1 899-] Woriman a7id Matthew, Ancestry of the Canidce, etc. 133 



tis ; the greater trochanter is much less prominent than in Pro- 

 £yon, the lesser trochanter more prominent, the neck longer and 

 more slender. The distal end of the femur is only three fourths 

 as wide as in Procyon ; condyles projecting more than in that 

 animal, less than in Canis and Cynodictis. 



The tibia is one sixth shorter than that of P. lotor, somewhat 

 more slender in proportion, stouter than that of C. gregarius and 

 of the same length. Its distal trochlea is narrower antero-poste- 

 riorly, deeper and more oblique than in Procyon; the fibular 

 facet also is twisted around so as to face postero-externally instead 

 of externally as in Procyon. ^\\^ fibula is somewhat less reduced, 

 its shaft being as stout as in the Raccoon, the ends somewhat 

 smaller. 



The hind foot, though uniformly smaller, is proportioned like 

 that of the Raccoon, with the following differences worth noting. 

 The astragalar trochlea is narrower, sharper, less entended back- 

 ward. The internal hook of the navicular is smaller. The cuboid 

 is wider and has a small facet for the astragalus. The entocunei- 

 form is not nearly so high. The first metatarsal is only two 

 thirds as long, though somewhat stouter in proportion ; and the 

 fifth is as long as the second, and nearly as large in the shaft ; in 

 the Raccoon it is intermediate between mt. i and mt. ii in length. 

 The hind feet of Phlaocyon have thus a tetradactyl symmetry, 

 while in Procyon they are intermediate between tetra- and penta- 

 dactyl symmetry. The second row oi phalanges shows a distinc- 

 tion of some importance, the superior external surface of the 

 shaft being excavated, especially toward the distal end, a 

 character which Scott has observed in Daphcenus and considers 

 a probable indication of slight retractility of the claws. It is also 

 present in Cynodictis and in some Creodonts, and is probably a 

 primitive character. In the Raccoon this excavation of the 

 second phalanx has entirely disappeared. 



The ungual phalanges are a little larger and less compressed 

 than those of Procyon lotor. 



Affinities of Phlaocyon. 

 Plate VI. 

 Phlaocyon, in both skull and skeleton characters, seems to 

 point towards Procyon, standing intermediate between that genus 



