The bones of an herbivorous Cetacean, the Manatus, a genus now peculiar to the torrid zone, have been found in the eocene strata in various parts of France, associated with those of the Palæotheria and other extinct mammalia of the Paris basin.
ZEUGLODON.
Zeuglodon cetoides. [Lign. 249].[737]—The remains of a very remarkable Cetacean, of an extinct genus, were first made known by Dr. Harlan, of Philadelphia, who obtained a considerable portion of the jaws with teeth, vertebræ, and other bones of an animal of enormous size, from Alabama and Arkansas, United States. These relics were discovered in tertiary (eocene) limestone, associated with a marine shelly conglomerate, from a cliff near the bed of the river Owachita. When first observed, the bones extended along the face of the rock, with intervals between them, to the extent of one hundred feet, and the animal to which they belonged must have exceeded seventy feet in length. Dr. Harlan ascribed these bones to an unknown reptile, which he called Basilosaurus (king of the lizards); but a more correct investigation, by Professor Owen, proved their cetacean character, and the peculiar form of the worn molar teeth suggested the name of Zeuglodon (yoke-tooth).
[737] Owen, Geol. Trans. 2d ser. vol. vi. p. 69, &c., plates vii. viii. ix.; Harlan’s Medical and Physical Researches, p. 337, &c.; Gibbes, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philadelphia, 2d ser. 1847, vol. i. pp. 5 and 16; Bulkley, Silliman's Journal, vol. xliv. p. 409; Carus, Nova Acta Cur. Nat. vol. xxii. pt. ii. 1848.
Lign. 249. Zeuglodon cetoides.
Portion of the Jaw, with Teeth, and a Vertebra.
Eocene. Alabama, United Slates.
| Fig. | 1.— | Portion of the Upper Jaw, with three teeth: 1/8 nat. a. The exposed fang of a tooth. |
| 2.— | Transverse section of the base of the crown of a tooth, showingthe deep constriction in the middle: 1/4 nat. | |
| 3.— | A caudal vertebra: 1/12 nat. |