110 
CREOBONTA. 
crest. The siipraoccipital bone has a moderate extent on the upper surface 
of the cranium, supporting part of the sagittal crest, as well as the promi¬ 
nent oblique ones of the inion. The front is rather wide, and the nasal 
bones are flat, and but little narrowed posteriorly. The lachrymal foramen 
is large, and entirely within the prominent anterior margin of the orbit; it 
is of a vertically oval form. A suture extends from it postero-externally to 
the rim of the orbit, and then returns forward and upward on the facial 
surface, inclosing what I suppose to be the lachrymal bone. On cleaning 
the surface, I cannot trace any lachrymal bone posterior to the foramen, as 
is usual in Carnivora {Canis, Felis)^ and must therefore suppose that this 
genus presents an external and anterior position of the lachrymal bone, as 
in Ungulates. The evidence of this arrangement is seen on both sides of 
the head. The foramen infraorbitale exterius is large, and issues above the 
third premolar. ? 
The characters presented by the vertebrae are those of the Creodonta in 
general, with the following modifications: A cervical is of medium length, 
possesses a hypapoph 3 ’sial keel, which is produced downward behind, and 
has but little trace of a neural spine. The neural arch is wide and flat above, 
and it is pierced on each side by a foramen not far from the lateral border. 
Two anterior lumbars, from just behind the flying ribs, have no diapo¬ 
physes unless a small, narrow, broken area indicates the base of a very rudi- 
mental one. This is at the anterior end of a strong longitudinal ridge, 
which marks the inferior part of the side of the centrum. The metapophyses 
are strong, inclosing the anterior zygapophyses of the succeeding vertebra 
on the lower side. In Ursus arctos, Canis familiaris, and Felis catus, there 
is no vertebra intervening between the last bearing a rib and the first bear¬ 
ing a diapophysis. In TJrsus arctos, the centra are short, and the diapoph¬ 
ysis occupies an elevated position. In Stypoloplms viverrinus, the centrum 
is moderatel}’’ elongate, and the ridge representing the diapophysis has an 
inferior position, resembling rather Canis and Felis in these particulars. A 
portion of the sacrum preserved shows it to have been of robust propor¬ 
tions. Besides the superior intervertebral foramina, there is a small one 
each side of the neural arch in front of the posterior zygapophysial ridge. 
A caudal vertebra is relatively large in all its dimensions. 
