File:Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution (1900) (18435772965).jpg

Title: Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution
Identifier: annualreportofbo1900smitfo (find matches)
Year: 1846 (1840s)
Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Board of Regents; United States National Museum. Report of the U. S. National Museum; Smithsonian Institution. Report of the Secretary
Subjects: Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science
Publisher: Washington : Smithsonian Institution
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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THE RESTORATION OF EXTINCT ANIMALS. 481 comments Mr. Hutchinson, was it really aquatic ? And this but hints at the uncertainty attending the work of restoration, for some pecu- liarities of structure may point more than one way or be subject to more than one interpretation. Thus the short-limbed, heavy-bodied carnivore Oxytena from our western country was at first considered to have had habits like those of an otter, while on a later review it has been thought to have been as arboreal in its mode of life as a raccoon. And while, as a general rule, aquatic animals or those of sluggish movements have solid bones, yet the extinct toothed diver Hesperornis has hollow leg bones and so does the huge Dinosaur Triceratops. Cuvier's restorations were founded on his famous law of correlation.
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Fig. l.-Cuvier's Restorations of Mammals from the Paris Basin. Reduced about one-half. AnopMheriam commune. Anoplotherium gracite. PalmotMHum minm. Palxotheriam magnum. or the harmony to be found between various portions of the skeleton, between these and their investing muscles, and between the entire ani- mal and its mode of life. For example, the retractile claws of a cat would not be found associated with the teeth of a ruminant, but with teeth fitted for devouring flesh and, conversely, teeth adapted tor cropping grass and chewing the cud would be found in company with hoofs, while beasts that chew the cud and have cloven feet are the only ones that have horns on the frontal bones, so that a horned car- nivore would be out of the question. _ These great generalizations are, in the main, true, but Cuvier was dealing mostly with animals of a limited region, the Pans basin, and

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