478 
SPANISH TOWN. 
holes like the burrows of rabbits, but capacious cells, 
the young requiring room to the right and left of 
the parent to stretch out in the act of lactation. 
The exposed nipples would be liable to be torn by 
prickly shrubs, so abundant in our wastes, if the 
Cony fed in open commons like the wild rabbit. Its 
movements are confined to the provision ground, 
where the herbage is soft and succulent ; and as these 
are ordinarily well-weeded, with clear space for 
running to and fro, however massed and matted the 
vegetation may be, it courses through it without 
much danger of lacerating the teats .... You will 
observe that the nails are quite pointed, and that the 
edges of the under groove are sharp, showing that 
the feet of the Cony move over the ground without 
much wearing and rubbing 
As the capability of the Rodentia to raise objects 
between the fore-paws is determined by the form of 
the clavicles, perfect clavicles not alone enabling 
them to exert them with this effect, but giving them 
the ability to climb trees, the uncertainty respect- 
ing this power in the Indian Cony will be determined 
hereafter by an examination of that part of the 
skeleton. Hares and rabbits, whose clavicles are in- 
complete, have no such power ; they sit on their 
haunches, but they do no more than play with their 
fore-feet ; rats and mice, with perfect clavicles, are 
powerful climbers, and are not without ability to 
use the hands, but their clench is not considerable. 
Squirrels, on the other hand, have the climbing and 
hand-folding capacity in perfection. With these 
researches completed, and with what we have of 
