38 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
illustrate the evolution of these animals from the primitive 
civet-like Carnivora of the Eocene epoch. The Miocene stage, 
Leptarctus, is very little known; only a lower jaw and an upper 
tooth have been found. Of the Oligocene stage, Phlaocyon, a 
nearly complete skeleton was found in 1898, of which the skull, 
jaws, limbs and feet are on exhibition. This unique specimen is 
one of the best preserved fossil Carnivores in the collection. It 
is intermediate between the civet-like ancestors of the dogs 
(Daphenus and Cynodictts) and the modern raccoons. The 
FIG. 14. UNDER SIDE OF SKULL OF PHLAOCYON 
A link between raccoons and primitive dogs. Lower Miocene of Colorado. Natural size 
shape of the skull is raccoon-like, but the number of teeth is the 
same as in the dogs, while their form is intermediate between 
the two types. The limbs and feet are also intermediate. It 
is probable, therefore, that the Dogs and Raccoons are derived 
from a common ancestral stock. Specimens found in Europe in- 
dicate that the Bears are likewise derived from this common 
stock, and that the three families have diverged, the Dogs becom- 
ing terrestrial flesh-eaters, living largely in open country, the 
Bears omnivorous and living in the woods, the Raccoons omniv- 
orous and arboreal. 
