CHAPTER VII. 
Representatives of the Fossil Carnivora. 
Tue true carnivora are, paleontologically speaking, com- 
paratively recent; but in Triassic times existed in Europe 
and America marsupial forms of carnivorous, or, at all events, 
insectivorous habit, allied to the present Australian dasyures 
and thylacines, whose dentition was of so peculiar a character 
that it almost entitles them to be placed among the true 
carnivores. The two great families of Felide and Canide 
seem to be the earliest known, appearing as they do in the 
Eocene rocks; though, since they were then already differen- 
tiated, they certainly cannot represent anything nearly ap- 
proaching to the ancestral carnivorous form. The great 
break in continuity between the Secondary and Tertiary 
formations may, perhaps, for ever preclude us from knowing 
what the carnivorous archetype was. The group, however, 
must have had a great development and wide distribution 
long before the period at which our acquaintance with it 
begins; for nearly all the principal families are represented 
in the Meiocene and Pleiocene of Asia and Europe, and are 
probably in greater force than ever at the present time. 
Asia—whether or not it was the original birthplace of 
these forms—is peculiarly rich in fossil examples. Thus, 
in Series X. of “Paleontologica Indica,” vol. IL., part 6, 
edited by Mr. R. Lyddeker, B.A., F.G.S., &c., thirty-three 
species from the Meiocene and later rocks of the Siwalik 
hills are described, belonging to the families of Felide, 
