OSSEOUS SYSTEM OF MAMMALIA. 89 



fore-arm, and a conformable degeneracy in the structure of the hand, 

 the clavicle is either totally deficient, or, at most, exists but in a rudiment- 

 ary state, compared with it, as in the Ape and other Mammalia. In 

 the Dog, indeed, whose paws are far removed from hands, the clavicle is 

 extremely small ; and in the Hyaena (an animal decidedly related to the 

 Civets) it is still more rudimentary, being a minute slender bone lodged 

 between the muscles. In the feline group, however, where the arm is a 

 weapon of destruction, and is, consequently, endowed with a certain degree 

 of freedom, the clavicle is rather more developed ; yet in the Lion it is 

 scarcely two inches in length, and is neither joined to the scapula nor 

 sternum. 



The arm and paw of one of the larger of the feline animals is an 

 object deserving the most profound consideration, and appealing to our 

 mind, in the strongest manner, as a proof of design. The strength 

 and solidity of the bones, the dense, voluminous, and strongly marked 

 muscles, are at once apparent. The Lion's arm, stripped of the skin, is, 

 indeed, a fine display of the beau ideal of active, but irresistible power. 

 Descending to minutiae, one of the first things to be noticed is a perfo- 

 ration at the lower part of the humerus near the joint, through which the 

 humeral artery passes, on its way to the fore-arm, instead of running 

 round the bone, above the articulation of the elbow, as is the ordinary 

 course. Some anatomists have supposed, that this passage of the artery, 

 through the perforation in question, is a provision for the security of 

 the vessel against injury, to which it might be peculiarly liable in feline 

 animals, which habitually use their arms with great violence and energy. 

 How this effect can result from such a cause, is not very apparent ; 

 nor does it seem at all clear, that there is any necessity for an especial 

 mode of giving protection to this artery. Besides, the fact is, that this 

 foramen occurs, not only in the humerus of the feline race, but among 

 many other Mammalia also. In the Quadrumana it is occasionally 

 found, especially in the Marmozets and the Lemurs : in the Mole, the 

 Chrysochloris, the Racoon, the Badger, the Hedgehog, the common Seal, 

 the Opossum, the Kangaroo, and the Wombat, it is also met with ; as 

 well as in many of the Rodentia ; the Gerboas, Squirrels, Marmots, 

 &c. The Edentata, with the exception of the three-toed Sloth, and 

 the Megatherium (an extinct animal, known only in a fossil state), 

 exhibit it in a very remarkable manner ; and none more so than 

 the Ornithorhynchus and Echidna. In the Cetacea, the Pachydermata, 

 the Ruminantia, and in Man, the humerus is not perforated, and the artery 

 passes round the bone. It would appear, that the passage of the artery, 

 through a foramen of the humerus, results, simply, from the extensive 

 development of the inferior extremity of that bone a development, which 

 gradually takes place with the progress of ossification, but which, far 



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