590 MAMMALS. 



Order 6. Carnivora. 



This order includes {a) the true Carnivores, such as lions 

 and tigers, foxes and dogs, bears and otters ; (b) the aquatic 

 Pinnipedia, such as seals and walruses ; and (c) the extinct 

 Creodonta with several generalised types. 



Most of the Carnivora feed on animal food, and the most 

 typical forms prey upon other animals and devour their 

 warm flesh. Most are bold and fierce animals, with keen 

 senses and quick intelligence. 



Almost all have well-developed claws; there are never 

 fewer than four toes. The teeth are diverse, of two sets, 

 and always rooted except in the case of the tusks of the 

 walrus ; the canines are strong and sharp ; some of the back 

 teeth are generally sharp and adapted for cutting. 



" The condyle of the lower jaw is a transversely placed 

 half-cylinder, working in a deep glenoid fossa of corres- 

 ponding form." The zygomatic arch within which lie the 

 powerful jaw-muscles is generally prominent. There are 

 generally strong occipital and sagittal crests for the insertion 

 of muscles. The tympanic bullae are in most cases large. 



The clavicles are incomplete or absent ; the radius and 

 ulna are always distinct ; the fibula is slender but distinct. 



The brain has well-marked convolutions, and the cere- 

 bellum is more or less covered over by the cerebrum. 



The stomach is always simple ; the caecum is absent, or 

 short, or simple ; the colon is not sacculated. 



There are no vesiculse seminales. The uterus is bicor- 

 nuate. The mammae are abdominal. The placenta is 

 deciduate and zonary. 



Representatives of Carnivora are found in all parts of 

 the world. 



Sub-Order Carnivora Vera or Fissipedia. 



The true Carnivores are for the most part terrestrial. The 

 incisors are almost alwfays f, the canines are usually large, one 

 of the back teeth is modified as a trenchant carnassial or 

 sectorial. The digits generally have sharp claws, which may 

 be retractile. Within the sub-order there are three sections — 

 yEluroidea, Cynoidea, and Arctoidea — represented respectively 

 by cat, dog, and bear, but these types are connected by extinct 

 forms. 



