38 Teeth

The Eyeless Owl presents...

38 Teeth

A brief study of natural mechanisms involved in aerial hunting

"The forearm consists of a rudimentary ulna, a long curved radius, and a carpus of six bones supporting a thumb and four greatly elongated fingers, between which, the sides of the body, and the hinder extremities, a thin expansion of the integument (the wing-membrane) is spread out.

The knee is directed backwards, owing to the rotation of the hind limb outwards by the wing-membrane; a peculiar elongated cartilaginous process (the calcaneum), rarely rudimentary or absent, arising from the inner side of the ankle-joint, is directed inwards, and supports part of the posterior margin of an accessory membrane of flight, extendingfrom the tail or posterior extremity of the body to the hinder limbs (the interfemoral membrane).

The mammary glands are thoracic and generally postaxillary; the uterus simple or two homed; and the smooth cerebral hemispheres do not extend backwards over the cerebellum.

The dental series consists of four kinds of teeth — incisors, canines, premolars, and molars; and the dental formula never exceeds,

Inc. 4/6 c. 1-1/1-1, pm. 3-3/3-3, m. 3-3/3-3, = 38 teeth"

- from Catalogue of the Chiroptera, by George Edward Dobson (1878)

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