186 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1879. 



the Himalaya region. Several other recent species have been 

 named, but they are said by some authors to be varieties only of 

 the S. primeevus.' 



Synagodus, Cope, gen. nov. 



The characters of this genus have been pointed out in the ana- 

 lytical key. They are evident^ as important as those which 

 define the divisions which are regarded as genera by naturalists. 

 It is not unlikely that the typical species has been heretofore esti- 

 mated as a variety of Canis familiaris, but it exhibits two tren- 

 chant generic dental charaeters not found in Canis, and three 

 unique specific characters in the teeth, besides two characters of 

 the cranium found in but one or two of the subspecies of Canis 

 familiaris. 



The generic characters alluded to are: (1) the absence of the 

 second inferior tubercular molar, and (2) the absence of the in- 

 ternal tubercle of the inferior sectorial. The absence of the second 

 inferior tubercular is evidently not one of those abnormal cases 

 which occur in various species of Cam's from time to time; for the 

 first tubercular molar is smaller than in any known species of 

 Canis, and has but one root, a character which some persons 

 might regard as being the third of the generic category. The 

 premolars are 4 4, and of the usual form; the first in both jaws is 

 one-rooted. 



It is uncertain whether any species of this genus exists in the 

 wild state. Should such not be the case, we can only predicate 

 the former existence of such an one entirely different from the 

 Canis familiaris, and which has given origin to the existing one 

 below described. 

 Synagodus mansuetus, sp. nor. 



Two crania represent this species in the Museum of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences. They agree in all essential particulars. The 

 incisor and premolar teeth present no peculiarities (the latter are 

 without marginal lobes), and the superior sectorial is normal. The 

 first tubercular has less transverse extent than in the Canidse 

 generally, and its median crest and inner cingulum are con- 

 founded, a character which I have not found in any of the other 

 species accessible. Thus the crown of this tooth consists of an 

 external pair of tubercles, a basin, and a stout inner marginal 

 prominence. The second tuberculars are abnormally small in one 



