Chambers's encyclopaedia; a dictionary of universal knowledge for the people . g-link between this familyand the MustelidcB or Weasel and Otter family. To the Skunks(q. v.), which are ranked in that family, the badgers have a partic-ularly strong resemblance, and their dentition and habits are al-most the same. The dentition of badgers differs from that of bearschiefly in the large size of the tuberculous molar teeth at the bot-tom of each jaw, showing a still greater adaptation to vegetablefood. Badgers, like the rest of the family to which they belong,are plantigrade, i. e., they walk on the
Chambers's encyclopaedia; a dictionary of universal knowledge for the people . g-link between this familyand the MustelidcB or Weasel and Otter family. To the Skunks(q. v.), which are ranked in that family, the badgers have a partic-ularly strong resemblance, and their dentition and habits are al-most the same. The dentition of badgers differs from that of bearschiefly in the large size of the tuberculous molar teeth at the bot-tom of each jaw, showing a still greater adaptation to vegetablefood. Badgers, like the rest of the family to which they belong,are plantigrade, i. e., they walk on the wliole sole of the foot, andnot merely on the fore part of it. The body is thus broughtnearer to the ground than it otherwise would be from their lengthof limb. The head is long, with a pointed muzzle, the tail short,the skin very thick and tough, the hair long. The gait is slow, thehabits nocturnal and solitary. There are five toes on each, bothof the fore and hind feet, and the feet are peculiarly adapted fordigging and bmTOwing. A peculiar characteristic of the BADIA-Y-LEBLICH—BAER. 451 not fouiul in any other quadrupeds of the same family, is tlie pos-session of a bag, beneatli the tail, for the secretion of a jieculiarsubstance, of a disajjreeable odor, which is supjiosed to be of usein directing tlie sexes to eacli otiier in tlieir solitary wanderings.—The connnon B. {M. Taxm or M. vulgaru) is the only quadrupedof the Bear family now found iu the Britisb islands. It is widely
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidchamberssenc, bookyear1888
