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 incisor teeth are generally of simple structure and nearly always
single rooted. In the Rodents, in the extinct Tillodontia and in
Diprotodont Marsupials, they have grown large, and, as has been already
stated, they increase in size continuously from the growing pulp. These
teeth have a layer of enamel only on the anterior face, which keeps a sharp
chisel-like edge upon them by reason of the fact that the harder enamel is
worn away more slowly than the comparatively soft dentine. The {49} "horn"
of the Narwhal is another modification of an incisor, as are the tusks of
Elephants. Among the Lemurs the incisors are denticulate, and serve to
clean the fur in a comb-like fashion. This is markedly the case in
_Galeopithecus_. The incisors are sometimes totally absent, as in the
Sloths, sometimes partially absent, as in many Artiodactyles, where the
lower incisors bite against a callous pad in the upper jaw, in which no
trace of incisors has been found.
Canine teeth are present in the majority of mammals, but are absent without
a single exception from the jaws of the Rodentia. The canine tooth of the
upper jaw is that tooth which comes immediately after the suture dividing
the premaxillary from the maxillary bone. The canines are as a rule simple
conical teeth, with but a single root; indeed they resemble what we may
presume to have been the first kind of tooth developed in mammals. In this
they resemble also as a general rule the foregoing incisors. But instances
are known where the canines are implanted by two roots. This is to be seen
in _Triconodon_, in the pig _Hyotherium_, in the Mole and some other
Insectivores, and in _Galeopithecus_, where the incisors also may be thus
implanted in the jaw. Furthermore, the simple condition of the crown of the
tooth may be departed from. This is the case with a Fruit Bat belonging to
the genus _Pteralopex_. In the more primitive Mammalia it is common to find
no great difference between the canines and incisors; such is the case with
the early Ungulate types of Eocene times, such as _Xiphodon_. In modern
mammals, however, especially among the Carnivora, the canines tend to
become larger and stronger than the incisors, and in some of the Cats and
in the Walrus these teeth are represented by enormous offensive tusks. It
is not rare for the canines of male animals to be larger than those of
their mates. There are also cases such as the Musk-deer and the Kanchil
where the male alone possesses these teeth, but only in the upper jaw. The
teeth which follow the canines are known as the grinders or cheek teeth, or
more technically as premolars and molars. These two latter terms separate
teeth which arise at different periods, and their use will be explained
later. In the meantime it may be pointed out that the cheek teeth are the
teeth which show the greatest amount of variation in their structure; this
is shown by the number and variety of the cusps in which {50} the biting
surface ends.
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