Fig. 530.
Microlestes antiquus, Plien.
View of same molar as [No. 529.] From a drawing by Herman von Meyer.
- a. View of inner side?
- b. Crown of same.
Fig. 531.
Molar of Microlestes? Plien. 4 times as large as [fig. 529.] From the trias of Diegerloch, Stuttgart.
Professor Plieninger inferred in 1847, from the double fangs of this tooth and their unequal size, and from the form and number of the protuberances or cusps on the flat crowns, that it was the molar of a Mammifer; and considering it as predaceous, probably insectivorous, he called it Microlestes, from μικρος, little, and ληστης, a beast of prey. Soon afterwards, he found the second tooth also, at the same locality, Diegerloch, about two miles to the south-east of Stuttgart. Some of its cusps are broken, but there seem to have been six of them originally. From its agreement in general characters, it is supposed by Professor Plieninger to be referable to the same animal, but as it is four times as big, it may perhaps have belonged to another allied species. This molar is attached to the matrix consisting of sandstone, whereas the tooth, No. 529., is isolated. Several fragments of bone, differing in structure from that of the associated saurians and fish, and believed to be mammiferous, were imbedded near them in the same rock.