CANIS DIRUS Leidy 

 Plates 24 to 28 ; text figures 1 to 26 



Cam's primaevus Leidy. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc., Philad., 1854, p. 200. Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc., 

 Philad., 1856, ser. 2, vol. 3, p. 167, pi. 17, figs. 11 and 12. (Not C. primaevus Hodgson, 1833.) 



Canis dims Leidy. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc., Philad., 1858, p. 21. 



Cam's indianensis Leidy. Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc., Philad., 1869, p. 368. 



Canis indianensis Leidy. Geol. Surv. Terrs, vol. 1, Fossil Vertebrates, 1873, p. 230, pi. 31, 

 fig. 2. 



Cam's mississippiensis Allen. Am. Jour. Sc., ser. 3, vol. 11, p. 49, 1876. 



Canis lupus. Cope and Wortman, Indiana Geol. and Nat. Hist., 14th Ann. Rep., part 2, p. 9, 

 1884. 



Canis indianensis. Cope, E. D., Jour. Acad. Nat. Sc., Philad., 1895, ser. 2, vol. 9, p. 453, pi. 

 21, figs. 14 to 16. 



Cam's indianensis. Merriam, J. C., Univ. Calif. Publ. Bull. Dept. Geol., vol. 3, p. 288, 1903. 



Cam's indianensis. Freudenberg, W., Geol. u. Palae. Abh., N. F., Bd. 9, Heft 3, S. 22, 1910. 



Canis indianensis. Merriam, J. C., Mem. Univ. Calif., vol. 1, no. 2, p. 213, 1911. 



Type specimen, an upper jaw with the cheek teeth, now in the collection of 

 the Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia. Type obtained from Pleistocene beds 

 on the Ohio River near Evansville, Indiana. 



The forms referred to this species include some of the most remarkable 

 known representatives of the Canidae, and deserve particular mention with 

 reference to structure, geological occurrence, geographic range, and taxonomic 

 position. Up to the time of discovery of the deposits at Rancho La Brea this 

 wolf was known only by very fragmentary remains, and the literature contains 

 no adequate description of any phase of its structure. 



Canis dims is the most abundant and most important of the canids from 

 Rancho La Brea, and was evidently the dominant type of wolf in this region 

 at the time of deposition of the asphalt beds. This species includes the largest 

 individuals of the Canis group known from America. Some of the specimens 

 exceed in dimensions all the largest known Recent wolves. Other individuals 

 are considerably smaller than some of the large northern wolves of the present 

 day. The skull is especially large, and the head seems to have been relatively 

 large compared with the limbs. The teeth are very massive, but those regions 

 of the cheek-tooth dentition constructed especially for crushing are relatively 

 small. 



The comparatively light limbs and very massive head show that the animal 

 was not as well developed for running as the timber wolves and coyotes. The 



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