352 



CARNIVORES. 



trial Carnivores the largest species are to be found in the warmer parts of the 

 globe, although the bears form, to a certain extent, an exception to this rule. The 

 more typical and purely carnivorous terrestrial members of the order, which, as a 

 general rule, subsist on the flesh of animals killed by themselves, are characterised 

 by the elegance and neatness of their build, and their bodily strength and activity, 

 as well as by the fierceness of their disposition. 



The terrestrial, or, as they are often called, in allusion to their free toes, the 

 Fissipede Cai-nivores, are, as a rale, adapted for a life on land, although some fonns, 

 like the otters, pass a large portion of their time in the water. In no instance, 

 however, are their fore-limbs modified so as to assume the fomi of flippers, neither 

 do their hind-limbs ever present the peculiar structure characteristic of those of 

 the seals, being, on tlie contrary, invariabty suited for walking with ease on the 

 ground. Of more importance, however, is the .stracture of the teeth of the land 



Carnivores. In the 

 first place, the pre- 

 sence of three 

 pairs of incisor 

 teeth in both the 

 upper and the lower 

 jaw is an extremely 

 constant feature. 

 Then, again, in- 

 stead of the uni- 

 formity pervading 

 the whole series of 

 cheek-teeth, which 

 we shall find to be 

 characteristic of 

 the seals and their 

 allies, the cheek- 

 teeth of the teiTes- 

 trial Carnivores of 



the present epoch are distinguished by having one of their number on each 

 side of both the upper and the lower jaw modified in a special manner so as 

 to bite against one another in a more or less markedly scissor-like fashion. The 

 tooth in the upper jaw thus specially modified is the last of those wliich have 

 milk, or deciduous predecessors, and is thus the fourth of the premolar series in 

 those species where four of those teeth are developed. This is shown in the 

 accompanying figure of the skull of the fox, where the fourth upper tooth (pi7i.4) 

 behind the tusk is the one specially modified. In the lower jaw, however, 

 in those forms which have the full number of teeth, it is the fifth tooth (//J.l) 

 behind the tusk which bites against the specially modified tooth in the upper jaw, 

 as shown in the same figure. This modified lower tooth, which has no deciduous 

 milk predecessor, is thus the first of the molar series. To these two pairs of modified 

 teeth is applied the name oi flesh-ieeth, as being those specially adapted for cutting 

 the flesh of the \dctims of the terrestrial Carnivores. The upper flesh-tooth, as 



SIDE VIEW OK THE SKULL OP THE COMMON FOX. 



To show the nature of the teeth of a Carnivore. The upper flesh-tooth is lettered 

 pmA, and the lower flesh-tooth m.\. (From Proc. Zool. Soc. — After Huxley.) 



