546 CARNIVORA 
After taking these away, there remain a great number of animals 
called Dogs, Wolves, Jackals, and Foxes, varying from one another 
only in the characters of the tail, ears, fur, form of the pupil, and 
some trifling peculiarities of skull and teeth, upon which some 
authors have divided them into many genera. ‘These divisions are, 
however, extremely difficult, if not impossible, to define, on account 
- of the numerous gradual transitions from one form to the other. 
Canis.1—It appears on the whole convenient to retain all the 
species, with the exception of Otocyon, Icticyon, and Lycaon, in the 
old genus Canis, the most prominent characters of which are the 
following. Teeth, usually i 3, ¢ 4, p 4, m 3; total 42. The 
absence of the last 
upper molar (m_ 3), 
alone distinguishes this 
from the generalised 
dentition of hetero- 
donts, and this tooth 
is occasionally present 
in one species (C. can- 
crworus). In certain 
ps pa m1 m2 — Asiatic species (C. pri- 
Pe annem mma enh ctam erin Wot sucrnus and its allies), 
which on this account 
have been separated to form the genus Cyon of Hodgson, the last 
lower molar (m 3) appears to be constantly absent. The milk- 
dentition is di 3, de 1, dm 2; total 28,—the first permanent pre- | 
molar having no predecessor. The teeth of both permanent and 
milk or temporary series are figured on p. 26, Fig. 3, from the 
outer aspect, while the woodcut 251 shows the palatal aspect of the 
hinder upper teeth. The upper carnassial (p 4) consists of a stout 
blade, of which the anterior lobe is almost obsolete, the middle lobe 
large, conical, and pointed backwards, and the posterior lobe in the 
form of a compressed ridge; the inner tubercle is very small, and 
placed quite at the fore part of the tooth. The first molar is more 
than half the antero-posterior length of the carnassial, and consider- 
ably wider than it is long; its crown consists of two prominent, 
conical cusps, of which the anterior is the larger, and a low broad 
inward prolongation, supporting two more or less distinct cusps and 
a raised inner border. The second molar resembles the first in 
general form, but is considerably smaller. The lower carnassial 
(m 1) is a very large tooth, with a strong compressed bilobed blade 
the hinder lobe being considerably the larger and more pointed a 
small but distinct inner cusp placed at the hinder margin of the 
posterior lobe of the blade, and a broad, low, tuberculated talon, 
* Linn. Syst, Nat. 12th ed. vol. i. p. 56 (1766). 
