490 MAMMALIA. 



ders 1^ ; total 2*. Cutting teeth very strong, thick, and short, 

 the upper ones converging at their tips ; grinders separated from 

 the incisors by a vacant space; crowns oval, flat, separated into 

 two by a groove ; body thick ; head large, flat ; ears short ; feet 

 with five toes ; claws of the fore feet strong ; thumbs of the 

 hind feet small, indistinct, and without claws ; tail short, scarce- 

 ly visible. Female with an abdominal pouch. 



Phascolomijs wombat The Wombat Plate XV*. fig. 3. 



— Fur uniform grayish ; eyes small. Size of a badger. In- 

 habits New Holland. 



ORDER VI.— RODENTIA. — CuviER. 



Glires. — Linnceus. 



Two large incisors in each jaw, separated from the grinders 

 by a vacant space ; destitute of canine teeth ; grinders in some 

 of the genera with flat or ridged crowns, in others with blunt 

 tubercles. Under jaw articulated by a longitudinal condyle ; 

 orbits not separated from the temporal fossae, having a small 

 zygomatic arch ; toes variable ; nails unguiculated ; stomach 

 simple; intestines long; csecum large; mammae varying in 

 number. Feed generally on vegetables, but the species with 

 tuberculated grinders are nearly omnivorous. Their habits are 

 various, but generally timid. Inhabit the Continents and larger 

 Islands. 



Section I — With perfect clavicles. 



Genus 1. — Castor. — Linnceus. 



Generic Characivr. — Incisory teeth |, no canines, grinders 

 4Z4 ' ^°^^^ 2*^- Incisory teeth very strong, with a flat anterior 

 surface, and the posterior angular. The grinders have a fold, 

 or ridge of enamel, on the internal edge, and three similar folds 

 on the outer edge of the upper teeth, which are inverted in the 

 lower ones ; eyes small ; eais short and round ; each of the feet 

 have five toes ; the anterior short and close, and the posterior 

 longer and palmated ; tail large, flat, and scaly ; near the root 

 of the tail in the male, is a pouch filled with an unctuous secre- 

 tion. 



Castor Jiber.—T HZ Beaver. — Plate XV". fig. I.— Described^ 

 vol. II. p. 381. 



