18 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 134 
known species P. (Protopsalis) tigrinus was clearly not in the direct 
line of development. 
Wortman (1894, 1902, and 1906) was strongly convinced that 
Patriofelis was aquatic or semiaquatic in habit and in or near the line 
of descent of the pinnipeds. He also advanced the idea that Patriofelis 
may have “preyed on numerous species of turtles that inhabited the 
Bridger lake.” While his reasoning and analysis of the possibilities 
are thought provoking, as far as the position of the Oxyaenidae with 
respect to the pinnipeds is concerned, I am unable to agree. Never- 
theless, there would seem from Wortman’s argument some justifica- 
tion for believing that Patriofelis may have been partially aquatic in 
habit. I am particularly impressed by the over-all otterlike body pro- 
portions and the rather otterlike structure of the rostrum of the skull. 
On the other hand, the teeth are basically so very much like those of a 
hyena that I greatly suspect a carrion-feeding habit, if this can be 
reconciled with the foregoing, or, as Wortman has postulated, a diet 
of fresh-water turtles. 
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