RUMINANT QUADRUPEDS. 317 



lowers its head, and gives considerable assistance to the mus- 

 cles in raising it. In the deer and the ox, which toss tiieir 

 heads with force, and especially in the males, which are 

 armed with antlers or horns, the muscles performing those 

 motions are remarkably strong, and the spinous processes of 

 the back particularly prominent. In the loins, on the con- 

 trary, we find the transverse processes more enlarged, for 

 the purpose of giving a powerful mechanical purchase to the 

 muscles which are inserted into them. 



The chest of ruminant quadrupeds is compressed laterally, 

 in order to allow room for the unrestrained motions of the 

 anterior extremity; and the sternum projects so as to resem- 

 ble the keel of a ship. The bones of the anterior extremity 

 are not joined to the rest of the skeleton by means of any 

 bone corresponding to a clavicle; but they are connected 

 with the spine and ribs only by ligaments and muscles; so 

 that the fore part of the trunk is, in fact, suspended between 

 the limbs by its muscular attachments alone. This is not 

 the case with the hind extremities; for their bones commence 

 with the pelvis, which proceeds backwards from the sacrum, 

 but with a considerable inclination downwards, and has a 

 deep hemispherical cavity for the lodgement of the round 

 head of the thigh bone. The lengthened forms of the iliac 

 bones, and, also, of the scapula, provide for the application 

 of muscles of considerable length, which are, consequently, 

 capable of communicating to the parts they move a greater 

 veloc^y than could 4iave been effected by muscles of equal 

 strength, but witl:^horter fibres. 



Both the humerus in front, and the femur behind, are so 

 short as to appear, on a superficial view, to form part of the 

 trunk, being entirely enveloped and concealed by the large 

 muscles connecting them with the body. The heads of the 

 two humeri, in consequence of the absence of the clavicle, 

 are brought very near each other, so as to occupy a situation 

 as nearly as possible underneath the weight which the limb 

 has to support. 



The radius and ulna, which are the two bones of the fore 



, 



