DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 



[part 



Older— CARNIVORA. 



^luroidea 



Fissipedia Cynoidea 



Arctoidea 



Piunipedia 



Fiiin. 



23. Felidc-e ... 



24. Ciyptoproctidse 



25. Viverridpe 

 ( 26. Protelidfe 

 ^27. Hya^nidae 



28. Canidae ... 



'29. Mustelidfe 



I 30. Procyonidfe 



I 31. ^luridaj... 



32. Ursidaj ... 



33. Otariidse . . . 



34. Trichechidse 



35. Phocidse.... 



Cats, Lion, &c. 



Cryptoprocta. 



Civets. 



Aard-wolf. 



Hytenas. 



Dogs, Foxes, &c. 



Weasels. 



Racoons. 



Pandas. 



Bears. 



Eared Seals. 



Walrus. 



Seals. 



The Cetacea is one of those orders the classification of which 

 is very unsettled. The animals comprising it are so huge, and 

 there is so much difficulty in preserving them, that only a very 

 few species are known with anything like completeness. A con- 

 siderable number of genera and species have been described or 

 indicated; but as many of these are founded on imperfect speci- 

 mens of perhaps a single individual, it is not to be wondered at 

 that those few naturalists who occupy themselves with the study 

 of these large animals, cannot agree as to the proper mode of group- 

 ing them into natural families. They are, however, of but little 

 importance to us, as almost all the species inhabit the ocean, and 

 of only a few of them can it be said that anything is accurately 

 known of their distribution, I therefore consider it best to follow 

 Professor Carus, who makes a smaller number of families ; but 

 I give also the arrangement of Dr. Gray in his British Museum 

 catalogue of whales and seals, as modified subsequently in 

 the Proceedings of Zoological Society, 1870, p. 772. The Zeu- 

 glodontidae, a family of extinct tertiary whales, are classed by 

 Professors Owen and Carus between Cetacea and Sirenia, while 

 Professor Huxley considers them to have been carnivorous and 

 allied to the seals. 



