478 



CARNIVORA. 



system, will be found altogether subservient to 

 the office of procuring that peculiar kind of 

 food to which these animals are restricted, and 

 the modifications of that structure which have 

 been described as appertaining to different 

 types of form in the order, are equally con- 

 sonant with the modified nature of their ali- 

 ment. Thus, whilst the powerful yet active 

 and flexible movements of the typical Carni* 

 vora are adapted only to the pursuit and de- 

 struction of living prey, the more sluggish habits 

 of most of the bear tribe, their peculiar mode 

 of progression, and the modified structure of 

 the skull, the teeth, and the limbs, are all 

 equally applicable to the mixed nature of their 

 food ; and the third principal type that of the 

 amphibious carnivora, the Seals exhibits an 

 arrangement of these organs not less admirably 

 fitted for the pursuit and capture of their 

 aquatic and scaly prey. The digestive organs 

 of each of these prominent groups are not less 

 perfectly formed for the digestion of their vari- 

 ous food, than the organs which have already 

 been described are for its capture. The teeth 

 have already been slightly alluded to, but they 

 deserve a more particular description. In the 

 cats, the character of the teeth is typically car- 

 nivorous. The incisores are very small, as 

 indeed they are throughout the whole order. 

 The canine teeth are, on the contrary, pre- 

 eminently strong, long and sharp, and are 

 evidently adapted for seizing and holding their 

 prey and afterwards tearing in pieces the flesh 

 and other soft parts of the animals. These 

 teeth are conical and very slightly curved, 

 a form which, united with their sharpness and 

 strength, is the best that can be imagined for 

 effecting this object. The cheek teeth, instead 

 of having flat grinding surfaces, have, for the 

 most part, only cutting edges ; and those of 

 the lower jaw shut within the upper, passing 

 them so closely as to form an accurate instru- 

 ment either for shearing off pieces from the 

 flesh or for cutting into morsels the portions 

 which have been torn by the canine teeth. 

 On each of them are sharp triangular processes 

 which much facilitate the entrance of the tooth 

 into the flesh. The range of these teeth is 

 short, as is also the whole jaw, by which great 

 power is gained in this particular direction. 

 The articulation of the lower jaw is also cir- 

 cumscribed to a perpendicular motion, the only 

 one which the structure of the teeth would 

 permit. The strong muscles of the lips also 

 enable the animal to raise them out of the way 

 of injury during this process. The animals of 

 the bear tribe, on the other hand, have an 

 elongated jaw, canine teeth, although very large 

 and strong, yet less so than in the cats, and 

 molares, the surfaces of which, instead of being 

 raised into cutting edges, are depressed, tuber- 

 cular, and require a certain degree of lateral 

 motion in the jaw to bring them into action. 

 In the seals a very different structure of the 

 teeth is observed. The canines are not par- 

 ticularly large and prominent ; and the molares, 

 neither adapted on the one hand for shearing 

 nor on the other for grinding their food, either 

 of which actions would be unavailable in their 



particular case, are numerous and furnished 

 with several angular points, which are fitted 

 for holding the slippery, scaly surface of fish, 

 and equally so for crushing them before they 

 are swallowed. The teeth of the Walruses, 

 however, are very different from those of many 

 other of the Phocida. The tusks (fig. 195) 

 which are enormous canine teeth of the upper 

 jaw, are directed downwards, and constitute 

 formidable weapons of defence, and the mo- 

 lares are formed rather for grinding than for 

 merely holding their prey. 



The food then being thus variously prepared 

 by the different groups of this order, passes 

 into the stomach more or less masticated. 

 The salivary glands in the meantime have been 

 performing their important office. The vari- 

 ations in form and situation of these glands 

 are slight and unimportant. The submaxillary 

 glands are generally as large as the parotid, 

 which in the dogs and cats are of a crescentic 

 form, embracing by their concave margin the 

 conch of the ear ; and in the dogs the inferior 

 portion is distinct from the rest. The sub- 

 lingual are wanting in the cats. 



The stomach in all the animals of this order 

 is perfectly simple, and its interior smooth, 

 with the exception of that of the Seal, which 

 has a villous coat. In the cats (that of the 

 Lion is shewn at^/zg. 199) it is elongated, and 



Fig. 199. 



the two openings are placed nearly at each end : 

 there is a small pouch however at the cardiac 

 extremity. In the Wild Cat it is somewhat 

 pyriform, the pyloric portion being, as in the 

 Lion, doubled upon the other part; and in the 

 Lynx the cardiac and pyloric openings are 

 more distant than perhaps in any other species. 

 In the other genera the form varies a little. 

 It is nearly globular in the Racoon ; that of the 

 Hyena is large and short. In the seals it is 

 elongated from before backwards, the pyloric 

 portion being turned forwards upon the other; 

 at the bend there is a pouch, at which point a 

 glandular layer is found between the internal 

 coat and the cellular. 



The intestinal canal is in these animals re- 

 markably short, particularly in the cats ; in the 

 Lion and in the Wild Cat the whole alimentary 

 canal is but three times the length of the body. 

 In the Seal it is much longer. The distinction 

 between the small and large intestines varies 

 considerably In the Badger this distinction 

 can scarcely be said to exist : in the Lion it is 

 considerable, and still more so in the seals and 



