416 



Oedeb CARNIVOKA.— FLESH-EATING ANIMALS. 



Fig. 325.— Leopabd. 



-" The Tiger, darting fierce 



Impetuous on the prey his glance has doom'd : 



The lively-shining Leopard, speckled o'er 



"With many a spot, the beauty of the waste ; 



And scorning all the taming arts of man."' — Thosison. 



J.^ this order Cuvier included insect-eating animals, whether, 

 like the Bat, thej pursued their prey in the air, or, like the 

 Hedgehog, sought for it on the earth. But each of the animals 

 just named is now the representative of a distinct order, and 

 the term earnivora is restricted to those which live principally 

 upon the flesh of other vertebrate animals, and in populai* lan- 

 guage are termed beasts of prey. 



Taking the family of the Tiger as that in which the charac- 

 teristics of the order are most fuUy developed, we find strong 

 retractile claws, and teeth eminently fitted for cutting and 

 tearing flesh. In that of the Bear, the hght elastic step has 

 given place to a heavy gait,* and the teeth are adapted for a 



* They walk upon the sole of the foot ; and the term Plantigrade, Lat. 

 plajita, a sole ; gradus, a step, has tlierefore been applied to all which progress 



