MASTICATION. 109 



The canine teeth are of enormous size and strength, 

 tapering gradually to a sharp point, and turned inward 

 for the purpose of holding whatever they grasp, like a 

 pair of hooks. 



313. They also pass each other in such a manner, as 

 when once fixed, to render it impossible for the victim to 

 escape without leaving the included part within the jaws of 

 the animal. . 



314. The molar teeth, instead of being rounded and 

 blunt on the crown for grinding, are armed with pointed 

 projections which correspond in the opposite jaws, so as 

 exactly to lock into each other like the teeth of a steel 

 trap, when the mouth is closed. All the muscles which 

 close the jaws are of enormous size and power, so that 

 their action imprints the bones of the scull and jaws with 

 deep impressions. The coridyle, or articulating surface 

 of the jaw, c, is received into a deep cavity, constituting 

 strictly a hinge-joint, which has no grinding motion, but 

 is confined to that of opening and shutting, like a pair of 

 huge forceps. r 



315. Teeth of the Antelope. As an example of the 

 herbivorous animals, the scull of an antelope is represented 

 by Fig. 77. In this animal, the lower jaw is furnished 



Fig. 77- 



with eight cutting teeth, the upper having none. There is 

 no canine teeth in either jaw. . The grinders have ex- 

 tended flat surfaces, fit only to reduce tender substances 

 to a pulpy mass. The temporal muscle attached at t, 



Describe the most remarkable parts of the masticating apparatus in the 

 tiger. 



10 



