78 CARNIVORA order hi 



against the ossified bulla. Symphysis wanting flanges. Recent in the Old 

 World and America, fossil in the Upper Miocene. F. media, F. pygmaea 

 Gerv., in the Sansan beds ; F. turnauensis Toula in Styria ; F. zitteli Gaillard 

 at La Grive St. Alban. Lower Pliocene. F. attica Wagn. Pikermi. F. ante- 

 diluviana Kaup. Eppelsheim. F. brevirostris Croiz. Pliocene of Roussillon 

 and Maragha. F. pardinensis, F. arvernensis Croiz. Tuscany and Auvergne. 

 F. leo (L. spelaea Goldf.), F. pardus, F. lynx, etc. ; in the Pleistocene 

 of Europe. F. atrox Leidy, Miocene of Nebraska. F. onca Linn, in South 

 America, F. chaus in East Indies. 



Suborder C PINNIPEDIA. Seals and Walruses. ^ 



Carnivora in which the limbs are adapted for an aquatic life, the proximal 

 segments being short, the distal elongated and tuebhed between the digits. Dentition 

 complete, P and M homodont, either conical, or consisting of a high cone with 

 anterior and posterior accessory cusps ; the two most posterior molars generally 

 absent, as are carnassials ; incisors conical commonly less than 3/3 / canines strongly 

 developed. Extremities pentadactyl, first and fifth digits of pes being larger than 

 the others. Scaphoid fused with lunar and centrale. Cerebral hemispheres strongly 

 convoluted. 



The Pinnipedia show a great resemblance to terrestrial carnivores in ana- 

 tomical and ontogenetic characters. Owing to their adaptation to an aquatic 

 habitat, they have acquired to a certain extent a fish-like form of body, and 

 their dentition has also become modified. A reduction in number and a greater 

 simplification of the teeth is to be observed, associated frequently with the 

 complication of the premolars. The Pinnipedia inhabit the circum polar 

 regions of both hemispheres. 



Fossil forms are rare, occurring first in the Miocene. Neither palaeon- 

 tology nor ontogeny furnishes satisfactory clues concerning their origin. 

 Patriofelis among creodonts is regarded by Wortman as a possible ancestor of 

 the group, a marked resemblance lying in the structure of the astragalus. 

 On account of the presence of the " Ursine " lozenge characteristic of 

 the brain of the Arctoidea, Weber and others derive the Pinnipedia from the 

 Ursidac. 



The Pinnipedia may be divided into three families : Otariidae, Phocidae, 

 Trichechidae. The Otariidae appear first in the Miocene of Oregon (Pontoleon 

 True). Otaria occurs in the Tertiary and Pleistocene of Argentina, as well 

 as in the Pleistocene of North America. Arctocephalus is found in the Pliocene 

 of Victoria and Pleistocene of New Zealand. The Trichechidae are represented 

 in the Upper Miocene of Maryland and of Europe, and in the Pleistocene of 

 England, Belgium (also in the Pliocene), Holland and North America. 



The Phocidae first appear in the Miocene of Egypt. In Maryland is found 

 Leptophoca True. Lobodon occurs in New Jersey, Phoca in Virginia. In the 

 Miocene of the Vienna Basin we have Phoca vindobonensis Toula. In Hungary, 

 P. holifschensis Briihl ; in South Russia, P. pontica Eichwald. In the Pliocene 

 of Montpelier, Pristiphoca Gervais ; in Belgium, Monatherium and Prophoca 



^ Beneden, P. J. van, Description des ossements fossiles des environs d'Anvers. Ann. Mus. 

 Hist. Nat. Belgique, vol. i., 1877. — Toula, F. Phoca -vindobonensis. Beitr. Palaont. Osterr.- 

 Ungams, 1897. 



