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 molars in either half of each jaw. The carnassial teeth are not typically developed, and the molars are broad and tuberculate. The tail is long, often prehensile, and often ringed in the disposition of its colour pattern. The alisphenoid canal is absent save in the aberrant Aelurus. Both condyloid and postglenoid foramina are present. The members of this family are plantigrade.



The genus Procyon includes at least two species of Raccoon, the northern form, P. lotor, and the South American, P. cancrivorus. To these may possibly be added a third, P. nigripes. This genus is characterised by the length and the mobility of the fingers, and indeed it uses its hands greatly. It has no median groove upon the muzzle, which is found in many other Arctoids; the ears are moderately large; the tail is not long, being about one-third of the entire length of the animal, including the tail. The soles of the feet are naked. Its limbs are very long (for an Arctoid), and this gives to the animal a bunched-up appearance when walking. There are four premolars and two molars on each side of each jaw. There are fourteen pairs of ribs, of which ten pairs reach the sternum. The latter is composed of nine pieces.

The first-named species has received its name from the fact—of which there is abundant proof—that it dips its food into water. As a matter of fact, the animal frequents the margins of streams, and hunts in the shallow water beneath stones for