118 COPE 



in the Upper Eocene in Europe. There are two suborders, 

 which differ as follows : 



Digits distinct ; posterior limbs free ; Fissipedia. 



Digits united into paddles by integument ; 

 hind limbs partly enclosed in general in- 

 tegument ; • Pinnipedia. 



The Fissipedia have their closest connection with the 

 Creodonta, where the latter exhibit exceptionally a denti- 

 tion like the dogs, in the family Miacidse. From the dogs 

 development has pursued two principal lines. The one has 

 tended to an omnivorous diet, and has terminated in the 

 bears. The other has tended to an exclusively carnivorous 

 diet, and has ended in the cats, which display the charac- 

 ters of the order in the greatest perfection. True bears 

 appear in the Plistocene, and cats (Fig. 54) and hyeenas in 

 the Upper Miocene, in the Northern Hemisphere. In the 

 Southern Hemisphere cats do not appear until the Plisto- 

 cene (Fig. 55), and hysenas do not occur in the Western 



Fio. 54. — JVimravus gomphodus Cepe, two-fifths natural size ; left side of 

 skull. From Miocene of Oregon. 3-4, premolars ; 1-2, true molars. 



