. The illustrated natural history [microform]. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. , the Nanchal. inlander finds it a t oil, food, weapons, n seas, it has several rom thii'ty to forty ine. NATURAL HISTORY. Order IV. . Oi/fliX—(Lat. Gits, a Dormouse.) Family I. . Murtdte.—(Gr. MSi, « Mouse. Mouse kind.) Sub-family a. Muriiia. Mrs. 103. Decumanus ^Lat. tenth or large), the Bat. We now arrive at the Rodentia, or gnawing animals, so culled from their habit of gnawing through, or paring away, the substances on which they feed. For this purpose their teeth are admirably formed, and by these teeth
. The illustrated natural history [microform]. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. , the Nanchal. inlander finds it a t oil, food, weapons, n seas, it has several rom thii'ty to forty ine. NATURAL HISTORY. Order IV. . Oi/fliX—(Lat. Gits, a Dormouse.) Family I. . Murtdte.—(Gr. MSi, « Mouse. Mouse kind.) Sub-family a. Muriiia. Mrs. 103. Decumanus ^Lat. tenth or large), the Bat. We now arrive at the Rodentia, or gnawing animals, so culled from their habit of gnawing through, or paring away, the substances on which they feed. For this purpose their teeth are admirably formed, and by these teeth it is always easy to ascertain a member of the Rodents. They have none of those sharp teeth called canine, such as are seen in the lions and in tliose animals which seize and destroy living animals, but in the front of each jaw there are two long flat teeth, slightly curved, and having a kind of chisel edge for rasping away wood, or other articles. The constant labour which these teeth (called incisors, from the Latin word, incido, I cut,) undergo, would rapidly wear them away. To coun- teract this loss, the teeth are constantly growing, and being pushed forward, so that as fast as the upper part is worn away, the tooth is replenished from below. So constant is this increase, that when an unfortunate rabbit, or other rodent, has lost one of its incisors, the opposite one, meeting nothing to stop its progress, continually grows, until some- times the tooth curls upwards over the lips, and prevents the wretched animal from eating. An example of this preter- natural growth may be seen in the vignette under the article Rabbit. The sketch was drawn from a specimen lu the Anatomical Museum at Oxford. The Rodentia include the mice, beavers, rabbits, squirrels, and Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booksubjectsciencesn
