122 CARNIVORA. 



Order V.-CARNIVORA. 



Unguiculate Mammals with never less than four well developed 

 toes on each foot, all of which are usually clawed. Pollex and 

 hallux never opposable to the other digits. Dentition diphyodont 

 and heterodont, the teeth always rooted, consisting, in each 

 ramus, of generally three incisors, the outer one being always the 

 largest ; of a strong, conical, pointed, recurved canine, and of a 

 variable but usually more or less compressed, pointed, and 

 trenchant series of molars. Brain never destitute of well marked 

 convolutions. Stomach simple. Coecum absent or short and 

 simple. Mammae abdominal and variable in number. Clavicle 

 often entirely absent, and when present never complete. 



Habits. Carnivorous and sanguivorous, sometimes omnivorous. 



Suborder I. Fissipedia. 



Carnivores fitted for a terrestrial or mainly terrestrial pro- 

 gression and mode of life. Incisors almost always f on each side. 

 In the molar series there is always one specially modified tooth 

 in each ramus, which is termed the "sectorial " or "flesh-tooth," 

 and is usually enlarged ; in the upper this tooth is the last pre- 

 molar, in the lower the first molar. 



Group OYNOIDEA. 



Head elongate ; tail moderate or rather long ; limbs fairly 

 developed, the feet digitigrade. Fore toes, except in the African 

 genus Lycaon, five, the pollex, however, being short and non- 

 functional hind toes in all wild species four. Claws blunt, 

 nearly straight, and non-retractile. Organs of scent, sight, and 

 hearing highly developed. Auditory bulla much dilated, rounded, 

 and subdivided. Paroccipital process flattened against the bulla 

 and projecting behind. Condyloid and glenoid foramina distinct. 

 Co3cum elongate and generally folded on itself. Clavicles rudi- 

 mentary. 



Vertebra^. C. 7, D. 13, L. 7, S. 3, Cd. 17 - 22. 



Habits. Carnivorous, but some, especially of the smaller forms, 

 are omnivorous. Many of the species, such as the Wolf and the 

 Cape Hunting Dog, are gregarious and hunt in packs, others, as 

 for instance the Fox, hunt singly or at most in pairs, and show 

 extraordinary cunning both in avoiding danger to themselves and 

 in securing their prey ; many are fossorial. 



Note. Prof. Huxley has divided this Group into two parallel 

 series, the Thooid or Lupine forms and the Alopecoid or Vulpine 

 forms, characterised by the presence of frontal air-sinuses in the 



