Page:A History of Land Mammals in the Western Hemisphere.djvu/25



term Mammal has no exact equivalent in the true vernacular of any modern language, the word itself, like its equivalents, the French Mammifère and the German Säugethier, being entirely artificial. As a name for the class Linnaeus adopted the term Mammalia, which he formed from the Latin mamma (i.e. teat) to designate those animals which suckle their young; hence the abbreviated form Mammal, which has been naturalized as an English word. "Beast," as employed in the Bible, and "Quadruped" are not quite the same as mammal, for they do not include the marine forms, such as whales, dolphins, seals, walruses, or the flying bats, and they are habitually used in contradistinction to Man, though Man and all the forms mentioned are unquestionably mammals.

In attempting to frame a definition of the term Mammal, it is impossible to avoid technicalities altogether, for it is the complete unity of plan and structure which justifies the inclusion of all the many forms that differ so widely in habits and appearance. ''Mammals are air-breathing vertebrates, which are warm-blooded and have a 4-chambered heart; the body cavity is divided into pleural and abdominal chambers by a diaphragm; except in the lowest division of the class, the young are brought forth alive and are always suckled, the milk glands being universal throughout the class. In the great majority of mammals the body''