680 CARNIVORES xxvn. 2- 



2. Classification (cont.) 



Superfamily 3. Feloidea 



Family 1. Viverridae. Civets and mongooses. Oligocene- 

 Recent 

 Viverra, civet, Miocene-Recent, Asia; Herpestes, mon- 

 goose, Oligocene-Recent, Eurasia, Africa, and intro- 

 duced to W. Indies 

 Family 2. Hyaenidae. Miocene-Recent. Eurasia, Africa 



Hyaena, hyena, Pliocene-Recent, Asia, Africa 

 Family 3. Felidae. Cats. Upper Eocene-Recent 



Felis, cats, pumas, ocelots, leopards, lions, tigers, jaguars, 

 Pliocene-Recent, world-wide; *Hoplopho?iens, sabre- 

 tooth, Oligocene-Miocene; *Smihdon, sabre-tooth, Plei- 

 stocene 



Suborder 3. Pinnipedia 



Family 1. Otariidae. Eared seals. Miocene-Recent 



Eumetopias, sea lion, Atlantic and Pacific 

 Family 2. Odobenidae. Walruses. Miocene-Recent 



Odobenas, walrus, Arctic 

 Family 3. Phocidae. Seals. Miocene-Recent 



Phoca, seal, Atlantic and Pacific; Halichoerus, grey seal, 

 N. Atlantic. 



3. Order Carnivora 



The earliest Cretaceous mammals were probably insectivorous and 

 it is not therefore surprising that some of their descendants became 

 flesh-eating; indeed it is curious that a single stock has provided 

 nearly all the hunters found among the mammals ever since, though 

 the marsupials have produced carnivorous types in South America 

 and Australasia. It is difficult to see why carnivores have not developed 

 more often from the insectivoran or some other stock; that they have 

 not done so may remind us that special circumstances are necessary 

 for the origin even of a type for which a means of life would seem to be 

 readily available. 



4. The Cats 



The changes that convert a mammal into an effective hunter occur in 

 many parts of the body, without, as it were, radically distorting any. 

 We may illustrate this by considering the most specialized members 



