8 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Another characteristic of all modern Camivora is the union 

 of two bones of the wrist, the scaphoid and lunar, which are dis- 

 tinct in most other animals. This gives additional strength to 

 the thumb side of the very flexible wrist. In the Creodonts, 

 these two bones were separate, and it is probable that they were 

 separate in the earliest ancestors of the true Carnivores. Many 



SC /u 



ma^ 



FIG. 6. FORE-FOOT OF THE WOLF 

 Shows the compact, slender foot, and the 

 scaphoid and lunar bones of the wrist 

 united \sc- lu') as in all true Carnivora 



FIG. 7. FORE-FOOT OF HY/ENODON 

 Shows the shorter and less compact foot, and the 

 Sep. irate scaphoid, centrale and lunar bones in the 

 wrist KScij-, ir, iiin) as in all Creodonta 



Creodonts also preserve a small extra bone, the " centrale," which 

 is found now only in monkeys and in certain Insectivora and 

 other small mammals. This bone seems to have been generally 

 present in the ancient mammals. 



The most ancient Creodonts are of especial interest to stu- 

 dents, because they are thought to represent more nearly than 

 any other fossils known, the central stock from which most mod- 

 ern mammals have descended. They appear already numercms 



