146 EVOLUTION IN THE PAST 



CARKIVORES Carnivores in some cases were becoming quicker-paced, 

 and more deadly in dentition. Faster movement, no doubt, 

 had been necessitated by the increased fieetness of herbivores. 

 Mental developments were, doubtless, also going on in both 

 ranks. Herbivores had long been victimised ; and as 'a 

 consequence their faculties of observation must have become 

 sharpened, and the bump of caution developed. This mental 

 evolution, it may be supposed, was being matched on the 

 part of the carnivores by an increased cunning. On both 

 sides, therefore, the mental standard was being raised. 



It is clear, however, that carnivorous brutes of primitive 

 type (Creodonts) were still able to pick up a living, although 

 their brains were diminutive, and their dentition not of the 

 most approved pattern (Hycsnodon). These, however, were 

 now quite unimportant in comparison with the forms with 

 better brains, and with up-to-date cutting and crushing 

 teeth. Small animals of this superior stamp, toothed like 

 dogs, and civet-like in appearance, had, it may be remembered, 

 come to the fore in late Eocene times (Cynodictis). Descen- 

 dants of these animals were now very numerous ; and they 

 were supplemented by forms of wolf-size, and more resembling 

 dogs in aspect than civets (Cephalogale). 



Other forms abroad, flat-footed and with dog-like skulls, 

 seem to have been a combination of dogs and bears ; and 

 they probably represented a stock out of which bears were 

 ultimately to emerge {Amphicyon). 



Some of the Eocene carnivores, although mainly canine 

 in structure, more resembled cats, no doubt, in some ana- 

 tomical features. Such-like generalised forms — skulled and 

 toothed as wolves but tailed like leopards, and possessing 

 claws that could in part be retracted — were certainly in 

 existence in this Period {Daphncaus, N.A.). In certain of 

 the Eocene carnivores, however, the cat must have become, 

 so to speak, the predominant partner in the body. This may 

 be inferred from the existence of decidedly cat-hke forms in 

 Oligocene times. The latter animals, moreover, were evident 

 on two lines of evolution, that had issued, no doubt, from 

 a common stock. Some of them were slenderly limbed, and 

 fleet of foot ; and their upper canines were so far developed 



