[184<6. 



OWEN ON THE FOSSIL FOX OF GENINGEN. 



57 



length of that of the index or adjoining toe ; it is not quite so long 

 in the Common Fox (fig. 4. m 1); in the fossil Canis the meta- 

 carpal of the pollex equals three-filths of that of the index, and the 

 phalanx of the 'dew-claw,' instead of terminating short of the distal 

 end of the next metacarpal ,bone, extends beyond it. This well- 

 marked character does not arise from any dislocation of the bones of 

 the pollex or digit of the ' dew-claw,' and it forms another instance 

 of the affinity of the extinct CEningen Cmiis to the Viverrine group 

 of FercB, in which all the bones of both fore and hind-feet are more 

 robust than in the Dogs, and the pollex of the fore-foot is a little 

 more developed (in Viverra civetta and V. genetta, for example) than 



even in the fossil Canis of CEningen. 



Fig. 3, 



Fig. 4. 



Galecynus 

 Bones of fore-foot, nat. size. 



Vulpes communis. 

 Bones of fore-foot, nat. size. 



The tail of the fossil is longer in proportion than in the Dog, 

 Wolf, or even Jackal, but it is not so long as in the known existing 

 species of Fox ; the vertebrae are stronger also in proportion to their 

 length ; this difference is illustrated by the figures of the two most 



