Lign. 255. Anoplotherium Commune.
Eocene Tertiary. Montmartre.
Restored outline of the animal; after Cuvier.
(The original was about the size of an Ass.)
CUVIERIAN PACHYDERMS.
Cuvierian Pachyderms. [Lign. 255], [256]. Owen’s Brit. Foss. Mam. p. 299, &c.; Wond. p. 254; Bd. i. p. 81; Petrif. p. 475.—A large proportion of the numerous bones and teeth which are found in the Tertiary gypseous deposits at Montmartre, near Paris, are referable to the several extinct genera of Pachydermata, which the genius of Cuvier first made known. The Palæotheria and Anoplotheria must be familiar to the intelligent reader, for the restored outlines of several species are appended to almost every work that treats of the ancient inhabitants of our globe. The details of their anatomical characters are given at length in Oss. Foss. tom. iii., illustrated with numerous plates.
The Palæotheria (Brit. Foss. Mam. p. 316, et seq.) resembled the Tapirs in their head and short proboscis, while their molar teeth approached those of the Rhinoceros, and their feet were divided into three toes, instead of four, as in the Tapirs. Upwards of eleven species have been discovered, varying from the size of the Rhinoceros to that of the Hog. Their remains are extensively diffused in the Upper Eocene strata in various parts of France; and have been found in the Isle of Wight.
The Lophiodon (crested-tooth), a genus distinguished from the former by the characters of the teeth, which more nearly resemble those of the Tapirs, comprehends twelve species, all found in the fresh-water Tertiary marls of France. A canine tooth of a species of Lophiodon was found in the London Clay, in sinking a well on Sydenham Common, near the railway.[743]
[743] See Mr. Douglas Allport’s interesting History of Camberwell, p. 17, and Owen’s Brit. Foss. Mam. p. 306.