BRITISH QUADRUPEDS. 5 



ticularly short and fine, softer to the touch than even the 

 finest velvet : that of the Bears is in general long, coarse, 

 and shaggy. 



The carnivorous species have their alimentary canal 

 proportionally much shorter than such as live on vegetable 

 food. The ccecum is small in two of the tribes, and is 

 entirely wanting in all the rest. The liver is divided into 

 lobes; and all the species have a gall-bladder and thin 

 spleen. The Bears, Moles, Shrews, and Urchins, have 

 perfect clavicles, or collar-bones. The greater part of 

 the others have only clavicular bones suspended in the 

 flesh ; and even these are wanting in some individuals. 

 The teats of the females are several in number, and are 

 arranged on each side along the belly. 



GLIRES. 

 Rats, Squirrels, Dormice^ and Hares. 



The Glires, or nibblers, are, in general, animals of small 

 size, but great activity. They are chiefly characterized 

 by having, in each jaw, two remarkably large and long 

 front-teeth. This organization of the mouth compels them, 

 to gnaw their food, or to reduce it into very small frag- 

 ments, instead of cutting it into mouthfuls, as is done by 

 such animals as are furnished with short incisive or cutting- 

 teeth. These long teeth are separated from the grinders by 

 a vacant space, and are by no means calculated for seizing 

 living prey. The Glires feed very variously. Some live 

 chiefly on grain; others on fruit and herbs; and others on 

 the bark, or tender branches of trees. Some eat the ker- 

 nels of nuts, which they get at by gnawing holes through 



the 



