Ill 



THE MAMMALIA. 



All Fur Bearing animals suckle their young and con- 

 sequently belong to the class Mammalia, of which Cuvier 

 says: 



"The Mammalia is placed at the head of the animal 

 kingdom, not only because it is the class to which man 

 himself belongs, but also because it is that which enjoys 

 the most numerous faculties, the most delicate sensations, 

 the most varied powers of motion; and in which all the 

 different qualities seem combined in order to produce a 

 more perfect degree of intelligence. It is also the most 

 fertile in resources, most susceptible of perfection, and 

 least the slave of instinct. 



"As their quantity of respiration is moderate Mammals 

 are designed in general for walking on the earth with 

 vigorous and continued steps. The forms of the articu- 

 lations of their skeletons are consequently strictly defined. 



"The upper jaw in all of these animals is fixed to the 

 cranium; the lower is formed of two pieces articu- 

 lated by a projecting condyle to a fixed temporal bone; 

 the neck consists of seven vertebrae, one single species 

 which has nine excepted ; the anterior ribs are attached be- 

 fore, by cartilage, to a sternum consisting of several ver- 

 tical pieces; their anterior extremity commences in a 

 shoulder-blade that is not articulated, but simply sus- 

 pended in the flesh, often resting on the sternum by means 

 of an intermediate bone, called a clavicle. This extremity 

 is continued by an arm, a fore-arm, and a hand, the latter 

 being composed of two ranges of small bones, called the 

 carpus, of another range called the metacarpus, and of 

 the fingers, each of which consists of two or three bones, 

 termed phalanges. 



The hind limb, according to Lydecker, differs from the 

 fore-limb "in that the innominate or haunch-bones which 

 together form the pelvis, are connected by an immovable 

 bony union with the sacral region of the vertebral column. 

 The thigh-bone or femur, corresponding to the humerous 

 of the arm, articulates with a cavity in the innominate 



