45 



which is applied to only one of the surfaces of the extremity 

 of the digit, leaving the other, usually the lower, surface pos- 

 sessed of its tactile faculty; whence the name UNGUICULATA, 

 applied to this group, which, however, is here more restricted 

 and natural than the group to which Linnaeus extended the 

 term. All the species are ' diphyodont,' and the teeth have 

 a simple investment of enamel. 



The first order, CAKNIVORA, includes the 'beasts of prey, 

 properly so called. With the exception of a few Seals the 



33 . , ,, 11 . 



incisors are - - in number ; the canines - - , always longer 



o o 1 1 



than the other teeth, and usually exhibiting a full and perfect 

 development as lethal weapons; the molars graduate from a 

 trenchant to a tuberculate form, in proportion as the diet 

 deviates from one strictly of flesh, to one of a more miscella- 

 neous kind. The clavicle is rudimental or absent ; the 

 innermost digit is often rudimental or absent ; they have no 

 vesiculse seminales ; the teats are abdominal ; the placenta is 

 zonular. 



The Carnivora are divided, according to modifications of 

 the limbs, into ' pinnigrade,' 'plantigrade,' and ' digitigrade ' 

 tribes. In the Pinnigrades (Walrus, Seal-tribe) both fore 

 and hind feet are short, and expanded into broad, webbed 

 paddles for swimming, the hinder ones being fettered by con- 

 tinuation of integument to the tail. In the Plantigrades 

 (Bear-tribe) the whole or nearly the whole of the hind foot 

 forms a sole, and rests on the ground. In the Digitigrades 

 (Cat-tribe, Dog-tribe, &c.) only the toes touch the ground, 

 the heel being much raised. 



It has been usual to place the Plantigrades at the head of 

 the Carnivora, apparently because the higher order, Quadru- 

 mana, can put the heel to the ground : but the affinities of the 

 Bear, as evidenced by internal structure, e.g. the renal and 

 genital organs, are closer to the Seal-tribe ; the broader and 

 flatter pentadactyle foot of the plantigrade is nearer in form to 

 the flipper of the seal than is the digitigrade. retractile-clawed, 



