Mammal i a

(măm-male-ah,) or MAMMALS. [From L. ma mme, the breasts.] (Zool.) The first cla of Vertebrates, placed at the head of the Animal Kingdom, because it is composed of the beings whose faculties are the most numerous, whose structure is the most perfect, whose movements are the most various, and whose intelligence is the most developed. The cla contains all those animals which suckle their young by means of breasts. Most mammiferous animals are formed for walking; a few, however, can sustain themselves in the air, and a limited number are destined to live in the water. From Man, who, from his most perfect organization, stands at the head of the system, to Whales and other cetaceous animals, which are cla ed at the end of M., the skeleton is formed upon the same general principles, and its parts are only altered and modified to suit the station which the animal is destined to fill. All M. are viviparous; the fœtusderives its nourishment direct from the blood of the mother, and, after birth, she supports it, for a longer or shorter time, by her milk, a nutritious liquid secreted by particular glands, called mammary. Sometimes the young are born with their eyes open, and can immediately run about, and procure their own food; but many come into the world with their eyes closed, and in a state of utter helple ne . There are abt. 2,000 species distributed among the following orders: Bimana, or Man; Quadruman a, or Monkeys; Cheiroptera, or Bats; Insect i vor a, or Insect-eaters; Carnivora, or Flesh-eaters; Marsupial i a; Rodent i a, or Gnawers; Edentata; Pachyderm at a; Ruminant i a; and Cetacea. [s. 572]