CEEODONTA. 317 



panse of the anterior portion is similar to that genus, while greater than in 

 Canis and Felis. The obliquity of the cuboid facet is not seen in either of 

 the recent genera named. The navicular is shallow, cup-shaped, and has 

 three distal facets and an internal tuberosity. The cuboid is a very char- 

 acteristic bone, and is unlike that of any other genus known to me. The 

 proximal or calcaneal face is very oblique to the long axis of the bone, pre- 

 senting outwards when the axis is placed antero-posteriorly. It is, how- 

 ever, evident that the long axis diverges from that of the foot, outwards. 

 A more truly proximal facet is the rather wide one for the astragalus, which 

 makes a right angle with that for the calcaneum. Owing to the divergence 

 of this bone from the others, the ectocuneiform articulated with it as much 

 as with the navicular, an arrangement seen in Bidelphys. It is possible that 

 the hinder foot may have been divided somewhat as in some of the lemurs, 

 the two external digits antagonizing the three internal. Cuneiforms lost. 



The metatarsals preserved include the I, II, III, and V of one foot, 

 and the I, III, and IV of the other. They resemble much those of Ursiis. 

 The first has no lateral facets for II, and its facet is not more concave than 

 in TJrsus; hence it was not probably opposable. The II is the onl}^ one 

 with concave transverse section; that of the others is convex in both 

 directions. They underlap each other from the external inwards, as in va- 

 rious carnivora. The V presents a considerable proximal free process out- 

 wards Numerous phalanges have been obtained. They are depressed, 

 with their distal articular facets slightly emarginate. None of them present 

 the triangular section characteristic of many recent Carnivora. Their pro- 

 portions are not different from those seen in the Urstis arctos. A claw is 

 moderately compressed, and terminates abruptly and obtusely. The ex- 

 tremity is deeply fissured, and each of the two apices is rugose. 



A few vertebrae of this genus have been preserved The relative propor- 

 tions of the cervicals are unknown. The two venous foramina in the floor of 

 the neural canal of the dorsals are very large. The caudals are long and stout. 



Restoration. — The Oxysenas had the characteristic peculiarities of the 

 Creodonta and of the carnivorous Marsupials in their general proportions. 

 The head was relatively larger, and the limbs were smaller than in true 

 Carnivora. The feet were plantigrade, and had five toes anteriorly and 

 posteriorly. The hind foot was either divided so that the external two 



