Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Fig. 12. Fig. 13. Fig. 14.
Fig. 10.—Extreme form of compressed foot, as seen in the deer, ox, etc., adapted specially for land transit.—Original.
Fig. 11.—Extreme form of expanded foot, as seen in the Ornithorhynchus, etc., adapted more particularly for swimming.—Original.
Figs. 12 and 13.—Intermediate form of foot, as seen in the otter (fig. 12), frog (fig. 13), etc. Here the foot is equally serviceable in and out of the water.—Original.
Fig. 14.—Foot of the seal, which opens and closes in the act of natation, the organ being folded upon itself during the non-effective or return stroke, and expanded during the effective or forward stroke. Due advantage is taken of this arrangement by the seal when swimming, the animal rotating on its long axis, so as to present the lower portion of the body and the feet obliquely to the water during the return stroke, and the flat, or the greatest available surface of both, during the effective or forward stroke.—Original.
The travelling surfaces of Animals modified and adapted to the medium on or in which they move.—In those land animals which take to the water occasionally, the feet, as a rule, are furnished with membranous expansions extending between the toes. Of such the Otter (fig. 12), Ornithorhynchus (fig. 11), Seal (fig. 14), Crocodile, Sea-Bear (fig. [37], p. 76), Walrus, Frog (fig. 13), and Triton, may be cited. The crocodile and triton, in addition to the membranous expansion occurring between the toes, are supplied with a powerful swimming-tail, which adds very materially to the surface engaged in natation. Those animals, one and all, walk awkwardly, it always happening that when the extremities are modified to operate upon two essentially different media (as, for instance, the land and water), the maximum of speed is attained in neither. For this reason those animals which swim the best, walk, as a rule, with the greatest difficulty, and vice versâ, as the movements of the auk and seal in and out of the water amply testify.
In addition to those land animals which run and swim, there are some which precipitate themselves, parachute-fashion, from immense heights, and others which even fly. In these the membranous expansions are greatly increased, the ribs affording the necessary support in the Dragon or Flying Lizard (fig. 15), the anterior and posterior extremities and tail, in the Flying Lemur (fig. 16) and Bat (fig. 17, p. 36).
