VERTEBRATI! FAUNA OP THE BLAlfCO BEDS. 55 



casses of the huge Mammalia that existed during the Blanco epoch. Its 

 dental structure is adapted for crushing bones, while its canine teeth 

 served their usual purpose of tearing into fragments the carcasses of the 

 camels, horses, etc., that formed its food. The corresponding parts ai-e 

 similar in dimensions to those of the spotted hyena {Oi'ocuta maculata). 



FELIS, Linn. 



A single species of Felidse may be provisionally referred to this genus. 

 The specimens which represent it consist of the second, third, and fourth 

 metacarpals of the left side, a second metatarsal of the same side, an ento- 

 cuneiform, an unciform, a calcaneum, the arch of a lumbar vertebra, 

 and two superior canine teeth, found together, and a scapholunar bone 

 found near at hand. The canine teeth indicate a mature animal. 



The metapodials of the species here described are relatively shorter 

 than in any species of Felidae known to me. There were evidently five 

 digits in the manus, and four in the pes. The distal extremities of the 

 penultimate phalanges are not unsymmetrical, as in the larger cats of the 

 genus Uncia, as the lion, etc. 



FELIS HILLANUS, CopC. 



Sp. nov. Plate XIV, Figures 1-11. 



The superior canine tooth is large, but the greatest diameter is seen in 

 the root at its inferior third. The crown has the horizontal section at 

 the base a horizontal oval, much less convex on the inner than on the 

 outer side. There are well marked obtuse cutting edges anteriorly and 

 posteriorly, the anterior terminating at the base in a slightl}^ projecting 

 angle. Enamel smooth. 



The separate neural arch of a vertebra presents the postzygapophyses. 

 The articular faces of the latter are vertical, and not convex. The spine 

 is of moderate elevation, and its base occupies the entire neural arch. 

 Its anterior edge is subacute. 



The distal face of the unciform is as broad as long; its posterior process 

 is rather short. The entocuneiform is short, narrow, and deep antero- 

 posteriorly, and the distal articular surface is crescentic. The metacar- 

 pals are rather robust, and the second is about four-fifths the length of 

 the equal third and fourth. The diaclast* is present on the third as well 

 as the fourth, as in other Felidse, but that of the third is not overroofed 

 on the anterior side, as is that of the fourth. The facet on the anterior 

 side of the external proximal fossa of the fourth, shows that the diaclast 

 is present on the fifth metacarpal. The proximal articular surface of the 



*I propose this term for the interlocking process of a metapodial which occu- 

 pies the external fossa of the adjacent metapodial in most Carnivora. 



