HISTORY OF THE CARNIVORA 



525 



nivorous habit than that of the bears and these may well 

 have been savage and terrible beasts of prey. 



^Amphicyon, which had three upper molars, continued 

 down through the middle Miocene, but was replaced in the 

 lower by ^Da-phoenodon, which may or may not have been its 

 direct ancestor. The uncertainty as to the exact relationship 

 between the two genera will remain until more complete 

 material shall have been obtained from the middle Miocene. 



Fig. 259. — Lower Miocene " tbear-dog " (Daphoenodon superbus). Restored from a 

 skeleton in the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh. 



^Daphoenodon was the largest dog of its time, the contemporary 

 wolves (IfCynodesmus) having been hardly half so large, but 

 was much inferior in size to the huge fbear-dogs of the middle 

 and upper Miocene. The skull resembled that of a large 

 wolf, but the tympanic bullae were smaller and more loosely 

 attached and the molar teeth were relatively much larger, 

 a persistent characteristic of this phylum. The very long and 

 heavy tail was a cat-hke feature. The Umbs were compara- 

 tively short and stout; the humerus had the epicondylar 



