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of this class, as the rhinoceros, armadillo, scaly 

 ant-eater, c., assuming the form of hard plates, 

 like those of the crocodile and alligator. It is of 

 the corpus mucosum, also, that are constituted, 

 in some few, as the duck-billed animal, a perfect 

 bill; and, in the greater number, the hair, fur, wool, 

 bristles, quills, &c., with some one or other of 

 which their bodies are covered ; as well as the 

 horns, claws, hoofs, &c., with which many of 

 them are furnished. The cutis, lying under this, 

 is, in all, the organ of touch ; which is most acute 

 in the duck-billed animal, upon the bill ; in the 

 carnivorous tribes, at the root of the whiskers ; in 

 those with moveable snouts, as the mole, hog and 

 elephant, upon this organ ; in the bat, upon the 

 membrane between their fingers, commonly cal- 

 led their wings ; and in most of the Glires, as the 

 squirrel, as well as in apes and other animals of 

 this description, at the tips of the fingers ; since 

 it is in these organs respectively that the papillae 

 are most abundant. It is unnecessary to point 

 out how admirably this corresponds with the ha- 

 bits of each of these animals : and the delicacy 

 of touch which some of them enjoy in the organs 

 in question is wonderful an elephant, for exam- 

 ple, being able to distinguish by the tip of its 

 trunk, between the most minute objects, and a 

 bat being capable, though deprived of the use of 

 its eyes and ears, to direct its rapid flight through 

 the most intricate places, the touch alone of its 

 membranous wings sufficiently apprising it of the 



