THE CANID^E, OR DOGS. 271 



gine in one part of South-western France, of Carni- 

 vora alone, some forty species from the size of the 

 marten up to that of the most powerful wolves and 

 bears. They lived, as the vast quantities of their 

 remains testify, partly in herds ; and of food there 

 was an abundance in the corresponding numbers 

 and varieties of plant-eaters. 



First of all comes the Viverrine Dog (Cynodictis), 

 which, although possessing the dental formula of 

 the Dog 



.31 4 2 



(of which, in the upper jaw the fourth premolar, in 

 the lower jaw the first molar stands for the carnas- 

 sial tooth) had a very narrow skull, with broad, 

 strong cheek-bones an admirably developed beast 

 of prey between the size of a fox and a wolf. 

 These animals, Filhol says, are curious and very 

 peculiar forms, in which, after a very careful ex- 

 amination, certain points are at length discovered 

 by which they show affinity with our present 

 Carnivora. But in spite of every effort to bring 

 them under one head, it cannot be done. And 

 hence we have to assign to them an essentially 

 distinctive character, a position outside the cus- 

 tomary classification, and one, in fact, which 



