I have not inſerted in the firſt table the phoca[1] nor leather winged bat, becauſe the one living half the year in the water, and the other being a winged animal, the individuals of each ſpecies may viſit both continents.
Of the animals in the 1ſt table, Mons. de Buffon himſelf informs us, [XXVII. 130. XXX, 213.] that the beaver, the otter, and ſhrew mouſe, though of the ſame ſpecies, are larger in America than Europe. This ſhould therefore have corrected the generality of his expreſſions XVIII. 145. and elſewhere that the animals common to the two countries, are conſiderably leſs in America than in Europe, ‘& cela ſans aucune exception.’ He tells us too [Quadrup. VIII. 534. edit. Paris, 1777] that on examining a bear from America, he remarked no difference, ‘dans la forme de cet ours d'Amerique comparé a celui d'Europe;’ but adds from Bartram's journal, that an American bear weighed 400lb. Engliſh, equal to 367lb. French: whereas we find the European bear examined by Mons. D'Aubenton, [XVII. 82] weighed but 141lb. French. That the palmated elk is larger in America than Europe we are informed by Kalm,[2] a naturaliſt who viſited the former by public appointment, for the expreſs purpoſe of examining the ſubjects of natural hiſto-
- ↑ It is ſaid, that this animal is ſeldom ſeen above 30 miles from ſhore, or beyond the 56th degree of latitude. The interjacent iſlands between Aſia and America admit his paſſing from one continent to the other without exceeding theſe bounds. And in fact, travellers tell us that theſe iſlands are places of principal reſort for them, and eſpecially in the ſeaſon of bringing forth their young.
- ↑ I. 233. Lon. 1772.
