OR, PLAIN 



forwards from the main stem, 

 sometimes with one or two small 

 branches above ; the third year's 

 antlers, 15, 16, have two forward 

 stems, besides the brow antlers, 

 and one or two snags at the top. 

 In subsequent years the stems 

 and snags are more developed. 



536. 



The structure of the feet of 

 ruminantia exhibits a wise adap- 

 tation to the wants of the animals 

 in the different regions which 

 they inhabit. The foot of the 

 camel, 18, which is planted with 

 a heavy downward stamp, and 

 lifted straight up and high, is 

 adapted for treading upon sand. 



537. 



It is furnished underneath with 

 an oval cushion, which, meeting 

 the sand with a dead pressure, 

 has little tendency to sink into 

 it. The extremities of the toes 



teaching. 189 



are fortified by flat nails, which 

 have a very slight resemblance 

 to proper hoofs. These give 

 firmness to the cushion that lies 

 underneath, and whicli also an- 

 swers the purpose of preventing 

 the heated sands from distressing 

 the animal upon its journey. 



The foot of the llama, 17, 

 instead of having the toes united 

 into one padded foot, as is the 

 case with the camel, is distin- 

 guished by having them well 

 separated, each toe having a 

 complete pad. This foot is re- 

 markably well adapted for holding 

 on upon the rough surfaces of 

 rocks and precipices. The llama 

 is a mountaineer, cropping the 

 herbage of elevated ranges, but 

 having sometimes in its wander- 

 ings to cross barren and heated 

 tracts. The feet of the rein-deer, 

 19, 20, are very deeply fissured ; 

 when pressed to the ground they 

 spread, 19, and when raised 

 again they close, 20, sometimes 

 with a smart snap ; the hoofs 

 are round, and the accessory toes 

 are much developed. Here wc 

 see a combination of the foot of 

 the ox, which grazes in humid 

 grassy plains, and the goat, which 

 bounds over rocky mountain 

 heights. The reason is plain ; 

 the deer browses upon lichens 

 or mosses which it finds on the 

 mountains of Lapland ; it has to 

 walk upon deep snows, and the 

 spreading foot is efficacious in 

 preventing its sinking into the 

 snow, while the firm and pointed 

 toes, when the foot is closed, 

 serve to give the animal a firm 

 footing upon the mountain crags. 



The giraffe is a most remarkable 



