CARNIVORA. 



51 



allied to the digitigrade cats and civets than to any of the planti- 

 grade or subplantigrade Carnivora. Mr. H. N. Turner * and 

 Professor Flower t have proposed to divide the order into three 

 sections, named ^Eluroidea, Ot/noidea, and Arctoidea, from the Greek 

 names of the cat, dog, and bear respectively, each of these animals 

 being typical of a particular section, and the distinctive characters 

 being taken principally from the base of the skull and the develop- 

 ment of a ca3cum. Some other characters taken from the gene- 

 rative organs support this classification, which is employed in the 

 following table. The accompanying cut of part of a wolf's skull 

 will serve to illustrate the distinctions mentioned, and a dog's or 

 jackal's skull will be found precisely similar in all essential points 

 to a wolf's, and will serve for comparison. 



Fig. 15. Part of the base of the skull of a Wolf (Canis lupus). 

 (Flower, P. Z. S. 1809, p. 25.) 



c. The condyloid foramen. 1. The foramen lacerum posticum. car. The 

 carotid canal, e. The enstachian canal, o. The foramen ovale. a. The 

 posterior, and a', the anterior opening of the alisphenoid canal, p. The par- 

 occipital process. m. The mastoid process, a.m. The external auditory 

 meatus. g. The glenoid foramen. 



* P. Z. S. 1848, p. 80. 



t P. Z. S. 1809, p. 4. This paper contains numerous details of anatomy. 



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