910 THE JOHN DAY FAUNA. 



M. 



Elevation of crown of sectorial 012 



Leugth of base of first tubercular 0075 



Width of base of first tubercular OOoO 



Length of base of second tubercular 0050 



While the characters of this dog do not separate it widely from the 

 genus Canis, many of them are quite different from those presented by the 

 recent species of the genus with which I am acquainted. Thus the union 

 of the foramina spheno-orbitale and rotunda, the anterior position of the 

 orbits, and the postorbital constriction are not seen in the wolf, domestic 

 dog, coyote, jackal, or the North American and European foxes. The size 

 of the brain was evidently less than in those species, and the sectorial teeth 

 quite inferior in the efficiency of their blades. These characters may be 

 considered in connection with the low geological position of the beds in 

 which the species occurs. 



One of the crania is accompanied by several bones of the skeleton. 

 These are, seventh cervical and four lumbar vertebrae, commencing with 

 the second; humerus, lacking the middle of the .shaft and cuboid bone. 

 The seventh cervical has the centrum as large as that of the coyote, but it 

 is more depressed, and its extremities are more oblique. The opisthocoe- 

 lous character is not wanting, and the inferior keel is well developed. The 

 neural canal is as large as that of the coyote, but the roof is not so wide 

 anteroposteriorly, and the base of the neural spine extends from one edge 

 to the other. The luml^ars are as long as those of the coyote, but the third, 

 fourth, and fifth are narrower than in that animal. The fourth and fifth 

 only have well developed keels. On the fifth the angle from the base of 

 the diapophysis posterioi'ly is well marked. The anapophyses are invisible 

 on the second lumbar, owing to injury; on the other vertebrae they are only 

 a low ridge reaching the posterior edge of the neurapophysis. The para- 

 pophysial tuberosities of the anterior borders of the centra below are 

 almost nil, as in the coyote. See Plate LXXI«, figs. 2—4, where they are rep- 

 resented two-thirds the natural size. The extremities of the centra are 

 slightly opisthocoelous, and the articular surfaces of both extremities pos- 

 sess a transverse, curved, shallow groove. 



