140 



THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. IX. 



fit them for devouring live prey, — the claws for seizing and 

 tearing it, — the teeth for cutting and dividing it, — the whole 



Lign. 19. — Skull of a Wild Cat, 



( Felis Canadensis.) 



system of its powers of motion for pursuing and overtaking 

 it, — the organs of sense for discovering it at a distance, — 

 and the brain endowed with the instinct necessary for 

 teaching the animal how to conceal itself, and lay snares for 

 its victims. Such are the general relations of the structure 

 of carnivorous animals, and which every being of this class 

 must indispensably combine in its constitution, or its race 

 cannot exist. But subordinate to these principles, are 

 others connected with the nature and habits of the prey 

 upon which the animal is intended to subsist, and thence 

 result modifications of the details in the forms which 

 arise from the general conditions. Thus, in order that the 

 animal may have the power requisite to carry off its prey, 

 there must be a certain degree of vigour in the muscles 

 which elevate the head ; and thence results a determinate 

 form in the vertebrse or bones from which the.se muscles 

 originate, and in the back of the skull in which they are 

 inserted. That the paws may be able to seize their prey, 

 there must be a certain degree of mobility in the toes, and 



