86 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



vora, the collar-bones, or clavicles, are never complete, that is 

 to say, they never articulate with both the shoulder-blade and 

 the breast-bone, while they are frequently altogether wanting. 

 In place of the smooth brains of the Insectivora, the Carnivora 

 have the cerebral hemispheres indented by complex convolu- 

 tions. 



The typical, or terrestrial, Carnivores (inclusive of the Otters), 

 have an almost cosmopolitan distribution, although unknown in 

 New Guinea, anJ represented in Australia only by the Dingo. 

 The members of the group now living in Britain belong mostly 

 to the Mu stelida ; other families being represented only by the 

 Fox and Wild Cat. The Seals and their allies are mainly 

 characteristic of the colder seas. 



THE CATS. FAMILY FELID^. 



With the exception of Australasia and Madagascar, the Cats 

 are cosmopolitan in their distribution, and are distinguished 

 from other Carnivores by the following collective characters. 



In the skull the hollow bone found at the base of the hinder 

 region below the entrance into the internal ear is bladder-like, 

 rounded, and divided into two chambers by a vertical internal 

 partition, while the tube leading into the chamber of the 

 internal ear is very short. The head is characterised by its 

 short and rounded form, and the small number and specialised 

 character of the cheek-teeth, of which there are only three or 

 four pairs in the upper jaw, and three in the lower. Of these, 

 the flesh-teeth are the most characteristic ; that of the upper 

 jaw consisting of a large three-lobed external blade, and a 

 rather small inner tubercle situated at the internal front angle 

 of the tooth, while the opposing lower tooth is simply a 

 cutting two-lobed blade, without any tubercular heel or ledge 

 at its hinder extremity, or any trace of a cusp on its inner 

 border. Behind the upper flesh-tooth, which is the last of the 



