552 LAND MAMMALS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 



musteline in form. The bony palate was not extended back 

 of the teeth as it is in the modern genera. The same primitive 

 group was much more abundant in the European Oligocene, 

 migrating probably from Asia into Europe as well as into 

 North America. 



SOUTH AMERICAN FISSIPEDIA 



The history of the South American carnivores is a com- 

 paratively brief one ; the southern continent has representatives 

 of the same five families as the northern, but most of the genera 

 are different, the time since the great southward migration 

 having been sufficient for the development of peculiar forms 

 in the new environment. Among the dogs, there are to be 

 noted the curious, close-haired, long-bodied and short-legged 

 Bush-Dog (Icticyon) and the fox-like wolves (Cerdocyon), but 

 there are no true foxes. Of the cats, the Puma differs little 

 from that of North America, and the Jaguar {Felis onca) and 

 Ocelot {F. pardalis) also range into the northern continent, 

 but several small cats are confined to South America, which 

 has no lynxes. There is but one bear {Tremarctos ornatus) of 

 Andean range. Of the Procyonidse, the northern Procyon 

 lotor is replaced by the Crab-eating Raccoon, P. cancrivorus, 

 while the coatis (Nasua) and kinkajou (Potos) are chiefly 

 Neotropical. Except for the otters, the genera of Mustelidse 

 are nearly all different ; there are no badgers and a different 

 genus of skunks (Conepatus) replaces the northern Mephitis; 

 the Grison (Grison), Tayra {Tayra) and the Patagonian Lyn- 

 codon are peculiar. 



Even less can be done to trace the evolution of the South 

 American genera than for the forms of the northern continent, 

 whence migrated the more or less different ancestors of the 

 former. The Pleistocene has yielded most of the modern 

 genera, both existing and extinct species. An example of 

 the latter was Procyon '\ursinus from the Brazilian caverns, 

 a truly gigantic Raccoon, as large as a bear. The fsabre-tooth 



