MEMOIR OF PENNANT. 



" The breadth, strength, and shortness of the 

 fore-feet, which are inclined sideways, answer the 

 use as well as the form of hands, to scoop out the 

 earth to form its habitation, or to pursue its prey. 

 Had they been longer, the falling in of the earth 

 would have prevented quick repetition of its strokes 

 in working, or have impeded its course. The ob- 

 lique position of the fore-feet has also this advantage, 

 that it flings all the loose soil behind the animal. 



" The form of the body is not less admirably 

 contrived for its way of life : the fore part is thick, 

 and very muscular, giving great strength to the ac- 

 tion of the fore-feet, enabling it to dig its way with 

 amazing force and rapidity, either to pursue its prey 

 or elude the search of the most active enemy. 

 The form of its hind parts, which are small, and ta- 

 per, enables it to pass with great facility through the 

 earth that the fore-feet had flung behind ; for, had 

 each part of the body been of equal thickness, its 

 flight would have been impeded, and its security 

 precarious. 



" The smallness of the eyes (which gave occasion 

 to the ancients to deny it the sense of sight) is to this 

 animal a peculiar happiness ; a small degree of vi- 

 sion is sufficient for an animal ever destined to live 

 under ground. Had these organs been larger, they 

 would have been perpetually liable to injuries, by 

 the earth falling into them ; but Nature, to prevent 

 that inconvenience, hath not only made them very 

 small, but also covered them very closely with fur 



