THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
545 
returned in entire ignorance of what had been described in prose. Yet Addison 
was an intelligent man, whose outfit, partial as it was, far exceeded that of most 
modern travellers. What can be the significance of a visit to the field of 
Waterloo for one who does not know the great events to which this battle was 
the close? What possible interest can Westminster Abbey have to a visitor 
ignorant of all that makes it so significant as the resting-place of England’s 
vanished heroes ? But with guidance no greater than I can hope to furnish 
here, the reader will find that, having something to see with, as well as to look 
at, that which before was wearisome will become the source of active pleasure. 
The Nesodon as yet exists for us only in the shape of skull and teeth, 
but it seems that he must have been a smaller species, more nearly approaching 
the hoofed-animals. 
UNGULATES.—TAPIRS AND RHINOCEROSES. 
We have now reached the order of Hoof Animals, or Ungulates ( Ungu - 
lata). The hoof is hardened and of modified skin, which forms a case for the 
last joint, and serves 
as a substitute for 
the soles or pads 
found in the ele¬ 
phant. The ungu¬ 
lates walk upon the 
ends of their toes, 
and hence the use¬ 
fulness, if not the 
cause, of their con¬ 
formation. The un¬ 
gulates are sub-di¬ 
vided according as 
they have one toe 
or two : those which 
live on dry ground 
having one toe, and 
those which live in 
marshes, two. The 
ungulates illustrate 
the method by which 
these changes are 
brought about in na¬ 
ture. First, in loco¬ 
motion upon ground, 
the middle toe re¬ 
ceived most of the 
burden and developed at the expense of the others, which, as they became more 
and more useless, grew more and more rudimentary. 
The Odd-toed Ungulates (. Perissodactyla ) have the axis passing through 
the third toe (if there be so many as three or more than three). They are large¬ 
sized animals, thick skinned, have sparse if any hair, and their skulls are elon¬ 
gated. The earliest fossil form is called phenacodon , which was succeeded by 
the lophiodontidas and the calicotheriidce. These animals show the reduction 
35 
