THE CARNIVOEA. ' 413 



crowns are covered witli enamel. There are always two 

 sets of teeth, a milk and a permanent dentition. As 

 a very general rule, there are six incisors above and an 

 equal number below. The canines are long, cui-ved, and 

 pointed. 



The stomach is simple and imdivided, and the coecum, 

 which is never large, may be altogether absent. 



The liver is deeply subdivided and there is a gall bladder. 



In the brain, the cerebellum is never completely covered by 

 the cerebral hemisphei-es, which are connected by a lai'ge 

 corpus caUosum, and, except in the aquatic forms, by a 

 well-developed anterior commissure. On the extei'ior of 

 each hemisphere, there are usually three distinct convolu- 

 tions siuTOunding the sylvian fissure. But, in the aquatic 

 Carnivora, the gyi'i are much more numerous and com- 

 plicated; the cerebral hemispheres are much broader and 

 longer in proportion to the length of the brain ; and they 

 may even exhibit a rudiment of the posterior cornu. In all 

 these respects they approach the Cetacea. 



The inferior turbinal bones are always large and have 

 a complicated form. 



There are no vesiculse seminales, and an os penis is very 

 generally present. The ovary is inclosed in a peritoneal sac. 



The Carnivora are divisible into the Pinnipedia, or aquatic 

 Carnivores ; and the Fissipedia, which are mainly terrestrial 

 and cursorial. 



a. In the Fissipedia the incisors are, with one exception 



3*3.. 



{Enhydris, the Sea-otter, with i. — ), six m number m each 



jaw. 



The hind limbs have the position usual in mammals, and 

 the tail is free to its root. The pinna of the ear is fully 

 developed. The middle, or outermost, digits of the pes are 

 longest, the hallux being shorter than the others. 



Almost invariably, the distal phalanges of both limbs are 

 provided with claws; and, in the most thoroughly carnivorous 

 forms, these claws are very strong, curved and pointed. The 

 phalanx which supports the claw has a similar form, and a, 



