were two cusps because the cingulum is still so high (as high as the
outer edges of the paracone and metacone) as to suggest that it is only
slightly worn. Posteriorly this single cusp in the cingulum is united
with the hypocone. Anteriorly the cusp is confluent with an anterior
cingulum that is small, but, nevertheless, plainly visible as it crosses
the occlusal face of the tooth to the paracone. There is some reason to
believe that there was a posterior cingulum, but wear, which has
obliterated even the posterior wall of the hypocone, prevents my being
certain about this. This cingulum is absent in _H. gregoryi_ and present
in _H. hatcheri_.
M2 compares favorably with M1 except for the following differences: The
protocone and hypocone are equal to the paracone and metacone in area,
but not in height; although the internal cingulum is undivided, there is
no evidence of a cusp as in M1. Here, too, the cingulum is as high as
the paracone and metacone. Possibly the cingulum was confluent with the
hypocone. The internal cingulum continues around the margin of the tooth
to the paracone as an anterior cingulum which is sharper and plainer
than the anterior cingulum on M1. There is no evidence of a posterior
cingulum.
M3 shows a great amount of wear, and the occlusal pattern is not too
clear. The median transverse valley is reduced almost to a pit, and the
paracone and metacone are divided by a small notch. The protocone and
paracone, the latter being much higher, are larger than the metacone
which is reduced in size, and not all this difference in size can be the
result of wear. The hypocone is absent. The internal cingulum is as high
as the paracone and shows no evidence of division into two cusps, but in
M3 this character is apparently variable for _H. gregoryi_ does not have
the internal cingulum divided and _H. hatcheri_ has it markedly so. A
slight anterior arm of the internal cingulum may have reached forward to
the anterior face of the protocone. Wear prevents knowing whether a
crest surrounds the tooth completely, or only on three sides.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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