NOTES ON THE CANIDH OF THE WHITE RIVER OLIGOCENE. 391 
shallower notch, while the digital fossa is relatively much smaller. The second tro- 
chanter oceupies nearly the same position as in the modern genus, though somewhat more 
posterior, so that it is almost or entirely concealed when the femur is viewed from the 
front; it is of about the same prominence as in the existing dogs, but rather more slender 
and pointed. The intertrochanteric ridge, which connects the greater and the second 
trochanters, is rather better developed than in Canis, especially in the larger and longer- 
limbed individuals. What may fairly be regarded as a remnant of the third trochanter 
is present in the form of a low, short, thickened and rugose ridge, which is placed a short 
distance below the great trochanter. The third trochanter is all but universal among 
the Creodonta, and in rudimentary form it persists in many of the earlier and more 
primitive carnivores, such as Dinictis, but it is somewhat surprising to find it retained in 
so advanced a genus as Cynodictis. It is true that in certain muscular and powerful 
domestic breeds of dogs the third trochanter recurs, though it is not distinctly shown in 
the existing wild species of Canidae. 
The shaft of the femur is long, slender, arched strongly forward and slightly toward 
the internal or medial side. As would naturally be expected in so small an animal, the 
ridges for muscular attachment are not so prominent as in the modern species. On the 
anterior face no ridge for the vastus externus muscle is distinguishable and on the poste- 
rior face the linea aspera is neither so long nor so prominent as in Canis. The distal end 
of the femur has quite a different appearance from that seen in the existing members of 
the family ; a difference which is principally due to the smaller size and less prominent 
projection of the condyles and rotular trochlea. The trochlea resembles that of the 
viverrines in being shallow and in having the two borders of nearly equal height and 
length, and also in the absence of any distinctly marked suprapatellar fossa. On the 
other hand, this trochlea is relatively narrower and extends farther up the shaft than in 
the civets. The condyles are small, of nearly equal size and prominence, and are sepa- 
rated by an intercondylar space which is relatively narrower than in Canis ; small sesa- 
moid bones were evidently, as in the existing species, attached to the proximal faces of 
the condyles. 
The patella is viverrine, or more accurately herpestine, rather than canine in char- 
acter. It is a short, rather wide, thin and scale-like bone, of subquadrate more than 
ovate shape. The articular surface for the femur, in correlation with the shallowness of 
the rotular groove, is but slightly concave proximo-distally, and even less convex trans- 
versely. 
The tibia, as in Canis, is of about the same length as the femur. Compared with 
the radius, the tibia seems to be very long, but that this is due rather to the shortness of 
the radius than to the elongation of the tibia, appears from a comparison with the verte- 
A, 2) S— VOL, EX. 2X, 
