17 



incisors, sometimes called nippers, are those which, 

 situated in front of the mouth, are seen when the lips 

 are parted. They are the instruments, by means of 

 which the animal bites its food, and are placed six in 

 the upper, and six in the lower jaw. They are 

 classed as pairs, being generally cut or developed 

 after that fashion. The middle two, in both jaws, are 

 called the centre incisors ; the two most backward, on 

 either side of the mouth, the corner incisors ; and the 

 teeth, by which the corners and centres are separated, 

 the lateral incisors. Of the tushes, the two placed in 

 the lower jaw are the most forward. These teeth, 

 which are sometimes termed canines, and sometimes 

 cuspidati, (from cuspis, a point,) are isolated, appear- 

 ing in the space which divides the incisors from the 

 molars. They are only fully developed in the male, 

 the mare often being without any indication of them, 

 and never displaying them in so prominent a degree 

 as the horse. Their use is not very apparent, but 

 they certainly would be employed in those combats 

 to which stallions seem naturally predisposed, and 

 would render the grasp, and the wound it could 

 inflict, more severe. Because the mare is of a more 

 pacific temperament. Nature seems to have denied to 



