THE RESTORATION OF EXTINCT ANIMALS. 



481 



comments Mr. Hutchinson, was it really aquatic ? And this but hints 

 at the uncertainty attending the work of restoration, for some pecu- 

 liarities of structure may point more than one way or be subject to 

 more than one interpretation. 



Thus the short-limbed, heavy-bodied carnivore Oxytena from our 

 western country was at first considered to have had habits like those 

 of an otter, while on a later review it has been thought to have been 

 as arboreal in its mode of life as a raccoon. And while, as a general 

 rule, aquatic animals or those of sluggish movements have solid bones, 

 yet the extinct toothed diver Hesperornis has hollow leg bones and so 

 does the huge Dinosaur Triceratops. 



Cuvier's restorations were founded on his famous law of correlation. 



Fig. l.-Cuvier's Restorations of Mammals from the Paris Basin. Reduced about one-half. 



AnopMheriam commune. Anoplotherium gracite. 



PalmotMHum minm. Palxotheriam magnum. 



or the harmony to be found between various portions of the skeleton, 

 between these and their investing muscles, and between the entire ani- 

 mal and its mode of life. For example, the retractile claws of a cat 

 would not be found associated with the teeth of a ruminant, but with 

 teeth fitted for devouring flesh and, conversely, teeth adapted tor 

 cropping grass and chewing the cud would be found in company with 

 hoofs, while beasts that chew the cud and have cloven feet are the 

 only ones that have horns on the frontal bones, so that a horned car- 

 nivore would be out of the question. _ 



These great generalizations are, in the main, true, but Cuvier was 

 dealing mostly with animals of a limited region, the Pans basin, and 



