CARNARIA. 
97 
domestic, named i?'. TemmincJdi: F. approximates the last, but is smaller, with some markings on the 
head, and is remarkable for its complete bony 
orbits.] 
We might place as a separate subgenus [Cy- 
nailurus, Blainv. ? ] a species which has the head 
rounder and shorter, and the talons of which are 
not retractile [a statement which is unwar- 
ranted by fact], the Chetah, or Hunting Leo- 
pard {F.jubata, Schreb.) : size of a Leopard, but 
longer-bodied, and stands higher ; of a pale 
fulvous, with tolerably uniform small black spots, 
a black streak reaching from the eye to the angle 
of the mouth, and tail annulated at the end. 
The disposition of this animal is mild and docile. 
[From Asia and Africa, but apparently not 
specifically the same on the two continents. 
The Digitigrada of Cuvier, exclu- 
sive of the semi-plantigrade genera which 
have no coecum, divide primarily into, 
first, the Canine group, or the Dogs and 
Foxes, which is the most distinctly se- 
parated by anatomical characters ; the 
remainder are all much more nearly al- 
lied, but we may venture to detach the 
Feline animals or Cats : the rest may all 
be included in the Viverrine section, to 
which the Hyaenas strictly appertain ; a 
varied, but quite natural assemblage, ex- 
clusively confined in its distribution to the eastern continent, and scarcely extending beyond 
the tropics ; whereas the former groups are generally diffused, with the exception of Aus- 
tralia and the remote oceanic islands. Of the Viverrine animals, the most definitely cha- 
racterized subdivision is that of the Mangoustes and subordinate sections : the Genets scarcely 
differ from the Cats except in the prolongation of the muzzle ; and the Hyaena group is so 
nearly related to the Civets that it does not appear to be separable on physiological characters.] 
The Amphibia [Pinnigrada, Blain.] — 
Compose the third and last of the minor tribes into which we divide the Carnivora. Their 
feet are so short and so enveloped in the skin, that, upon land, they only serve to crawl 
with* ; but, as the intervals between their toes are occupied by membranes, they form excel- 
lent oars : hence these animals pass the greater portion of their lives in the water, which they 
only quit to bask in the sunshine, and to suckle their young. Their lengthened body ; their 
very moveable spine, provided with muscles which strongly flex it ; their narrow pelvis ; their 
} short close fur, setting fiat upon the skin ; all combine to render them able swimmers, and 
I the details of their anatomy confirm these first indications. [As in the Dugong, the Cetacea , and 
j other large aquatic Mammalia, their bones are light and spongy, more particularly in the 
I larger species.] Only two genera have as yet been distinguished, the Seals and the Morses . 
I The Seals { Phoca , Lin.) — 
Have six or four incisors above, four or only two below, pointed canines, and grinders to the 
number of twenty, twenty-two, or twenty-four [that is to say, two, in the complete series, posterior 
to the representative of the carnivorous tooth], all of them trenchant or conical, without any tuber- 
culous portion : five toes to each foot, the anterior successively shortening from the thumb ; whereas, 
* It is only when clambering that the Seal employs its feet on land : it -wriggles along, upon the ground, by the action of the abdo- 
minal muscles.— Ed. 
Fig. 36.— The Puma 
H 
