200 SKELETON OF THE LION. 



to the heel, 68, which helps to sustain the caudo-femoral 

 membrane. The hincl digits are five in number, short, 

 subequal, each provided with a claw; thej are the in- 

 struments by which the bat suspends itself, head down- 

 wards, during its daily summer sleep, and continued 

 winter torpor. 



SKELETON OF THE CARNIVOROUS 

 MAMMALIA. 



The lion may be regarded as the type of a quadruped. 

 The well-adjusted proportions of the head, the trunk, the 

 fore-limbs, and tail concur with their structure to form 

 an animal swift in course, agile in leaps and bounds, ter- 

 rible in the overpowering force of the blows inflicted by 

 the fore-limbs. The strong, sharp, much-curved, retrac- 

 tile talons, terminating the broad powerful feet, enable 

 the carnivore to seize the prey it has overtaken, and to 

 rend the body it has struck down. The jaws have a pro- 

 portional strength, and are armed Avith fangs fitted to 

 pierce, lacerate, and kill. 



The carnivorous character of the skull, as exemplified 

 by the sagittal and occipital crests, by the strength and 

 expanse of the zygomatic arches, by the breadth, depth, 

 and shortness of the jaws, by the height of the coronoid 

 processes, and by the depth and extent of the fossae of the 

 lower jaw for the attachment of the biting muscles, reaches 

 its maximum in the lion. The triangular occipital region 

 is remarkable for the depth and boldness of the sculptur- 

 ing of its outer surface, indicative of the pow^erful muscles 

 working the whole skull upon the neck and trunk. The 

 conjoined paroccipitals and mastoids form a broad and 



