148 



MAMMALIA. 



bent, and gradually passing into a sort of termination 

 to the foot, resembling that of birds in a slight degree, 

 as we find in the squirrels, and in some of the mar- 

 supial animals of New Holland which are inhabitants 

 of trees, and furnished with extensible membranes, 

 which act as parachutes in breaking their fall. All 

 those membranes which are used for this purpose are 

 to be understood as really belonging to the organs of 

 climbing, though they are vulgarly termed organs of 

 flying. There are no means of a flying action in any 

 animal which has those membranes, whether broad 

 or narrow, extending nearly from the fore leg to the 

 hind, and leaving the foot of the former as well as 

 that of the latter entirely free, so that each of them 

 is still efficient both for walking and for climbing. 

 There is no flying membrane among the mammalia, 

 except one which stretches on the produced bones of 

 the fore feet, and has the shoulder joints articulated 

 something in the manner of those of a bird. This is 

 the character of the bats, of which we have already 

 spoken, and other than them there are no known 

 mammalia which possess it. 



Animals which have those membranes of the para- 

 chute character generally have the feet well con- 

 structed for climbing, though they climb by holding 

 on with the points of the claws acting towards the 

 centre of the foot, and thus in so far against each 

 other. They are also, generally speaking, broad and 

 flat in their bodies, and covered with a profusion of 

 long hair, so that the weight is but small in propor- 

 tion to the apparent bulk. They are also very agile 

 animals, and capable of a good deal of motion with- 

 out being fatigued. Our present concern is with 

 their means of climbing, however ; for though there 

 is no power of upward motion in these membranes, 

 but on the contrary the animal must sink below the 

 direction in which it originally takes its spring, yet 

 they prevent it from falling so low as it otherwise 

 would do, which is at all events an indirect method 

 of raising it. Animals of this kind are also all inha- 

 bitants of trees ; and one principal purpose which 

 the produced membranes, in large tail and lengthened 

 fur answers, is that of enabling it to pass from tree to 

 tree, or from branch to branch, without the necessity 

 of descending and climbing up again by the help of 

 the feet, which would be a much more severe labour. 

 In ordinary cases, such as in the thick trees which 

 our common squirrels inhabit, much production of 

 membrane is not necessary, because the leap is suffi- 

 cient upon ordinary occasions ; but when the trees 

 are farther apart, the membranes are turned to ac- 

 count. The following figure will give an idea of the 



attitude of a climbing animal, using its membranes as 

 a parachute ; and further particulars will be found in 

 the articles RODENTIA and SQUIRREL. 



A considerable number of the ground rodentia, 

 such as many of the rats and others, have the feet 

 formed so as to act partially as organs of climbing ; 

 and the mode of their action does not differ greatly 

 from the action of the feet of squirrels, independently 

 of the membranes and other produced appendages of 

 the latter. It is therefore not necessary to give a 

 particular account of them as distinct modifications of 

 the climbing foot, neither is it necessary to notice the 

 feet of various small nocturnal animals of prey which 

 are to be met. with chiefly in the south-east of Asia, 

 because their feet are also constructed upon nearly 

 the same principle, only modified according to the 

 kind of footing which they generally have, and the 

 rate at which they move. 



The climbing of bears is, however, so peculiar a 

 modification of this species of action, that we cannot 

 with propriety pass it without some notice. Bears 

 may be said to have three climbing organisations, or 

 more strictly three modifications of the same climbing 

 organs. They climb by hugging the object which 

 they ascend between the fore legs, if that object is 

 a tree, or any thing which they can embrace with tbo 

 stretch of their ample legs and paws. They also 

 climb by holding on with the claws, and indeed the 

 claws of the hind feet are the points of support, by 

 means of which they hold their place on the trunk of 

 a smooth tree, while they advance the fore feet in 

 the hugging operation. The claws of the fore feet 

 are also of some use in climbing ; but they are of 

 much less than the feet themselves, for these can be 

 converted into most efficient hooks, by means of 

 which the animal, even though a very heavy one, can 

 ascend very rapidly if there are inequalities upon 

 which these strong hooks can lay hold. The " Bear 

 and rugged Staff" have long been associated toge- 

 ther, and the association is not one of those fanciful 

 ones which have, in many instances, arisen from the 

 corruption of language ; for a staff, or rather pole of 

 that description, is the kind of ladder by means of 

 which a bear can climb with the greatest ease and 

 rapidity. The plantigrade form of the feet also gives 

 the bear a great advantage in climbing as it enables 

 him to stand on a comparatively narrow base, and 

 raise himself up till he gets a fresh hold with the 

 paws. When a bear-pit is furnished with poles 

 of the proper form, the climbing of the bears, the 

 ease with which they balance themselves on the 

 tops of the poles, and the rapidity with which they 

 can descend, hugging the pole all the way, are no 

 bad specimens of the mechanical action of a'nimals. 



Climbing is not confined to those bears which are 

 more exclusively inhabitants of the forests ; for they 

 exercise it in every locality which they inhabit. The 

 polar bear very speedily gets from the water upon 

 the ice, even although that ice floats at a considerable 

 height above the surface ; and when on the ice, and 

 wishing to "scent" the horizon for the direction in 

 which prey is to be found, he very speedily gains the 

 top of the hummock which suits his purpose, .^either 

 he nor indeed any of the bears can climb up a sur- 

 face which is perpendicular, or very nearly so, and 

 does not afford holds for the single paws as hooks, or 

 for the two in hugging ; but if these are furnished, 

 this bear is a sure, though not an elegant, climber. 



In all the localities which bears inhabit, in a state 

 of nature, climbing may indeed be regarded as a 

 necessary part of their economy. They are not, in 

 any part of the world, inhabitants of the' open plains, 



