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University of California Publications in Geology [Vol. 13 



surface. A scar on the preserved part of the frontal suggests the end 

 of the groove of the left side. If this does represent the dorsal termi- 

 nation, the latter is situated somewhat closer to the rim of the orbit 

 than in P. leptorhinus or in P. compressus. Judging from the small 

 portion of the parietal that remains, the dorsal margin of the temporal 

 fossa was apparently not prominent in the specimen from Rancho La 

 Brea. The depth of the malar below the orbit in the skull from the 

 asphalt deposits is exceeded by the corresponding measurement in a 

 single skull of the Kansas series. It is deeper than in the specimens 

 from Rochester, New York, determined by Leidy 4 as belonging to 

 P. compressus. The malar is only slightly deeper in no. 4400 than in 

 the Michigan specimen of P. compressus. 



The Rancho La Brea species, in shortened diastema, approxi- 

 mates more closely the modern peccaries than do other forms of Pla- 

 tygonus from the Pleistocene of North America. In no. 4400, however, 

 the diastema between the canine and the cheek teeth is distinctly longer 

 than in Tayassu, and the length of the diastema approximates closely 

 that of the upper premolar series. The diastema in the specimen from 

 Rancho La Brea is much shorter than in the skull from Kentucky re- 

 ferred by Leidy 5 to P. compressus and in the Pleistocene peccary 

 skulls from Rochester, New York. It is also shorter than in specimens 

 referred to P. leptorhinus by Williston, and is distinctly shorter than 

 in the skull of P. compressus described by Wagner. In skulls de- 

 scribed by Leidy and by Williston the canine tuberosity seems always 

 to extend farther dorsally along the side of the snout than in Platyg- 

 onus from Rancho La Brea. The height of the canine tuberosity is 

 not so great in no. 4400 as in the specimen from Michigan, while in 

 both skulls the height equals the length of the post-canine hiatus. 



Between the alveoli for the medial incisors a canal extends forward 

 from the anterior palatine foramen. The palate in the specimen from 

 the asphalt beds is not so broad as that of P. alemani from the Pleisto- 

 cene of Mexico. The median portion of the palate behind M- reaches 

 upward to the postnarial notch, the angle which this slope makes with 

 the plane of the palate being greater than in Tayassu. The anterior 

 tuberosities of the basioccipital are separated in median line by a 

 wider groove than in P. leptorhinus, and the lateral arm of the basi- 

 sphenoid, which joins with the alisphenoid, lies more in advance of the 

 contact between basioccipital and basisphenoid than in the Kansas 



4 Leidy, J., On Platvgonus, an extinct genus allied to the peccaries. Trans. 

 Wagner Free Inst. Sci., vol. 2, pp. 41-50, pi. 8, fig. 1, 1889. 



5 Leidy, J., Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc, vol. 10, pp. 330-341, pis. 36 and 37, 1853. 



