174 CARNIVORA. 



living things. Do the feebler animals betray a lack of cunning or a 

 want of speed ? The destroyer is at hand ; the executioner stands ready. 

 Does the tyrant fail in strength or courage to pursue its prey? The foe 

 awaits it and its doom is fixed. No maudlin pity interferes with this 

 dread duty ; no decay, no disease, decline or decrepitude are allowed to 

 sully Nature's works. The agents appointed in the general struggle for 

 existence to destroy and live upon the flesh of their fellow-creatures are 

 the most highly gifted and intelligent of the brute creation, the Car- 

 NIVORA; their special function seems to be that of limiting the multipli- 

 cation of the herbivorous species, and their disappearance from the earth 

 might lead to serious inconvenience. 



The Carnivora combine in a very high degree strength and agility ; 

 and their appearance, while it may strike tenor, docs not awaken 

 those feelings of repugnance which many other animals excite. They 

 are usually handsome and graceful, and we find in the order very 

 few of those strange forms which meet us, for example, in the Chei- 

 roptera. They live in all parts of the glebe, in mountain and plain, 

 in field and forest, in the North as well as the South, and man}- of 

 them are nocturnal animals, seeking their prey by night as well as by 

 da3'. Hence, even if we exclude from our present consideration the 

 marine families of tiic order, it is difficult to give anything but a very 

 general sketch of their structure. 



Their limbs arc well-proportioned, and their toes, which are entirely 

 separated from each other, are terminated by stout and strong claws, 

 more or less sharp according to their habits of life ; these, with the 

 teeth, constitute their means of attack and defence. In all the members 

 of the cat tribe tlie claws are retractile, that is, they may be withdrawn 

 into tiie interior of the paw at the will of the animal. This faculty is 

 owing to the peculiar arrangement of the claws, and the action of a 

 special muscle. 



The Carnivora vary very much in their mode of placing their feet on 

 the ground. Some, such as bears and badgers, tread upon the whole 

 surfiice of the foot, and are remarkable for their thick-set forms, — these 

 are called Plantigrades ; others, as cats and dogs, only touch the 

 ground with their toes, and have a more slender body and a more agile 

 gait, — these are called Digitigradcs. Between these well-marked typet 

 are ranked various species, which more or less partake of both char 

 acteristics. 



