MAMMALIA. 



163 



facility, and the animal very speedily transfers 

 them to its mouth by means of its protrusile tongue 

 performing this operation with the greatest rapidity. 



The last digging foot which we shall introduce is 

 that of one of the armadilloes, which, from its short- 

 ness, Us strength, and the immense claws with which 

 it is armed, is one of the most efficient of digging 



feet. The particulars of these curious animals, and 

 the distinctions of their several species will be found 

 mentioned in the article ARMADILLO, so that we 

 need not repeat them here. 



There is one oilier animal, an extinct one, of the 

 fore foot of which we shall give a figure, because, 

 though the mode of its life is not known, the immense 

 production of some of the bones of the foot indicate 

 that it has perhaps been a digging animal, though it is 

 possible that in reality its manners may have resem- 

 bled those of the sloths, though what sort of trees 

 could have supported an animal whose skeleton makes 

 that of the elephant itself seem a very slender fabric 

 in comparison, it is impossible for us at the present 

 day to determine. Being an extinct animal, nothing 

 of it is known but the skeleton, which, however, has 

 been found entire in the alluvial deposits of South 

 America, and at a great depth below the surface, 

 which clearly proves that the placing of it there is by 

 no means a recent event. The enormous size, sin- 



gular formation, and vastly produced processes of the 

 bones of this animal, together with the fact of its 

 skeleton having been found entire in the fossil state, 

 render it one of the most interesting of the extinct 

 mammalia. It is the Megatherium of authors, which 

 simply means, " the great wild beast." The following 

 is a sketch of the foot of this animal. 



There is one other digging organ which is worthy 

 of notice, as in the animal which we shall select for 

 illustration, it is not accompanied by feet in any way 

 adapted for burrowing, or even for simply turning up 

 the earth at the surface. There are several of the 

 digging animals, besides the common mole, that use 

 their snouts for assisting them in their operations 

 under ground ; and one of these, the star-nosed 

 mole of North America has the snout so pecu- 

 liarly formed at the extremity, that it is not easy to 

 say what specific purpose it serves in the economy of 

 the animal. The extremity of it is surrounded with 

 a number of cartilaginous points formed like a star, 

 and each capable of considerable motion. The genus, 

 or perhaps rather the family to which we particularly 

 allude, as using only the snout in digging, is the hog 

 family, and the common hog as the typical animal, 

 will serve as our example better than any of the 

 others, because it is very common and easily observed. 

 We need not say that the neck of the hog is remark- 

 ably strong for the size of the animal, and that it is 

 furnished with very powerful muscles for moving the 

 jaws ; for the bare inspection of the animal will at 

 once convince any one of these facts. The bone of 

 the nose is very long, and the frontal sinuses are large 

 and divided, or ramified into a vast number of cells, 

 so that there is most ample provision made for the 

 development of the membrane containing the olfac- 

 tory nerves. The rhinoceros is the only animal, the 



