74 



CARNIVORA 



ORDER III 



Pliocene ; Pikermi, Samos, Maraglia, Leberon, Bessarabia, China and 

 India. 



Fig. 104. 



Ictitherium robustum Nordm. sp. Lower Pliocene of Pikermi near Athens. Lower aspect of the 

 left upper jaw. i/i. (After Gaudry.) 



3.1.4-3.1. 



Family 6. Hyaenidae, Hyaenas. 

 Upper carnassial P^ greatly elongated and strongly developed, 



with anterior cusp and posteriorly a long shearing blade. Anterior premolar small. 

 Posterior Ps and canines robust, and cone-shaped. Lower carnassial M^ with two 

 long blades and faint talonid, rarely with metaconid. Tympanic bulla lacking 

 septum. Fore-limbs longer than hind-limbs. Extremities digitigrade, manus and 

 pes always tetradactyl. Second metacarpal overlapping the third. Os penis weak. 



The dentition of the Hyaenidae is characterised by a reduction of AP, M^, 

 and the talonid and metaconid of M^, the paraconid and protoconid becoming 



Fio. 105. 

 Hyaena eximia Roth and Wagn. Lower Pliocene of Pikermi near Athens. 1/3. (After Gaudry.) 



transformed into a strong shear. The premolars, with the exception of those 

 most anterior, become thick cones, the dentition being thus excellently 

 adapted for the crushing of bones. 



Ictitherium seems to be transitional between the Hyaenoids and the 

 Vtverridae. The Hyaenidae are recent in Africa and West Asia, and the 



