VERTEBRATE PALAEONTOLOGY IN 1912 3 



of pliers when closed. In these respects the jaw is essentially 

 that of a chimpanzi. The two molars, which are essentially 

 human in structure, " have been worn perfectly flat by masti- 

 cation, a circumstance suggesting that the canines resembled 

 those of man in not projecting sensibly above the level of the 

 other teeth." Thus writes Dr. Woodward. On the other 

 hand, Sir E. R. Lankester expresses the opinion {D.T. Dec. 19, 

 1912) that the Sussex jaw "had almost certainly great canines 

 and large front teeth." It should be added that in the 

 shallowness of the notch separating the articular condyle from 

 the coronoid process the Sussex jaw approximates to the 

 Pleistocene Heidelberg jaw, which, however, is of a much 

 more massive type, and, although lacking a prominent chin, 

 has a comparatively short symphysis. 



Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the Sussex " man " 

 is the association of a distinctly human type of cranium with 

 an equally marked simian form of lower jaw. This, however, 

 according to Dr. Elliot Smith, who contributed an appendix 

 to the original description, is no matter for surprise, as in- 

 creasing brain-development in the forerunners of man must 

 have involved more rapid growth and change in the cranium 

 than in other parts of the skeleton. Special interest also 

 attaches to a remark by the same observer that the region 

 of the brain believed to be associated in man with the power 

 of speech is but poorly developed in the Sussex skull. Not 

 improbably, therefore, the half-man and half-ape of the Sussex 

 Weald was devoid of the power of articulate speech. 



Be this as it may, it is evident, to quote the words of 

 Sir E. R. Lankester, that these remains, in spite of their 

 imperfection, "are of extreme importance, and constitute a 

 new step in the acquirement of solid, tangible knowledge as 

 to the development of man from ape-like ancestors. This half 

 of a lower jaw from Sussex furnishes . . . evidence of a man- 

 like creature really intermediate between man and ape. It 

 comes nearer to the realisation of 'the missing link' than any- 

 thing yet discovered." 



In the published abstract of the original description no 

 scientific designation was given to this missing link; but in 

 the full text of the paper, published in vol. lxix. of the Quarterly 

 Journal of the Geological Society (pp. 1 17-51), the new generic 

 and specific title of Eoanthropus dawsoni is proposed. 



