Outlines of comparative anatomy : intended principally for the use of students / by Andrew Fyfe.

  • Fyfe, Andrew, 1754-1824.
Date:
1818
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of comparative anatomy : intended principally for the use of students / by Andrew Fyfe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

    55/400 (page 49)
    PAR^r'l.] OF MAMMALIA. 49^ The Thorax of Animals without Clavicles is common- ly compressed externally, or is deeper from Spine to Sternum, than in the Human Species, especially in long- legged Animals. The Ribs are present in all the individuals of this class. They vary in number in different tribes ; the greater number of Mammalia possess more Ribs than are found in Man, though in a few the number is smaller. There is also considerable variety in the form ; in Herbivorous Animals, they are observed to be broad and thick. The Armadillo has the two first pairs very large in proportion to the rest. The txvo-toed Ant-eater has Ribs so broad as to overlap like the tiles of a house,' and give the appearance of a coat of mail. The number of the Ribs on each side of the Thorax of Mammiferous Animals, corresponds with that of the Dorsal Vertebrae, and can therefore be readily known by examining the preceding Table. Sternum.—This, in the Ourang-outang, is broad and flat as in Man, but in other Apes, and in many Mam- malia, it is narrow, of a roundish form, and composed of several moveable pieces, corresponding to the mo- tions of the' Spine. In the Bat it is like a T, the fore part going across to be articulated with the Clavicles. The Mole has the Anterior Extremity prolonged be- fore the Ribs,, to be joined to the Clavicles under the Neck, so as to give origin to strong Muscles of the An- terior Extremities, which assist the Animid in burrow- ing under the ground.