358 NOTES ON THE C'ANTDJE OF THE WHITE KIVER OLIGOCENE. 



sharp ridge running down the fibular side, and is thus quite different from the trihedral 

 section, with flattened tibial side, which is found in Can is, and is much more like the 

 corresponding metatarsal of Dinictis. 



The parallel arrangement of the metatarsals which we observe in the modern 

 Canidce is in Daphcemts replaced by a radiating arrangement, the bones diverging 

 toward the distal end. This distal divergence is, however, less decided in the pes than in 

 the manus. 



The phalanges display a very carious and surprising combination of characters. 

 They are long, both actually and proportionately ; compared with the tibia as a standard, 

 they have about the same length as in the recent species of Canis, but they are decidedly 

 longer than in that genus when compared with the length of the metatarsals. 



A proximal phalanx of one of the median digits is long .and depressed, but quite 

 strongly arched upward or dorsally. The metatarsal facet has quite a different shape 

 from that seen in Canis, the transverse diameter being relatively greater and the dorso- 

 plantar less. The facet is also somewhat more oblique to the long axis of the phalanx, 

 presenting rather more dorsally and less entirely proximally ; the notch for the meta- 

 tarsal carina is less deeply incised. Similar differences are observable in the body of the 

 bone ; its breadth being proportionately greater and its thickness less. The distal 

 trochlea, which in Cards describes a semicircle from the dorsal to the plantar surface, is 

 in Daphcemts much more restricted, projecting less prominently from the plantar side and 

 not reflected so far upon the dorsal face. On the other hand, this trochlea is more deeply 

 cleft in the median line than in the modern genus and the tubercles for the attachment 

 of the phalangeal ligaments are larger. 



In all the differences from the modern Canidce which have been mentioned, we may 

 observe resemblances to the corresponding phalanx of Dinictis, in which the bone is 

 somewhat shorter and broader than that of Daphcenus, and has rather more prominent 

 ligamentous tubercles, but is otherwise very like it. 



The proximal phalanges of the lateral digits differ from those of the median pair 

 only in being shorter, more slender and less symmetrical, and in having a lateral curva- 

 ture which becomes very pronounced in the hallux. 



The second phalanx is of about the same length, with reference to the first, as in 

 Canis, but Js broader, more depressed, and more asymmetrical than in that genus. The 

 proximal facet, for the first phalanx, is more distinctly divided into two depressions by a 

 more prominent median ridge, and the beak-like process of the median dorsal border is 

 much more pronounced. The distal trochlea is reflected farther upon the dorsal side and 

 projects more'from that side, but extends less upon the plantar face ; it is thus more con- 

 vex in the dorso-plantar direction, but much less concave transversely than in Canis. 



