532 University of California Publications in Geology [Vol. 10 



the discovery of new material representing a wolf related to C. dims 

 in the Pleistocene of Florida. In his important paper on "Human 

 Remains and Associated Fossils from the Pleistocene of Florida" 

 Dr. E. H. Sellards 2 has described the first skull of a member of the 

 dire wolf group found outside the California region. 



The dentition of Dr. Sellard's specimen very closely resembles 

 that of the type specimen of C. dims from Indiana. These characters 

 also fall well within the range of variation of the dire wolves of 

 Rancho La Brea. The greater number of the unusual characters 

 distinguishing the wolves of the dims group are recognized by Dr. 

 Sellards in his specimen from Vero. The Florida skull is, however, 

 characterized by quite different proportions of the facial region, the 

 nose and the palate being much narrower and more slender, and the 

 premolar teeth more widely spaced than in the Rancho La Brea group. 

 In view of these differences, Dr. Sellards seemed justified in separ- 

 ating the Florida wolf as a new species to which he has given the 

 name Canis ayersi. 



Considering that the several types included in the dims group 

 represent at least three quite distinct forms, in all of which there 

 appears a group of common characters sharply distinguished from 

 those of other wolves, there is ample justification for distinguishing 

 this group as a separate genus or subgenus for which the name 

 Aenocyon 3 may be applied. 



The generic characters of Aenocyon are found in the massiveness 

 of skull and dentition, extreme overhang of the inion, shortness of 

 the basicranial region posterior to the glenoid fossae, massiveness of 

 the upper and lower carnassials, reduction of the hypocone of 

 and probably in characters of the skeleton not as yet available from 

 other material than that obtained at Rancho La Brea. 



The genus Aenocyon was widely distributed over North America 

 in Pleistocene time. Its range extended from the east to the west 

 coast and from Mexico at least as far north as the upper portion of 

 the Mississippi Valley. Whether its geographic range extended into 

 the Canadian area is as yet uncertain. It is possible that the timber 

 wolves of the Canis occidentalis group occupied the northern portion 

 of the continent contemporaneously with the maximum development 

 of the Aenocyon group in the Sonoran region. The geologic range 

 of Aenocyon is also still to be determined. A somewhat puzzling 



2 Sellards, E. H., 8th Ann. Eep. Florida Geol. Surv., pp. 152-57, pis. 24, 30, 

 figs. 1, 3, 1916. 



s Aenos: terrible, dreadful; cyon: wolf. 



