xii BRIEF EXPLANATION OF SCIENTIFIC TERMS

‘opposable toe’ is a great toe capable of being used in the way
that a thumb is. Owing to the invention of boots and sandals, the
great toe of man is now almost parallel in its action to that of the
second toe, but among savage races like the Zulus the spears are
picked up between the toes, and some of the natives of the West
Coast of Africa have the great toe-joint still so flexible that they can
use a hammer with their feet.

Ophidia. Snake-like animals.

Paleontology. The science of fossils.

Paleozoic. The oldest group of stratified rocks.

Patella. The knee-cap.

Pelvis. The division of the skeleton which consists of the sacrum,
coccyx, and haunch bones.

Lerissodactyla. Ungulates having an odd number of toes in their feet.

Pinnipeds. The Carnivores in which the toes are joined together, as
for example, the seals.

Plagiostomt. The fishes with the transverse mouths.

Pleistocene. The most recent rocks of the Tertiary period.

Platyrrhine. Broad-nosed; a term applied to the monkeys of the
Western Hemisphere.

Pollex. The thumb.

Prehensile. Capable of grasping.

Ramus. A half of the lower jaw.

Ratite. Birds with a flat breast-bone, like a raft (vatzs).

Rodentia. The animals that gnaw, sometimes called the Glres.

Saurure. Birds with lizard-like tails. Only fossil specimens known.

Ruminants. The animals that chew the cud.

Sacrum. The triangular bone at the base of the vertebral column
which forms the keystone of the pelvic arch.

Scapula. The shoulder-bone.

Simiide. Ape-like creatures (Greek. szvzos, ¢ flat-nosed ’).

Sirenta. Mammals, like the dugong, that live in the water (from
S2v€n).

Sternum. The breast-bone.

Tarsus. The ankle.

Teleostez. The bony fishes.

Thorax. The.chest.

Tibia. The shin-bone.

Ungulata. Animals which have hoofs.

Ventral. Pertaining to the under surface of the vertebrates.

Vertebrates. The animals having a backbone.

Viviparous. Bringing forth the young alive.