Читать книгу Essay on the Theory of the Earth - Georges baron Cuvier - Страница 36

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Considered with regard to species, upwards of ninety of these animals are most assuredly hitherto unknown to naturalists; eleven or twelve have so perfect a resemblance to species already known, that the slightest doubt cannot be entertained of their identity; the others exhibit many traits of resemblance to known species, but their comparison has not yet been made with sufficient precision to remove all doubts.

Considered with regard to genera, of the ninety hitherto unknown species, there are nearly sixty that belong to new genera. The other species rank under genera or subgenera already known.

It may not be without use, also, to consider these animals with regard to the classes and orders to which they belong. Of the hundred and fifty species, about a fourth part are oviparous quadrupeds, and all the rest mammifera. Of these last, more than the half belong to non-ruminant hoofed animals.

Notwithstanding what has been done, it would still be premature to establish upon these numbers any conclusion relative to the theory of the earth, because they are not in sufficient proportion to the numbers of genera and species which may be buried in the strata of the earth. Hitherto the bones of the larger species have been chiefly collected, these being more obvious to agricultural labourers; while the bones of the smaller species are usually neglected, unless when they chance to fall into the hands of a naturalist, or when some particular circumstance, such as their excessive abundance in certain places, attracts the attention even of the common people.