[THE RACOON FAMILY]—Characters of their Skull, Teeth, &c.—Geographical Distribution—[THE RACOON]—Its Habit of Washing its Food—Its External Characters and Habits—Racoon Hunting—The Crab-eating Racoon—[THE COATI]—[THE KINKAJOU]—Its Lemur-like Appearance, Prehensile Tail, &c.—[THE CACOMIXLE]—[THE PANDA FAMILY]—[THE PANDA]—Its Character and Habits—The Ailuropus—[THE WEASEL FAMILY]—Anatomical Characters—Tail-glands—Division of the Family into Three Sub-families—Importance of the Mustelidæ as Fur-producing Animals—[THE GLUTTON]—Its Characters—Superstitions Regarding it—Its Cunning—[THE MARTEN]—[THE PEKAN]—[THE SABLE]—[THE WEASEL]—[THE STOAT, OR ERMINE]—The Difference between its Winter and Summer Dress, and the manner in which the Change takes place—[THE POLECAT]—[THE FERRET]—[THE MINK]—[THE GRISON]—[THE TAYRA]—[THE RATEL]—[THE COMMON BADGER]—Its Habits—Burrowing—[THE AMERICAN BADGER]—[THE TELEDU]—[THE CAPE ZORILLA]—[THE COMMON SKUNK]—Its Noxious Secretion—Hydrophobia produced by Skunk Bite—The Little Striped Skunk—The White-backed Skunk—[THE COMMON OTTER]—The Adaptation of its Structure to Aquatic Life—Use of Tame Otters for Fishing—The Canadian Otter—The Margined-tailed Otter—[THE SEA OTTER]—Its Affinities with the Seals—How it is Hunted—[GENERAL RELATIONS OF THE LAND CARNIVORA]—[FOSSIL CARNIVORA]—The Tendency of these to bridge over Existing Groups—Appendix to Chapter VI. (Civet Family)—[THE CYNOGALE]—[THE CYNICTIS]—[THE MANGUE]—[THE SURICATE].
THE RACOON FAMILY.[154]
THIS is a small family of curious Bear-like animals, of small size, and differing a good deal in external appearance, although agreeing closely in all essential particulars. They are plantigrade, like the Bears, and like them are quite devoid of a blind-gut, or cæcum. The skull is long-snouted, and, though presenting certain resemblances to that of the Civets, has still the essential Arctoid characters, such as the well-marked bony ear-passage, and the wide space between the ear-drum bone and the bony projection on the hinder part of the skull (paroccipital process). A great difference from the Bear’s skull, is, however, seen in the swollen and bulb-like ear-drum bone (bulla tympani), which is as large as that of a Dog.
SKULL OF RACOON.
The grinding-teeth have on their biting surfaces large and prominent tubercles, so that they are neither altogether of a crushing, nor altogether of a mincing character. The molars bear a considerable resemblance to the hinder molars of the Dog; the canines are compressed from side to side, have very sharp front and back edges, and are somewhat outstanding. The number of the teeth is forty,[155] that is, two less than in the Bears, the missing teeth being the last upper molar of each side.
HALF OF SKULL OF RACOON, UNDER VIEW.
The four genera of the Racoon family are found only in the New World; their northern limit is British Columbia, while southwards they reach to Paraguay in the central part of South America.