Ifi-2 



MAMMALIA. 



is the greatest treasure that ever was given to the 

 student of nature for sure guidance in his delightful 

 task. There are imperfections in many minor points 

 of this work, because no length of life and no assiduity 

 of labour could put one man in possession of all the 

 facts, and no man can be wise beyond the limits of 

 his actual knowledge. The chain of organisation is 

 also broken in many parts of the animal kingdom, 

 and in none more than in the mammalia ; and, as a 

 new means of judgment has to be introduced after 

 each breach, the difficulty is thereby increased, and 

 the sources of error multiplied. In spite of these 

 circumstances, Cuvier has brought the classification 

 of the mammalia, and, what is more valuable, the 

 practical application of that classification, into the 

 light of day ; and if he has not done exactly the same 

 with the other three classes of the vertebrated ani- 

 mals, he has delivered even them from the dominion 

 of " Chaos and Old Night." In consequence of the 

 sure foundation which he has thus laid, every suc- 

 ceeding observer of nature and reasoner upon the 

 analogies of nature is enabled to add something to a 

 fabric of science proof against the casualties of time 

 and opinion, instead of, as heretofore, building on the 

 shifting sand, and being at the mercy of every wind 

 of hypothesis and every flood of merely authoritative 

 assertion. 



But though this, as being among the last varieties 

 of the organs of most conspicuous external action in 

 animals, is the proper branch of our general subject 

 under which to introduce these few remarks, we must 

 close them, and return to matters of more humble 

 import. 



We have said that the digging foot is so similar in 

 its general structure in all the mammalia which have 

 a digging habit, that it is not necessary to go into the 

 details of its modifications, we shall, hewever, for the 

 sake of those who may be less familiar with the sub- 

 ject, introduce a few figures of the more remarkable 

 of those same digging feet. 



The common mole is perhaps the most completely 

 a ground animal of any of the digging race ; but a re- 

 presentation of its foot would be superfluous. In order 

 to enable this animal to exercise its fore feet with the 

 requisite degree of vigour, the sternum is more firm 

 than in any other of the mammalia excepting the 

 bats ; and it is furnished with a mesial crest as in these, 

 for giving a firm origin to those pectoral muscles, 

 which tear down the earth with a degree of rapidity 

 of which those who have not marked its progress 

 could have but little conception. The head is elon- 

 gated to a point, in order that it may better pierce its 

 way, and it is furnished with an additional bone in 

 the extremity. The muscles of the neck are also 

 of great power for the size of the animal ; and alto- 

 gether it is remarkably well constructed for the per- 

 formance of its subterranean labours. 



The common mole is decidedly a flesh eater, and 

 though in a state of nature, its principal food con- 

 sists of earthworms and ground insects and their 

 larvae, it is so voracious and so determined in the 

 gratification of its appetite, that if two hungry moles 

 are confined together, they speedily engage in des- 

 perate battle, and do not give it over until one 

 conquers the other, and when this is done, the victor, 

 like a true cannibal, very speedily kills and eats the 

 vanquished, or rather tears open its belly and begins 

 to devour its bowels while it is yet alive. 



The next figure of a digging foot which we shall 



introduce is that of one of the rodentia family, con- 

 nected with the rats by the older naturalists, but 

 distinguished from them by very marked characters : 



Rat Mole. 



It is one of the most singular animals, or rather genera 

 of animals (for there are at least two known species 

 with which we are acquainted) the rat-mole (Spalax). 

 Its head is large, its feet remarkably short, and it has 

 no eyes visible external of the skin, though under it 

 there is a small production of a black colour resem- 

 bling an extremely minute eye. It lives under ground, 

 and forms a subterranean passage in the same way as 

 the common mole does ; but its feeding is different, 

 as it consists chiefly of the roots of vegetables. The 

 blind rat' mole, of which the above is a figure, is 

 rather larger than the common rat ; but there is one 

 in Java and the other Isles of the Oriental Archi- 

 pelago which is as large as a rabbit. 



The animal whose digging foot is figured in the 

 above cut belongs to the rodentia, arid we shall next 

 introduce one belonging to the edentata, or toothless 

 animals. This is the foot of the Cape animal, vul- 

 garly termed the ground hog. The animal is about 



Ground Hog-. 



the size of a badger, and burrows in the ground with 

 amazing rapidity, all its fore feet being from the 

 structure of the toes remarkably well adapted for 

 burrowing, and also for tearing open ant-hills and 

 other nests of insects upon which the animal feeds. 

 Its nose is very much produced, and its head and 

 ears have some slight resemblance to those of a pig. 

 It is destitute of any efficient teeth, and seizes its 

 insect prey by means of itsjong and slender protrusile 

 tongue. 



The next digging foot which we shall introduce is 

 that of the great ant-eater, an animal which has very 

 great power in its fore paws, the nails of which are 

 curved almost to semicircles, and turned in wards, when 

 the animal walks, in order to protect their sharp points. 

 These feet are not well adapted for ordinary digging ; 

 but they can tear an ant-hill to pieces with wonderful 



