576 
CARNIVORES. 
Far more remarkable is, however, the connection which is shown to exist by 
these fossil types between the dogs and the bears, which are now so widely 
sundered. The connecting type appears to be a creature known as the Amphicyon, 
of which a lower flesh-tooth is shown on p. 353. Some of these amphicyons were 
not larger than a fox, while others must have fully equalled a bear in size. They 
differed from modern dogs in having forty-four teeth, owing to the presence of the 
third pair of molars in the upper-jaw, and also in that their feet were plantigrade, 
like those of a bear; while they had five toes on all feet. The teeth of these planti¬ 
grade dogs, as they may be called, were, indeed, essentially those of a modern dog; 
but, as we shall show later on, there is a complete transition through other extinct 
forms to those of the bears. Hence we conclude that these plantigrade dogs were 
not only the ancestors of the modern dogs, but likewise gave origin to the bear 
family. The dog family is, therefore, the most ancient type of Carnivores now 
living, and the one which includes the extinct forms from which nearly all the 
others have originated. 
FOXHOUND. 
