On Platygonus compressus : a new fossil pachyderm / by John L. Le Conte.

  • Le Conte, John Lawrence, 1825-1883.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On Platygonus compressus : a new fossil pachyderm / by John L. Le Conte. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    inet. Not only was the request granted, but, with the generosity of a scientific spirit, the entire collection was placed at my dispo- sal, that it might be rendered more accessible to our comparative anatomists. Mr. Snyder has also promised to procure such other specimens as may be found in his vicinity. It is also hoped that in a short time casts of the bones already obtained will be ready for distribution to the learned societies of our country. Among the specimens now in my possession were detected re- mains of the following animals : — Platygonus compressus (the sub- ject of the present memoir), Hyops depressifrons (a new animal allied to Dicotyles), and a new species of Procyon. From another fissure were obtained teeth, indicating two other new genera, which are referred to in the notice quoted above. We now proceed to the description of the separate bones of the first-named animal, commencing with the teeth. Dentition. By carefully picking away the cement which envelops the ante- rior part of the fragment (figs. 1,2), a small external incisor was discovered : the distance of this tooth from the superior canine is given in the table of measurements at the end of the descriptive part of this memoir. The bone is so much mutilated, that it is impossible to determine whether there were two or three superior incisors on each side ; although, from the affinities of the animal, there were doubtless three. In the form of the tooth there is noth- ing peculiar ; it has a rounded mammillary crown, scarcely acute at the summit. The superior canine (figs. 9-11) is very much compressed, pointed, and curved ; the anterior edge almost sharp ; the posterior acute and trenchant; the external face (fig. 9) slightly more con-