CARNIVORA. 715 



cat (F. caffra) of Africa and S. Asia, venerated and mummi- 

 fied by the Egyptians, perhaps ancestral to the domestic cat ; 

 the puma or couguar (F. coiuolar) from Canada to Pata- 

 gonia ; the jaguar (F. onca), also American. 

 A high degree of specialisation for carnivorous habit is well illus- 

 trated by the sabre-toothed tigers (Machcerodus) of Tertiary 

 ages, whose serrated upper canines were sometimes seven inches 

 long. 

 Family Viverridae — Old World forms, such as civets ( Viverra), of 

 Africa and India, genets (Genetta), of S. Europe, Africa, and 

 S. -W. Asia, ichneumons or mongooses (fferpestes), from .Spain, 

 Africa, India, Indo-Malaya. 

 Family Proteleidfe — represented by Protdes cristatus, the hycena-like 



Aard-wolf of Cape Colony. 

 Family Hyasnidre — represented by the genus Hyiaia^ found in Africa 

 and S. Asia. The tympanic bulla is not divided by a septum. 



Cynoidea — Dog-like Carnivores. 



Family Canidce — including forms intermediate between the cats and 

 the bears. The dentition is more generalised than in the Felidae, 



3142 

 its usual formula is . Within the tympanic bulla there is 



only a rudimentary septum. The paroccipital process in contact 

 with the bulla is prominent. The csecum is either short and 

 simple, or long and peculiarly folded upon itself. 

 Examples : — The genus Canis has representatives in all parts of 

 the world, the wolves (C. lupiis^ &c.), the jackals (C am-etts), 

 7nesoineias, &c. ), the domestic dogs {C. famillaris)^ the foxes 

 (C. vulpes, &c.), the Cape hunting dog (Lycaon), the bush- 

 dog [Icticyon) of Guiana and Brazil, and the primitive Otocyon 

 from S. Africa, with the maximum number of back 



3, I, 4. 3-4 3'42 



teeth . In the dog the dental formula is ; the 



3, I. 4. 4 3M3 



upper carnassial or fourth premolar has a stout bilobed blade, 

 the lower carnassial or first molar has a compressed bilobed 

 blade. The skull is more elongated than in the cats ; the 

 orbits are very widely open posteriorly ; the clavicles are very 

 small ; the limbs are digitigrade ; there are five toes on the 

 fore-feet, but the short thumb does not reach the ground ; there 

 are only four toes on the hind-feet, but in domestic dogs the 

 rudiment of the hallux is sometimes enlarged as the "dew- 

 claw ; " the claws are non-retractile and blunt. 



Arctoidea — Bear-like Carnivores. 



The tympanic bulla shows no trace of an internal septum ; the paroc- 

 cipital process of the ex-occipital is quite apart from the bulla, 

 and widely separated from the mastoid process of the periotic. 

 The limbs are plantigrade or sub-plantigrade, and always bear 

 five toes. There is no cxcum. 



