652 



COLLEGE ZOOLOGY 



Order Carnivora. — Flesh-eating Mammals. — Not all of 

 the carnivores are flesh-eating; many of them are omniv- 

 orous, and a few are chiefly vegetarian. The teeth of car- 

 nivores (Fig. 518) are perhaps the most characteristic feature 



of the order. The front 

 teeth, or incisors (i 2), are 

 small and of little use; the 

 canines (c), or eye-teeth, 

 are very large and pointed, 

 enabling the animal to cap- 

 ture and kill its prey; the 

 premolars (pm 1, pm 4) and 

 the first molar in the lower 

 jaw (m 1) have sharp-cutting 

 Fig. 51 s. — Teeth of dog. * 2, second edges; the other molars are 



incisor; c, canine; pm i, pm 4, first and u J v.- *.i ^i 



fourth premolars; mi, first molar. (From br ° ad ' Crusnl ng teeth; the 



Shipley and MacBride.) fourth premolar of the upper 



jaw (pm 4) and the first 

 molar of the lower jaw (m i) bite on one another like a pair of 

 scissors, and are called carnassial teeth. 



The living carnivores may be grouped into eleven families, of 

 which eight belong to the suborder Fissipedia, or chiefly ter- 

 restrial Carnivora, and three to the suborder Pinnipedia, or 

 aquatic Carnivora. The five families of Fissipedia occurring 

 in North America north of Mexico, and the approximate number 

 of species in each, are as follows (Hornaday) : — 



