20 CARNIVORA. 



Order CARNIVORA. 



Suborder CARNIVORA PRIMIGENIA. 



The present suborder includes the genera Hycenodon, Pterodon, 

 Oxycena, and probably Proviverra (Cynhycenodon, Filhol), together 

 with numerous other forms from the older Tertiaries of North 

 America and Europe. In his latest memoir on these animals, Cope 1 

 includes the whole of them, together with the existing Insectivora, 

 in the suborder Creodonta of his order Bunotheria 2 , the latter being 

 a group of primitive mammals comprehending a number of types, 

 and being somewhat analogous to the subclass Metatheria (Harsu- 

 pialia). By Huxley 3 it is considered probable that Hycenodon and 

 its allies occupy a position connecting the Carnivora with the 

 Insectivora ; and as Proviverra seems to connect them very closely 

 with some of the canoid Carnivora Vera, they are provisionally 

 placed in the former order, with the title of Carnivora Primigenia 4 . 

 It is highly probable that the so-called Insectivora should really 

 form another suborder (Carnivora Insectivora) of the Carnivora; 

 but as it seems best, as far as possible, to avoid interfering with the 

 arrangement adopted in recent Zoology, the order has been retained 

 for the present. One of the most distinctive points of the present 

 suborder is the small size of the brain, which in Proviverra is more 

 like that of an Insectivore than a Carnivore ; while another is the 

 structure of the last three cheek-teeth, all of which assume a 

 sectorial character. 



Family 



Cope 5 includes in this family only the single genus Hycenodon, 

 referring the genera Oxycena, Pterodon, and others to the family 

 Oxycenidce* ; the relations between Hycenodon and Pterodon seem, 

 however, to be so intimate that it appears more advisable to include 

 them in a single family. 



1 Amer. Nat. 1884, pp. 255, 344, 478. 



8 In a former work (Eep. U.S. Geog. Surv. West of 100th Meridian, rol. iv. 

 pt. ii. p. 89) Hycenodon, on account of its larger brain, was separated from the 

 Creodonta and referred to the Carnivore,. 



8 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1880, p. 284. 



4 The term " Creodonta " would be inappropriate if applied in this con- 

 junction. 



Amer. Nat. 1884, p. 261. 6 Ibid. p. 480. 



