JAWS AND TEETH OF HERBIVORA. 



109. 



the muscle. The condyle, or articulating surface of the jaw 

 (c) is received into a deep cavity, constituting a strictly 

 hinge joint, and admitting simply the motions of opening 

 and shutting. 



In herbivorous animals, on the contrary, as may be seen 

 in the skull of the Jintelope^ Fig. 275, the greatest force is 



bestowed, not so much on the motions of opening and shut- 

 ting, as on those which are necessary for grinding, and 

 which act in a lateral direction. The temporal muscles, oc- 

 cupying the space t, are comparatively sm.all and feeble; 

 the condyles of the jaw are broad and rounded, and more 

 loosely connected with the skull by ligafnents; the muscles 

 in the interior of the jaw, which move it from side to side, 

 are very strong and thick; and the bone itself is extended 

 downwards, so as to afford them a broad basis of attachment. 

 The surfaces of the molar teeth are flattened and of great 

 extent, and they are at the same time kept rough, like those 

 of mill-stones, their office being in fact very similar to that 

 performed by these implements for grinding. AH these 

 circumstances of difference are exemplified in the most 

 marked manner, in comparing together the skulls of the 

 larger beasts of prey, as the tiger, the wolf, or the bear, with 

 those of the antelope, the horse, or the ox. 



The Rodentia, or gnawing quadrupeds, which I have al- 

 ready had occasion to notice, compose a well-marked fiimily 

 of Mammalia. These animals are formed for subsisting on 



