HISTORY OF THE CARNIVORA 



539 



■m .J, X 2 = 34. The upper carnassial had a considerably larger 

 internal cusp and the trenchant blade did not have the accessory 

 anterior cusp, which is present in almost all other cats and was 

 thus more dog-like than cat-like. The lower carnassial was more 

 feline, but retained a remnant of the heel and of the inner cusp, 

 but the latter was variable, being sometimes present in one 

 side of the jaw and not in the other, a sign that it was on the 





Fig. 265. — Primitive tsabre-tooth {^Dinictis felina) from the White River. Restored 

 from specimens in the American Museum and Princeton University. 



point of disappearance. The upper molar was plainly a re- 

 duced form of the tritubercular tooth, in plan like that of the 

 dogs, while the second lower molar was a very small, single- 

 rooted tooth. No other American cat has such a primitive 

 dentition as this, and, aside from the sabre-tusk, which was not 

 nearly so long as in ^Hoplophoneus, and the lower carnassial, 

 it might almost as well have belonged to a dog or musteline. 



The skull was very like that of fHoplophoneus, but was still 

 longer and somewhat different in shape, owing to the higher 

 forehead and lower occiput. The primitive features of the 



