PLEISTOCENE VERTEBRATES EROM CUMBERLAND CAVE 



43 



fossil species is probably distinct from the living form and that several 

 of the characters cited above for the fossil type are distinctive and 

 others are present only in unusual specimens or extreme conditions 

 of the modern form. 



BRACHYPROTOMA PRISTINA Brown ' 



Figures 22-24 



Included in the musteline material from Cumberland Cave are 

 three skull portions, one of which is nearly complete (fig. 22), and 

 four mandibular rami representing an extinct form of skunk. 



FiGUEE 22.—BrachypTotoma pristina Brown: Skull (U.S.N.M. no. 8155), dorsal and lateral views with 

 occlusal view of dentition. X 1!^- Cumberland Cave Pleistocene, Maryland. 



W The skull material corresponds closely in size and other characters 

 with the type of Brachyproioma pristina, which was described by 

 BrowQ from the Conard Fissure in Arkansas. Skull U.S.N.M. no. 

 8155 (fig. 22) is rather short and broad, more so than in the living 

 species Spilogale ambarvalis. The width is most noticeable through 

 the frontal region and is accompanied by a reduction in size of the 

 postorbital processes. Prominent dorsolateral swellings in the 

 vicinity of the postorbital constriction emphasize the breadth of the 



* Brown, 1908, 176-179. 

 16541—38-^4 



