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ROY L. MOODIE 



the larger species hardly equalling a coyote; the teeth were smaller 

 and more closely set, but the molars were proportionately large, while 

 the carnassials were less finished and effective shearing blades. The 

 skull was less distinctively dog-like and had a smaller brain-case, with 

 very prominent sagittal and occipital crests, a longer cranium and 

 shorter face; the tympanic bones were very small and so loosely at- 

 tached to the skull that they are rarely found, a very striking differ- 

 ence from all existing dogs. The backbone was remarkable for the 

 unusually large size of the lumbar vertebrae, a point of resemblance to 

 the cats and suggesting that Daphaenus had great powers of leaping; 



Septum nasi 



Sulcus intermedia 

 Gyrus medtolis — 



Vermis cerebri 



Space enclosed 

 bij ethmoturbinal 



s frontalis 



Gyrus lateralis 

 5inus sagittalis 



Confluens sinuum 

 T I — Cerebellum 



Fig. 5 A dorsal view of the cast of the brain ami nasal cavity of Daphaenus 

 felinus, a bear-dog from the Oligocene. X f . 



there was a long, heavy, leopard-like tail, and the caudal vertebrae 

 were very like those of the long-tailed cats. The limbs and feet were 

 similar in character and proportions to those of Daphaenodon, but the 

 astragalus was less grooved for the tibia, the claws were rather more 

 retractile and the gait was probably more plantigrade. There were 

 so many cat-like features in the skeleton of Daphaenus, that the ob- 

 server cannot but suspect that these resemblances indicate a community 

 of origin, but, until the Eocene ancestors of the cats are found, the 

 question of relationship must remain an open one (Scott, '13, p. 526-7). 



The sinus frontales are present (fig. G) in well-developed form, 

 and are singularly like the frontal sinuses of the modern dog 



