MAMMALIA. 



173 



toot, they must have been very different from those 

 of the ant-eater, though there is too much production 



of the bones of the toes for allowing us to suppose 

 that the foot had not some other function than simply 

 that of walking. The foot is indeed well made out 

 both in the form and the number of its bones ; and 

 when clothed with the soft parts and their integu- 

 ments, it must have formed a very good support upon 

 soft surfaces, even to a very ponderous animal. The 

 great strength of the bones is, as will be seen, towards 

 the extremities ; and the claws must have been of 

 moderate dimensions, so that the animal could walk 

 on the entire flat of the foot ; and to enable it to do 

 this the better, there is some approximation to a heel 

 bone, though it is very impert'ect as compared with 

 that of the human foot. It is a portion of the fore 

 foot which we have represented ; but the hind one 

 does not differ materially, except in having the toes 

 turned outward, which position would have been cal- 

 culated to give still greater stability to the animal. 

 We cannot of course speak positively as to the use 

 of this foot, or guess at the economy of the animal, 

 further than it has obviously been a vegetable feeder ; 

 and though it has sometimes been supposed that the 

 feet have been used in digging the roots of vegetables 

 from the marshes, we can have no certainty upon this 

 point ; neither do we know whether the animal was 

 or was not possessed of a prehensile proboscis. The 

 teeth are flat on the crowns, like the cheek teeth of 

 the elephant, which are the only teeth that it can use 

 in the grinding of its food ; but the row is continued 

 quite round the front in both jaws, and thus the ani- 

 mal would have been capable of dividing vegetable 

 matter, which, from the great size of the bones of its 

 head and their numerous processes for the insertion 

 of muscles, there is little doubt, with a force unknown 

 among the living mammalia. 



The megalonyx, the remains of which have been 

 met with in North America, though never in such 

 perfection as those of the last mentioned animal 

 have been in South America, lead to the supposition 

 that, if really different animals, they must have been 

 similar in their habits, though we of course are not 

 better acquainted with the habits of the one than 

 with those of the other. None of them belong to 

 that period or condition of the world which comes 

 within the scope of our authenticated history ; and 

 therefore it is probable we must for ever remain 

 ignorant both of them and of the changes of the 

 countries which they once inhabited, which have 

 been taking place during the lapse of probably very 

 many centuries. We know enough of these animals, 



however, for enabling us to conclude with perfect 

 certainty that they have been both, strictly speaking, 

 vegetable feeders, slow and unwieldy in their motions, 

 and neither disposed to offer injury to any other ani- 

 mal, nor capable of doing so, unless in defending- 

 themselves against enemies, with the means of which 

 vegetable feeders are provided very nearly in the 

 proportion of their size. 



Among the feet of animals which assist, partially 

 at least, in the taking of their food, we ought to have 

 given some slight additional account of the foot of 

 the elephant. Its foot is well made out in the bones, 

 although the parts are much concealed by the thick 

 and loose skin by which it is enveloped ; and the 

 animal can readily turn it to account, both in holding 

 on upon the ground, in the use of the trunk, and 

 bending branches till they can be reached by that 

 very singular organ. The foot of the elephant is not, 

 however, a prehensile foot in any of the ordinarv 

 senses of the word, inasmuch as the animal can nei- 

 ther seize any portion of its food with it, nor convey 

 any substance to its mouth. It is a very firm organ 

 of support, but this is its proper function. 



The feet of the extinct animals of America bear 

 some resemblance to the foot of the elephant, but not 

 much. In the elephant's foot the last phalanges of 

 the toes are but little produced, while in the American 

 animals they greatly exceed all the others, and are 

 the portion upon which the great strength of the foot 

 appears to be concentrated, while in the elephant the 

 concentration is on the centre of the foot, and the 

 bones of the ankle stand nearly perpendicular the 

 one over the other. 



We shall now offer some short remarks, and give 

 one or two illustrations of prehensile feet of a very 

 different character, form, and use, from those to which 

 we have hitherto alluded ; we mean those feet which 

 are adapted for the capture and for the rending of 

 living prey. The cat tribe are the characteristic 

 animals of this description, though there are some 

 which perform the same action in a slighter degree. 



The leg and claw of the Lion. 



We shall therefore confine our observations to tnem, 

 and chiefly to the lion, as at once the most powerful 

 and the most typical of the whole. In the preceding- 



