American Big Game in its Haunts 



foxes; ^luroidea — cats, civets, ichneumons and 

 hyaenas. 



It is highly probable that these three chief types 

 have descended in as many distinct lines from the 

 Creodonta, and that they were differentiated as 

 early as the middle Eocene, but their exact degree 

 of aiEnity is uncertain ; bears and dogs are certainly 

 closer together than either of them are to cats, and 

 it is questionable if otters and weasels — the 

 Mustelida, as they are termed — and raccoons are 

 really near of kin to bears. 



Seals are often regarded as belonging to this 

 order, but their relation to the rest of the carni- 

 vores is very doubtful. Many of their characters 

 are suggestive of Arctoidea, but it is an open ques- 

 tion if their ancestors were bear or otter-like ani- 

 mals which took to an aquatic life, or whether they 

 may not have had a long and independent descent. 

 At all events, doubt is cast upon the proposition 

 that they are descended from anything nearly like 

 present land forms by the fact that seals of already 

 high development are known as early as the later 

 Miocene. 



The difficulty so constantly met with in attempt- 

 ing to state concisely the details of classification, is 

 well shown in this order, for its subdivisions rest 

 less upon a few well defined characters than upon 



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