24 TALPA. 



If the reader will compare this figure with the skeleton 

 of the bat's hand in cut 5, he will see the two extremes, as 

 to length and breadth, in the development of the bones of the 

 anterior member in the Mammalian class ; yet the analogy 

 of their respective organizations is perfect, and carried out 

 to the least of the component ossicles : the same parts being 

 adapted by different proportions to their very different func- 

 tions. The unity of plan bespeaks the One Great Cause, as 

 the Supreme Wisdom is testified by the perfect fitness of the 

 instruments for their specific end ; nor is the combination 

 of typical conformity, with exact adaptation to the destined 

 function, less manifest in the hand which guides the pen, 

 than in that which moves the Bat through the air and the 

 Mole through the earth. 



The most complete fossil skeleton of the Mole is that, 

 of which the parts are above described, now in the Norfolk 

 and Norwich Museum : it was discovered by Mr. Green.* 



* The specimen, with the bones collocated according to the first notion of their 

 nature, forms the frontispiece to Mr. Green's ' Geology of Barton. 1 



