MAMMALIA. CARNIVORA. 367 



Order 6. CARNIVORA. 



The living Carnivora form a natural and well-marked 

 group, but as is the case with so many other groups of 

 animals, when their extinct allies are included, it becomes 

 impossible to readily define them. 



The raanus and pes never have less than four well-developed 

 digits, and these are nearly always provided with more or less 

 pointed nails, generally with definite claws. The hallux and 

 pollex are never opposable. The dentition is diphyodont and 

 markedly heterodont. The teeth are always rooted, except 

 in the case of the canines of the Walrus. The incisors are 

 generally f, and are comparatively small, while the canines 

 are large, pointed, and slightly recurved. The cheek teeth are 

 variable, and are generally more or less compressed and 

 pointed ; sometimes their crowns are flattened and tuber- 

 culated, but they are never divided into lobes by deep infoldings 

 of enamel. The squamosal is drawn out into a postglenoid 

 process, and the mandible has a large coronoid process. The 

 condyle of the mandible is transversely elongated, and the 

 glenoid fossa is very deep; in consequence of this arrangement 

 the mandible can perform an up and down movement only, 

 any rotatory or back and fore movement being impossible. 

 The jugal is large, and the zygomatic arch generally strong, 

 while the orbit and temporal fossa are in most cases completely 

 confluent. The scapula has a large spine. The clavicle is 

 never complete and is often absent, this forming an important 

 distinction between the skeleton of a Carnivore and of any 

 Insectivore except Potamogale. The humerus often has an 

 ent-epicondylar foramen, and the radius and ulna, tibia and 

 fibula are always separate. The manus is often capable of the 

 movements of pronation and supination, and the scaphoid, 

 lunar and centrale are in living forms always united together. 



The order Carnivora includes three suborders. 



