116 THE CANINE FAMILY 
stantly wanting; and the same difference occurs in 
the Canis Dukhunensis of Colonel Sykes, and in all 
of the species noticed as dholes. But the group of 
Megalotis, and several of the fur-footed canines, 
show, in their tuberculous teeth, that they are, par- 
tially at least, insectivorous. One hitherto con- 
sidered as the largest of the Megalotis, is, however, 
sufficiently distinct to constitute a sub-genus, having 
seven molars on each side in the upper jaw and 
eight in the lower. 
The nostrils are lunulated, with the lower angle 
opening out at the side: they are situated in a 
glandular muzzle. The erasure large, pointed, 
moveable, turned forwards; the tongue soft, long, 
thin at the edges; the pupils of the eyes are round 
in many species, but contract vertically, like those 
of cats, in others; and from this circumstance 
alone, the family is divided into two great branches, 
the former including the wolves, dogs, and jackals, 
and the latter the foxes. But there are many spe- 
cies, especially in South America, and among the 
fur-footed canines, where the faculty of eliptically 
contracting the pupils is doubtful or imperfect ; 
nevertheless, from the power of excluding a propor- 
tion of light indicating nocturnal habits, and the 
round pupils an opposite propensity, they have been 
called diurnal and nocturnal canines; although the 
fox hunts by day as frequently as the wolf, and the 
jackal is perhaps more exclusively nocturnal than 
either. 
The fore-feet have five toes; the hind-feet four 
