Western field . other classesin the animal world. Deformities are mostvaried in character there, and as man him-self belongs to the vertebrate series, a care-ful study of a deformed ape, lemur, or lionwould mean more to him, everything elsebeing equal, than it would to investigate adouble ear of corn, or a double daisy. Very recently my attention has been calledto the case of a deformity of the teeth in arabbit, and also in the beak of a cock pheas-ant (Phasiamus colchicus). These speci-mens were both mounted by my friend andcorrespondent, Mr. H. H. ter Meer Jr., thetalented taxidermist of the
Western field . other classesin the animal world. Deformities are mostvaried in character there, and as man him-self belongs to the vertebrate series, a care-ful study of a deformed ape, lemur, or lionwould mean more to him, everything elsebeing equal, than it would to investigate adouble ear of corn, or a double daisy. Very recently my attention has been calledto the case of a deformity of the teeth in arabbit, and also in the beak of a cock pheas-ant (Phasiamus colchicus). These speci-mens were both mounted by my friend andcorrespondent, Mr. H. H. ter Meer Jr., thetalented taxidermist of the Leyden Museum,Leyden, Holland. After having been thusprepared he made photographs of the speci-mens and sent them to me in a letter (No-vember 19, 1904). Reproductions of thesephotographs iliustrato the present article, 1having received the kind permission of Meer to publish them. He points out inhis letter that in the case of the rabbit, theleft incisor tooth of the lower jaw was miss- 152 WESTERN FIELD. RABBIT WITH DEFORMED TEETH. ing, while its companion was greatly elon-gated and projected much beyond the upper incisors curved backward intothe cavity of the mouth. As is usually thecase, this poor animal was nearly starvedand could not have lived much longer. Itwas shot in the Dutch Province of Gelder-land. The cause of these dental deformitiesin rodents is well known, and examples areby no means uncommon among rabbits,hares, beavers, squirrels and their variousWn in this country. If anything such as aninjury to or a loss of any one of the incisorsin these animals chances to occur, so thatthe cutting edges of these teeth are no longerkept ground down by the normal wearingaway of their opposed surfaces, the remain-ing tooth or teeth, having nothing lo preventits or their continued growth, will in timecurl backward into the mouth cavity, orshoot out beyond it, or pierce the roof andeventually enter the brain above, but surely,sooner or later, destroy the life
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectsports, bookyear1902
