614 



CARXIVORA. 



the tooth ; the outer blade is supported on two roots and the 

 inner cusp on one root. In the Felidae (Fig. 322, /), Hyae- 

 nidae, and some Viverridae there is an additional anterior 

 outer tubercle (1), so that the blade is 3-cusped. In the 

 Ursidae (Fig. 322, ///) the inner tubercle and the correspond- 

 ing root are absent, but there is often a small posterior inner 

 cusp without root (5). The lower carnassial (ra 1) has two 

 roots and consists of an outer cutting blade with two cusps of 



which the pos- 



4 i "| W,4 terior is the 



larger (Fig. 

 323, //, 1, 2), 

 an inner tu- 

 bercle (3) and 

 a talon (4). 

 In theFelidae 

 the talon is 

 not developed 

 (Fig. 323, /), 

 and the tooth 

 is entirely a 

 cutting tooth. 

 In the omni- 

 vorous forms, 

 e.g. U r s u s 

 (IV.), the 

 talon is much 

 developed 



and tuberculated. The teeth behind the carnassial 

 (molars) have broad crowns and are trituberculate in the 

 purely carnivorous forms, tetra- or multi-tuberculate in the 

 omnivorous forms. The more exclusively carnivorous the 

 diet, the fewer and weaker are these teeth : in the Felidae 

 there are none of them in the lower jaw and only one pair in 

 the upper. From this account it will be gathered that in the 

 purely carnivorous forms the cheek teeth are practically 

 all sharp trenchant teeth, adapted for cutting the flesh off 

 the bones of the animals on which they prey, whereas in the 

 omnivorous or mainly vegetable-feeding species the posterior 

 cheek teeth have broad and tuberculate crushing crowns. 



FIG. 323.- Left lower carnassial teeth 7 of Felis, II of Canis, III of 

 Herpestes, IV of Lutra, V of Meles, VI of \l'rstts (from Flovser 

 and Lydekker). 1 anterior, 2 posterior cusp of the blade ; 3 inner 

 cusp ; 4 talon. 



