364 THE MECHANICAL FUNCTIONS. 



back (as represented in Fig. 219,) contracted into a thick 

 oval disk, of which the fibres are much accumulated at the 

 circumference. From the edges of this disk there pass 



down auxiliary muscles towards the lower parts of the body; 

 the action of which nyiscles tends to draw the skin down- 

 wards, and to coil it over the head and paws, in the manner 

 shown in Fig. 220, like the closing of the mouth of a great 

 bag. 



§ 10. Carnivora, 



The type of the Mammalia may be considered as having 

 attained its full development in the carnivorous tribes, which 

 comprehend the larger beasts of prey. As their food is ani- 

 mal, they acquire a less complicated apparatus for digestion 

 than herbivorous quadrupeds, possess greater activity and 

 strength, and enjoy a greater range of sensitive and intel- 

 lectual faculties. In accordance with these conditions, we 

 may notice the greater expansion of their brain, the su- 

 perior acuteness of their senses, and their enormous mus- 

 cular power. The trunk of the body is lighter than that 

 of vegetable feeders, especially in the abdominal region, 

 and is compressed laterally: the spine is more pliant and 

 elastic,* the limbs have greater freedom of motion, the ex- 

 tremities are more subdivided, and they are armed with 



* The suppleness of the spine might at once be inferred, on the simple in- 

 spection of the skeleton, from the circumstance that the vertebrae of the 

 neck and loins have a comparatively small development of their spinous pro- 

 cesses. 



