CYNOIDEA. 



621 



CYNOIDEA. 



Fam. Canidae * i ^ c \ p ^ m —■ ; upper carnassial elongated 

 with two outer cusps and inner cusp at the front end ; upper molars three- 

 cusped, transversely elongated, often with intermediate cusps; lower carnas- 

 sial im 1) with two outer cusps and a small inner cusp placed just behind 

 the posterior of the two outer, and a broad tuberculated talon ; m 2 

 smaller, m 3 very smill. The bulla is inflated and undivided, the septum 

 being incomplete and small, the tympanic is prolonged a short distance as 

 the floor of the external auditory meatus ; the paroccipital process in 

 contact with bulla, but long. The condylar foramen is outside the foramen 

 laeerum posterius and the caro- 

 tid canal is present. There is an 

 alisphenoid canal. Entepicon- 

 dylar foramen absent in living 

 species, but present in the old- 

 er fossil forms. Digitigrade. 

 manus 4- or 5-toed, pes usually 

 4-toed, claws not retractile ; a 

 considerable os penis. Caecum 

 small, but always present, and 

 generally folded. The Canidae 

 are found in all tlie great 

 regions excepting New Zealand 

 and Madagascar. They are 

 supposed bj^ some to be the 

 most primitive of existing 

 Carnivora. The occasional 

 presence of traces of epipubic 

 bones and of an inflection of 

 the angle of the lower jaw 

 (Otocyon) may be mentioned 

 in connection wuth this view. 

 They first make their appear- 

 ance in the Upper Eocene of 

 Europe, and their remains are 

 found in the Miocene, Pliocene, 

 and Pleistocene of Europe, 

 Asia and N. America, in the 

 Pliocene an:l Pleistocene of 

 S. America and in the Pleisto- 

 cene of Australia. Canis h., i§ c { pi tn |, but the dentition is slightly 

 variable, m 3 in the vipper jaw is occasionally present, and m 3 in the 

 lower is occasionally absent ; milk dentition, i i c t m |, the first per- 

 manent premolar has no predecessor. Vertebrae C7, D13, L7, S3. C17-22. 

 Clavicles reduced, manus with 5 toes, poUexvery short, pes with 4 toes 

 and the metacarpal of the hallux (occasionally with loose small phalanges 

 and claws in domestic dog). They generally hunt in packs. Some burrow. 

 All are carnivorous, but some species may eat insects .and vegetables. 



Fig. 321.— Canis lupus. A right upper jaw, B right 

 lower jaw x § (from Zittel). 



* Haxley, Dental and cranial characters of the Canidae, P.Z.S., 1880,. 

 {). 238. Mivart, Monograph of the Canidae, 1890. • 



