American Big Game in its Haunts 



or three toes functionally developed, either the 

 third, or third, second and fourth, the two others 

 having entirely disappeared, except for a remnant 

 of the fifth in the forefoot of tapirs. They have 

 retained some at least of the upper incisor teeth, 

 and, except in some rhinoceroses, the canines are 

 also left; the molars and premolars are practically 

 alike in all recent species, and in all of which we 

 know the soft parts, the stomach has but one com- 

 partment, and there is an enormous caecum. It is 

 probable that they took rise earlier than their split- 

 footed relations, and their Tertiary remains are 

 far more numerous, but their tendency is toward 

 disappearance, and among existing mammals they 

 are represented only by horses, asses, rhinoceroses, 

 and tapirs. 



Contrasted with these, Artiodactyla have always 

 an even number of functional digits, the third and 

 fourth reaching the ground symmetrically, bearing 

 the weight and forming the "split hoof;" the 

 second and fifth remain, in most cases, as mere 

 vestiges, showing externally as the accessory hoofs 

 or dewclaws; in the hippopotamus alone they are 

 fully developed and the animal has a four-toed 

 foot. In deer and bovine animals the incisors and 

 frequently the canines have disappeared from the 

 upper jaw, and the molars are unlike the premo- 



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