334 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



prolonged vertically, till in certain positions they are capable of 

 being applied to the ground ; thus adding to the circumference 

 and sustaining power of the foot, a structure which, by giving 

 the animal a broader base to stand upon, prevents it from 

 sinking too deeply into the snow, and thus greatly facilitates its 

 movements. A formation precisely analogous in the buffalo 

 seems to point to a corresponding design. The ox, whose life is 

 spent on firm ground, has the bones of the foot so constructed 

 as to afford the most solid support to an animal of its great 

 weight ; but in the buffalo, which delights in the morasses on 

 the margin of pools and rivers, the foot has a construction 

 similar to that of the reindeer. The toes spread apart widely 

 on touching the ground; the hoofs are flattened and broad, 

 with the extremities turned upwards ; and the false hoofs 

 behind descend, till they make a clattering sound as the animal 

 walks. 



The cloven form of the hoof is attended with the additional 

 advantage of aiding the voluntary elevation of the foot when 

 it has sunk deeply into soft ground. 'We may observe,' says 

 Sir Charles Bell, ' how much more easily the cow withdraws 

 her foot from the yielding margin of a river than the horse. 

 The round and concave form of the horse's foot is attended 

 with a vacuum or suction as it is withdrawn, while the split 

 and conical-shaped hoof expands in sinking, and is easily ex- 

 tricated.' 



The elastic sole-pads with which several of the ruminants are 

 furnished afford likewise a most striking example of the adap- 

 tation of structure to the exigencies of the creature. It is this 

 formation which enables the chamois to execute its prodigious 

 leaps on a rocky ground, which would dash the hard hoof of the 

 horse to pieces, and permits the camel to travel with peculiar 

 ease and security over dry, stony, and sandy regions. 



In this animal the digits are more or less completely embedded 

 in a broad elastic cushion, which extends, for a considerable dis- 

 tance laterally, on either side of the foot, binding and fixing the 

 toes immoveably together; while the hoofs are merely repre- 

 sented by two rudimentary nails, situated on the dorsal surface 

 of the tip of each toe. 



The llamas are similarly provided with a sole-pad, but here 

 it is double and narrow, each division being limited to one side 



