ON ZOOLOGY. 119 



parts, to secure the due effects which this very 

 important part of the animal economy was in- 

 tended to produce. 



Having taken a general view of the organs of 

 nourishment, and of the propensities which lead 

 to their being called into action, we think it right 

 you should be informed, that these in different 

 animals are variously modified, according to their 

 habits, and to the food to which they give the 

 preference. 



Thus in land carnivorous animals, as the obtain- 

 ing of their food is often precarious, and when 

 taken is frequently swallowed in large proportions, 

 nature has given them not only active stomachs, but 

 also voracious appetites, which lead them to tear 

 their food to pieces, and to swallow it almost in- 

 stantaneously. For this purpose, besides possess- 

 ing very powerful claws to seize and retain their 

 prey, they have in each jaw, six canine or sharp 

 tearing teeth, and on each side a fang ; their sto- 

 machs being peculiarly thick and highly muscular; 

 and this, with an active gastric secretion, causes 

 even very hard bones to be quickly digested. A 

 rapid return of hunger is the necessary conse 

 quence ; and as their supplies are often precarious, 

 it renders even tame carnivorous animals greedy of 

 their food, and those in a wild slate, in the high- 

 est degree ferocious and blood-thirsty. 



Graminivorous animals, on the contrary, or 

 those which live entirely upon a vegetable diet 



