The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle [vol. 1 of 5] : $b Fossil mammaliaOwen, Richard
Science
The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle [vol. 1 of 5] : $b Fossil mammalia
Owen, Richard
Beagle Expedition (1831-1836); Mammals, Fossil; Paleontology -- South America; Zoology
The general form of the horizontal ramus of the jaw, is so well
illustrated in the figures Pl. XVIII. and XIX., that the description may
be brief.
The symphysis is completely anchylosed, about four inches in length, and
extended forward to the extremity of the jaw at a very slight angle with
the inferior border of the ramus: it is of great breadth, smooth and
gently concave internally, and suggests the idea of its adaptation for
the support and gliding movements forwards and backwards of the free
extremity of a long and well-developed tongue.
The exterior surface of the symphysis is characterized by the presence
of two oval mammilloid processes, situated on each side of the middle
line, and about half-way between the anterior and posterior extremes of
the symphysis. A front view of these processes, of the natural size, is
given in fig. 4, Pl. XIX.: a side view of the one on the right side
represented in the reduced figure.
Nearly four inches behind the anterior extremity of the above process is
the large anterior opening of the dental canal: it is five lines in
diameter, situated about one-third of the depth of the ramus of the jaw
from the upper margin. The magnitude of this foramen, which gives
passage to the nerve and artery of the lower lip, indicates that this
part was of large size; and the two symphyseal processes, which probably
were subservient to the attachment of large retractor muscles, denote
the free and extensive motions of such a lip, as we have presumed to
have existed from the size of the foramina destined for the transmission
of its nervous and nutrient organs.
The angle of the jaw is produced backwards, and ends in an obtuse point,
slightly bent upwards; a foramen, one-third less than the anterior one,
leads from near the commencement of the dental canal, to the outer
surface of the jaw, a little below and behind the last molar tooth; this
foramen presents the same size and relative position on both sides of
the jaw. I find no indication of a corresponding foramen, or of
symphyseal processes in the figures or descriptions of the lower jaw of
the Megatherium, nor in the lower jaw of the Sloths, Ant-eaters,
Armadillos, or Manises, which I have had the opportunity of examining
with a view to this comparison.
In the Megatherium the inferior contour of the lower jaw is peculiarly
remarkable, as Cuvier has observed, for the convex prominence or
enlargement which is developed downwards from its middle part. In the
Mylodon the corresponding convexity exists in a very slight degree, not
exceeding that which may be observed at the corresponding part of the
lower jaw of the Ai, or Orycterope. A broad and shallow furrow extends
along the outer side of the jaw, close to the alveolar margin, from the
beginning of the coronoid process to the anterior dental foramen.
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