202 AN INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



modified into the carnassial tooth, is^ in the lower jaw, 

 always the first molar, and in the upper jaw, the last 

 pre-molar. In the Bear group of the Carnivora, which 

 are not so exclusively carnivorous as the cats or dogs, 

 this tooth is not so decidedly developed. In the 

 Marsupial Carnivora there are usually several teeth of 

 this pattern, but not one specially large one that can 

 be distinguished as the carnassial tooth. The general 



rig. 114.— Carnivorous dentition of a Marsnpial. Dental formula, iJ-? * 



' 3 12 I 4- 



characters of carnivorous dentition are thus given in 

 Tomes' " Manual of Dental Anatomy " {2nd ed., p. 

 376) : — " In a general sense we may say that the 

 characters which indicate a pure flesh diet are : the 

 small size of the incisors as compared with the can- 

 ines, and their arrangement in a straight line across 

 the jaw ; the large size, deep implantation, and wide 

 separation from one another of the canines; the re- 

 duction in the number of the molar series, those that 

 remain being without broad crushing surfaces, in the 

 place of which a pointed or sharp- edged form prevails. 



