364 NOTES ON THE CANIDH OF THE WHITE RIVER OLIGOCENE. 
the conules are relatively smaller than in the modern representatives of the family, which 
goes to confirm the conclusion that the name protocone should be given to the innermost 
cusp and that in Canis the middle part of the crown has undergone a special increase in 
complexity. 
CYNODICTIS Gervais. 
Amphicyon Leidy, Marsh, in part. Canis Cope, in part. G'alecynus Cope, non Owen. 
It is with much hesitation that I employ the name of this Kuropean genus for North 
American species, for there are certain constant differences which Schlosser (’88,) 
appears to consider as being of generic value. An actual comparison, however, of the 
American forms with specimens of Cynodictis lacustris, Gervais’ type species, and from 
the typical locality, Débruges, has failed to reveal any important differences between the 
two, and, therefore, for the present at least, I retain the name of the European genus for 
the American species, which are very closely allied, if not positively referable to it. 
The structure of these small carnivores, especially of the John Day species, is much 
better known than that of Daphenus, though our knowledge of the White River species 
has hitherto remained yery incomplete, and even of the better known John Day forms — 
only Cope’s brief descriptions have as yet been published. Despite the fact that Cyno- 
dictis is one of the commoner White River fossils, well-preserved specimens are com- 
paratively rare and of these the greater part consist only of skulls. The bones of the 
skeleton are so small and so fragile that it is exceedingly difficult to obtain more than 
fragments of them. By dint of great care and attention paid to these small formis, 
Messrs. Hatcher and Gidley have succeeded in gathering some very fine specimens for 
the Princeton Museum, and others I owe to the kindness of Mr. John Eyerman. 
Together, these various individuals represent nearly all parts of the skeleton and enable 
us to reconstruct the animal and to compare it with the better preserved and more 
abundant species of the succeeding John Day formation. 
I. The Dentition. 
The dental formula of Cynodictis is: I 3, C4, P 4, M 2, differing from that of 
Daphenus only in the absence of the third upper molar. 
A. Upper Jaw.—The incisors are very ‘small, simple and antero-posteriorly com- 
pressed, giving them chisel-shaped crowns; they increase in size from the first to the 
third, but the latter does not greatly exceed the others; not nearly so much, for exam- 
ple, as in Canis or Daphenus, and hardly more than in the viverrines. A very short 
ciastema separates the lateral incisor from the canine. 
The canine has a stout, gibbous fang, which produces a marked convexity upon the 
side of the maxillary ; its crown is quite elongate and somewhat recurved and much com- 
