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
In the skull the chief features, in addition to that mentioned in the
definition of the family, are the large size of the paroccipital processes;
there is no fossa lachrymalis or deficiency in the side of the face. The
animal is three-toed, both in the fore- and hind-limbs. The second toe is
nearly as large as the Artiodactyle third and fourth. There are tiny
rudiments of the two remaining fingers. The hind-foot is also three-toed,
and there is a trace of the hallux. The fingers are so widely separated and
divergent from each other that it has been suggested that the animal had
webbed feet and inhabited marshes, in which it swam by the aid of its long
tail. The creature was the size of a Tapir.
Closely resembling _Anoplotherium_ are a number of other genera.
_Diplobune_ ( = _Hyracodontotherium_) was much like the last, but was a
more delicately-formed animal. The fingers and toes (three of each) end in
such sharply-pointed phalanges that claws seem to be almost suggested.
There are several species of this genus. _Dacrytherium_ differs by the
presence of a lachrymal fossa.
_Dichobune_ has four-toed extremities, of which the lateral ones are more
slender and shorter than the two middle ones. As in other Anoplotheriidae,
the anterior premolars are furnished with a sharp cutting edge.
ORDER V. SIRENIA.
Aquatic Mammalia, with but few scattered hairs; hind-limbs absent;
fore-limbs paddle-shaped; tail flattened, and either {334} Whale-like or
rhomboidal to circular in form. Nostrils on upper surface of not
specially-elongated snout. Clavicles are absent. The scapula has the normal
mammalian form, with a well-developed and roughly median spine. The bones
of the arm and hand articulate together, as in land animals; the phalanges
show at most traces of increase in number above the normal. Pelvis
represented by a vestige, more highly developed in some fossil than in
recent forms. Stomach complex, consisting of several chambers. Lungs simple
and not lobulated. Diaphragm oblique and very muscular. Brain peculiar in
form and but slightly convoluted. Testes abdominal. Teats two, and pectoral
in position. Placenta non-deciduous and zonary.[222]
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