478 SPANISH TOWX. 



holes like the burrows of rabbits, but capacious cells, 

 the young requiring room to the right and left of 

 the parent to stretch out in the act of lactation. 

 The exposed nipples would be liable to be torn by 

 prickly shrubs, so abundant in our wastes, if the 

 Cony fed in open commons like the wild rabbit. Its 

 movements are confined to the provision ground, 

 where the herbage is soft and succulent ; and as these 

 are ordinarily well-weeded, with clear space for 

 running to and fro, however massed and matted the 

 vegetation may be, it courses through it without 

 much danger of lacerating the teats .... You will 

 observe that the nails are quite pointed, and that the 

 edges of the under groove are sharp, showing that 

 the feet of the Cony move over the ground without 



much wearing and rubbing 



" As the capability of the Rodentia to raise objects 

 between the fore-paws is determined by the form of 

 the clavicles, perfect clavicles not alone enabling 

 them to exert them with this effect, but giving them 

 the ability to climb trees, the uncertainty respect- 

 ing this power in the Indian Cony will be determined 

 hereafter by an examination of that part of the 

 skeleton. Hares and rabbits, whose clavicles are in- 

 complete, have no such power; they sit on their 

 haunches, but they do no more than play with their 

 fore-feet ; rats and mice, with perfect clavicles, are 

 powerful climbers, and are not without ability to 

 use the hands, but their clench is not considerable. 

 Squirrels, on the other hand, have the climbing and 

 hand-folding capacity in perfection. With these 

 researches completed, and with what we have of 



