848 On the Extinct Cats of America. { December, 
be disproportioned to its ability to appropriate its prey as food. 
The molar teeth are rather small, as is the case with the earliest 
Fic. 9.—Pogonodon platycopis, less than two-fifths natural size. Mus. Cope. 
From Vol. tv, U. S. Geol. Surv. Terrs. - 
representatives of the canine family. The inferior sectorial is 
primitive and peculiar in its robust heel. We can suppose this 
species to have been a great destroyer of contemporary mam- 
malian life, and that the largest ungulates of the Truckee fauna 
were its victims. 
History. Science has hitherto had little knowledge of this spe- 
cies, and owes what is here recorded to a fortunate chance. e 
exploring party which I had sent into the John Day River valley 
under the direction of Mr. Jacob L. Wortman, in 1879, examined 
the bad-lands in the locality known as The Cove. ‘In passing the 
bluffs on one cccasion, a member of the party saw on the summit 
_ ofa pinnacle of the crag what appeared to be a skull. The large 
shining objects supposed to be teeth attracted his attention, and 
he resolved to obtain the specimen. He, however, was unable to 
climb the cliff, and returning to camp narrated the circumstance. 
The other men of the party successively attempted to reach the 
object, but were compelled to descend without it, and in one case, 
at least, the return was made at considerable peril. A later at- 
tempt, made by Leander S. Davis, of the party, an experienced 
collector, was more successful. By cutting notches with a pick, 
in the face of the rock, he scaled the pinnacle and brought down 
the skull, but at considerable risk to limb and life. 
