PLACE IN NATURE 
contains all the nutriment of the original, but is freed from its large pro- 
portion of useless, innutritious matter, discarded as waste. It is therefore 
in condition to be eaten again and support another animal; and so two 
may exist where one lived before. Moreover, the second consumer will 
have the advantage of using the material in a far more compact and refined 
condition. A lion can swallow in five minutes the elaborated equivalent 
in nourishment of what it had taken the antelope all day to gather. The 
better the food, the better the animal; and this is one good reason why the 
carnivores as a-class are superior to the herbivores. 
The other way in which the arrangement serves the economy of nature 
is that the beasts of prey, in catering to their appetites, really serve also the 
interests of the other half of the animal world by keeping the ever growing 
population of vegetable eaters within proper bounds, so that the ratio of 
numbers to food supply is maintained. Without some such check all the 
small rodents, not to speak of the antelopes, deer, etc., would so swarm in 
a few seasons as speedily to destroy the herbage and foliage of the world, 
and bring poverty to all and starvation to many. An idea of what would 
happen may be gained by recalling the way the rabbits have overrun 
Australia, where they had little to fear from ‘‘nature’s police.” 
It is evident that the practice of gaining a living by preying 
upon live creatures, perhaps protected by an armor, or secretly 
hidden, or able to escape swiftly, or to defend themselves vigor- 
ously, calls for an organization very different from that of 
animals with nothing to do but to crop herbage peacefully, 
gather leaves and fruit, or dig for unresisting roots. This 
difference is most strikingly shown in the teeth, which here 
are adapted to seizing, holding, biting, and cutting, in contrast 
to the nibbling and grinding requirements of herbivorous 
animals. The characteristic features of the dentition in the 
Carnivora are the length and strength of the canines, and the 
angular, knife-edged form of the cheek teeth; while the incisors 
are small and feeble, useful for little more than to scrape a 
bone. On the other hand the canine, of little importance in 
other groups, here becomes of prime importance, — 
a dagger and hook in one, — an instrument by which 
both to disable and to hold the prey. Naturally it is most fully 
83 
Dentition. 
