576 



CARNIVORES. 



Far more remarkable is, howevei-, the comiection which is shown to exist by 

 these fossil types between the clogs and the bears, which are now so widely 

 sundered. The connecting type appears to be a creature known as the Amphicyon, 

 of which a lower flesh-tooth is shown on p. 353. Some of these amphicyons were 

 not larger than a fox, while others must have fully equalled a bear in size. They 

 differed from modem dogs in having forty-four teeth, owing to the presence of the 

 third pair of molars in the upper-jaw, and also in that their feet wei-e plantigrade, 

 like those of a bear ; while they had five toes on all feet. The teeth of these planti- 

 grade dogs, as they may be called, were, indeed, essentially those of a modern dog ; 

 but, as we shall show later on. there is a complete transition through other extinct 

 forms to those of the bears. Hence we conclude that these plantigrade dogs were 

 not only the ancestors of the modem dogs, but likewise gave origin to the bear 

 family. The dog family is, therefore, the most ancient type of Carnivoi-es now 

 living, and the one which includes the extinct fonns from which nearly all the 

 others have originated. 



