ON SOME NEW AND LITTLE KNOWN CREODONTS. 
171 
the absence of tlie magnum it cannot be decided whether a separate central was 
present. 
Metacarpal I is short and rather stout, the others very slender. The manus 
was evidently plantigrade and pentadactyl. Though proportionally very much 
weaker the general character of the metacarpals and phalanges is quite like 
that of the ViverridxB, the metacarpals interlocking to about the same extent, 
no. II touching the magnum and no. Ill the unciform, but not by extended 
surfaces. The ungual phalanges are compressed and sharp and shaped much as 
in Cynogale. 
The ilium is short and little expanded ; the outer surface is convex and of the ordi- 
nary creodont character, and the acetabulum is shallow. Of the fermir only a small 
fragment of the upper portion is preserved, which shows, however, a very large second 
and small but perfectly distinct third trochanter ; the shaft is slender and compressed. 
The tibia is long and slender, and shows a slight double curvature above forwards and 
below backwards ; the shaft is broad and trihedral at the proximal end with prominent 
cnemial crest, distally it becomes subcylindrical ; the distal end is not greatly expanded ; 
a very low ridge divides the astragalar facets and makes an inconspicuous tongue ; the 
internal malleolus is very large and has what seems to be an articular face at its distal 
end. The tarsus is at first sight much like that of the Viverridm, but presents some 
important differences. Professor Cope states that the astragalus has “ two entire 
trochlear faces, the wider external and directed intero-superiorly, the inner presenting 
supero-interiorly. They are separated by an obtuse longitudinal angle, and are 
little or not at all concave transversely.” The species to which this astragalus 
belongs is not stated, but the astragalus of D. aUidens is very different from that 
described by Professor Cope. It possesses a distinct trochlea, of which the external 
portion is the larger; the neck is long and directed obliquely inwards, and on 
its inner side is an excavation, apparently for the malleolus of the tibia, a very 
characteristic creodont feature ; the head is rounded and narrow, articulating only 
with the navicular and not coming in contact with the cuboid. The calcaneum 
is short and stout, with very small sustentaculum, an expansion near the distal 
end and a concave cuboidal facet. The cuboid is shaped much as in Cynogale 
but without the distinct excavation for the navicular ; the proximal facet is 
convex and the distal concave. The navicular is short with deeply concave 
proximal face into which the convex head of the astragalus fits; the distal surface 
shows three well-marked facets for the cuneiforms, and from the shape and position 
of the inner facet, it is plain that a hallux was present. Only the external cuneiform 
is preserved in the specimen; it is high and narrow, extending somewhat below the 
level of the cuboid ; it is obvious from the facets on the inner surface that the 
middle cuneiform was shorter and that metatarsal II abutted against the external 
cuneiform. 
24 JOUR. A. N. S. PHILA., VOL. IX. 
