Prof. Owen on the Class Mammalia. 193 
ie horny matter. This substance forms a single plate, in the 
shape of a claw or nail, which is applied to only one of the sur- 
faces of the extremity of the digit, leaving the other, usually 
the lower, surface possessed of its tactile faculty ; whence the 
extended the term. All the species are ‘diphyodont,’ and the 
teeth have a simple investment of enamel. 
The first order, CaRNIVoRA, includes the beasts of prey, prop- 
erly so called. With the exception of a few Seals, the incisors 
ares in number; the canines ;=, always longer than the 
oe) both fore and hind feet are short, and expanded into 
tered by continuation of integument to the tail. In the Planti- 
— (Bear-tribe) the whole or nearly the whole of the hind 
t forms a sole, and rests ondhe ground. In the Digitigrades 
(Catribe, Dog-tribe, &c.) only the toes touch the ground, the 
heel ing much raised. ’ 
t has been usual to place the Plantigrades at the head of the 
Carnivora, apparently because the higher order, Quadrumana, is 
Planti grad 
late © next perfection which is superinduced upon partie 
limb is such a modification in the size, shape, position, an 
thumb, to th ry ’ <i e hae 36 prvporl 
tin. € other digits, thus constituting what is property 
eda ‘hand.’ Those Unguiculates which have both fore 
Catalogue of the Physiolooj mt R. Coll. of Surgeons, 4to, vol. ii, 
siological Series, Mus. R. C ¥ 
of thee 127, Mr, Watethoune in noticing the projecting process on ne. side 
Famus, a little in advance of the angle of the lower jaw in the Urside, ad 
pe ~“The same character is also found in many Seals (Phocide), which in seve- 
— respects appear to approach the bears.” —Proc. Zool, Soc., Sept. 1839. 
8 
ReOND SERIES, VOL. XXV, NO. 74.—MARCH, 1888. ‘ 
25 
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