26 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Another characteristic of all modern Carnivora is the union 
of two bones of the wrist, the scaphoid and lunar, which are dis- 
tinct in most other animals. This gives additional strength to 
the thumb side of the very flexible wrist. In the Creodonts, 
these two bones were separate, and it is probable that they were 
separate in the earliest ancestors of the true Carnivores. Many 
FIG. 6. FORE-FOOT OF THE WOLF FIG. 7. FORE-FOOT OF HYAZANODON 
Shows the compact, slender foot, and the Shows the shorter and less compact foot, and the 
scaphoid and lunar bones of the wrist separate scaphoid, centrale and lunar bones in the 
united (sc- Zz) as in all true Carnivora wrist (Sca, ce, Zum) asin all Creodonta 
Creodonts also preserve a small extra bone, the ‘‘ centrale,’ which 
is found now only in monkeys and in certain Insectivora and 
other small mammals. This bone seems to have been generally 
present in the ancient mammals. 
The most ancient Creodonts are of especial interest to stu- 
dents, because they are thought to represent more nearly than 
any other fossils known, the central stock from which most mod- 
ern mammals have descended. They appear already numerous 
