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 further agrees with the Artiodactyles in the structure of the
carpus. The toes of the fore-limb are four, those of the hind-limb three;
but while the hind-limb is undoubtedly Perissodactyle in the arrangement of
its component parts, the fore-limb shows a hint of an Artiodactyle mode of
structure. This limb is paraxonic, the axis of the limb passing between the
two middle digits. It may be that this genus represents more nearly than
any other Perissodactyle or Artiodactyle the primitive stem from which both
have diverged, though, of course, it is not old enough to be very near to
the actual ancestor. The molar dentition is the typical one; the incisors
seem to vary as to their presence or absence, and, if present, in their
numbers. In comparing the older with the more recent forms it is noteworthy
that there has been an increase of size exactly as there has been during
the evolution of the Camels and some other groups of Ungulates. As already
mentioned, the size of the horn cores also increases until it culminates in
the extraordinary species, _T. platyceras_ and _T. ramosum_, in which these
are half as long as the skull, flattened in form, and connected at their
bases by a "web" of bone. Arrived at this amount of specialisation the
genus _Titanotherium_ apparently exhausted its capacities for modification
and ceased to be. The many generic names may be explained by sexual
differences on the one hand and an incomplete knowledge of connecting links
on the other.[175]
_Palaeosyops_ is somewhat like a Tapir in build, the skull especially
resembling that of the Tapir. As in _Titanotherium_ the molar teeth,
instead of having an outer wall formed by fused cusps, have a [176]-shaped
outer wall on one side and two or one cusps on the opposite side. It is,
moreover, an Eocene form, and in correspondence with its greater age is
more primitive in some points of structure, for example, in the absence of
horns and in the full dental formula. The fore-limbs are four-toed, the
hind {267} three-toed. It was intermediate between a Tapir and a Rhinoceros
in size. It has been shown, too, from casts of the interior of the skull,
that the cerebral hemispheres are much less convoluted than were those of
_Titanotherium_.
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