CHAPTER VI 



ORDER: CARNIVORA. THE FLESH-EATING 

 PREDATORY MAMMALS 



DOGS AND BEARS 



THE True Carnivora arose from or near to a group which we 

 know as the Creodonta, and which flourished early in mammalian 

 history. The Creodonts first make their appearance in strata of 

 the Lowest Eocene that is to say, at the very commencement 



JAWS OF Otocyon megalotis. 



Slightly separated, to show molar teeth (four premolars and four molars in both jaws) and 

 absence of differentiation in the carnassial teeth (fourth upper premolar and first lower molar). 



of the Tertiary Epoch. Their earliest types were generalised^ 

 and betray considerable affinities to the Marsupial order. They 

 almost represent, indeed, at that period the main line of 



mammalian descent, the arrangement and aspect of their teeth 



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