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Show DISSERT. IV. ' .. H I S T 0 R Y · 0 F M E X I C 0. from the African tygers, neither in the beauty of' 1their col~urs, nor in their fize. Of the Mexican wolf Hernandez fays,, that m figure, colour, and difpofition, as well as in fize it refernbles the .European wolf, except that it has a larger head (.q). The fame tlung he affirms of the common deer, and Oviedo alfo of both the c~mmo~, and other deer. The count de Buffon, notwithfianding tb.e. umver;faht~ of the pofltion which he has laid down without any. exce~tmz, comaerm~g the {j11aller fize of American quadrupeds, treating, m volume xx1x. of the degeneracy of animals, he fays, that deer are. among the quadrupeds common to both continents. thofe alone wh1ch are ~ore ]arge and firong in the new than they arc m the old world~ and fpeaking, in volume xvii. of the lodra of Canada, he c~nfefies that they are larger than thofe of Europe ; and the fame: thu~g he fily~ of ~he American beaver: although he allowed no except10t1 to hts pnnciple, he il:ill adm.its thofc of the deer, lodra, b~avers, a~d feacalves. If to thcfe we add the tygers, the lions Without ha1r, and the fia t)' according to the teftimony of I ernandez and Oviedo, we fhall fi~d at leafl: eight fpecies of quadrupeds common to both ~ontinents which are larger of their kind in the new than they are 111 the old world. To thofe above mentioned we ought alfo to add thofe quadrupeds which are equally large in both continents·; as the lat.ter as well as the former demonfirate the falfity of fltch a general pnnciple. Hernandez affirms, that the Mexican wolf is of t~1e f.1.m~ fize with the Europe1n. Count de Buffon fays, that there xs no difference between them, except that the Mexican wolf has a finer ikin, and five toes in its fort feet, and four in its hind feet. With rcfpetl: to bears, there are at pr fent many perfons in Europe who have feen the . bears of Mexico and thofe of the Alps. We do not believe that among all of thefe witneifes there will be found one who has acknowledged that the European bears are the larger of the two. For ourfelvcs at leafi we can declare, that all thofe we have feen in Mexico appeared to be larger than thofe which we have feen in Italy (r). ('/) Fot'm:t, colore, moribll&, 'nc mole corporis L\tpo No!lrati fimilis cfi Cuctlacbtli, :ttquc:tdoo ejus, ut mihi vidccur, fpccici, fed :unpliorc c:tpiti. luitl. cn.p. xxiii. (r) The count de Buffon diningui{hea the fpccics of black from that of brown benrs, nnd aflirtns that the black bears are not nt. nil ferocious ; but the Ml'xican hears, which arc :til black, nrc oxtrcmc ly fierce, as is notoriolls it1 Mexico, of which alfi) we can bear tefrimony. · 5 It • H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I ~ 0. It is therefore no jull: afi· rtiort that all the animals of the new DISSERT. world arc without exception finallcr than thofc of the old. The ~ count de Buffon fpoke at random when he a0irr~1ed ln another place that the animals were all muci.J fmallcr, and that nature had iu the new worlJ made ufc of a difr'c::rent fcnlc of dimcnfions (u). It is eafy alfo to dcmonftrate the miftakc of Mr. de Paw, when he fays that. nll the quadrupeds of America nre a fixth lcf:· than their correfpon-rl. ents in the old continent. The Tuzil of Mexico is analogous to the European mole, but is htrger according to what count de BufFon fa.xs. That Mexican quadruped called by count de Butfon coqual!ine, and by .us tla/mototh', is analogous tot he E,uropc~\1) fq UdJn~l, 1 and yet according to. tln'c d:'lme author is of twice its fizc. The cojotc,, analagous to the oh~co.l, 11 is of twice its ·fii:c. The llama, o'r ram of1 P n1, an~logous to the ·Eumpcan ram,. is heyond ab.mpari(OI} 'larger> .~., 1.ijut thofe philot41phcrs arC. fo ~~agor; to tloproaiate and undervalu~ ,its a r~imu..l , that they evcfl. find [l!rbjeCl: I for ccniurc in their tail 1 in their feet, and in their teeth. " Not only," f:tys count de Buffon, " has their ~' been a fcm·city of··mattcr in the new continent, but Jikcwife the ~', f9rms 10fuits • animals are irnperfeC):, and appear ~0, h:tvc, been neg- ': ·}eC'ted.. ·1 T1lc • nrritnals of Sol.\th Arncrica, which are thofc that " :propevlyJ,b>'lot'lg ltoJ.thc ncwr ontinc.nt1 arc almofi all deprived of " · tuf1c.s, horn , and~ tails 1 their fhape is cxtrav.1gant, their limbs dif- "' proportionate, and ·ill fet; and fomc. of them, like the ant-killers " and iloth , ·are of tfo mifc:rablq f11 natl!re, that they hav,e hardly abi- " lity to move, 1 and •to e.at." " The animals native to the new: ·~ world,' .fays M~. de 1P1tW, " arc in general of an ungrac;cful form;. " fome of them fo aukw~u·dly fll;tde, that thoic who firfl: made clcfigns ' of them, could hardly exprefs their characccrs. It has b~en obfcrved " that the great<;r part of them W'tnt ,the ~ai], aod have a p:.trticular If• in·egularity1in their feet. This i remarkable in the tapir, the ant ... u killer, the ~lama .of Margraf, in the !1oth, and the cabl(ay. The of- " triches, which in our continent have not more than two toes, ,. united by a membrane, all have four in America, :md thofe C·pa. " rated." ' 'J I . . J • r , ' I ' ...,( " ) H'wn. . N at. tom XJC'I.'t.J.t . J ; Pp J • V..o l. II. s~lch |