66 MEMOIRS OF THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM 



study of this recently acquired material will add something to our knowledge of the 

 osteology of Daphoenus and may perhaps shed some new light on the phylogenetic 

 relations of this genus to the modern carnivora and more especiall}^ to the modern 

 canidse. 



Generic Characters of Daphcenus^ Leidy. 



Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1853, p. 393. Ampliicyon Leidy (non Lartet), 

 ibid., 1854, p. 157; Ext. Mamm. Fauna Dak. & Nebr., 1869, pp. 82, 356; Cope, 

 Tertiary Vertebrata, pp. 894, 896. Canis Cope, Ann. Report U. S. G. S. of the 

 Terrs., 1873, p. 505. Daphoenus Scott, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, Vol. XIX, pp. 325 

 415 ; Wortman and Matthew, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. XII, pp. 100-138. 



The type species of this genus is D. vetus, founded by Leidy on "a cranium 

 without the face, a fragment of a left maxilla containing the posterior three molars, 

 the posterior portion of the left side of the lower jaw containing the last two molars, 

 and a lower ante- penultimate molar of the left side." 



Leidy's original description of this genus and species is as follows : " The cranium 

 is elongated and narrow and possesses very much the form of that of the recent 

 Paradoxurus. The glenoid articulation is transversely concave as in the weasels, etc. 

 The auditory bullae are comparatively small. Of the superior posterior three 

 molars, the last is the smallest, and has a simple oval crown ; the penultimate is 

 second in size and resembles that of the wolf, but is broader in relation to its an- 

 tero-posterior diameter ; and the ante-penultimate is the largest, and also resembles 

 that of the wolf, but is more trilateral, relatively broader compared with its antero- 

 posterior diameter, and has less elevated tubercles. 



" Of the inferior posterior three molars, the last is smallest and very like that of 

 the wolf; the penultimate is next in size, and has an oval crown as in the wolf, but 

 has much less elevated tubercles ; and the ante-penultimate which is the longest, in 

 relation to the size of the animal, is much smaller than in the wolf, but it has the 

 same general form ; presenting a broad heel behind, worn off flat in the specimen, 

 and three lobes anteriorly, having the same relation to one another, as in the wolf 

 but more nearly equal in size and forming together more of a triangle." 



This brief description is followed by a few measurements of the different ele- 

 ments constituting the type specimens. In the following 3^ear^ Leidy considered 

 his genus Daphoenus as a synonym of Amphicyon which had previously been pro- 

 posed by Lartet'^ for the reception of certain remains of canidse found in the Mio- 



' Leidy's original spelling of this word was Daphoenus, not Daphpcnus as spelled by more recent writers. Since the 

 former is, moreover, the correct latinized form of the Greek daphoinos^ it has ]?een thought best to retain the original forni. 

 2 See Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1854, p. 157, 

 ^See Bull. See. Geol., 18.'^6, VII., p. 219,. ..... . ... 



