CHAPTER VI. 



CARNIVORA. 



WE will next take another series of mammalia, which 

 may be called Partial Trespassers in the water, and shall 

 find representatives of them among the caraivora, the 

 rodents, the pachydermata, the marsupials, and the 

 monotremes. We will begin with the Carnivora. 



Perhaps the best-known examples of these animals 

 are the various species of Otter, most of which frequent 

 rivers and lakes, though some prefer the sea. 



In these aquatic weasels, for such are the Otters, we 

 cannot but admire the mode in which the form is 

 modified so as to suit the element in which they have 

 to obtain their food. Both the terrestrial and aquatic 

 weasels have to capture prey by chase, and as the prey 

 of the Otter is exclusively*. found among the fishes, it is 

 evident that the structure of the body must be greatly 

 different in the two groups. 



The first point which strikes the eye of an anatomisfc 

 is the use which is made of the tail. In the terrestrial 

 weasels, such as the common weasel, the stoat, the 

 badger, the ratels, etc., the tail is very short andinsig- 



