268 ZOOLOGY. 



and feet; organized as hands, with an opposing thumb, in some 

 we find in addition along prehensile tail, so that their activity 

 amongst trees becomes almost incredible. 



Apes inhabit only warm countries ; a single species* dwells 

 on the rock of Gibraltar ; the apes of the New World are all 

 distinct from those of the Old. 



Fig. 231. Dog-faced Baboon. 



414. The order of carnivora is composed of ordinary 

 unguiculated mammals ; the form of their dentition is com- 

 plete, but they have no opposing thumb. According to the 

 mode of life of these animals, their intestinal canal is short ; 

 their jaws and their muscles strong, in order to seize and 

 devour their prey ; their head from this circumstance seems 

 large. The jaws are short, thus favouring their strength, 

 and the form of the temporo-maxillary articulation proves 

 that the teeth are made for tearing and cutting, but not for 

 grinding or masticating. The canine teeth are large, long, 

 and very powerful ; the incisives, six in number in each jaw, 

 small ; the molar, sometimes entirely adapted for cutting, in 

 others surmounted with rounded tubercles, presenting no 

 conical points, arranged as in the insectivora. One of these 

 molar teeth is usually much longer and more cutting than 

 the others, and has therefore been called the carnivorous 

 molar tooth ; behind these (on each side) are one or two 

 molars, almost flat, and between the carnivorous molar and 

 the canine a variable number of false molars. The food of 

 the animal, whether exclusively carnivorous or mixed with 



* [Now (1863) reduced to three individuals. -C. C. B.] 



