104 DESCRIPTION 
Jn their reciprocal position the crowns are not 
directly opposed to one another, as in herbivorous 
animals ; but those of the lower jaw pass on both 
sides within those of the upper, the tubercles of the 
one corresponding regularly to the depressions of the 
other, and thus forming an admirable instrument for 
cutting, which acts precisely upon the principle of a 
pair of scissors. The incisor and tuberculous teeth 
alone have their crowns in contact with one another, 
and for this purpose the latter teeth are situated con- 
siderably within the line of the other molars. ‘The 
last tuberculous tooth of the upper jaw fits into 
the depression of its lower analogue, and the first, as 
has been already observed, into the depression which 
separates the tuberculous heel of the lower carnassier 
from the anterior lobes. The skull from which this 
description was taken being that of a very old ani- 
mal, the sharp trenchant edges of the teeth were 
completely worn away, leaving the lobes universally 
of a blunt tuberculous form, and often rendering it 
a matter of some difficulty to trace their original 
characters. | 
“ This system of dentition is, in most respects, ex- 
tremely similar to that which is common to the 
Viverre in general, and particularly to the genus 
Herpestes, from which the Cynictis differs princi- 
pally in the absence of the rudimentary false molar 
of the lower jaw, in having that of the upper jaw in 
contact with the canine, and in a few other circum- 
