50 CARNIVORA. 



long abstinence from food. The intestines of this order are suited 

 to their flesh-eating habits, being shorter, and less voluminous 

 than those of herbivorous animals. A kind providence has so 

 arranged things that the larger and more formidable of the car- 

 nivorous tribes are but thinly scattered and more or less remote 

 from the abodes of civilization. 



The CARNIVORA may be divided into I. the CHEIROPTERA, 

 Bats; II. the DIGITIGRADA, including the Cat, Dog and Weasel 

 families ; III. the PLANTIGRADA, the Bear family or tribe ; IV. 

 the AMPHIBIA, the PHOCIDJE, or Seal family; V. the TRUE IN- 

 SECTIVORA, including Shrews, Moles, &c. 



By what were the first two orders characterized ? How are the hands 

 modified or changed in the CARNIVORA, and other orders of MAMMALS? 

 What order stands at the head of four footed animals ? What are their 

 propensities, and have they the power to gratify them ? For what are 

 their teeth and digestive organs adapted ? How many kinds of teeth have 

 they ? Describe them, and spell their names. Ans. Incisors. The fore teeth 

 with sharp cutting edges for cutting or separating the food. Canine teeth 

 are on each side of the incisors. These are very long and prominent in the 

 Carnivora. (See plate IV. fig. 3.) Those in the upper jaw are called eye 

 teeth in the human family. Molars, or grinders are of three kinds ; false 

 molars are more or less pointed, and stand next the canine teeth ; next come 

 the carnivorous teeth, especially adapted for dividing and lacerating muscle, 

 and last the Tuberculated teeth, full of rounded knobs or pimples. Serrated 

 teeth are notched with points like a saw, and show that the animal lives on 

 insects. Trenchant teeth are very sharp and cutting. Granulated teeth are 

 covered with small elevations, or grains. What have Carnivorous animals in 

 common with the first two orders ? In what are they unlike them ? For 

 what are their molar teeth adapted, and what is indicated by their varia- 

 tions ? How can you distinguish by the teeth what food an animal lives 

 upon? How do carnivorous animals generally open and shut their jaws? 

 Have their jaws any side-wise movement ? How many lobes has the brain 

 in animals of this order? What is said of their senses? For what are 

 their feet peculiarly adapted ? Can they sustain long fasts ? Are the intes- 

 tines shorter in Carnivorous than in Herbiverous animals? How are the 

 wisdom and goodness of God shown in the distribution of carnivorous and 

 blood-thirsty animals ? How are the CARNIVORA divided ? 



SECTION IX. 

 I. DIVISION OF THE CARNIVORA. 



SUB-ORDER CHEIROPTERA, (Gr. %SIQ, cheir, hand; itrsgov, pteron, 

 wing.) 



These singular animals combine so much of the character of 

 birds with that of quadrupeds, that it was long thought difficult to 

 assign them a separate arrangement in the system of nature. It 

 is now, however, settled that the structure of their bodies, their 

 viviparous nature, their hair, etc., entitle them to a place among 



