CHAP. XII. J 



DIFFERENT KINDS OF CATS. 



435 



§ 17. Another miocene form (as largo as the jaguar) has also 

 been described by Professor Cope, under the name Nimuavus. It is 

 from the vicinity of the White Eiver, Oregon. It is described by its 

 discoverer* as having the same form of upper and lower sectorial 

 as Moplophoneits, but as differing from the latter in that it has an 

 inferior tubercular molar. The heel to the lower sectorial is large. 

 The upper canine is very straight and dagger-like, and the alveolar 

 border between it and the second premolar is singularly arched. 



A very interesting form, called DiNicTis,t has been found in the 



Jlnat.size . 

 Fig. 187.— Skull of Dinictis Cyclops. 



" mauvaise terre " of Nebraska, which is certainly miocene if not, as 

 some geologists think, eocene. It was as large as the Northern lynx. 



In this kind the upper sectorial has no anterior lobe, while the 

 lower sectorial has a very large bifid posterior lobe or heel. The 

 mandible also is somewhat widened anteriorly ; but the most inte- 

 resting character is the presence of a small tubercular molar in the 

 lower jaw, together with three premolars in front of the sectorial, so 

 that there are three premolars and two molars on each side. 



Another kind has been described by M. Filhol J as Procelurus. 

 It has one tubercular molar above and below, with teeth very feline 

 in form. The shape of the skull, however, is not feline, and the 

 present author is disposed to regard it rather as a creature of the 

 weasel kind — an opinion in which he is supported by the concurrence 



* Ami. and Mag. Nat. Hist., I. c, and 

 Pro. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philadelphia, I. c. 



t See Leidy's Mammals of Nebraska 

 and Dakota, Journal of the Academy of 

 Nat. Sc. of Philadelphia, p. 64, plate 5, 

 Fig. 1-4. The genus of JElurogalc of Filhol 

 seems to be really the same as Dinictis. 



X See Annales des Sciences Geolo- 

 giques, vol. x., p. 192, jilate 27, figs. 5, 

 6, 8-13, and i:)late 26, figs. 2-11 ; and 

 in the Bibliotheque de I'Ecole des Hautes 

 Etudes, section des Sc. Nat., vol. xix., 

 1879, pp. 192-201. 



F F 2 



