FOSSIL CARNIVORA 17 



Mesonychid.'E. 

 Type: Mesonyx. skull etc. Wall-case No. 6. 



These animals had the limbs and feet specialized for swift 

 running, and the feet tipped with flat hoof dike claws. The teeth 

 are quite peculiar, they have no shearing edges, and the crown 

 is composed of three rather high blunt-topped conical cusps. In 



FIG. 12. SKULL OF MESONYX 

 Upper Eocene of Utah. After Osborn 



the upper jaw these are in a triangle, one cusp inside, two out- 

 side; in the lower jaw they are in series, the central one being 

 much the highest . 



The Mesonychidffi are found in all the Eocene strata from the 

 oldest to the youngest, and show a series illustrating the gradual 

 evolution of their peculiar type of tooth. The massive blunt- 

 cusped teeth, generally very much worn, suggest that they were 

 used for crushing bones or other hard food, and that the animal 

 fed upon carrion, like the modem hysena. (See Fig. i.) 



