forgets what he }1Qs written. . A~ongft the one hundred and thirty fpecie~ of quadrupeds of the old contmen"t, he enumerates feven 1pecics of bats common in France and other countries of Europe, five of which, that were hitherto unknown aQd collfoundetl w.Hh: others, were lately difcovered and dill:inguifhed by Mr. Daubenton, as he affirms in v,el. xvi of his Hill:ory. If then in learn., c~ France, wHere.fo many centuries hav,e been palfcd in thefiudy of natural htfiory, five fpectes -of bats were hitherto unknown, what wonder is it that in the vail: regions of America, where no fuch able naturali.O:s have gone yet, and where but lately that tl:udy has been in etleem fhould . ' ~emam many fpecies of quadrupeds il:ill unknown? We do not doubt that if there had been fome Buffons and Daubentons in the new world, they would have been able to have counted a few more quadrupeds than l~e numbers from Paris, where he cannot be informed refpetl:ing Amenc~n animals, as he is a?out thofe which are European .. We feel extreme regret that a philofopher fo celebrated, {o ingenious, fo learned, and fo eloquent, who has endeavoured to write of all the quadrupeds of the world, difiinguiihes their fpecies, families, and breeds, defcribes their character, difpofition, and manners, numbers their teeth, and even meafures their tails, fhould at the fame time fhew himfelf ~gnorant of the moll: common a,nimals of Mexico. What quadruped 1s more common or more known in Mexico than the coyote? All the hiftorians of that kingdom make mention of it, and Hernandez give·s an exaCI: and minute defcription of it in his Hifiory; which is ~nofi frequently cited by Bufion; yet this author makes not the lea.O: VoL. II. 0 o mention 28r DISSERT. l v. '--v--J I ( |