CKEODONTA. 255 



Stypolophus, and Didymictis in a suborder of Insectivora, under the name of 

 Creodonta* They stand also in relationship to the Lemurs, and more 

 remotely to the Carnivora. 



History. MM. Laurillard, Pomel, and others have referred the Kuro- 

 pean Creodonta to the 3Iarsupialia, on account of the great similarity of the 

 dentition. MM. De Blainville and Gervais have, on the other hand, 

 regarded them as placental, a view which I liave assigned reasonsf for 

 believing to be the correct one. M. Filhol has recently shown that the 

 replacement of the dentition in Hycenodon, which has some affinities with 

 the Creodonta, is quite as in true placental Carnivora. Professor Gaudry 

 has expressed the opinion that the Creodonta are the descendants of the 

 Marsupialia.X I have proposed another view.§ 



If we suppose that the Creodonta are the descendants of the Marsu- 

 pialia, we must suppose that the Insectivora, to which they are related, are 

 also the descendants of the Marsupialia, and this is on various grounds not 

 very probable. The lower forms of unguiculate Mammalia with small 

 cerebral hemispheres are very much alike in important characters, and to 

 these I have given the name of Bunotheria. I suspect that this group is as 

 old as the Marsupialia, and may even have given origin to it. That it devel- 

 oped contemporaneously with it in various parts of the world, is evident. 



Bestoration. The Wasatch beds of New Mexico have yielded remains 

 of more than a dozen species, which ranged from the size of a weasel to 

 that of a jaguar. The Bridger beds of Wyoming probably contain as 

 many species, which range from small size to the dimensions of a bear. 



In general appearance the Creodonta differed from the Carnivora, in 

 many of the species at least, in the small relative size of the limbs as com- 

 pared with that of the head, and in some instances as compai-ed with the 

 size of the hind feet. The feet are probably plantigrade, and the posterior 

 ones capable of some degree of horizontal rotation. The probable large 

 size of the rectus femoris muscle indicates unusual power of extension of 

 the hind limb. This may indicate natatory habits, a supposition further 



* On the Supposed Carnivora of the Eocene of the Rocky Mountains, by E. D. Cope. 8vo. Phila- 

 delphia, Dec. 22, 1875. 



t Proceedings Academy Phila.,1875. Paleontological Bulletin, No. 20, Dec, 1875. 

 { Enchainements du Monde Animal, 1878, p. 24. 

 } Proceedings American Philos. Soc. 1880, p. 76. 



