THE WEASEL FAMILY 149 



compressed, and sometimes sharp claws, which in some genera can 

 be partially drawn back, as in the cats. In appearance the molar 

 teeth are very different from the badger's. The fourth pre- 

 molar is a powerful carnassial, narrow, and with generally two 

 great cusps. The single upper molar is far smaller than in the 

 badger, and is a tooth of no importance, with two tubercles, 

 and is very narrow longitudinally. It is set at right angles to 

 the fourth premolar, and suggests a decided resemblance to the 

 same tooth in the cats. 



Gulo luscus. The Glutton 



This creature is the largest and stoutest member of the 

 Weasel sub-family, and is almost equal in size to a small bear 

 when full grown. It has a short, bushy tail, and is sub-planti- 

 grade. Its dentition, which is thoroughly musteline, suggests 

 strong superficial resemblances to that of the cats. It has a very 

 large and narrow upper carnassial tooth (fourth premolar), and 

 an equally large lower carnassial (first molar). The outermost 

 incisor tooth, nearest to the canines, is large, and like a second 

 canine in appearance, as is the case in the cats and hyaenas. The 

 humerus, or upper arm bone, of the Glutton has what is called an 

 entepicondylar foramen, an archaic feature which has been lost in 

 the existing dogs and in the bears, but has been retained by the 

 cats and the civets (though lost by the hyaenas).^ 



The present range of the glutton extends over Norway, 

 Northern Sweden, Northern Russia, Siberia, Alaska, and Canada, 

 and anciently — within the time of man — it inhabited Germany, 

 France, and England. It is first recorded from England at the 

 end of the Pliocene period, and the remains found in English and 



1 This entepicondylar foramen is a curious perforation of the lower end of 

 the humerus, or arm bone, near the condyles, on which move the lower arm 

 bones, radius and ulna. Through this crevice pass nerves and blood vessels. 

 This foramen through the lower end of the humerus is absent in members of 

 the order which includes man {Primates). It is also absent in the Rodents and 

 the Ungulates. It is present in Marsupials, Monotremes, and, still more 

 remarkable, the Anomodont reptiles, from which the MammaUa are supposed 

 to be derived. Consequently it is a very primitive mammalian feature. 



