MAMMALIA. 35 



faries. They thus are enabled in various ways to elude or refift the force of enemies, 

 by fighting, biting, tearing, kicking, finking, running, leaping, climbing, and digging ; 

 or by fwimming, flying, urining, {linking, roaring, and terrifying. 



The inftruments for maftication of food are the teeth, which are of three kinds : The 

 fore teeth, which are fometimes in the form of comprefled wedges, and called incifors ; 

 thefe ferve for plucking, gnawing, and cutting the food : The tufks are longer than the 

 other teeth, their form is conical and pointed, and they have no oppofues which direct- 

 ly meet them on clofing the mouth ; their ufe is for tearing the food : The grinders, 

 or back teeth, are of a broad form for chewing the food ; thefe, in animals which live 

 on vegetables, are obtufe, and in carnivorous animals are furnilhed with {harp conically 

 pointed protuberances on their upper furfaces. The Ant-eaters and Manis alone, of all 

 the clafs, have no teeth. 



The tails of animals are compofed of an elongation and multiplication of the latter 

 vertebrae of the back, and ferve for concealing the unclean parts : In a few animals, 

 as in Man, fome of the Apes, and a few of the Murine tribe, this is wanting ; in fome 

 it is fhort, in which cafe it is only the length of the thigh, or fhorter, as in the Hare, 

 Satyr, Mole, and Urchin ; in others it is long, being at leaft the length of the leg down 

 to the feet, as in Dogs, Mice, and others ; it is fometimes naked, as in Mice; or pre- 

 henfile, that is, capable of lapping round an object and ferving the purpofe of a fifth 

 hand, as in fome fpecies of the Ape, Porcupine, and Opoffum ; fometimes it is covered 

 with flowing hair, as in the Horfe and Ox; fometimes tufted, the extremity being ihaped 

 like a brulh, as in the Sea Lion and Jerboa ; or, laftly, it is filed laterally, both fides 

 being hairy, as in the Squirrel and Ant-eater. 



The fenfes of animals are intended as guardians for protecting them from danger :— 

 The external ears, which are wanting in aquatic animals, are either rounded, or oval, 

 or pointed, or fharp, or divided ; and are erect, or pendulous : — The pupils of the eyes 

 are either round, for ufing during the day ; or contracted into a line, which is either 

 tranlverfe or vertical, for nocturnal ufe ; in fome there is a memkrana nidiians, to pre- 

 ferve the eyes from the glare of light without {hutting the eye-lids ; all have moveable 

 eye-brows ; in man and apes both eye- lids are moveable, but in mod: of the reft the 

 upper eye-lid only is capable of being moved : — The nofe is either compreffed, flatten- 

 .ed, crooked upwards, or bifid ; or, it may be fliorter than the lips, as in Apes ; a little 

 longer, as in mofl of the order of Ferae ; or it is elongated into a probokis, or flexible 

 cartilaginous trunk, as in the Elephant ; the noftrils are either oval or rounded : — The 



E 2 tongue 



