South Dakota School of Minos 81 



There are five toes on each foot. Daphoenus was provided with 

 retractile claws, much as the modern cats. In Cynodictis this 

 was not so pronounced. The normal number of teeth in Daph- 

 oenus is forty-four, there being eleven on each side, both above 

 and below, as follows: Incisors, three; canines, one; premolars, 

 iour; molars, three. Cynodictis lacks one upper molar on each 

 side, leaving a total of forty-two. 



Nearly all of the Miocene forms have been found within 

 the last half dozen years. They are limited almost wholly to 

 skulls and lower jaws. With the exception of three species 

 described from fragmentary materials many years ago, all of 

 the Miocene specimens have been collected and described under 

 the direction of the American Museum and the Carnegie Mus- 

 eum. They were obtained chiefly from the Little White River 

 in South -Dakota, and near Agate Springs, in Sioux County, 

 Nebraska. The largest is Ischyrocyon hyaenodus. The only re- 

 mains obtained of this species consists of a well preserved right 

 half of the lower jaw. It represents a young individual, the 

 permanent teeth being only partially developed. Notwithstand- 

 ing the immature nature of the jaw, its length is approximately 

 eight and one-half inches and the full grown animal would 

 doubtless compare favorably in size with the modern grizzly 

 bear.* 



FELIDAE 



The cat family is well represented in fossil form in the Black 

 Hills region, although neither the species nor: the individuals 

 were so numerous as were the Canidae. Two genera are of, par- 

 ticular prominence, namely, Hoplopboneus and Qinictis. These 

 are early forms of what are commonly known as saber-tooth 

 cats or tigers (Machaerodonts), a name given them by reason 

 cf two great sword or saber-like canine teeth of the upper jaw. 

 They were not so large as certain later forms of this great group, 

 nevertheless they were vicious creatures and Hoplophoneus, Plate 

 27, the larger of the two, was doubtless fully as large as the 

 present day leopard and apparently much more powerful. The 

 two represent well separated stages in the evolution of saber- 



* Matthew, W. D., and Gidley, J. W. New or Little Known Mam- 

 mals from the Miocene of South Dakota. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 

 Vol. 20, 1904, pp. 241-268. 



