STOATS AND POLECATS 



Neither these nor the remaining section of the car- 

 nivora, the great tribe of Arctoidea, are prevalently 

 spotted or striped in coloration. The Arctoidea in- 

 clude not only the true bears, of which the European 

 bear, the grizzly, the Syrian bear, and the polar bear, 

 as well as some others inhabit the bear dens in plenty, 

 but a variety of small creatures, which are referable 

 to two distinct families, the mustelidoe and the pro- 

 cyonidce. The former contains not only the weasels 

 and stoats and polecats, but also the badgers, glutton, 

 the American grison and tayra, the martens and sables, 

 the ratel with its grey back, black under-surface and 

 hurried walk, the skunk or " essence pedlar " of North 

 and South America, and the otters. The procyonidae 

 is a family made for the reception of the raccoons, the 

 prehensile-tailed kinkajou, also of South America, the 

 coati with its pig-like snout and ringed tail, and 

 the panda of the Himalayas. The Arctoidea are less 

 decisively Carnivora than the Aeluroidea or Cynoidea. 

 The teeth are largely flat- crowned, and suitable for 

 crushing rather than tearing, a fact which goes, as has 

 been already said, with an often principally vegetable 

 diet ; they walk upon the soles of their feet instead of 

 upon the toes, and there are other anatomical char- 

 acters, which show that the group is one which is, so 

 far as the living representatives are concerned, to be 

 sharply marked off from other carnivora. 



THE LION 



We have constantly met with persons who have the 

 impression that while the tiger is an undoubted cat, 

 the lion has more of the dog nature. This quite 

 erroneous idea is probably to be traced to the mane, 

 and to the certainly leonine but also almost New- 

 foundland-dog-like head. The lion, however, is quite 

 a diagrammatic cat, with the usual retractile claws, 



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