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Show I HISTORY.OF MEXJ.CO. DIS~~RTr de Buffon twice ClS large as the badger. T~.Cf -tepeit~ouintli is, as, ~ Hernandez fays, parvi canis magnitudine Th~ glutton i~ fo named on account of its incredible and dreadful voracity, whicp even impels it to dig tlp dead carcaffes . to eat them; Hernandez fays uothing of any fuch quality in the tcpeitz;cuintli, and he certaiuly wm1ld not have omitted what c9nfiitutcs its chief characl:c;r: on the contrary, he aAinns that the tepeitzcuintli becomes domefiic, and' feeds upon the yolks of eggs and bread foakcd in hot water; but a beaH: {o carnivorous as the glut.tori cquld never ·fupport itfeJf on fu~h diet. . In Qwrt, to omit other arguments of their diverfity, the ikin of the glutton is, as count de .Bufton fays, as valuable as that of the zibelline (h); but we·do not know that the !kin of the tepeitzcuintli was ever efi:cemed or made ufe of. The xoloit~cuintli therefore being d\fferer t (rom ~he wolf and the tcpeitzcuintli from the glutton, and thofe four American quaprupcds of the dafs of dogs, being very different from each other in fize, in difpofition, and many other remarkable circumfl:ancd, notwithll:andin~ that the,y couple together, and can procre11tc a thi,rd individual which I I ' I is fruitful, we ought to conclude that they are fo,4r_ different fpecies; and therefore thefe three fpecics, which count de Buffon has unj~fily taken from Americ~, ought ~o be refiored to it. · I I We lhould never nniih if we were to ment~Ofl all the mifiakes of this aqthor refpeCl:ingAmerican. quadrupeds:, but ~erely to fhew ~hat the n~mber of fcventy fpecies afcribed by' him to AJ11erica is not J uft, but ddferent, and ev,cn contrary to what he has written in the courfc of his HiJl:ory, we !hull fubjoin to this diilertation ~ lift of Am~rican quadrupeds tal en from that hifioJ•y, to which we £hall add the quadrupeds which he confounds wi h others which are different and thoft.: whic;h he has ,entirely omitted; from which it will appea; how E1r he has been from the truth, in Laying that in America there has b en a prodigious fcarcity of matter. For i'l order· to determine fuch a fcarcity, it is not enough to know that the fpecies are few in number but it would l;>e neceifary aHb to dcmonll:rate that the individuals of (l•) Jiloi~:tre . fays , that the .ik.in of the .glutton i~ rnol'c valued by the people of Kamtfchatk~ ·th~n the z1bclhne; nud that m SweJcn 1t is much in Jcmand, and very dear. fuch ' . H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. fuch fpccies are alfo few in numoer; for if the individuals of the feventy fpecies of American quadrupeds are more numerous than thofe of the dne hundred and thirty fpecies of the old continent, although the nature of them were lefs various, fiill it would not prove a greater fcardty of matter. ~t would be neceffary, befides, to demonfiratc, th~t the fpecics of reptiles an~ birds are fewer, at)d alfo the .individuals lefs numerous, as both of thcfe ferve to !hew the abundance or fearcity of matter; ·but no one is fo ignorant of the country of America, as to need to be informed of the incredible variety and furpriling number of American birds. We ihou]d wiCh w know why nature, which has been fo nigardly of quadrupeds to America, as count de Bufron and Mr. de Paw report, 'has been fo prodigal of birds ? Theie authors, not contented with diminilbing the fpecies of American quadrupeds, attempt alfo to ]e.fien their fiature: " ·All the animals. " of America," f.1ys count de Bu.ffon (i), ·" both thofe which have " been tranfpor.ted by man, fuch as horfes, alics, bulls, lhGep, goats~ " hogs, dogs, &c. and thofe which paf1ed there by tbemfelves, fuch " as wolves, foxes, deer, and alcos, arc confiderably fmaller in fiz than they are in Europe:" and this, he adds, is the cafe 7~ithout any exception. Tbis afionilhing effeCt he afcribes to the nigga rd ik.y of America, to the combination of the elements, and other natural canfes. " There was not," fays Mr. de Paw, H one large animal " under the torrid zone ofthe old co,ntinent. The brgcfi quadruped "amongfi the natives of that country which exill.s at prefent in the new " world between the tropics, is the tapir, whi<:h is about the fize of a calf (k)." " The mofi corpulent beat1: of the new continent," f.1ys count de Bu!Ioo, " is the tapir, which is abou.t the fize of a " fmall mule; and nex.t to it the cabiai, which is about the fize of " a middling hog." We have already demonftrated, in the preceding Differtation, that although we fi1ould grant to thofe philofophers the fuppofed fmallnefs. of American quadrupeds, nothing could from thence be concluded. againfi: the)and or climate of America: as according to the principles et1:abli{hed by Mr. de Bufion already quoted by us, the larger (/) Hill:. Nat. tom xviii. (k) Rechcrch. Philofoph. part iii. feet. 2. kind: DISSERT. tv. ~ |