380 A MANUAL OF DENTAL ANATOMY. 



the teeth are in contact, and set somewhat obliquely, so as 

 to be almost imbricated. 



On the whole it may be said that the teeth are less easily 

 susceptible of modification in size than are the jaws, so that 

 crowding of the teeth is induced by selective breeding aiming 

 at the production of short-muzzled varieties. 



In some long-muzzled races supernumerary teeth are 

 sometimes found j thus De Blainville (Ostdographie, 

 Canidce) figures two examples, the supernumerary tooth 

 being in one case a premolar, in the other a true molar. 



(Eluroidea. With a dental formula not differing much 

 from the dog (and not all from Canis primsevus) the 

 Viverridce (Civet cats, Ichneumons, &c.) approach the more 

 typical carnivores in such points as the thinner and sharper 

 blades of the premolar teeth and the greater relative length 

 and sharpness of the canines. 



The dental formula is 



iiclplm!. 



31*4 2 



At the same time the lower carnassial tooth has no less 

 than six sharply pointed cusps, and it lacks the typical 

 character of a sectorial tooth, while the long pointed cusps 

 of the molars of some Viverridce recall the characters of 

 insectivorous dentitions rather than those of true flesh- 

 feeders ; furthermore, there are other Viverridce which are 

 not at all savage, and which subsist on a diet of fruits, 

 eggs, &c., such as the Binturong or the Paradoxurus, the 

 teeth of which have almost lost the carnivorous character. 

 Little use can therefore be made of the Viverridce as illus- 

 trating the transition between the dental characters of the 

 other families of the order ; they rather serve to exemplify 

 how, within the limits of a single family, with an identical 

 dental formula, the form and size of the teeth may vary so 



