Excerpt from A General History of Quadrupeds IN disposing the order of the following work, we have not thought it necessary to confine ourselves strictly within the rules prescribed by systematic writers on this part of Natural History; as it was not so much the object of our plan to lay down a methodical arrangement of the various tribes of four-footed animals, as to give a clear and concise account of the nature, habits, and disposition of each, accompanied with more accurate representations than have hitherto ap peared in any work of this kind. Our disregard of system, however, has not prevented us from attending to the great divisions of Quadrupeds, so obviously marked out by the hand of Nature and so clearly distinguished that the most careless observer cannot avoid being forcibly struck with an agreement of parts in the outward appearance of the differ ent individuals of which it consists. The intermediate stations, however, have not been always so clearly defined; these are frequently occupied by charac ters so dubious that naturalists have not always agreed in ascribing to each its proper place: of this kind are the Ele phant, the Hippopotamus, the Rhinoceros, the Cameleopard, the Beaver, the hedge-hog, the Sloth, the Jerboa, &c., which bear in themselves characteristics so peculiar that they might seem to constitute distinct genera. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.