SKELETON OF TIGER. 



CHAPTER XIII 

 THE CARNIVORES ORDER CARNIVORA 



THE CAT TRIBE 

 Family FELID^ 



UNDER the common title of Carnivores, or Flesh-eaters, zoologists include all 

 the members of that extensive assemblage of placental* Mammals, comprising cats, 

 civets, hyaenas, dogs, bears, weasels, etc., together with their aquatic allies the 

 seals and walruses. The name refers to their most distinctive habit, that of subsist- 

 ing on the flesh of other animals ; but it must by no means be assumed that all 

 Carnivores are entirely or even chiefly flesh-eaters, the bears being notable excep- 

 tions. Neither must it be assumed, on the other hand, that the Carnivores are the 

 sole flesh-eating Mammals ; since, as we have seen, many of the Lemurs and In- 

 sectivores will eat the flesh of other Vertebrates, while one group of Marsupials is 

 almost exclusively carnivorous. With the exception of the members of the last- 

 named group, which are otherwise broadly distinguished, there is, however, no as- 



*The term "placental" refers to the circumstance that the embryos of the higher Mammals are connected 

 during intrauterine life with the body of the female parent by means of an organ called the placenta, through 

 -which the blood of the parent communicates with that of the offspring. The Marsupials have no such connection. 



(352) 



