518 CARNIVORES. 



of them being * dents de remplacement,' — also agree, in the upper 

 jaw, in the tubercular character of the crown, and in the lower 

 jaw, in their superior size as compared with the antecedent teeth ; 

 w^hich characters, though they be of secondary importance, tend, 

 when concurring, as they generally do, with the primary character, 

 to vindicate its value. Moreover, according to my view, the second 

 lower premolar in Felis, (M. de Blainville's * principale' in the 

 'Classifications des Carnassiers, p. 69), is not the fellow of the 

 second but of the third premolar above : and the last tooth below, 

 although the greater part of its crown plays upon the third above, 

 yet is not, as the Cuviers indicate, the fellow of that sectorial tooth, 

 but being somewhat posterior to it, pairs strictly with the small 

 tubercular tooth above. And it is important to observe that these 

 teeth — the tubercular above and sectorial below, — notwithstanding the 

 diversity in the form of their crown in the genus Felis, have the same 

 developmental character; and that the first tooth {m 1) which follows 

 the ' dents de remplacement' in the upper jaw, and the first tooth 

 (m 1) which follows them in the lower jaw, do actually acquire, 

 the one by progressive increase of size, the other by gradual 

 acquisition of a broad tuberculate grinding surface, even in the 

 Carnivorous series, almost as close a correspondence in structure, 

 as they present in the Quadrumanous Order. It needs only to 

 compare the dentition of the Cat, the Grison, the Badger, and 

 the Bear, to appreciate the truth of this proposition and the 

 respective accuracy of the following dental formulae : 

 Genus Meles according to Cuvier : — 



8_3 1—1 - 2—2 .^ 1—1 . 1—1 „^ 



m. — - ; c. — ; lausses m. — ; carnassieres — ; vraies m. — = 36, 

 Genus Meles, as in the present work : — 



o, o 1 — 1 ^— ^ T 1 



in. ;— ; c. — -; pm. -— •; true m. -— = 36. The last upper pre- 



molar, and the first lower true molar being indicated, in the text, 

 as the analogues of the teeth which manifest the carnassial or 

 sectorial character in the typical Fer(B. 



It will be seen that I have made no use of the term ' principale', 

 in describing and discriminating the molar teeth of the Mammalia. 



