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THE MAMMALS OF THE WOODS 



colour, according to species, age, time of year, and climate. Some of them, the 

 ungulates, for instance, have only one kind of hair ; others, on the contrary, such 

 as the heaver and the marten, have two kinds— the upper or contour hair, which 

 is long and wiry, and the under-fur, which is short, soft, and sometimes shows a 

 tendency to felt. In certain species, or on certain parts, stiff wiry hairs are dis- 

 tinguished by their peculiar colour, length and thickness, and are called bristles ; in 

 others there is no hair at all, or only on certain parts of the body, where it may be 

 thicker and of a different texture in one place than in another. A few are pro- 

 vided with scales or horny plates, and some again, such as rhinoceroses, are 

 characterised by one or more horns of a peculiar type. The nails with which the 

 tips of the toes are provided are of a horny substance, and vary according to 

 the group. They may be flat, broad, and rounded in front, or long, narrow, blunt, 

 and arched ; they are called claws when they cover the whole toe-tip and are curved, 

 compressed, long, and pointed, and hoofs when they are blunt and short and 

 invest the toe like a shoe. The number of toes is frequently correlated with the 

 shape of the nails ; many mammals have five fingers or toes on the fore and hind 

 limbs, whilst the horse, for instance, has only one toe on each foot. 



The number and shape of the toes are of great importance in the classification 

 of mammals, but the number and conformation of the teeth are more important 

 still. The teeth, implanted in the jaws, differ greatly in form, size, number, 

 and position, according to the food and general habits of the various species. 

 Sometimes they are wanting, but in most cases they are arranged in distinct 

 groups, and named according to their function ; their structure and arrangement 

 proving how very different is the mode of life in the various families. Scarcely 

 less varied is the manner in which the mammals are distributed over the face of 

 the earth. Although whales are to be found in all seas, and bats in all countries, 

 other representatives of the class are confined to a remarkably limited range — as, 

 for instance, the egg-laying, or oviparous, mammals of Australia and New Guinea. 



Mammalia are commonly divided into three subclasses— placentals, marsupials, 

 and egg-layers. The first alone is represented in Europe ; its chief character- 

 istic being the existence of a complete placenta, by means of which the blood of 

 the mother circulates through the foetus in the uterus, though a more or less 

 well-developed placenta exists in certain marsupials. The group is more 

 numerously represented than the other two, and comprises the great majority 

 of the class, among them being the ungulates, or hoofed mammals. 



As the name indicates, the typical ungulates have the tips of the toes 

 encased in hoofs ; in some cases they may have broad blunt nails, but never claws. 

 Exceptionally five toes may exist on one foot, but there are more commonly four, 

 of which, however, two are often rudimentary or even wanting. The typical 

 ungulates have a very wide range, being represented all over the world, except 

 Australia. They are subdivided into two suborders, those with an even 

 number of toes, and those with an odd number. To the first (Artiodactyla) belong 

 such as have no first toe, and the other toes formed in such a manner as to present, 

 in their fullest development, a middle pair, of which the two components are of 

 equal size and symmetrical to one another, and an outer smaller pair, also of equal 

 size, so that the line between the middle pair divides the foot into halves. 



