xxxiv INTRODUCTION. 



the structure of some of the teeth, between the largest existing predatory 

 Marsupial, the so-called Tasmanian Wolf (TIty I acinus), and the true 

 Wolf ; and (2) that this large Marsupial is one which is most excep- 

 tional in its order, through having the Marsupial bones represented by 

 mere cartilages. We, however, do not attach any importance to these 

 coincidences, but believe that the resemblances referred to have arisen 

 independently. 



As to speculations concerning the origin of different Canine forms, 

 M. Marcellin Boule* expresses the opinion that Amphicyon was the 

 ancestor of both the Bears and the Dogs, while Cynodictis was the 

 ancestor of both the Civets and Foxes. This appears to us to be a 

 mere speculation, which, while we have no desire to contest its truth, we 

 cannot give an express adherence to. Should it, however, turn out to be 

 a well-founded belief, it would form another interesting example of that 

 independent origin of similar structures for which we have so long con- 

 tended. M. Boule very sensibly remarks f that if Dogs and Foxes did 

 have so diverse an origin, such a fact would constitute no reason why 

 their descendants should not now be grouped in one single genus. 



Indeed, we cannot reasonably arrange our classification of the organic 

 world upon a basis of what its parts may have been or actually once 

 were. On the view of Evolution which is as yet most popular, every 

 kind of intermediate form must have existed at one time or another ; and 

 if every such form had to be included, no kind of classification whatever 

 would be possible for us. 



The Carnivora were classified by the late H. N. Turner, jun.j, as a 

 family Ursidcs of Bears, Raccoons, and Weasels, a family Felida of 

 Civets, Hyaenas, and Cats, and the family Canidce. These ( three families 

 Professor Flower has proposed to raise to the rank of three suborders, 

 called respectively Arctoidea, jffiluroidea, and Cynoidea, a proposal 

 which we have ourselves accepted || , and which has met with a very 



* See Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France, 3 e serie, t. xvii. p. 321. 

 t P. 330. i P. Z. S. 1848, p. 86. 



P. Z. S. 1869, pp. 4-37. 

 || ' The Cat,' p. 474 ; and Proc. Zool. Soc. 1882, p. 138. 



