546 CARNIVORA 



After taking these away, there remain a great number of animals 

 called Dogs, Wolves, Jackals, and Foxes, varying from one another 

 only in the characters of the tail, ears, fur, form of the pupil, and 

 some trifling peculiarities of skull and teeth, upon which some 

 authors have divided them into many genera. These divisions are, 

 however, extremely difficult, if not impossible, to define, on account 

 of the numerous gradual transitions from one form to the other. 



Canis. 1 It appears on the Avhole convenient to retain all the 

 species, with the exception of Otocyon, Icticyon, and Lyceum, in the 

 old genus Canis, the most prominent characters of which are the 

 following. Teeth, usually i -f, c -J-, p f, m -f ; total 42. The 



absence of the last 

 upper molar (m 3), 

 alone distinguishes this 

 from the generalised 

 dentition of hetero- 

 donts, and this tooth 

 is occasionally present 

 in one species (C. can- 

 't. \ crivorus). In certain 

 P% P 4 m * m 2 Asiatic species (C. pri- 



FIG. 251. The last four left upper teeth of an extinct Wolf <m(KVUS and its allies) 

 (Canis cautleyi). From the Palceontologia Indica. -, . i , i . 



which on this account 



have been separated to form the genus Cyan of Hodgson, the last 

 lower molar (m 3) appears to be constantly absent. The milk- 

 dentition is di -|, dc \, dm f ; total 28, the first permanent pre- 

 molar having no predecessor. The teeth of both permanent and 

 milk or temporary series are figured on p. 26, Fig. 3, from the 

 outer aspect, while the woodcut 251 shows the palatal aspect of the 

 hinder upper teeth. The upper carnassial (p 4) consists of a stout 

 blade, of which the anterior lobe is almost obsolete, the middle lobe 

 large, conical, and pointed backwards, and the posterior lobe in the 

 form of a compressed ridge ; the inner tubercle is very small, and 

 placed quite at the fore part of the tooth. The first molar is more 

 than half the antero-posterior length of the carnassial, and consider- 

 ably wider than it is long ; its crown consists of two prominent 

 conical cusps, of which the anterior is the larger, and a low broad 

 inward prolongation, supporting two more or less distinct cusps and 

 a raised inner border. The second molar resembles the first in 

 general form, but is considerably smaller. The lower carnassial 

 (m 1 ) is a very large tooth, with a strong compressed bilobed blade, 

 the hinder lobe being considerably the larger and more pointed, a 

 small but distinct inner cusp placed at the hinder margin of the 

 posterior lobe of the blade, and a broad, low, tuberculated talon, 



1 Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. vol. i. p. 56 (1766). 



