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 grinding teeth vary from simple one-cusped teeth,
precisely like canines, to teeth with an enormous number of separate
tubercles. In the former case it is hard to distinguish between incisors,
canines, and cheek teeth in the lower jaw, where no suture separates the
bone. Moreover it is quite common for the first cheek tooth in the lower
jaw to have the characters of a canine, while the true canine approximates
in its form to the antecedent incisors. This is so, for instance, with the
Lemurs, where the first premolar is caniniform, and the canine shares in
the curious procumbent attitude which distinguishes the lower incisors of
many of those animals.
A variable number of the anterior cheek teeth may be little more than
simple conical teeth; but the rest of the set are commonly more
complicated. No definite laws can be laid down as to the complication of
the posterior as compared with the anterior set. Broadly speaking, it is
purely herbivorous creatures in which the least difference can be detected
at the two extremities, and which are at the same time the most elaborately
decorated with tubercles and ridges. The converse is true that in purely
carnivorous animals, including insect- and fish-eating forms, there is the
greatest difference between the anterior set of grinding teeth and those
which follow. In these two respects such animals as a Lemur and a
Rhinoceros occupy the extremes. Furthermore, it may be said that omnivorous
creatures lie, as their diet would suggest, in an intermediate position.
Generally speaking, when there is a marked difference between the first
premolar and molars at the end of the series, there is a gradual
approximation in structure of a progressive kind. The tubercles become more
numerous in successive teeth; but the corollary which is apparently
deducible from this, _i.e._ that the last molar is the most elaborate of
the series, is by no means always true. The last cheek tooth indeed is
often degenerate. On the other hand, it is very markedly the largest of the
series in such diverse types as the Elephant, the hog _Phacochoerus_, and
the Rodent _Hydrochoerus_. It is a rule that the cheek teeth of the upper
jaw are more complicated than the corresponding teeth of the lower jaw.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account