CARNIVOROUS MAMMALIA. 529 



the greater expansion of their brain, the supe- 

 rior acuteness of their senses, and their enor- 

 mous muscular power. The trunk of the body 

 is lighter than that of vegetable feeders, espe- 

 cially in the abdominal region, and is compressed 

 laterally : the spine is more pliant and elastic,* 

 the limbs have greater freedom of motion, the 

 extremities are more subdivided, and they are 

 armed with formidable weapons of offence and 

 destruction. Great mechanical power was re- 

 quired for raising the head, not only on account 

 of the force to be exerted in tearing flesh, but 

 also that these animals might be enabled to 

 carry away their prey in their mouths. Hence 

 we find that in the Lion, of which the skeleton 

 is represented in its relations to the outline of 

 the body, in Fig. 221, the first vertebra of the 

 neck, or atlas, has very widely expanded trans- 

 verse processes, while the second vertebra has a 

 largely developed spinous process, for supplying 

 levers for the muscles which have to perform 

 these and other actions in which the head is 

 concerned. 



The whole of the remaining part of the ske- 

 leton of these animals is constructed with re- 

 ference to their predatory nature. The sudden 



* The suppleness of the spine might at once be inferred, on 

 the simple inspection of the skeleton, from the circumstance that 

 the vertebrae of the neck and loins have a comparatively small 

 developement of their spinous processes. 



VOL. I. MM 



