FOSS/L CARNJVORA 9 



and varied, at the dawn of the Age of Mammals, and the different 

 kinds become more and more specialized through(_)ut the Eocene 

 epoch. Meanwhile the true Carnivores appear in increasing 

 numbers and gradually crowd out the Creodonts until the last of 

 them has disappeared by the end of the Oligocene epoch. In 

 their evolution the different Creodont groups specicdized on much 

 the same lines of development as those the true Carnivores took 



Diagram showing- how the true' Carnii/ora crowded cut the 

 Urr.odonta cr T-yimitive Carnivora during //le Tertiary Tiriod . 



Kviwii Creodonta. Yy/y/A True Carnirora. 



FIG. 8 



afterwards. They were more or less wolf-like, weasel-like, cat- 

 like or bear-like, according to the nature of their food and the 

 manner of attacking their prey. 



Fossil remains of flesh-eating animals are by no means as 

 common as those of Herbivora, and the remains of Creodonts are 

 especially rare, and mostly fragmentary. The great majority 

 have been found in the Eocene fossil fields of the Western United 

 States. This Museum is peculiarly rich in these rare and inter- 

 esting fossils. Out of the 113 American species it possesses 

 all the known specimens of 50 and the types or other good 



