954 THE JOHN DAT FAUNA. 



the astragalus and first metacarpal. As the cranium first mentioned fur- 

 nishes the greatest number of cliaracters, I select it for description. 



The profile of the skull is convex, much as in the panther, but it 

 appears to be somewhat less so, owing to the greater prominence of the 

 premaxillary border. The front is rather wide at the postorbital region, 

 and it is convex on each side of a wide shallow median lonffitudinnl con- 

 cavity. Tlie nasal bones are rather stout, and carry their width backwards 

 before contracting to an apex, which is above a ])oint 2:)Osterior to the lach- 

 rymal foramen. The external portion of their anterior extremity is con- 

 tinued as a process of moderate length along the premaxillary bone, about 

 as far as the width of the superior border of each nostril. The superior 

 process of the premaxillary does not reach the frontal bone by .17'". The 

 superior face of the frontal region is prolonged backwards so as to be 

 partly diamond-shaped, owing to the gradual approximation of the anterior 

 borders of the temporal fossae. This form differs from that seen in the 

 panther and leopard, and is more like the shape found in the jaguar and 

 tiger. The extinct species differs from all of these in the very small de- 

 velopment of the postorbital process. This is simply a slight prominence 

 of the superciliary border; in only one of the three specimens deserving 

 so much as the name of an angle. The brain-case is not more contracted 

 behind the orbits than in the Uncia concolor. Anterior to the orbit the face 

 is shallowly concave above the region external to the canine alveolus, 

 which is convex. The sagittal crest is low, and the lateral crests of the 

 inion are not very prominent. The latter do not overhang the foramen 

 inagnum so far as in the panther. The zygomatic arch is characterized by 

 its slenderness, and the rudimental character of the postorbital process, so 

 well developed in the existing Felidce. It is less expanded posteriorly; 

 that is, it is more nearly parallel with the axis of the skull than in the large 

 recent cats. The occiput is not elevated. Its posterior face is divided by a 

 short keel Avhich descends from the inion one-third the distance to the foramen 

 magnnm. The latter is wider than deep, and its superior border is not 

 furnished with the tuberosities so well marked in the panther, and less so 

 in the leopard and tiger. The foramen magnum is much as in the Lynx 

 rufns. The paroccipital process is moderately long, is acute, and is directed 



