_Extinct Species._--The dog, wolf, and fox, are found fossil in {198}caverns in many parts of Europe, and several extinct species have been found in Tertiary deposits in Europe, North India, and South America. Two species have been found so far back as the Eocene of France, but the fragments discovered are not sufficient to determine the characters with any certainty. In North America, several species of _Canis_ occur in the Pliocene of Nebraska and La Plata. The genus _Galecynus_, of the Pliocene of Oeninghen, and _Palæocyon_, of the Brazilian caves, are supposed to belong to the Canidæ. _Amphicyon_ abounded in the Miocene period, both in Europe and North America; and some of the species were as large as a tiger. Other extinct genera are, _Cynodictis_, _Cyotherium_, and _Galethylax_, from the Eocene of France; _Pseudocyon_, _Simocyon_, and _Hemicyon_, from the Miocene; but all these show transition characters to Viverridæ or Ursidæ, and do not perhaps belong to the present family. FAMILY 29.--MUSTELIDÆ. (21-28 Genera, 92 Species.) GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. __________________________________/\__________________________________ / \ NEOTROPICAL| NEARCTIC |PALÆARCTIC | ETHIOPIAN | ORIENTAL | AUSTRALIAN SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS|SUB-REGIONS. -----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------ | | | | | 1. 2. 3 -- |1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2. 3. 4 |1. 2. 3 --|1. 2. 3. 4 |-- -- -- -- | | | | | The Mustelidæ constitute one of those groups which range over the whole of the great continental areas. They may be divided into three sub-families--one, the Mustelinæ, containing the weasels, gluttons, and allied forms; a second, the Lutrinæ, containing the otters; and a third, often considered a distinct family, the Melininæ, containing the badgers, ratels, skunks, and their allies. In the first group (Mustelinæ) the genera _Martes_ and _Putorius_ (13 species), range over all the Palæarctic region, and a considerable part of the Oriental, extending through India to Ceylon, and to Java and Borneo. Two species of _Martes_ (= _Mustela_ of Baird) occur in the United States. The weasels, forming the genus _Mustela_ (20 species), have a still wider range, extending into tropical Africa and the Cordilleras of Peru, but {199}not going south of the Himalayas in India. The North American species are placed in the genus _Putorius_ by Professor Baird. An allied genus, _Gymnopus_ (4 species), is confined to the third and fourth Oriental sub-regions. _Gulo_ (1 species), the glutton, is an arctic animal keeping to the cold regions of Europe and Asia, and coming as far south as the great lakes in North America. _Galictis_ (2 species), the grisons, are confined to the Neotropical region.