36 
In his description of the specimen, Sir R. Owen regarded it 
as indicating a Perissodaetjle Ungulate, allied to Syracotheriwn 
of the same beds ; hut this view is at once negatived by the 
form of the teeth, which have no sort of resemblance to those of 
the so-called Lophodont type which are found in that genus. 
The structure of the teeth shows, indeed, that their owner 
belonged to a generalised group of mammals, which Professor 
Cope has collectively denominated Bunotheria, and has sub¬ 
divided into several orders or sub-orders, some of which, like the 
Creodonta, are most nearly allied to the modern Carnivora, while 
others, like the Condylarthra, approximate to an Ungulate type, 
and others again cannot well be included in any existing order. 
When, however, we have to decide to which of these groups the 
specimen should be referred, the question becomes very difficult 
indeed, owing to the imperfect nature of the fossil. 
The first suggestion as to its affinity with these primitive 
types was made in the Geological Magazine for 1885, p. 360, 
where it was suggested that it was generically identical with a 
form described by Professor Cope under the name of Esthonyx; 
this view, however, was not accepted by the founder of the latter 
genus. Quite recently. Dr. Schlosser, of Munich, in his work 
on the Fossil Carnivora, etc., of the Tertiaries of Europe, now 
in com’se of publication in the Beitr. pal. Oeder-Hungar., 
considers that Blatyclioerops should find a place among the 
Creodant Carnivora. 
None of the Creodonts that have come under the writer’s 
notice have, however, molar teeth exactly like those of the 
specimen under consideration; while those of Esthonyx^ as 
figured in Plate xxiv., c, of Professor Cope’s magnificent work 
on the “Tertiary Yertebrata of the West,” published by the 
U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories, are so like those of 
the English specimen that it is very difficult to believe that the 
two forms are not nearly related. Unfortunately the absence 
of the anterior teeth in the type of Plady cheer ops renders it 
impossible, at present, to be absolutely certain on this point; 
and the best hope of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion would 
be to obtain either actual upper molars of Esthonyx from 
America, or, failing those, a cast of the type specimens. Till 
this be done, the question of the true affinity of the unique 
fossil of the York Museum must renaain un.decided, 
