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
The genus _Coryphodon_ is known by a large number of species, of which the
first was discovered in this country, and was represented merely by a jaw
with some teeth. This was named by Sir R. Owen _C. eocaenus_, and was
dredged up from the bottom of the sea off the Essex coast. A second
specimen consisted of a single {209} canine tooth only, and was brought up
from a depth of 160 feet during the making of a well at Camberwell. More
abundant remains have since been found in North America.
This genus had a large head, and in some specimens traces of the "horn
cores," so marked in the related _Dinoceras_, are to be noticed. The skull
is broad behind and narrowed in front; the roofing bones show the cellular
spaces so characteristic of the Elephant. The jugal bone, however, is not,
as it is in the Elephant, placed in the middle of the somewhat massive
zygomatic arch. As in some other primitive Ungulates (e.g. _Phenacodus_)
there are twenty dorso-lumbar vertebrae, of which fifteen bore ribs.
The scapula seems to have possessed a peculiar leaf-like form, swelling in
the middle and ending almost in a point above. It has a well-marked spine,
and the acromion projects much. The fore- as well as the hind-feet are in a
state of transition between plantigradism and digitigradism. It was at one
time held that the animal was digitigrade as to the fore-feet and
plantigrade as to the hind-feet. Though, as has been pointed out, it is a
fact that the hind-feet are often on a different plane of evolution from
the fore-feet, it seems that this amount of difference does not
characterise any Ungulate, not excepting the genus now under consideration.
The toes are very spreading. The pelvic girdle is of great strength and
broadness. The femur, as in the Perissodactyles, has a well-developed third
trochanter; but whereas in this particular the hind-limb is Perissodactyle,
it is Artiodactyle in the fact that the tibia and the fibula articulate
with the astragalus and calcaneum. The ridged teeth have given the name to
the genus.
A curious feature in the structure of the genus are the slender spines of
the dorsal vertebrae, which contrast with the enormous ones of some other
Ungulates--more curious in this genus, which is of heavy build, than in the
lighter _Pantolambda_. The back of the animal is short, and the limbs are
very spreading, so that the gait was doubtless shuffling. The large head,
and short and heavy limbs and limb girdles added probably to its cumbrous
walk or trot. The canines are great tusks, and spread out on both sides of
the mouth.[130]
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