GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. d41 



tertiary formations indicate upwards of one hundred species, mostly of 

 extinct genera, and many of those peculiar to the North American con- 

 tinent. Notwithstanding the large number mentioned, it is but a 

 meager representation of the extensive faunae to which they belonged. 

 Probably, also, it is but a small proportion of the number which will be 

 discovered in future explorations. The fossils represent nearly all the 

 orders, especially those of Carnivora, Buminantia, Artiodactyla, Perris- 

 sodactyla, and Solidungula. The Bodentia and Insectivora are also fairly 

 represented. No remains of Quadrumana, Cheiroptera, and, singularly 

 enough, of Marsupialia, have been discovered. 



CAENIYOEA. 



The carnivorous order of mammals is well represented by remains in 

 the tertiary deposits of our Western Territories. The number and 

 variety of the fossils indicate a development proportionate to the teeming 

 population of cotemporaneous herbivora which supplied the flesh-eaters 

 with food. 



CANID^E. 



The canine family during the pliocene was represented, as in later 

 times, by several species of wolves ; during the miocene period it was 

 represented by an allied and subsequently extinct genus, the Amphicyoji, 

 which also existed cotemporaneously in Europe. 



CANTS, 



The genus to which our wolves, dogs, and foxes belong. 



Canis scevus. — An extinct species of wolf, probably a near relative, if 

 not the progenitor of the existing American wolf, (Canis occidentalism is 

 indicated by portions of two lower jaws obtained by Professor Hay den 

 from the sands of the Niobrara Eiver, Nebraska. 



Canis temerarius. — A second species of wolf, intermediate in size with 

 the prairie v?o\f (Canis latrans,) and the red fox (Canis fulvus ;) is indi- 

 cated by fragments of jaws found in company with the preceding speci- 

 mens. 



Canis vafer. — A species of fox, about the size of the living swift fox 

 (Canis velox,) is indicated by portions of jaws obtained by Professor 

 Hayden, in association with the preceding specimens. 



Canis Haydeni. — An extinct species, of more robust proportions than 

 any of the living American wolves ; indicated by the greater portion of 

 one side of a lower jaw; also found by Professor Hayden in the same 

 locality as the former specimens. 



The remains of four species of wolves found in association, in the 

 Niobrara sands, indicate that these ravenous animals were abundant 

 during the later tertiary period. Their number appears to have held a 

 relationship with the cotemporaneous abundance of herbivorous ani- 

 mals. 



AMPITICYON. 



An extinct genus of carnivorous animals, to which the above name 

 has been given, was established on fossil remains discovered in the 

 middle tertiary deposits of France and Germany. The general form and 

 construction of the skull and the character of the teeth indicate a near 

 relationship in the animals of this genus to the wolves. A dozen species 

 have been indicated as having formerly lived in Europe; one of them 

 having been viewed by Cuvier as a " dog of gigantic proportions." 



The remains of two species referable to the same genus have been dis- 



