THE TEETH OF CARNIVOUA. 385 



mouth could hardly have been opened to an extent sufficient 

 to enable its point to do more than clear the lower jaw. 



The extinct Hysenodon had feline affinities, but differed 

 in that it presented the typical mammalian formula of 



.3 1 4 3 



i _ c - p - m - , 

 3 1 i 4 5 



its great peculiarity being that one and all of these teeth 

 were of " carnassial " form. Yet the elongated form of its 

 jaw is, so far as it goes, opposed to the idea of its having 

 been highly carnivorous ; its food at all events must probably 

 have consisted of animals very much smaller than itself. 



Arctoidea. Amongst the Carnivora grouped together by 

 many characteristics as 'bear-like/ a tolerably complete 

 gradation of character in the matter of dentition may be 

 traced. 



Some of the group, such as the stoats and martins, are 

 very carnivorous ; others are mainly herbivorous. Of the 

 Mustelidee the dental formula is 



.3 1 4 1 



i _ c - p _ m - 



3 1*4 2 



There is a sort of primd facie resemblance to the feline 

 dentition, for the sectorials are very much like those of the 

 Felidae, but the last tooth in each jaw is a broad topped 

 tubercular molar, even in the most carnivorous members of 

 the group, while in those which are less so, such as the 

 badger, the molar teeth are very broad and obtuse, the 

 lower sectorial having a very small blade and a very large 

 tubercular posterior talon, so that, without having really 

 lost its typical formation, it comes practically to be a broad 

 grinding tooth. 



In the Procyonida) (Racoons and Coatimundis, &c.), we 



c c 



