.1 77i'/;a; CLIMIUM; iumisast ic.;5 



All liviiiij,' IiooIVmI iiiiiinaU liuwcNcr, cxccijt llic Ili/rax, li;i\c the t'ccl 

 luodilit'il lor walkiiiu and niiiniiii;- iipmi tlic u'l-oiiiid, in siicli a \\a> as to uain 

 in speed and cndm-aiicc at the t"\])('iisr of a loss in ilc.xiliilil y of the I'ciot, and 

 none ot" tlicin are alilc to diinh tfccs. This is espeeially trnc of tlic 

 Ruminants, in wliicli tlie loot is very inu( li specialized for fiiiniin;;- pni- 

 poses, the nielai)odial Kones of the two middle (li<;-its nnite(l into a sinule 

 bone, tlie"(ainion hone,"" and the two ontcr dibits reduced to little iiidi- 

 in<Mits known as " dew -(■la\\>,"' so that the ain'inal walks and runs entiicly 

 npon the lii)s of the hoot's of the central diu'its. ( 'onipare this type of loot 

 with the soft flexible sharp-clawed fo(!t of a cat, and it is easy eiioniiii to 

 see why a eat can climb a tree and a rnminaiit caimot. 



The most priinitixc extinct rinninants had fonr se])arate dibits of nearly 

 cciuul size, and this condition is retained in all the Oreodonts, a family of 

 pif^-iike Ruminants very common in Xorth America dtn'inii the Tertiary. 

 But these Oreodonts were probably cpiite as evclnsi\ely terrestrial in their 

 habits as the modern pi,ti;s and peccaries, in w hich the dibits are also separate, 

 althouijli the side toes are nnicli reduced in si/e. 



The Af/nochirnis howexcr, while a member of the Orcoilont family, 

 and like them pro\iiled with rnminatinu' teeth, had the limbs and feet 

 modified in such a way as to enable it to climb trees as readily as a jayiiar 

 or other lar^e cat. The hoofs are so narrowed as to be actually coinerted 

 into a sort of claw; the articulations of the di<i;its, wrist- and limb-bones arc 

 modified so as to ^ive throu<ihout limbs and feet the same flexible joints 

 which we find in the cats and in all tree-elimbinu' animals. The animal also 

 differs from the other Oreodonts in that the front teeth are adapted for 

 browsing upon leaves and twigs instead of cropping grass or other herbage. 



These modifications froni the usual Oreodont type appear to be adap- 

 tations for climbing trees to feed upon their foliage. This theory is 

 embodied in the moiuited skeleton of Af/riochdrii.^-. The animal is repre- 

 sented as walking out along a sloping branch of a tree, the branch being 

 modeled in imitation of the fossil tree trnid<s often foimd iti the Tertiary 

 formations of the West. Like any large cat in a tree, he seems a little 

 uncertain and shaky in his moxements, and is inclined to cling tight with 

 bent limbs, lacking the assured and confident stej) of a trnly arboreal 

 animal such as a monkey or lemur. 



The Af/riorhfrnift li\-ed during the Oligocene ei)()ch in ^^c-tern North 

 America, and then became e.xtinct. Why, we do not know, but wc may 

 suppose that it was oulx i)artly arboreal, and that the haiidicai) of its 

 clumsiness upon the ground was more than enough to offset the ad\antage 

 of being able to climb trees, when |)nr^ned by the iinpro\cd races of ('ar- 

 nixora that were being e\dl\ed abont this time. 



