Volume 1

Buffon's Natural history, abridged. Including the history of the elements, the earth, mountains, rivers, seas, winds, whirlwinds, waterspouts, volcanoes, earthquakes, man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, shell-fish, lizards, serpents, insects, and vegetables / [George Louis Leclerc Buffon].

  • Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de, 1707-1788.
Date:
1792
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Buffon's Natural history, abridged. Including the history of the elements, the earth, mountains, rivers, seas, winds, whirlwinds, waterspouts, volcanoes, earthquakes, man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, shell-fish, lizards, serpents, insects, and vegetables / [George Louis Leclerc Buffon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    goat. As, however, they differ confiderably In their ex- ternal form, we have copied his engravings of them for the fatisfadtion of our readers. That in pi. XXVII. was fomething different from the others, and may be at leaft regarded as a diflindt variety. The Kanguroo, (See pi. XL.) is one of the Iateft difcoveries in the hiftory of quadrupeds. It is a native of New Holland, and refembles moft the animals of the jerboa kind, but is confiderably larger, as it frequently is found to weigh upwards of 80 or 90 pounds. There are other circumfiances in which it differs from thefe animals. The fnout of the jerboa is fhort and round, that of the kangu- roo long and (lender ; the teeth alfo entirely differ ; for as the jerboa has but two cutting teeth in each jaw, making four in all, this animal, befides its cutting teeth, has four canine teeth alfo in the upper jaw. The head, neck, and fhoulders are very fmall in proportion to the other parts of the body ; - the tail is nearly as long as the body, thick near the rump, and tapering towards the end ; the fkin is co- vered with a fhort fur, excepting the head and the ears, which bear a flight refemblance to thofe of the hare. We are not told, however, from the formation of its ftomach, to what clafs of quadrupeds it belongs; from its eating grafs, which it has been feen to do, one would be apt to rank it among the ruminant animals ; but from the canine teeth, which it is found to have, we may, on the other hand, fuppofe it to bear fome relation to the carnivorous. Upon the whole, however, it can be compared with none more properly, than with animals of the jerboa kind, as its hind legs are much longer than the fore ; it moves alfo precifely in the fame manner, taking great bounds of ten or twelve feet at a time, and thus fometimes efcaping even the fleeted: greyhound, with which Mr. Banks purfued it. One of them that was killed, proved to be good food ; but a fecond, which weighed eighty-four pounds, and was not yet come to its full growth, was found to be much in- ferior. The Kanguroo, like the opoffum, has a pouch for the reception of its young. The Kanguroo Rat.] In the fame country a rat has been lately difeovered, exadtly refembling the preceding ani- mal. It is about the fize of a rabbit, but the head is ex- actly that of a rat. Its hind legs are exceedingly long.