612 CREODONTA. CARNIVORA. 



separation of the scaphoid and lunar bones of the carpus. 



They also approximate closely to the Condylarthra, and show 



some resemblance to the Insectivora, and to the carnivorous 



Marsupials (through the Sparassodontidae, p. 540), but they 



differ from the latter in having a complete succession of 



teeth, and in being without the inflected angle of the lower 



and the palatal vacuities characteristic of that group. It is 



clear, therefore, that like the Condylarthra they are a central 



group with affinities in several directions, and that it is safest 



in the present state of knowledge to accord them independent 



ordinal rank. 



In addition to the important cliaracters already referred to, the following 

 may be mentioned. The skull is carnivora-like and the muzzle usually 

 elongated. The dentition is normal, ifcip^mf or slightly reduced. 

 The canines are powerful and sometimes two-rooted. The back-teeth are 

 inclined to be trenchant, but the carnassial modification, so characteristic 

 of Carnivora, is not found. The ulna and radius are separate, the carpus 

 has a centrale and the scaphoid and kmar are not united. The terminal 

 phalanges are often split and flattened at the ends. The lumbar region of 

 the ^'ertebral column is rigid owing to the form of the zygapophj^ses. 

 They appear to have been, in some cases at least, semiaquatic. The prin- 

 cipal genera are : Arctocyon Blv., a bear -like omnivorous form ; Mesonyx 

 Cope, a thylacine-like foi'm ; Proviverra Riit. ; Sinopa Leidy {Stypolophus) ; 

 Patriofelis Leidy, a seal-like form ; Miacis Cope ; and Hyaenodon Luizer 

 and Parieu, the most specialised and best known of the group. 



Order 16. CARNIVORA * (FISSIPEDIA). 



Carnivorous, sometimes oinnivorous mammals with large 

 'projecting canine teeth, almost invariably three incisors on each 

 side in each jaw, cutting premolars, and tubercidate molars. 

 The last upper premolar and the first lower molar are always 

 modified as cartiassial teeth. The clavicles are absent or 

 reduced, the scaphoid and lunar bones are fused, the limbs have 

 never fewer than four digits and are unguiculate. The placenta- 

 tion is zonary. 



The Carnivora are by no means all exclusively carnivorous ; 

 a considerable number are omnivorous and some chiefly 



* Gray, Cam., Pachyderm., and Edentate JMamm., Brit. Mus. Cat. 

 1869. C. Greve, Die geograph. Distrib. de jetzt lehenden Raubthiere, 

 Nov. Act. h. Leop-Carol Deutsck. Aknd. Naturf. zu Halle, 63, 1893. Lydek- 

 ker, Carnivora (Felidae and Viverridae) in Allen's Library, LS95. H. 

 Winge, Jordfunde (Carnivora) fra Brasilien, cum appendice de class, 

 etc., E Museo Limdiu 189'). See also Cope, Amer. Nat. LSSO, p. 833. 

 and 1883, p. 235. Flower, P.Z.S., 1869, p. 5. Mivart, P.Z.S., 188-2,. 

 1885, 



