66 



University of California Publications. 



[Geology 



tip of the claw and the dorsal portion of the trochlear surface 

 have been broken off. The claw is laterally flattened, with a 

 faint indication of a shallow median cleft (fig. 2). Its base is 

 sheathed in a bony hood, now considerably broken. The troch- 

 lear surface is divided by a high median ridge, as in the Gravi- 

 grada. Inferiorly there is a large subungual process for the ex- 

 tensor tendons, perforated by a pair of ungual foramina (fig. 3). 

 The lateral surface of the claw is rugose, showing the impression 

 of numerous vascular canals indicating the presence of a horny 

 sheath. 



Remains of supposed Edentates have been described from the 

 John Day beds of Oregon (Moropus distans, M. senex), but these 

 are more probably to be regarded as the American representatives 

 of Chalicotherium. 1 The absence of a deep median cleft in the 



1 Communicated by Mr. O. A. Peterson, 

 ungual phalanx and the presence of a bony hood are sufficient to 

 separate the animal to which the material described in tlie present 

 note pertained from any relationship with the Chalicotheres. On 

 the other hand, the Mascall specimen agrees in every respect with 

 the structure of the claws in the Megalonychidae. Should the 

 above determination prove to be correct, the specimen just de- 

 scribed will represent the earliest gravigrade remains known in 

 North America. 



Issued December 6, 1906. 



