36 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
BB. PisslPE DIA. OR TRUE CARNIVORA: 
There are seven ' families of living Carnivora, four of which 
are cosmopolitan, being found in all the continents except Aus- 
tralia, while one (the Raccoons) 1s peculiar to America, and two 
(the Civets and the Hyenas) are peculiar to the Old World. 
The families are: 
1. Ursip&, or Bears (Black Bear, Grizzly, Polar Bear etc.). 
2. PROCYONID&, or Raccoons (Raccoon and some rarer 
animals). 
3. Canipb&, or Dogs (Wolves, Foxes, Jackals). 
4. VIVERRIDA, or Civets (Civet, Mongoose etc.). 
5. Musteip&, or Mustelines (Weasel, Otter, Badger, Skunk 
etcs): 
6. Fre.ipa, or Cats (Lion, Tiger, Leopard, Puma, Lyn 
CC, ).. 
7. HyAniID&, or Hyznas. 
The predaceous animals of Australia and the islands near to 
it are all Marsupials, or Pouched Mammals, except a wild Dog 
which was probably introduced by man. The range of the fam- 
ilies of true Carnivora in former geological epochs was the same 
as now, except that South America had no true Carnivores until 
the Plocene epoch, their place being taken by carnivorous 
Marsupials related to those which still inhabit Australia. In 
general the fossil true Carnivores are placed without difficulty 
in one or another of the families still surviving; but the earliest 
known ancestors of all these families were so much. alike that it 
is hardly possible to say in which family they should be placed, 
and they are conveniently grouped together under the name of 
VIVERRAVID&, or Ancient Ciyets, as the Civets among all the 
modern Carnivores are least altered from the primitive stock. 
As time went on these primitive Carnivora became more clearly 
differentiated, so that in the Miocene epoch all the modern 
families are easily distinguishable. (See Fig. 8.) 
™ Besides these seven families there are a few rare and peculiar Carnivora 
which are placed in families by themselves, but these are of no geological im- 
portance and need not be considered here. 
