THE 



ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



THE FIRST CLASS OF THE VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 



MAMMALIA— MAN AND BEASTS— Continued. 



THE CARNASSIERS OF CUVIER. 



SYNONYMS. 



Les Carnassiers Cuv. Reg. Anim. I. 110. 



Carnassiers Ham. Smith, Syn. p. 53. 



Fer/E, (Raubtliiere.) — Voigt. Thierr. I. 105. 



Carnivora, (Fleischfressende Thiere.) — Scliiuz Thierr. 1. 150. 



The Carnassiers form a large and varied group of unguiculated and elevated, to give more volume and strength to the muscles of 



Mammalia, possessing three kinds of teeth, like Man and the Qua- the jaw. The sense of smelling is most perfectly developed in 



drumana, but having no opposable thumbs on the fore extremities. them, and their pituitary membrane is generally extended over 



They (all) feed on animal substances, and more exclusively in pro- very numerous bony laminae. The fore-arm can still rotate in 



portion as their molars are more trenchant. Those which have their mos t of them, although with less facility than in the Quadrumana, 



molar teeth partly tuberculous feed more or less also upon vege- and they never have thumbs on the fore-limbs capable of opposing 



table substances, and those having them studded with conical points the fingers. Their intestines are not capacious, on account of the 



derive their subsistence chiefly from Insects. The articulation of substantial nature of their food, and to avoid the putrefaction which 



the lower jaw, directed crosswise, and compressed like a hinge, ad- fl es h would undergo from remaining too long in an elongated canal, 

 mits of no horizontal movement, and confines the motion of the jaw j n other respects, their forms, and the details of their organiza- 



to opening and shutting. tion, vary much, and draw along with them corresponding variations 



The cerebrum, still rather furrowed, has no third lobe, and, as in their modes of life, to such an extent that it becomes impossible 



in the succeeding divisions, does not cover the cerebellum. Their to arrange the genera in one group. It becomes necessary to form 



orbits are not separated in the skeleton from the temporal fossae. several families, which are differently related to each other, accord- 



The cranium is narrowed, and the zygomatic arches are remote ing to these multiplied variations. 



M. Cuvier accordingly divides his Carnassiers into the families of Cheiropteres, Insectivores, Carnivores, &c. ; but as there are many and 

 strong objections to this arrangement, as he himself was aware, we prefer adopting the views of other first rate authorities, and consider 

 the Chiroptera as a distinct order. 



OEDEK IIL-CHIROPTERA. 



MAMMALIA WITH FOUR DISTINCT UNGUICULATED LIMBS ; THREE KINDS OF TEETH ; NO MARSUPIAL 

 BONES ; THE LIMBS UNITED ON EACH SIDE BY A MEMBRANE. 



SYNONYMS. 



Chiropteres ou Alip^des Dum. Zool. Anal. p. 11. 



Les Cheiropteres Cuv. Reg. Anim. I- 111 Desm. Mam. p. 107. 



Chiroptera and Galeopithecus Fisch. Syn. Mam Temm. Mon. Mam. I. pref. 



Primates, (in part.) — Linn. Gmel. I. 

 Volitantia, (Flatterfusser.) — Illig. Prodr. 116. 



CHARACTERS OF THE ORDER. 



General Form adapted for flight or vaulting. 



Membranes extending between the four limbs and the ringers of the anterior pair. 



The Mamm.e pectoral, cote libera pendulo. 



The Clavicles very strong. The Shoulder-blades broad. 



The Fore- Arm incapable of rotation. 



