CARNIVORA. 713 



typical forms prey upon other animals and devour their 

 warm flesh. Most are bold and fierce animals, with keen 

 senses and quick intelligence. 



Almost all have well-developed claws ; there are never 

 fewer than four toes. The teeth are always rooted except 

 in the case of the tusks of the walrus ; the canines are strong 

 and sharp ; some of the back teeth are generally sharp and 

 specially adapted for cutting. 



" The condyle of the lower jaw is a transversely placed 

 half-cylinder, working in a deep glenoid fossa of corre- 

 sponding form." Thus the jaw moves only up and down. 

 The zygomatic arch within which lie the powerful jaw 

 muscles is generally prominent, and the widening of this 

 has, as it were, broken the bridge behind the orbit, so that 

 the orbit is confluent with the temporal fossa. There are 

 generally strong occipital and sagittal crests for the insertion 

 of muscles. The tympanic bullae are in most cases large. 



The clavicles are incomplete or absent ; the radius and 

 ulna are always distinct ; the fibula is slender but distinct. 



The cerebrum is well convoluted, and the cerebellum is 

 more or less covered by the cerebrum. 



The stomach is always simple ; the caecum is absent, or 

 short, or simple ; the colon is not sacculated. 



There are no vesiculae seminales. The uterus is bicor- 

 nuate. The mammae are abdominal. The placenta is 

 deciduate and zonary. 



Representatives of Carnivora are found in all parts of 

 the world. 



Sub-Order Carnivora Vera or Fissipedia. 



The true Carnivores are for the most part terrestrial. The 



incisors are almost always - the canines are usually large, one 



of the back teeth is modified as a trenchant carnassial or 

 sectorial. The digits generally have sharp claws, which may 

 be retractile. Within the sub-order there are three sections 

 ^Eluroidea, Cynoidea, and Arctoidea represented respectively 

 by cat, dog, and bear, but these types are connected by extinct 

 forms. 



[TABLE. 



