The climax. [volume] (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1887-1897, 1890-06-04
HOW THEY TAKE FOOD.
The Various Ways In which Living Great
Eat


The Various ways in which Living Great
ures Eat.
That peculiar echinoid, the sea-urchin,
has five teeth in five jaws-ono in each
iaw-all the five Immediately surround
ing the stomach. Tho jaws have pc
culiar centralized motion, all turning
inward and downward so that they also
act as feeders.
Snails have teeth on their tongues,
hundreds Of them, says the San Fran
cisco Chronicle, but, as if these were not
enough, some have them also in their
stomach.
The cuttlehsh, which, among other
strange things, always walks with its
head downward, does not chew its food
at all, but masticates with its gizzard.
So do geese, fowls, ducks, and indeed all
modern birds. Selling their food in
their bcaks they swallow it whole, If
grain or seed, and in large pieces if it be
fruit or bread. In that condition it goes
into the glzzard, powerful muscle with
very tough, horny lining, which acts as
mill, being sufficiently powerful to
pulvcrize uncooked corn. To assist in
tho milling process all grain-eating
birds swallow little pieces of gravel,
glass, crockcry, metal, etc., the horny
interior Of the Gizzard being sufficiently
tough to escape cutting by these mate
rails. tits because of this fact that tho
ostrich has acquired his reputation of
enjoying ferruginous diet.
Even when they had teeth birds only
used them to take their food, depend
ing upon the gizzard for mastication
then as now.
Fishes and reptiles use their teeth for
the Same purpose, that of taking their
food, but, like tho birds, they gulp down
thoir food unchewed, and unbroken if
possible.
There are, however, exceptions. The
ray, or skate, for instance, has a mouth
set transverscly across its head, tho Jaws
working with a rolling motion like two
hands set back to back In the jaws are
three rows Of fiat tooth, set Ikea mosaic
pavement, and between these rolling
jaws tho fish brushes oysters and other
| mollusks like so many nuts.
The carp's tocth are set back on the
pharynx, 50 that it may be literally said
to masticate its food in its throat. The
/ carp, too, is about the only cud-chcwing
! fish, the cOarsely swallowed food being
/ forced up TO these throat teeth for COM
plete mastication.
Some fishes arc absolutely toothless,
/ like the sucker and lamprey; others
again have hundreds and hundreds Of
teeth, sometimes so many that they COW
er all parts of the mouth.
Tho great Greenland whale has no
teeth, its baleen plates, or whalebone,
taking their place. Along tho center
of the palate runs a strong ridge, and on
each side Of this there is a wide depres-
sion, along which tho plates are inserted.
While tho Greenland whale has no
teeth, the sperm whale has them in
great quantities on tho lower jaw, and
uses them, too, when occasion requires.
On the other hand, the narwhal worry
seldom develops moro than one, the left
upper canine. 1t makes up for the lack
of number by tho extraordinary growth
attained by this ono tooth. 1t grows
out and right forward, on a limo with
the body, until it becomes a veritable
tusk, sometimes reaching the length of
ten feet Apropos of tusks, the ele-
plants are its unduly developed upper
incisors; those of the walrus are its up
per CANNES, and so are those of the wild
hog.
Man is the only animal that has teeth
-incisors, CANNES and molars-of an
equal height. Man, the apo, and nearly
all ruminants, have thirty-twO teeth.
Tho hog, however, is better off than
this, and has forty-four. So have the
opossum and mole. Tho river dolphin
Of South America lays far beyond this,
however, having no less than 222 teeth,
Teeth arc not part of the skeleton, but
belong to the appendages, like skin and
hair.
The sturgeon is toothless and draws in
its food by suction, but the shark has
hundreds of teeth set in rows that some
times number ten.
HOLSTERS and crabs maSticate their
food with their horny jaws, but they
have also sets of tcoth in their stom-
achs, where they complete the work OF
chewing. But there is ono peculiar
kind of crab, called the king or horse,
shoe crab, which chcws it's food with its
legs. This is an actual fact, the little
animal grinding its morsels between it'
thighs before 1t passes them over to its
mouth.
The jelly fish absorbs its food By
wrapping itself around the object which
ituSRelns to mako it's own. Tho star
fish is even. more accommodating
Fastening itself to the body it wishe,
to feed on, it turns it's stomach insid,
out and enwraps its prey with this use
full organ.
Dogs seize their food with thoir jaws
cats with their feet, and SO do monkeys
some of them pressing their prehensil'
tails into service. The squirrel uses it
paws to carry its food to Its mouth, til,
elephant its trunk, the giraffe, aut
eater and toad their tongues.
Spiders chew their food with horn,
jaws, which are sharp enough to Civ,
quito nip.
GrasshOppers and locGsts arc verl
well provided with tho necessary ma
chinery for eating much and often
They have saw-lil1e jaws, and gizzards
too, the latter being fitted out witt
,, horny teeth.
The caterpillar feeds with two saw
, edged jaws, working transversely, an,
uses them to such good advantage tina
he cats three or four times his owl
weight every day.
Toads, tortOises, turtles and mos
! lizards have no teeth. Frogs have teetl
in their upper jaw only Anteaters
sloths and armadillos have no teeth-
The lion and tho tiger, and, indeed
most Of the carnivora, do not grim
their food, using their jaws only up an
down, the molars acting like chopin,
knives, or rather, scissors. Thei
mouths, in fact arc voritable hasl
mill.
Strange and curious as some of thes
modes Of feeding arc, however, the
mono Of them compare in simplicity an,
effectiveness with that praCticcd by tn
l tapcwor1a. This creature has neithc
mouth nor stomach, but iaat lays aloni
4 aid al2aorbs tho already digeated foo
through its skin.
] Who Made the Foot-Prints9
q Hcar Lincolnton, Ga, on a strear
q known as Fishing Greek, . in shelly
ing projection inst above the water i
: the stream. is perfectly-de1ned in
d print Of a mans bare foot. All the toe
0 arc perfect, and in every respect tn
l mark is as plain as if mado in plasti
]