The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 10 (of 10)Beddard, Frank E. (Frank Evers)
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 10 (of 10)
Beddard, Frank E. (Frank Evers)
Animals; Mammals
A still later form, coming from the Lower and Middle Eocene strata, is the
genus _Stylinodon_. _S. cylindrifer_, which is the more archaic of the two
described species, is only known from a single molar, fragments of a
canine, and "some inconsiderable pieces of the skull." The molar is
interesting on account of the fact that the enamel is still further
reduced; it is represented only by narrow vertical strips, which are much
narrower than those of older forms of Ganodonts. It is also hypselodont,
and has a persistent pulp. So, too, the canine which had a thick anterior
facing of enamel. The later species, _S. mirus_, is more fully known. The
teeth seem to have been much the same as in the last-described species; the
premolars and molars were seven in all in the lower jaw, and the canine was
imbedded in the bone for a long distance, as in _Calamodon_. The cervical
vertebrae have short centra as in _Hemiganus_. The clavicles were well
developed. The humerus possessed an entepicondylar foramen, and its head
displays the pyriform pattern so characteristic of later Edentates. The
foot is clearly like that of _Psittacotherium_.
In reviewing the series, therefore, we see a gradual diminution of the
incisors, a gradual loss of enamel on the teeth generally, and the
production of hypselodont teeth growing from persistent pulps; all of which
are features of the later Edentates. The progression is so gradual that the
forms enumerated and described seem to have been part of a continuous
series culminating in the Ground Sloths of later times. The other points of
similarity will be gathered from the facts given in the foregoing pages.
There is another family belonging to the Ganodonta whose position with
regard to the Edentata is not so clear. This is the family CONORYCTIDAE, of
which two genera are known. The earliest of these, from the Lower Puerco,
is _Onychodectes_. In _O. tissonensis_ the skull is long and narrow, thus
contrasting with that of the last family. The facial part is also long. The
lower jaw is much more slender. The molar formula was complete, but there
is some doubt as to the incisors. The molars are tritubercular.
The other known genus is _Conoryctes_. Its skull has a shorter {194} facial
portion, and is thus more like that of Stylinodontidae than that of
_Onychodectes_. The dental formula is known, and is complete save for the
loss of one incisor above and below, and one premolar above. The
relationship of these Ganodonts to any later forms is uncertain; but their
skeletal structure is as yet by no means fully known.
* * * * *
{195}
CHAPTER IX
UNGULATA--CONDYLARTHRA--AMBLYPODA--ANCYLOPODA--TYPOTHERIA--TOXODONTIA--
PROBOSCIDEA--HYRACOIDEA
ORDER IV. UNGULATA
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