210 M. R. Thorpe — New Species of 



casts is in the U. S. National Museum and another in the 

 American Museum of Natural History. They have been 

 erroneously considered as casts of the holotype of 

 Machcerodus primcevus, whereas they are casts of the 

 heautotype, 10 which was first described eighteen years 

 after the holotype. The basal length of the heautotype 

 is 6 inches. 



Cope, 11 in 1873, described Machcerodus oreodontis, 

 from "an incomplete mandibular ramus of the right side, 

 containing two incisors, and the second molar, with por- 

 tions of other teeth." This specimen belonged to "a 

 saber-toothed cat of rather smaller size than the M. 

 primcevus/' In the following year, the genus Hoplo- 

 phoneus was established by the same author, 12 with H. 

 oreodontis as the type of the genus and species. He 

 stated that the general characters were "Dental formula 

 of mandible : 13, CI, Pm2, M2. Superior canine greatly 

 developed; end of mandible expanded and thickened to 

 protect it. This is simply Machcerodus with a tubercular 

 molar, as in Dinictis." 



Eleven years later (1885), Cope 13 changed the dental 

 formula to 1|,C|, Pm^-, Mi. He also stated that there 

 was no inferior tubercular molar and that his first 

 diagnosis was incorrect, owing to insufficient data. He 

 said further that "The longest known species is the 

 Hoplophoneus primcevus, Leidy, from the White River 

 badlands of Dakota and Nebraska," 



Dinictis Cope. 



_ Four specimens, representing three species and pos- 

 sibly a fourth, were found in the White River formation. 

 No. 10944 Y. P. M., D. bombifrons Adams, was found 

 near Terry's ranch, Nebraska, by A. S. Shelley in 1874. 

 It consists of parts of both mandibles with nearly all the 

 teeth except incisors. This species is synonymous with 

 D. fortis Adams. 



A right superior molar, No. 10951 Y. P. M., is most 



10 See C. Sehuchert and S. S. Buckman : The nomenclature of types in 

 natural history, Science, new ser., 21, 899-900, 1905. 



11 E. D. Cope : Synopsis of new Vertebrata from the Tertiary of Colorado, 

 p. 9. 



12 E. D. Cope, Ann. Kept., U. S. Geol. and Geog. Surv. Terr., for 1873, p. 

 509. 



13 E. D. Cope: Kept. TJ. S. Geol. Surv. Terr., 3, Tertiary Vertebrata, Book 

 1, p. 992. 



