
36 
Mouths. 
The mouths of all animals, of every class, which 
prey on the blood or flesh of others, are provided 
with adequate instruments to pierce, to cut, and to 
masticate, or prepare for the stomach their necessary 
food. Those which are destined to seek subsistence 
from vegetable juices possess an equally suitable but 
different formation. Here again we may observe a 
maximum and minimum, with variations between the 
extremes : between the lion, and tiger, and wolf, the 
sloth, the ant-eater, the echidna and ornithoryncus. 
The quadrumana, many cheiroptera, many planti- 
grada, are mixtivorous: their cutting and piercing 
teeth are varied accordingly. These diversities and 
important adaptations afford a basis for scientific 
classification: the detail is duly exhibited in the 
best modern books of natural history. It may here 
suffice to observe, as the formidable array of fangs in 
the mouth of the lion contrasted with the half tooth- 
less sheep and toothless ant-eater; such are the ter- 
rors of the eagle’s beak compared with the flattened 
mandibles of the grazing goose and the pipe-shaped 
sucking bill of the woodcock ; such the terrific jaws 
of the crocodile, to the smooth mouth of the turtle 
and frog; such the serried rows of spikes within 
the mouths of the shark and pike, and the various 
teeth of the anarrichas, or wolf-fish,:to the unarmed 
sucker of the sturgeon, and the soft, leather mouth 
of the carp, the chub, and the gudgeon. The mouths 
of crustacea are not conspicuous; but some are 
armed with more, some with less powerful jaws in 
