214 AFFINITIES AND GEOGRAPHICAL 



lions. It is also of importance in the case of the bears, that 

 there are genera (such as the arctic bear) geographically adja- 

 cent to the haunts of the phocal tribes, partly similar in their 

 semi-aquatic habits, and also akin in the low (plantigrade) 

 organization of their hind extremities. From the bears 

 startling as it may appear proceed the Canidce (wolf, fox, 

 dog), in which there is at once an improvement in form (digiti- 

 grade) and an advance in intelligence. Let not prejudice 

 resist this pedigree. We must remember that the dog is still 

 a carnivorous animal, and, in the wild state, a ferocious one. 

 But the almost identity of teeth, and the fact of the bear and 

 dog having proved fruitful, are the facts on which the genealogy 

 chiefly rests. 



A third carnivorous line, which may be called the Musteline, 

 is clearly traceable from the seal called the Otaria, through the 

 sea-otter, the river-otter, and so on to the shrews and musteline 

 animals in general. One, in which the succession is not so 

 distinctly seen, embraces the Viverrine animals, including the 

 hyaena, procyon, genet, ichneumon, etc. 



The alliance of the Pachydermata to the whales is fully ad- 

 mitted by modern zoologists, being seen in the thick and 

 naked skin, the gigantic body, massive bones, and even the 

 variable and irregular teeth, peculiar to the latter animals. 

 Here it is also important to observe that some of the pachy- 

 derms nearest to the whales in bulk, as the hippopotamus and 

 rhinoceros, are partly aquatic in their habits. Even the 

 elephants and tapirs are but one step further on to terrestrial 

 habits, seeing that they chiefly haunt the savannahs and 

 jungles adjacent to great rivers. The EquidcB (horse, ass, 

 quagga, onager) and the Suidce (pig, babyroussa, peccary) are 

 pachyderms adapted to inland situations, reduced in bulk, but 

 improved in organization. Their respective parentages in the 

 bulkier families may be left for future decision. 



The herbivorous cetes, dugong, manatus, and walrus, form the 

 basis of the great order Ruminantia, to which they are allied 

 in their gregarious habits and large bulk, as well as in their 

 food. 1 This order presents two distinct subdivisions the 



1 "Their alliance is rather with the Pachydermata than with the true 

 Ruminantia ; but the latter order, which is well separated from the 

 pachyderms as regards existing forms, is connected with it by numerous 

 fossil intermediate types ; so that Professor Owen seems inclined to con- 

 sider them as one and indivisible." MS. Notes of a Physiologist. 



A different position was assigned to the herbivorous cetes in the 

 fifth edition. Since then, the balance of evidence appears to me deci- 

 dedly for the arrangement above indicated. 



