URSIDÆ.
CRYPTOPROCTIDÆ.
PROTELIDÆ.
CANIDÆ.
PROCYONIDÆ.
AILURIDÆ.
VIVERRIDÆ.
MUSTELIDÆ.
In this scheme we see an expression of the fact that the Dogs (Canidæ) form a central group, from which the families of the Æluroidea—those to the left—diverge in one direction, and the families of the Arctoidea—those to the right—in the other direction. The Civets (Viverridæ) and the Weasel family (Mustelidæ), being the least modified of the Æluroid and Arctoid sections respectively, are placed at the bottom of the table, the Cats (Felidæ) and Bears (Ursidæ), being the most modified, are placed at the top. The two latter families, again, are placed at opposite extremities of the table, as far from one another as possible, to indicate the great gap which separates the digitigrade, short-skulled, active, carnivorous Cats, from the plantigrade, long-skulled, clumsy, herbivorous Bears. To be quite accurate, such a scheme should take account not merely of families, but of genera: in our table, for instance, there is nothing to show the immense amount of specialisation undergone by one section of the Mustelidæ—the Otters—to fit them for aquatic life; but such a detailed arrangement is quite beyond the scope of the present work.
In considering the chief forms of Carnivora existing at the present day, we have by no means exhausted this varied and interesting group, for a number of its members, the forerunners of those now living, have vanished from the face of the earth, and are known to us only by their bones, which we find here and there entombed in the strata of which the crust of our earth is composed.