THE BEAR FAMILY. 



CARNIVORA. 



Flesh-eating mammals are designated as Carnivores, 

 although some of them are omnivorous rather than 

 strictly carnivorous. They are all more or less beasts 

 of prey, and their mental system as well as their struc- 

 ture shows the results of their predatory habits. 



The bones in all the species of this order are compara- 

 tively slender but very strong; as a rule they have 

 thirteen dorsal vertebrae, and with a few exceptions like 

 the cat and dog, they have five toes armed with claws, 

 the thumb or great toe not being opposable to the others 

 so as to enable them to grasp any object. 



The jaws of the Carnivores are short and stout, and 

 the head of the lower jaw is usually placed in a deep 

 and narrow socket so that little grinding motion is pos- 

 sible, the movements of the jaw being confined to a 

 vertical plane. The enamel covered teeth are fitted for 

 cutting rather than grinding. There are six incisors in 

 each jaw, the lateral ones being the largest. The canines 

 are strong and conical and in some cases enormously 

 developed. The number of molars varies, but the typical 

 number is four premolars and three molars on each side of 

 each jaw, one of them on each side of each jaw usually 

 being converted into a sectorial tooth that has a com- 

 pressed cutting edge, and with its fellow of the opposite 

 jaw acts like a pair of shears. 



The alimentary tract of the Carnivores is compara- 

 tively short and simplified, and they have no vermiform 

 appendix. With the exception of taste their senses are 

 highly developed. As is shown by our classification 

 chart they are divided into two sub-orders, the Fissipedia 

 and the Pinnipedia. The Fissipedia are divided, by 

 some authorities into three groups, of which the Bear, 

 the Dog and the Cat are the respective types. Most of 

 the varieties of the first two walk on the sole of the foot, 

 and are known as Plantigrades, while the majority of 

 the other group are called digitigrades because they 

 walk on the ends of the toes. 



