1916 J Merriam; Fauna of Cedar Mountain Region 173 



Dr. L. H. Miller has kindly examined the material available and 

 reports upon it as follows : 



"Professor J. C. Merriam of the University of California has recently placed 

 in my hands a small collection of bird remains collected in the Cedar Mountain 

 beds of Western Nevada by Messrs. Baker and Buwalda in the summer of 

 1912." 



"The material was fragmentary and somewhat worn, hence the identity 

 in some cases is merely approximated. The specimens all represent anserines 

 which at present inhabit fresh-water bodies or enclosed bodies of brackish 

 or salt water. These bodies of water may be of most ephemeral nature and 

 sometimes highly charged with alkaline salts. The presence of the species 

 in the deposits of Nevada would therefore have little bearing on the question 

 of climatic conditions during the deposition of these beds. 

 "The remains are listed as follows: 



Distal end of humerus — Nettion carolinense (Gemlin) 

 Proximal end of humerus — Near Marila collaris (Donovan) 

 Distal end of tibia — Marila collaris (Donovan) 

 Proximal end of ulna — Near Querquedula cyanoptera (Vieillot) 

 Fragments of furcula — Indeterminate. ' ' 



Carnivora 



Carnivore remains are imperfectly represented in the collection 

 from the Cedar Mountain region, but evidently include a considerable 

 variety of forms. There are probably not less than six or seven species 

 in the small amount of material available. Of these forms, three are 

 canids, two felids, one possibly a mustelid, and one evidently a pro- 

 cyonid. The Carnivora do not evidence a very close relationship with 

 those of any other fauna. One of the canids, Tephroeyon near kelloggi, 

 is almost identical with a species described from the Virgin Valley 

 Middle Miocene of northern Nevada. Another type is near the stage 

 of development of the aelurodons of the late Miocene or early Pliocene. 



TEPHKOCYON, near KELLOGGI Merriam 

 A portion of a lower carnassial no. 19767 (figs. 2a and 26) from 

 Stewart Valley represents a species near or identical with Tephroeyon 

 kelloggi of the Virgin Valley Miocene of northern Nevada. The frag- 

 ment present is almost identical in form with the lower carnassial 

 of the type specimen. Very slight differences are due mainly to the 

 difference in stage of wear. The correspondence in form includes 

 length of heel, size of metaconid, position and form of the small inner 

 and outer tubercles between trigonid and talonid, the presence of a 

 faint ridge of the cingulum on the outher side of the heel, and the 

 development of a faint ridge on the outer portion of the posterior 

 end of the heel. The measurements are nearly identical. 



