PLEISTOCENE VERTEBRATES FROM CUMBERLAND CAVE 



45 



It seems evident from a consideration of the skeletal characters 

 distinguishing males from females among living mustelines related to 

 this fossil form that those characters that have been cited to separate 

 B. spelaea from B. pristina should be considered sexual. 



B. obtusata from Frankstown Cave in Pennsylvania, as recorded by- 

 Peterson (1926, p. 285), possibly differs froin the type of that species, 

 which is from Port Kennedy, in the size of the lower carnassial. The 

 lower jaw illustrated by Peterson, however, does not resemble closely 

 the specimens of B. pristina from Cumberland Cave. The difference 

 is most noticeable in the greater dov/nward projection of the symphy- 

 sis, the lower position of the ventral surface of the angle, and in the 

 ilifferently shaped coronoid process of the Frankstown Cave jaw. If 

 the material from Frankstown Cave should be regarded as belonging 

 to the same species as that from Conard Fissure and Cumberland 

 Cave, it seems preferable to refer it to B. pristina, since no comparisons 

 :are possible with the type of B. obtusata, which is lost. Cope's meas- 

 urements for the latter, though possibly in error, indicate a smaller 

 species than B. pristina. Moreover, there is no assurance that the 

 Port Kennedy deposit is the same age as that at Frankstown Cave. 



Table l\.— Measurements {in millimeters) of skull, mandible, and dentition of 



Brachyprotoma pristina 



> Approximate. 



