

2 I O DINOCERAS 



probably resembled the bears more than any living animals, with 

 the important exception that in their feet they were much like the 

 elephant. To the general proportions of the bears must be added 

 the tail of medium length. Whether they were covered with bail- 

 or not is of course uncertain. Of their nearest living allies, the 

 elephants, some were hairy and others naked. . . . The movements 

 of the Coryphodons doubtless resembled those of the elephant in its 

 shuffling and ambling gait, and may have been even more awkward 

 from the inflexibility of the ankle." 



The most recent members of this sub-order come from the 

 Middle Eocene beds, and are chiefly referable to the genus Dino- 

 ceras. with which Tinoceras and Uintatherium are at least very 

 nearly related, if not identical. These creatures were of great size, 

 larger than the earlier types which have been considered. They 

 show a certain superficial resemblance to the Titanotheriidae, on 

 account of the massive horn cores upon the skull. These horn 

 cores are large upon the maxillae and the parietals, and are 

 paired ; on the nasals are smaller horns. The bones of the 

 skull have air cavities. The incisors of the upper jaw are 

 absent; the canines are enormous tusks, and the lower jaws 

 are flanged downwards near the symphysis where these tusks 

 border them. Contrary to what is found in the older types, 

 where the position of the condyle of the lower jaw is normal, 

 this prominence faces backwards in the Dinocerata. The same 

 shortness of the spines of the dorsal vertebrae prevails in this 

 group as in the other Amblypoda, though it is perhaps hardly 

 so marked. The scapula has not the peculiar acuminate form 

 that exists in Coryphodon, but is triangular and broad above. 

 The limbs are elephantine, in that the angle between the 

 humerus and the femur respectively, and the bones which 

 follow, is not marked. The hind-limbs are especially straight. 

 The tail is short as compared with that of the primitive 

 Amblypoda. The Dinocerata are purely digitigrade. The 

 entepicondylar foramen has, as in the Coryphodonts, disappeared. 

 The os centrale of the carpus has become fused, and no longer 

 exists as a separate bone. The fibula no longer articulates 

 with the calcaneum, but both that bone and the ulna are well 

 developed. The genus Astrapotherium is placed among the 

 Amblypoda by some authorities. 1 



1 Gadow, A Classification of Vcrtebrata, Recent and Extinct, London, 1898. 



