HISTORY OF THE CARNIVORA 



539 



ml,x2 = 34. The upper carnassial had a considerably larger 

 internal cusp and the trenchant blade did not have the accessory 

 anterior cusp, which is present in almost all other cats and was 

 thus more dog-like than cat-like. The lower carnassial was more 

 feline, but retained a remnant of the heel and of the inner cusp, 

 but the latter was variable, being sometimes present in one 

 side of the jaw and not in the other, a sign that it was on the 



^^' 



,f/j^^ f j-^v 



■;i<jft t-ioi\^i^/\i~i. 



Fig. 265. — Primitive tsabre-tooth (tDinicHs fclina) from the White River. Restored 

 from specimens in the American Museum and Princeton University. 



point of disappearance. The upper molar was plainly a re- 

 duced form of the tritubercular tooth, in plan like that of the 

 dogs, while the second lower molar was a very small, single- 

 rooted tooth. No other American cat has such a primitive 

 dentition as this, and, aside from the sabre-tusk, which was not 

 nearly so long as in ]Hoplophoneus, and the lower carnassial, 

 it might almost as well have belonged to a dog or musteline. 



The skull was very like that of ^Hoplophomus, but was still 

 longer and somewhat different in shape, owing to the higher 

 forehead and lower occiput. The primitive features of the 



