MAMMALIA. 



643 



by a reciprocal re-action ; none of these parts can 

 change, without a change of the others also. Thus, 

 if the intestines of an animal are organized in a man- 

 ner only to digest fresh flesh, it is necessary that his 

 jaws should be constructed to devour the prey, his 

 claws to seize and tear it, his teeth to divide the flesh, 

 and the whole system of his organs of motion to fol- 

 low and overtake it, and of his organs of sense to 

 perceive it at a distance. It is necessary, also, that 

 lie should have seated in his brain the instinct to hide 

 himself and spread snares for his victim ; such are 

 the general conditions of a carnivorous regimen ; 

 they must infallibly be united in every carnivorous 

 animal without them the species could not subsist. 

 But under these general conditions, there are par- 

 ticular ones with respect to the size of the species, 

 and the abode of the prey for which each animal is 

 disposed. " 



Of all the departments of zoology, the Mammalia 

 of Cuvier is his most perfect work, and we have, in 

 a great measure, followed him in the following article, 

 to which we have added a few new genera, established 

 by other naturalists, and we have otherwise slightly 

 altered the arrangement, to bring it nearer to the 

 present state of zoological knowledge. 



Cuvier places the class mammalia at the head of 

 organized beings, because the animals which it em- 

 braces are the most perfect in their structure, and 

 hence their most varied powers of motion, sensation, 

 and intelligence. 



Most mammiferous animals are formed for walking; 

 a few, however, can sustain themselves in the air ; 

 while a limited number are destined to live in the 

 water. Bats suckle their young, and are otherwise 

 constructed like quadrupeds ; and whales and other 

 cetaceous animals, although inhabitants of the waters, 

 are strictly mammiferous animals, and also suckle 

 their young. 



From man, who, from his most perfect organiza- 

 tion, stands at the head of the system, to whales and 

 their congeners, which are classed at the end of the 

 mammalia, the skeleton is formed upon the same 

 general principles, and its parts are only altered and 

 modified to suit the station which the animal is des- 

 tined to fill. 



Fig. 1. Is the human skeleton: a a the os hunieri, 

 I b the radius, h h the ulna,c the bones of the carpus, 

 i the pelvis, d d the os femoris, e e the fibula,// the 

 tibia, ffff the bones of the tarsus, m the projection of 

 the os calcis. 



Fig. 2. Is the skeleton of a bird: all the bones 

 which correspond with those of the human skeleton, 

 are marked by similar letters. The same apply to 

 the following skeletons. Fig. 3 is that of a frog, and 

 fig. 4 that of a fish. 



By those unacquainted with comparative anatomy 

 it will be imagined, on contrasting the skeleton of the 

 human subject with those of the bird and the frog, 

 that these two have more bones in the leg than man, 

 which is not the case, as the bones marked g in the 

 latter skeletons are merely one of the tarsal bones 

 more developed than in man, and that bone, reaching 

 from the toes to the first joint in birds, is called the 

 tarsus. We have illustrated the bones by skel- 

 etons of the monkey and horse, which will convey a 

 pretty correct idea of those throughout mammiferous 

 animals. 



SKELETON OF A MONKEY. Plate 52, fig. 13. 

 Bones of the Trunk. 



a. The Sternum, or Breast bone. 



BB. The seventh or last true rib. 



c. The cartilage of the ribs. 



DD The twelfth, or last of the five false ribs. 



EE. The lumbar vertebrae, with their intervertebral car- 



tilages and transverse processes. 



f. The os sacrum. 



G. The os innominatum, conposed of the os ilium A, os 



pubis X, and the os ischium 6. 



Bones of the Superior Extremity. 



H. The clavicle fixed before to the first piece of the ster- 



num, and outwards to the acromium of the scapulal. 



C. The scapula: above it is the cervix of the.scapula, 



and below the outward extremity of the clavicle, 

 the superior costa, and coracoid process are seen. 



KK. The os humeri. 



G. The head, or ball of the os humeri : on each side are 



seen the internal and external tubercles of the os 

 humeri, and farther out, the groove for lodging the 

 tendon of the long head of the biceus muscle. 



7. The inner condyl of the os hunieri. 



8. The outer do. 



I/L. The radius, at the end of which is its head. 



MM. The ulna, at the upper end of which is the coronoid 

 process. 



Q QQ. Bones of the carpus, eight in number. 

 N. Tlie"metacarpal bone of the thumbs. 



1'P. The metacarpal bones of the fingers. 



'11 q<l- The two bones of the thumbs. 

 UK 11. The three phalanires of the fingers. 



Bones of the Inferior Extremity. 



S. The 09 femoris, the ball or head of the bone is lodged 



in the acetabiilum. 



13. The cervix of the bone. 



14. The large trochantor. 



15. The small trochanter. 



16. The inner uondyle. 



1'. The patella, placed upon the trochlea of the os femo- 



ris. 

 U. The tibia. 



17. The head of the tibia. 



19. The tubercle of the tibia. 



19. The malleolus iuternus 



V. The fibula, the upper eix! of which is connected with 



the tibia. 



20. The malleolns externus. 

 WW. The bones of the tarsus. 



gsX 



