CHAPTER VI 



Order IV. Carnivora 

 (Flesh-Eaters) 



IN this order are many well-known species of animals 

 which feed mainly, and in many cases exclusively, on 

 flesh. The order is divided into two sub-orders : 



1. Fissipedia (Lat.,fissus, to split ; pes, pedis, a foot), or 



split-footed animals, which form the Carnivora of 

 the land. 



2. Pinnipedia (Lat., pinna, a fin ; pes, pedis, a foot), or 



fin-footed animals, in which the toes are bound 

 together by skin, thus forming fins or flippers. 

 These animals, together with those of another 

 separate order, form the Carnivora of the sea. 



Sub-Order I. CARNIVORA OF THE LAND. 



The Carnivora of the land are the 'beasts of prey/ of 

 which some species or other are found all over the world 

 from the equator to the poles. Though the majority of 

 them are flesh-eaters, many of them will partake freely of 

 vegetable food from choice, and still more from necessity ; 

 but some of the Bears, for example, are almost wholly 

 vegetarians, just as some of the Lemurs, Insectivora, 

 Rodents, and Marsupials, are comparatively large flesh- 

 eaters. 



The members of this sub-order, in the general neatness 

 of their build and especially in the construction of their 



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