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Show 92 MAMMALIA. &c. Its exlcrn~l resemblance to the common Mole of Europe ( 1) . h . t . easy to mistake the one for the other. 1s so great, t at 1 1s FAMILY III. CARNIVORA. Although the term carnivorous is applicable to all unguicu- 1a t e d am'm ac ls , not quadrumanate, that have th• ree sorts of 1 1 . teeth, inasmuch as they all use more or less ammd.a a.r.1m~1~t, there are, however, many of them, the two prece mg 1ami.1es especially, which are. compelle~ by weakness. and the comcal tubercles of their grmders to hve almost e~t1rely on !~sects. It is in the present family that the sangumary appetite for flesh is joined to the force necessary to obtain it. There are always four stout, long, and separated canini, between which are six incisors in each jaw, the root of the second of the lower ones being placed a little more inwards than the others. The molars are either wholly trenchant, or have some blunted tuberculous parts, but they are never bristled with conical points. . . These animals are so much the more exclusively carruvo· rous, as their teeth are the more completely trenchant, and the proportions of their regimen may be calculated ~rom :he extent of the tuberculous surface of their teeth, compared With that which is trenchant. The Bears, which can live altoge· ther on vegetables, have nearly all their teeth tuberculated. The anterior molars are the most trenchant; next comes a molar, larger than the others, usually furnished with a larger or smaller tuberculous heel; then follow one or two small teeth, that are perfectly flat. It is with these small teeth in the back part of the mouth that the dog chews the grass he some· times swallows. We will call, with M. Fr. Cuvier, thislarge upper molar, and its corresponding one helow, carnivor()11$ teeth; the anterior pointed ones, false molars; and the poste· rior blunted ones, tuberculous teeth. (1) It is the Common Mole ofthe United States . .11m. Ed. CARNARIA. 93 It is easy to conceive that those genera which have the fewest false molars, and whose jaws are the shortest, are those best adapted for biting. It is upon these differences that the genera can be most surely established. It is necessary, however,. that the consideration of the hind foot should be added to them. Several genera, like those of the two preceding families, in walking, or when they stand erect, place the whole sole of the foot on the ground, a fact proved by the total want of hair on that part of it. Others, and by far the greater number, walk on the ends of the toes, by raising up the tarsus. They are much swifter, and to this first difference are added many others of habits, and even of internal conformation. In both the clavicle is a mere bony rudiment suspended in the muscles. The PLANTIGRADA Form this first tribe, in which the whole sole of the foot is placed on the ground in walking, a circumstance which gives them a greater facility in standing vertically upon their hinder feet. They partake of the slowness and nocturnal life of the Insectivora, and, like them, have no crecum: most of those that inhabit cold countries pass the winter in a state of torpor. They all have five toes to each foot. . . I J' URsus, Lin. Bears have three large molars on each side( 1) in each jaw, altogether tuberculous, and of which the posterior upper, and anterior lower are the longest. They are preceded by a tooth a little more trenchant, which is one of the carnivorous teeth of this genus, and by a variable number of very small false molars, which are sometimes shed at a very early period. This almost frugivorous sort of dentition is the reason why, notwithstanding their great strength, they seldom eat flesh unless from necessity. . They are large stout-bodied animals, with thick limbs, and a ver)'i ' j• ~l) We shall hereafter omit the repetition of the words "on eQch side," &c., it ~e~ng understood that we speak of the molars on one side only, those of the other emgthe same. 1 •· 1 , 1 |