1902.] HAIR-SLOPE IN MAMMALS. 147 



tissue is very loose, a slide which obviously is impossible in the 

 strongly- flexed position of the corresponding joint of the Ungulate. 



Among Simiadfe numerous groups* adopt a correspondino- 

 habitual attitude of the forearm ; and in Man the habit of restino- 

 this surface against supporting objects is very common, pro- 

 ducing in both cases a similar forward slide. 



IT. Active Habits. — The most noticeable active habits of animals 

 are those of locomotion. A few other habits, of a more varyino- 

 character and less constantly present, will be noted under the 

 different areas involved by them. The habits of locomotion vary 

 in all degrees, from the short step and slow walk of a domestic 

 ass to the amble of a horse, the quick, short trot of an ass the 

 full trot, canter, and gallop of a horse or other large Ungulate. 

 The locomotive habits of the Carnivores are not so noteworthy, 

 and their greater development of the fore-quarters than of the 

 hind-quarters is noteworthy, the fore-limb being largely modified 

 as a weapon of ofience in addition to its locomotive function. 

 The various animals which are now under consideration, with the 

 exception of the Domestic Horse, exercise their locomotive powers 

 according to their own needs. The Horse and its congeners, the 

 Ass and Mule, stand alone in this respect ; the Horse most 

 conspicuously so, for this animal has been produced by man 

 for locomotion just as much, though by different methods, as a 

 locomotive engine has been produced — in each case for the 

 benefit of man himself. The Horse has no other raison d'etre. 

 In this view, then, the Domestic Horse should be the most profit- 

 able of all animals for study under this division of the subject, 

 and it is found to be so. 



Hair-Direction. — The foi-egoing habits of animals, passive and 

 active, are closely I'elated to and shown by certain directions of 

 their hairy coverings, and the latter often point out very clearly 

 both what the animals have done and what they have not done. 

 The direction of the hair may be loosely compared to a cinemato- 

 graph representation of the life of the animal possessing it. 



A. Passive Habits. — The passive habits of an animal in sitting 

 and lying are necessarily shown mainly on the ventral surface 

 of the body. The traces of their habits will be looked for in 

 (1st) the pectoral region, (2nd) the fore-limb, (3rd) the abdomen, 

 (4th) the extensor surface of the hind-limbs, (5th) the gluteal 

 region. 



(1) In the Pectoral region among Carnivores there is seen a 

 marked impression, which corresponds witli the pressure of the 

 flexor surface of the fore-limb as far as this comes in contact with 

 it in lying; and the result is that an area of hair is directed forwards 

 against the genei-al stream of the chest (text-fig. 28, p. 1 48), This is 

 well shown in an ancient sculpture of two Molossian hounds in the 

 Capitol Museum in Rome. In Ungulates this reversed area of 

 hair is also common, but numerous exceptions have been sho'wai to 

 exists In the Domestic Hoi-se this pectoral arrangement is more 



1 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1900, p. 686. 



10* 



