THE CARNIVORES 181 



Bears and Raccoons but are readily distinguished from those 

 of all other Carnivores by the peculiar shape of the single upper 

 molar. The inner part of this tooth has a greater antero-pos- 

 terior measurement than the outer part, although this character 

 is not always very pronounced. In the Skunk, for example, 

 it is slight. 



The Skunk feeds on mice, frogs and eggs, worms, roots and 

 berries, but in addition it destroys more insects than all our 

 other Mammals put together. It is both arboreal and fossorial 

 in habit. The dental formula is: 



3 13 1 

 1 77, Cy,p|,M-. total 34. 



The small transversely set incisors and the long canines both 

 adapted for carnivorous food call for no comment. The pre- 

 molars increase in size backward and are all simple except the 

 last upper tooth which is sectorial though by no means pro- 

 nouncedly so. The sharp cusps of the cheek teeth bespeak the 

 pre-eminence of this animal as an insect-eater. The upper 

 molar has a well developed external cingulum upon Avhich the 

 usual three styles can be distinguished ; the internal cingulum 

 rising into a hypocone behind is also very large. The lower 

 molars resemble quite closely those of the Rasse already de- 

 scribed but their cusps are not quite so needle-like. The first 

 molar is not at all strongly sectorial; it possesses trigonid 

 and talonid both with a full complement of cusps. The second 

 as in Viverra is greatly reduced and exhibits practically only 

 the talonid. 



The next family to receive attention, the Raccoons or Procy- 

 onidae, is almost exclusively American, there being only one 

 representative in the Old World, the Panda of the Himalayas. 

 As already stated the family arose from the ancestors of the 

 Dogs in the loAver Miocene. One of the principal dental fea- 

 tures of the early differentiation of the Raccoons was the 

 change taking place in the sectorial fourth upper premolar. A 



