Charles DB. and Mary Waux Walcott Research Fund 
A SKULL OF THE BRIDGER MIDDLE EOCENE 
CREODONT, PATRIOFELIS’ UETA’ LEIDY 
By C. LEWIS GAZIN 
Curator, Division of Vertebrate Paleontology 
United States National Museum 
Smithsonian Institution 
(WitH 4 PLatTEs) 
INTRODUCTION 
Discovery of a remarkably well preserved skull and lower jaws of the 
Bridgerian creodont carnivore Patriofelis was made by Golden York 
for the University of Utah. Not only is this by far the most nearly 
complete known for Patriofelis, but almost certainly belongs to the 
heretofore very poorly represented genotypic species, P. ulta. The 
specimen was found in 1953 while prospecting? Bridger exposures 
about 20-25 miles east of Kemmerer, Wyo., north of Granger and 
not far from the Green River. Mr. York’s description of the location 
would place it in or near T. 22 N., R. 111 W. The exact horizon is 
not certain but the specimen is reported to have come from near the 
top of the section as exposed locally in the hill or bench. The expos- 
ures in this general area are of the Bridger formation as shown on the 
1955 edition of the Geologic Map of Wyoming. Moreover, there 
seems no doubt but that only the lower part of the Bridger is repre- 
sented in this portion of the basin. 
I am greatly indebted to Dr. William Lee Stokes, head of the de- 
partment of geology at the University of Utah, for giving me the 
opportunity of examining and describing this unusual specimen. Dr. 
Joseph T. Gregory at Yale University, Dr. Glenn L. Jepsen at Prince- 
ton University, and Dr. George G. Simpson at the American Museum 
of Natural History aided significantly in permitting examination and 
study of type and related materials in collections under their care. 
The specimen was skillfully prepared, removing it from the much- 
1 Mr. York’s fieldwork was supported by a grant from the Research Fund of 
the University of Utah. 
SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS, VOL. 134, NO. 8 
