NIMEAVIDJE. 987 



mammalian life, and that the largest ungulates of the John Day fauna were 

 its victims. 



History. — Science has hitherto had httle knowledge of this species, and 

 owes what is here recorded to a fortunate chance. The exploring party 

 which I had sent into the John Day River valley under the direction of 

 Mr. Jacob L. Wortman, in 1879, examined the bad lands in the locality 

 known as The Cove. In passing the bluffs on one occasion, a member of 

 the party saw on the summit of a pinnacle of the crag what appeared to be 

 a skull. The large .shining objects supposed to be teeth attracted his atten- 

 tion, and he resolved to obtain the specimen. He, however, was unable to 

 climb the cliff, and returning to camp narrated the circumstance. The 

 other men of the party successively attempted to reach the object, but 

 wei'e compelled to descend without it, and in one case, at least, the return 

 was made at considerable peril. A later attempt, made by Leander S. 

 Davis, of the party, an experienced collector, was more successful. By 

 cutting notches with a pick, in the face of the rock, he scaled the pinnacle 

 and brought down the skull, but at considerable risk to limb and life. 



POGONODON BRACHYOPS Cope. 



American Naturalist, 1880, p. 849, fig. 11 Machccrodus brachi/ojys Cope (partim). Paleontologioal Bul- 

 letin Xo. 30, p. 10, 1878 (December 3). Proceedings American Pbilosopbical Socifity, 1878, 72. 



Plates LXXIV b ; LXSIV ; figs. 3-10. 



..V This species is the second in size of the cats of the Truckee Miocene 

 epoch. It is represented in my collection by a fragmentary skull of one 

 individual, and by the maxillary bone and several bones of the skeleton 

 of a second. 



The skull first mentioned includes the left side of the face, a part 

 of the front, and the posterior regions, lacking one temporal bone. The 

 maxillary bone is broken off at the infraorbital foramen, and the teeth 

 are broken off. The following characters are noteworthy. The fronto- 

 maxillary suture is transverse from the orbital border, and then tiii'ns 

 slightly upwards rather than downwards as is usual. It most resembles the 

 form in Dinictis cydops. The face is slightly concave in front of the orbit, 

 and is marked by an impressed fossa immediately anterior to the orbit, of 

 about the size and form of half of the end of the human thumb. In front 



