774 MAMMALIA. 



Nor has Nature, in the case of the Dog, merely given to man a servant 

 endowed with sagacity and zeal : man has need of help in various ways, 

 and under very different circumstances. In bodily strength he is un- 

 able to cope with ferocious enemies that surround him on all sides ; his 

 senses are imperfect, when compared with those of some of the lower 

 animals ; in speed he is outstripped by the very creatures appointed to 

 be his food : how then are all these deficiencies to be compensated ? 

 The Dog has been placed at man's disposal : its instincts, its size, its 

 form, its senses, and its corporeal attributes are all subjugated to his 

 control ; and thus whatever aid he may require is to be obtained by 

 the cultivation of its faculties. 



(2226.) The PLANTIGRADE CARNIVOBA, as their name indicates, in 

 walking apply the entire sole of the foot to the ground, as far back as 

 the end of the os calcis : such are the Bear (Ursus), the Glutton (Gulo), 

 the Badger (Meles), and others of similar organization. These tribes 

 are less exclusively carnivorous in their habits than the preceding ; and 

 their nails are not retractile, so that their points are blunted by drag- 

 ging upon the ground. 



(2227.) The INSECTIVORA form another section of these destructive 

 quadrupeds, distinguished by their molar teeth being studded with 

 sharp points, and thus calculated to devour insect prey : the Hedgehog 

 (Erinaceus), the Shrew (Sorex), and the Mole (Taipei) are well-known 

 examples of this division, and their habits are known to all. We need 

 scarcely mention the peculiar circumstances under which the Mole passes 

 its subterranean existence, or the extraordinary conformation of its 

 anterior extremities, whereby they are converted into most efficient 

 instruments for digging beneath the soil. The extended scapula, the 

 strong and well- developed clavicle, the square and massive humerus, 

 and, moreover, the broad and rake-like hand, all proclaim the office of 

 this strange limb ; while the long and carinated sternum indicates with 

 equal plainness the size and power of those muscles by which the appa- 

 ratus is wielded *. 



(2228.) The CHEIEOPTEEA, or family of BATS, present a striking con- 

 trast to the Mole both in form and habits : neither would it be easy to 

 conceive that a skeleton, consisting almost of precisely the same ele- 

 ments, could be converted to uses so diametrically opposite. 



(2229.) In these Mammalia the anterior extremities are converted 

 into wings, enabling them to emulate the very birds in their powers of 

 flight, and in the velocity of their movements when upon the wing 

 pursuing insect prey. In creatures destined to such a life, the whole 

 skeleton must of course be lightened, and the bones attenuated to the 

 utmost. The skull, the spine, the thorax, the pelvis, and the hind ex- 

 tremities, all testify, by the delicacy of their structure, that no un- 



* For an admirable history of the habits of the Mole, the reader is referred to 

 Bell's British Quadrupeds, page 85. 



