The Vertebrate SkeletonReynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Science
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Reynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Skeleton
This great group includes all the Mammalia except the orders
Monotremata and Marsupialia. Coming to their general characteristics--
as in the Didelphia the odontoid process and cervical ribs early
become fused with the centra which bear them, while the coracoid is
reduced so as to form a mere process on the scapula, and there is no
precoracoid (epicoracoid), such as is found in Ornithodelphia.
Clavicles may be present or absent; when fully developed they
articulate with the sternum, usually directly, but occasionally, as in
some Rodents and Insectivores, through the remains of the sternal end
of the precoracoid. There is never any interclavicle in the adult,
though sometimes traces of it occur during development. In the pelvis
the acetabula are imperforate; and well-developed epipubic bones are
never found in the adult, though traces of them occur in some
Carnivores and foetal Ungulates.
_Order 1._ EDENTATA[118].
Teeth are not, as the name of the order seems to imply, always
wanting; and sometimes they are very numerous. They are, however,
always imperfect, and, with very few exceptions, are homodont and
monophyodont. They have persistent pulps, and so grow indefinitely and
are never rooted. In all living forms they are without enamel,
consisting merely of dentine and cement, and are never found in the
front part of the mouth in the situation occupied by the incisors of
other mammals. These characters derived from the teeth are the only
ones common to the various members of the order, which includes the
living sloths, ant-eaters, armadillos, pangolins and aard-varks,
together with various extinct forms, chiefly found in beds of late
tertiary age in both North and South America, the best known being the
Megatheridae and Glyptodonts.
_Order 2._ SIRENIA[119].
The skeleton of these animals has a general fish-like form, in
correlation with their purely aquatic habits. The fore limbs have the
form of paddles, but the number of phalanges is not increased beyond
the normal. There are no external traces of hind limbs.
The whole skeleton and especially the skull and ribs is remarkably
massive and heavy. The dentition varies; in the two living genera
_Manatus_ and _Halicore_, incisor and molar teeth are present, in one
extinct genus, _Rhytina_, teeth are entirely absent, while in another,
_Halitherium_, the dentition is more decidedly heterodont than in
living forms. In the two living genera the dentition is monophyodont,
but in _Halitherium_ the anterior grinding teeth are preceded by milk
teeth. The tongue and anterior part of the palate and lower jaw are
covered with roughened horny plates. The skull is noticeable for the
size and backward position of the anterior nares, also for the absence
or small size of the nasal bones. There is no union of certain of the
vertebrae to form a sacrum, and in living forms the centra are not
terminated by well-formed epiphyses[120].
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