MAMMIFEROUS ANIMALS. 2/ 



that they receive their nourishment. This contains 

 the teeth, which in most of the Mammaha are used 

 not only for the n.astication of their food, but as wea- 

 pons of offence. They are inserted into two movea- 

 ble bones called the upper and under jaw. The front 

 teeth whose oflice it is to cut, are wedge-shaped, and 

 so placed that in action their sharp edges are brought 

 into contact, and thus divide tiie aliment. — Next to 

 these, on each side, are situated the canine-teeth or 

 tusks. They are longer than the other teeth, conical 

 and pointed, but the points do not directly meet on 

 closing the m.outh. Their use is to tear the food. — 

 The teeth in the back of the jaw, between which the 

 food is masticated, are called grinders. In aninials 

 that live on vegetables, these are flattened at the 

 top, but in carnivorous animals their upper surfaces 

 are furnished with sharp conically pointed protube- 

 rances. From the numbers, form, and disposition of 

 the teeth, the various genera of quadrupeds have 

 been arranged. 



The nose is a cartilaginous body pierced with two 

 holes called nostrils. In some animals this is promi- 

 nent, in others fiat, compressed, turned upwards, or 

 bent downwards. In beasts of prey it is often either 

 longer than the lips, or of equal length with them. 

 In a few animals it is elongated into a moveable trunk 

 or proboscis, and in one tribe, the Rhinoceros, it is 

 armed with an horn. 



The eyes of quadrupeds are for the most part de- 

 fended by moveable eye-lids, whose outer margins 

 are furnished with hairs, called eye-lashes. The open-- 

 i|ig of the pupil is in general circular, but in some 

 gnimals, as Cats and Plarcs, it is contracted into a 



