l6o Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X, 



and two months more were occupied by Mr. Hermann, Prepara- 

 tor, in mounting the animal as represented in Plate XII. I'his 

 mount is now a model of its kind, since it not only displays the 

 real characters of the animal, but every bone upon one side of 

 the body or the other can be removed for purposes of detailed 

 study. Moreover, in course of removal, of the stone and plaster 

 matrix, the two missing cervical vertebrae were found inserted 

 in the tail, and the number of ribs was definitely ascertained to 

 be fifteen on each side, thus positively determining the dorsal 

 vertebral formula, a matter of very great importance. These 

 results alone justify the labor involved. 



As photographed in Plate XII, PJwiuuodiis primceviis strikes us 

 as a rather slenderly built, straight-limbed animal, digitigrade 

 like the Tapir, five-toed, but almost exclusively supported on 

 three toes both upon the fore and hind feet, with the median toe 

 considerably enlarged, well hoofed, and extended beyond the 

 others ; therefore functionally of the tridactyl type. Flower's 

 restoration, in his volume upon the Horse, is very nearly correct. 

 The upwardly-arched back, powerful lumbar vertebrae, the long 

 hind-quarters (measuring 635 mm.), the long powerful tail, when 

 contrasted with the much shorter fore-quarters (measuring 460 

 mm.), the rather low withers and small head, are reminiscent of 

 Creodont ancestry. 



Pheuacodits was, in fact, a swift-footed, cursorial, small-brained, 

 microcephalic type (in distinction from CoryphoJoii). It was 

 largely pro])elled by its powerful hind limbs. The skeleton is, 

 however, straight limbed at the elbow in contrast with the early 

 Amblypods, such as Paiitolamlnla and Coryphodon.^ In this 

 respect it approaches that of the Perissodactyla. 'I'he terminal 

 phalanges of the three median toes are broad and spreading, 

 while the lateral phalanges have rather the narrow compressed 

 type seen in Euprotogonia. 



The most striking features of the skull are the small size and 

 separation of the basicranial foramina, the simple primitive struc- 

 ture of the wliole region around the ear at the base of the skull 

 (the auditory meatus being bounded posteriorly by the mastoid), 



1 See Osborn, 'A Complete Skeleton of Coryphodon,' Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. X, 

 April 5, 1898, pp. 81-91. 



