HATCHER : OLIGOCENE CANID.q5 97 



phosnus, while the sagittal and occipital crests are high and sharp. The sagittal 

 crest extends a little farther forward than in that genus, while the frontals are not 

 so broad, but somewhat longer. The occipital condyles are set obliquely, they are 

 not much expanded and are overhung by the occipital crest. The foramen mag- 

 num is higher than wide, though this may have resulted from crushing. The basi- 

 cranial region is so injured that it is impossible to determine any of its characters. 

 The anterior palatine foramen is rather small. The anterior border of the posterior 

 nares is on a line with the posterior border of M.-. 



The Dentition. — I.-— are small and very much compressed. L- is wanting in 

 our specimen on both sides, the alveoles show it to have been decidedly larger than 

 I.?-^, but proportionately much smaller than in most recent dogs. The canine is 

 large and elliptical in cross-section with a cutting posterior edge. It is longer and 

 more slender than in Daphcenus and more nearly resembles the same tooth in Am- 

 phicyon americanus as described and figured by Wortman.^ The character of this 

 tooth is interQiediate between that which obtains in Daplioenus and Amj)hicyon, al- 

 though decidedly more like Amphicyon, as shown by the presence of a posterior cut- 

 ting edge and its elliptical cross-section. 



The three superior anterior premolars are all greatly reduced in size as shown in 

 Fig. 7, a character also shown by Amphicyon americanus, according to Wortman's 

 description, though not so apparent in his figures. The reduced size of these 

 premolars is proportionately more pronounced than in any fossil dog I have yet 

 seen, it even equals that which obtains in Canis pmrvidens among recent dogs. 

 Premolars ^-^ are separated from one another by a long diastema, and a somewhat 

 shorter diastema intervenes between the canine and P.-^, while the space between 

 P. ^A? is still less. Posteriorly P.-^ is in contact with the sectorial. The crowns of 

 all three of these teeth consist of a single simple median cone without anterior or 

 posterior tubercles. Premolar - is fixed by one root only, '— - by two roots. Pre- 

 molar - is set obliquely in the jaw. In all three of these teeth the anterior and 

 posterior transverse diameters of each tooth are equal. 



The sectorial or P.^ is proportionately long and narrow. The anterior portion 

 is not so broad as in Daphcenus and the internal cusp is low, a little more reduced 

 than in Daphcenus, but not so much as in Canis occidentalis and the wolves gener- 

 ally. The proportions of this element are about the same as those which obtain in 

 G. lagopus and certain others of the smaller recent dogs and foxes, as will be seen 

 by a comparison of Fig. 4'' with Fig. 7. The antero-external or principal cone is 

 high and directed slightly backward. It is separated from the posterior cutting 



sSee Am. Jour. Sci., Vol. ir, 1901, pp. 200-204. 



