628 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxxii. 



Family MYLAGAULID^ Cope. 



This family was not well characterized by Cope, owing to the insuf- 

 ficient material known to him, but with the discovery of better speci- 

 mens it has since been more adequately defined by Doctor Matthew as 

 follows, in part: " 



The characters amply contirm Prof. Cope's separation of it as the type of a dis- 

 tinct family. Its jilace is among the Sciuromorpha, but without close relationship 

 to the other Sciuromorph families, the nearest being the Sciuridae. * * * The 

 antorbital foramen is close to the zygomata, as in Meniscomys, instead of considerably 

 anterior to it as in most modern rodents. * * * The family distinctions from 

 the SciuridiB are the great enlargement of the fourth premolar in the lower jaw and 

 of a corresponding tooth in the upper one, with reduction and final disappearance 

 of the teeth posterior to it, and the tendency to hypsodont teeth with closed enamel 

 lakes. 



To these characters may be added another, distinctive of the family, 

 namely, the location of the origin of the long curved incisor of the 

 lower jaw, which is situated within the coronoid process. 



EPIGAULUS, new genus. 



Generic characters. — More specialized throughout than any other 

 Mylagaulid hitherto described. True molars much more reduced 

 than in Ceratogaulus., with a corresponding increase in size of the 

 large grinding premolars. Premolars and probably molars com- 

 pletel}^ surrounded by a band of cement which is a functional part of 

 the tooth. Nasal horn cores placed much farther back than in Cera- 

 togaulus.^ their posterior borders being on a line with the anterior 

 borders of the orbits. Nasals extend correspondingly farther back to 

 a point nearly opposite the posterior border of the orbits. 



Type of genus. — J^jngaulus hatcheri. 



EPIGAULUS HATCHERI, new species. 



Type. — A nearly complete skeleton (Cat. No. 5485, U, S. N.M.). From 

 the upper Miocene beds *, near Long Island, Phillips County, Kansas. 



/Specific characters. — Size somewhat larger than an}'^ species of the 

 Mylagaulida? described. Horn cores high and pointed, their height 

 equaling one-third the entire length of the skull. Width of occiput 

 greater than that of the zygomatic arches. Enamel lakes in the pre- 

 molars numerous, seven in number in the upper and nine in the lower 

 in the type. Fore limb and foot highly modified for digging, the foot 

 being armed with heavy, compressed claws of great length. Hind 

 foot long and slender, with the outer two digits, IV and V, the heav- 



« Memoirs Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., I, Pt. 7, 1901, p. 377. 



^According to Hatcher's field label: "From a calcareous sand layer 10 feet above 

 the bone layer. ' ' The bone layer referred to is the famous quarry near Long Island, 

 Kansas, which has yielded such quantities of Teleoceras remains. 



