PREVALENCE OF CERTAIN BONES. 239 



parts are the heads of the long bones (though while the shaft 

 only of the femur is found, in the humerus one end is gene- 

 rally perfect), the back bone except the first two vertebrae, the 

 spinous processes, and often the ribs, and the bones of the 

 skull except the lower jaw and the portion round the eyes. 

 It occurred to Professor Steenstrup that these curious results 

 might, perhaps, be referred to dogs; and, on trying the experi- 

 ment, he ascertained that the bones which are absent from 

 the Kjokkenmoddings are precisely those which dogs eat, and 

 those which are present are the parts which are hard and 

 solid and do not contain much nourishment. Prof. Steenstrup 

 has since published a diagram of a skeleton, tinted in such a 

 manner as to show at a glance which of the bones occur in 

 the Kjokkenmoddings, and points out that it coincides exactly 

 with one given by M. Flourens to illustrate those portions of 

 the skeleton which are first formed. Although a glance at 

 the longitudinal section of a long bone, as, for instance, of a 

 femur, and a comparison of the open cancellated tissue of the 

 two ends with the solid, close texture of the shaft, at once 

 justifies and accounts for the selection made by the dogs, it is 

 interesting thus to ascertain that their predilections were the 

 same in primaeval times as at present. Moreover, we may in 

 this manner explain the prevalence of some bones in fossil 

 strata. I have already mentioned that of the skull, the hard 

 parts round the eye and the lower jaw are the only parts left; 

 now the preponderance of lower jaws in a fossil state is well 

 known. 



Dr. Falconer indeed has pointed out " that in the smaller 

 mammalia, unless the bone be complete, and, supposing it to 

 be a long bone, with both its articular surfaces perfect, it is 

 almost hopeless, or at any rate very discouraging, to attempt 

 to make out the creature that yielded it; whereas the smallest 

 fragment of a jaw, with a minute tooth in it, speaks volumes 

 of evidence at the first glance." " This," he suggests, " is one 



