HUNTING AND FISHING OP ANIMALS 1565 



A similar adherence to the law of uniformity in 

 the plan of construction of all the animals belonging 

 to the same class, is strikingly shown in the conforma- 

 tion of the bones of the anterior extremities of the 

 Cetacea; for, although they present, externally, no 

 resemblance to the leg and foot of a quadruped, 

 being fashioned into fin-like members, with a flat, 

 oval surface for striking the water, yet, when the 

 bones are stripped of the thick integument which 

 covers them and conceals their real form, we find 

 them exhibiting the same divisions into carpal and 

 metacarpal bones, and phalanges of fingers, as exist 

 in the most highly developed organization, not 

 merely of a quadruped, but also of a monkey, and 

 even of man. 



HUNTING AND FISHING OF 



ANIMALS.--FREDfiRic HOUSSAY 



THE search for food has necessarily been the 

 cause of the earliest industries among animals. 

 It is easy to understand that the herbivora need lit- 

 tle ingenuity in seeking nourishment; they are so 

 superior to their prey that they can obtain it and feed 

 on it by the sole fact of an organization adapted to 

 its assimilation. They are, it is true, at the mercy of 

 circumstances over which they have no control, and 

 which lead to famine. The carnivora also may have 

 to suffer from the absence of prey, but even in the 

 most favorable seasons, and in the regions where the 

 animals on which they live abound, it is necessary for 

 them to develop a special activity to obtain posses- 



