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CHAPTER I 



STRUCTURAL PECULIARITIES AND ANATOMICAL NOTES 



THE Camel belongs to the order of Kuminants, which 

 is the most useful to man, the marked structural 

 peculiarities of which are (1) cloven hoofs, (2) act of 

 rumination, (3) absence of incisors ; but it is in their 

 dental and osteological formation (in the feet particu- 

 larly) that they differ from other animals of the order, 

 and are similar to pachyderms ; in fact, it would appear 

 that they form a connecting link between the two 

 orders. V. S. Steel says : ' As readily recognisable 

 instances of their differing from ordinary ruminants 

 the fact of their having incisor teeth in the upper jaw, 

 the possession of canine teeth both in the upper and 

 lower jaw, and the presence of two pre -molars in the 

 upper and two in lower may here be mentioned. The 

 wedge-shape teeth of the lower jaw are evidently 

 adapted for browsing on shrubby plants, and their 

 dental arrangement altogether indicates that they are 

 naturally herbivorous.' 



The general appearance of this order is graceful General 

 and symmetrical such as the deer aiid antelope but 

 the camel and the giraffe (which is even more distorted 

 and disproportionate) are among the few with clumsy 

 proportions. The limbs of the camel are not only 

 ungainly, but out of proportion. His angularities 



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