Order CARNIVORA. 



Whether tlie members of the great group of flesh-eating Mam- 

 mals, comprising cats, civets, ichneumons, hyjenas, clogs, weasels, 

 badgers, otters, racoons, bears, seals, and their allies, are structu- 

 rally inferior to the Primates or not, is a question on which some 

 difference of opinion exists ; but there can be no question as to the 

 superiority of organization shoun by the higher Caruivora when 

 compared with any other mammalian order, except that containing 

 Man and the anthropoid Apes. The superiority is quite as well 

 marked in the development of the brain as in that of the body and 

 limbs. 



The Carnivora are animals with never less than four toes on each 

 foot, all the toes being armed with claws. The pollex and hallux 

 are never opposable. The teeth comprise incisors, canines, and 

 molars. The incisors are, with very few exceptions, three on each 

 side of each jaw — the outer, especially in the upper jaw, being 

 larger than the others. The canines are well developed. There is 

 a milk-dentition. The condyle of the lower jaw is a transverse 

 half-cylinder, working in a glenoid fossa of corresponding form, 

 hence the movement of the jaw is only up and down, not lateral. 

 The stomach is simple. Thec.iecum is short or absent. The uterus 

 is bicornuate ; the placenta deciduate, and often zonary. The 

 mamma) are abdominal. The clavicle is often absent, and when 

 present imperfect. In many forms there is a bony septum inside 

 the skull, between the cerebrum ana cerebellum. 



Thei'e is but little difference of opinion amongst naturalists as to 

 the limits of the Carnivora ; the only point on which the agree- 

 ment is imperfect is as to whether the seals should be included in 

 the order or classed separately. When they are included, as in the 

 system here followed, they form a separate suborder, called Pinni- 

 pedia, distinguished by having the whole external form modified 

 for an aquatic life, the hind feet especially being converted into 

 paddles. The teeth of the molar series, both premolars and molars, 

 are similar to each other in size and form. Nearly all seals inhabit 

 cold climates, and none are found in India or the neighbouring 

 countries. The Carnivora vera or Fissipedia are fitted for a 

 terrestrial or partially terrestrial life, arid have the teeth of the 

 molar series in each jaw dissimilar in size and form, thei'e being 

 always one tooth on each side, above and below, that is especially 

 modified, and that is, in the majority of the families, larger than 

 the other teeth: this is the sectorial, caruassial, or flesh-tooth. 



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