432 



ORDER CARNIVORA. FLESH-EATING ANIMALS. 



-" The Tiger darting fierce 



Impetuous on the prey his glance has doom'd ; 



The lively, shining Leopard, sparkled o'er 



With many a spot, the beauty of the waste, 



And scorning all the taming arts of man." THOMSON. 



IN this order Cuvicr included insect-eating animals, whether 

 like the Bat they pursued their prey in the air, or like the 

 Hedgehog sought for it on the earth. But each of the animals 

 just named is now the representative of a distinct order, and 

 the term carnivora is restricted to those which live principally 



upon the flesh of other verte- 

 brate animals, and in popular 

 language are termed beasts of 

 prey. 



Taking the family of the 

 Tiger as that in which the 

 characteristics of the order 

 are most fully developed, we 

 find strong retractile claws, 

 and teeth (Fig. 325) emi- 

 Fig. 325. TEETH OF A CARNIVOROUS nently fitted for cutting and 

 ANIMAL - tearing flesh. In that of the 



Bear, the light elastic step has given place to a heavy gait,* 

 and the teeth are adapted for a diet consisting partly of flesh 

 and partly of vegetables. In the seals, which are aquatic 

 carnivora, the body is fish-shaped, and the extremities are 

 modified in form, and present the appearance of paddles, fitted 

 to propel the animals with velocity through the water, in 

 pursuit of their finny prey. 



The order presents, therefore, great diversity of form among 

 its members, and includes a considerable number of species. 

 They amount, according to Berghaus and Johnston, to 239, 



* They walk upon the sole of the foot ; and the term Plantigrade, 

 planta, a sole, gradus, a step, has therefore been applied to all which prog 

 in that manner. The cat and others walk on the extremities of the to 

 and are hence grouped under the term Digitigrade, Lat. digitus, a fing 

 gradus, a step. 



