escendants has not only received no
confirmation, but has been practically disproved. Consequently Miss
Albertina Carlsson had a comparatively easy task (in a paper published
in the _Zoologisches Jahrbuch_ for 1905) in demonstrating that the
long-eared fox is a specialized, and to some extent degraded, form
rather than a primitive type. This, however, is not all, for the lady
points out that, as was suggested years previously by the present
writer, the creature is really the descendant of the fossil _Canis
curvipalatus_ of northern India. This is a circumstance of
considerable interest from a distributional point of view, as
affording one more instance of the intimate relationship between the
Tertiary mammalian fauna of India and the existing mammals of Africa.

In regard to the members of the dog-tribe as a whole, it may be stated
that they are generally sociable animals, hunting their prey in packs.
Many species burrow in the ground; none habitually climb trees. Though
mostly carnivorous, feeding chiefly on animals they have chased and
killed themselves, many, especially among the smaller species, eat
garbage, carrion, insects, and also fruit, berries and other vegetable
substances. The upper surface of the tail of the fox has a gland
covered with coarse straight hair. This gland, which emits an aromatic
odour, is found in all _Canidae_, with possibly the exception of
_Lycaon pictus_. Although the bases of the hair covering the gland are
usually almost white, the tips are always black; this colour being
generally extended to the surrounding hairs, and often forming dark
bars on the buttocks. The dark spot on the back of the tail is
particularly conspicuous, notably in such widely separated species as
the wolves, Azara's dog and the fennec.

Bear tribe.

Although its existing representatives are very different, the
bear-family or _Ursidae_, as will be more fully mentioned in the
sequel, was in past times intimately connected with the _Canidae_. In
common with the next two families, the modern _Ursidae_ are
characterized by the very small tympanic bulla, and the broad
paroccipital process, which is, however, independent of the bulla. The
feet are more or less completely plantigrade and five-toed. The
intestine has neither duodeno jejunal flexure nor a caecum; the
prostate gland is rudimentary; but glands occur in the vasa
deferentia; and th