CHAPTER XV 

 THE FOOD OF ANIMALS PLANT-EATING MAMMALS 



So much space has been devoted to the consideration of 

 carnivorous forms that the limits of this work will only permit 

 of comparatively brief notice of animals which feed on vegetable 

 matter; but the importance of this kind of food must not be 

 under-estimated, since all animals are dependent upon it either 

 directly or indirectly. Indeed, it may be said with truth that 

 green plants (as opposed to fungi, &c.) are the primary source 

 of living matter, since they alone are able to build it up from 

 simple chemical compounds, including the carbonic acid gas of the 

 air and the inorganic salts dissolved in the water of the soil. 



Beginning with the phylum VERTEBRATA we will consider in 

 succession the several classes, starting with the Mammalia. 



MAMMALS 

 PRIMATES 



It is but few of the highest order of Mammals, the PRIMATES 

 (Man and Monkeys), that are adapted for a purely vegetable 

 diet. Man himself, whatever vegetarians may say to the con- 

 trary, is specially suited to a mixed diet, as will appear in another 

 section. The internal arrangements of mammals feeding entirely 

 on plants have to be constructed on a special type, in order to 

 deal successfully with the large bulk of food required, for pro- 

 longed digestion is necessitated, and also a large extent of 

 absorbing surface. Among those monkeys which are mainly 

 or entirely vegetable - feeders may be mentioned the Entellus 

 Monkey (Semnopithecus entellus] (see vol. i, p. 72), held sacred 

 among the Hindus, to whom it is known as the Hunuman. The 

 canine teeth do not here attain the size and prominence that is 

 so characteristic of many carnivorous mammals, nor are there 



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