NOTES ON THE CANID® OF THE WHITE RIVER OLIGOCENE. 339 
behind the arch, and between each transverse pair is a deep notch which greatly reduces 
the antero-posterior length of the bony arch in the median line. When the yvertebree are 
placed in position, the openings between the successive arches, on the dorsal side, are 
very large and are longer antero-posteriorly than broad transversely. In these peculiari- 
ties of the cervical vertebree of Daphenus we find no approximation to the structure of 
the cats or the viverrines. . 
The neural spines are also quite differently developed from those of the recent dogs. 
The third cervical has no spine, merely a very faintly marked keel, the overhanging 
spine of the axis leaving no room for the development of one on the third vertebra. 
The fourth cervical has a very low spine, and on each successive vertebra the spine 
becomes higher and more pointed; that of the seventh is very high and slender, very 
much more prominent than in Canis, being almost as high, though not nearly so stout, 
as the spine of the first thoracic vertebra in the modern genus. The length of the spines 
in the neck constitutes another similarity to the structure of the felines. 
Thoracic Vertebre—The number of trunk vertebre characteristic of Daphenus 
cannot as yet be definitely determined for any of the species, for no specimen has been 
found with complete backbone. In one specimen of PD. vetus are preserved twelve 
thoracic and five lumbar vertebre and the type of D. felinus contains six lumbars. It is 
altogether probable that the extinct genus agreed with the existing dogs in having 
thirteen thoracics and seven lumbars. The first thoracic has a broad, very much 
depressed centrum, with anterior face convex and posterior face deeply concave. The 
prezygapophyses project forward very strongly and, as in the cervicals, the notch between 
them is very deeply incised, invading the base of the spine, a very different arrangement 
from that seen in Canis; these processes are relatively larger and more concave in 
D. vetus than in D. hartshornianus. The postzygapophyses are much smaller, but 
project prominently from the hinder end of the neural arch, extending both laterally 
and posteriorly ; the articular faces are somewhat convex transversely and have an 
oblique position, presenting outward rather more than downward. The neural spine is 
high and compressed, shaped yery much as in Canis, but somewhat more slender. The 
transverse processes are very long, prominent and heavy, especially in the large species, 
D. felinus ; at the distal end of the process is a large and deeply concave facet for the 
tubercle of the first rib. 
The second thoracic very much resembles the first, but has a smaller, narrower, 
lighter, and much less depressed centrum ; the prezygapophyses are smaller, less concave 
and less widely separated, while the postzygapophyses are larger and present downward, 
instead of obliquely outward, as they do on the first. The transverse processes are much 
smaller in every dimension than those of the first thoracic, and spring from the neural 
