Marsh Collection, Peabody Museum, 



439 



The Pes. — The hind foot, of which there is an almost complete 

 specimen preserved, figure 10, exhibits, as do the other bones of 

 the hind limb, a wide departure from that of the modern Canids. 

 The astragalus betrays the primitive character of the foot in 

 the following important particulars: The tibial trochlea is 

 little grooved ; the head is proportionally large and has an 

 oblique position ; the transverse plane of the navicular facet 

 coincides very nearly with that 

 of the trochlear facet ; and an 

 astragalar foramen is present, 

 though small. The calcaneal 

 facet is rather wide and shallow, 

 lacking the deep saddle-shape 

 of that of the fox ; the susten- 

 tacular facet is very convex from 

 before backwards, is separated 

 from the calcaneal facet by a 

 wide shallow groove and is not 

 continuous with the navicular 

 articulation. 



The calcaneum has a moder- 

 ately elongated tuber of about 

 the same proportions as seen in 

 the fox ; the astragalar facet is 

 very convex but without the 

 distinctly angular pattern of the 

 recent Canids. The sustentacu- 

 lum tali is relatively broad and 

 has a shallow cup-shaped facet. 

 The cuboid facet is much like 

 that of the fox, and there is a 

 large calcaneal tubercle present. 

 The navicular differs quite con- 

 siderably from that of the fox, 

 in that it has a less vertical 

 depth, and a squarish outline 

 when viewed from above. It 

 is, moreover, larger and broader, 

 having the tubercle located 

 at the postero-internal angle 

 instead of on the posterior 

 border as in the fox. Inas- 

 much as this character, in asso- 

 ciation with that of the head of 

 the astragalus, has to do with the position of the foot in walk- 

 ing, it may be taken not only as an index of the inferior organi- 

 zation of the pes, but it may also be taken to indicate that if the 



Figure 10. — Right 

 V. Hargeri Wortman 

 (Cotype.) 



hind foot of 

 natural size. 



