NATURAL HISTORY. 
11 
SALOON.] 
This class is divided into five orders, according to the forms of their 
teeth and modifications of their members, which are adapted to their 
different modes of life, and the kind of nourishment they are destined to 
subsist on : some being in the form of hands, others having clawed or 
hoofed feet for walking, or fin-like paddles for moving in the water. 
Some have three distinct kinds of teeth forming an uninterrupted 
series, as the Primates, which have a distinct opposable thumb on the fore 
extremities, and the Ferae, which are essentially carnivorous. Others 
have only two kinds of teeth, or if they have three, they are interrupted 
in their series; as the Cete or whales; the hoofed quadrupeds, or Ungu - 
lata, which have large hoofs in the place of claws; and the Glires , which 
have claws and only two cutting teeth in each jaw. Tlie Ferje, Cete, 
and Ungulata are in this Saloon; the Primates anchOLiRES being 
for the present placed (until the new rooms are built forthem) in the | 
third room of the Northern Zoological Gallery. f f ! 
The second order of Mammalia, the rapacious beasts, or Fer^e, are cha¬ 
racterized by having distinct and well defined cutting, canine, and grinding- 
teeth, placed in a regular uninterrupted series. The feet are formed for 
walking, and furnished with claws; the thumbs of the front and generally 
of the hinder extremities being placed on the same line as the toes; 
their teats are placed on the abdomen, and the male organ is inclosed in 
a sheath. 
This order is divided into several large families : some have six cut¬ 
ting teeth in each jaw, as the family of cats ( Felidae ), and the bears 
( Ursidce); and the rest have fewer or more than that number of cutting 
teeth, which are often of an anomalous shape, as the moles ( Talpidce), 
the kangaroos ( Macropidce ), and the seals ( Phocidce ). 
The family of Cats (Felidae, Cases 1—13) have three kinds of 
acutely lobed grinders. The carnivorous tooth is elongate with an 
internal lobe, and differently shaped from the tubercular grinders. The 
soles of the hind feet are often covered with hair, especially near the 
heel, when it is not applied to the ground in walking. Their head is 
roundish, and the end of their nose is slightly mobile. 
The more carnivorous of these animals have only a single very small 
tubercular grinder in the upper jaw; their carnivorous tooth is large. 
The carnivorous tooth of the milk series has a small central lobe in¬ 
stead of the large anterior internal lobe of the permanent series, and the 
carnivorous tooth of the latter series is behind the place of the one in 
the milk series, the situation of the latter being occupied by the hinder 
false grinder. 
The tribe of Cats ( Felina , Cases 1—7) have nearly equal legs, with 
five toes before and four behind, all armed with sharp retractile claws; 
their head is short and rounded, and they have four grinders above and 
three below. The lion ( Leo ) has the tip of the tail tufted, and the 
males are maned. The leopard ( Leopardus ) and cats (Fells) are mane¬ 
less, and have an elongated cylindrical tail; the former have $ round and 
the latter a long pupil. The lynxes, caracals, and chaus have short 
tails, and the ends of the ears pencilled like the squirrels. The hunt¬ 
ing leopards ( Gueparda) differ from the larger cats in being slender, 
higher on the legs, slightly maned, and having blunt claws. 
The tribe of Hyenas ( Hycenina , Case 8) have short hind legs and ra¬ 
ther blunt claws. They have four toes on each foot, and five grinders 
