with remarks on the Nature and Affinities of that genus. 331 



on the Darling Downs, belonged to the same animal ; and on 

 this assumption proceed to apply the anatomical facts so at- 

 tained to a resolution of the mooted question of the nature and 

 affinities of the genus Dinotherium. 



The only bone of the extremities referable to any of the 

 European species of Dinothere which has hitherto been dis- 

 covered is a scapula, described by Prof. Kaup in his ' Osse- 

 mens Fossiles de Darmstadt/ 4to, 1832, p. 13. If the pha- 

 lanx of the gigantic Pangolin, figured in the same work, pi. 2. 

 ad. figs. 4 — J, had belonged, as the discoverer of the Dino- 

 therium supposed, to his most extraordinary genus, it would 

 have indicated an affinity to the Edentata, which would have 

 rendered the Dinothere with its huge incisive tusks a still 

 stranger and more anomalous creature than its cranial and 

 dental organization prove it to be. 



The opinions of Prof. Kaup have been opposed by MM. de 

 Blainville and Isidore Geoffroy St. Hilaire upon the evidence 

 afforded by the entire cranium and dental system, which was 

 exhibited in Paris in 1837*. This evidence was deemed con- 

 clusive in proof that the Dinotherium belonged to the family 

 of the Herbivorous Cetaceaf, or, to use the words of M. de 

 Blainville, that it was a gigantic Dugong with inferior incisors 

 developed into tusks J. The Professor then adverts to the 

 question, whether the Dinothere had four or two locomotive 

 members, and, in reply, states it to be more probable that it 

 had but two anterior pinniform extremities or ( en nageoires.' 

 M. Isid. Geoffroy St. Hilaire recognises, with M. de Blain- 

 ville, in the Dinotherium numerous analogies with the Du- 

 gong, and especially with the Manatee, " et c'est dans le 

 groupe si remarquable, et jusqu'a present si peu nombreux, 

 auquel appartiennent ces deux genres, que le Dinotherium 

 lui parait devoir trouver sa place naturelle." — Ibid. p. 429. 



The anatomy of the Dugong and Manatee — their membrana 

 nictitans, their vesiculce seminales and double corpus caverno- 

 sum, their renal system, larynx and dentition, their pectoral 

 mammae, &c. §, all combine to prove the close affinities of the 



* " Quoique nous soyons bien eloignes de penser qu'un seul os, une seule 

 facette d'un os, soient suffisants pour reconstruire la charpente osseuse ou le 

 squelette d'un mammifere, ici nous croyons que la tete entiere et le sy- 

 steme dentaire complet, sont tout-a-fait suffisants pour mettre notre these 

 hors de doute." — M. de Blainville, Compte Rendu de V Acad, des Sciences, 

 March 20, 1837 (p. 422). 



t " Le Dinotherium a constitue un genre de mammiferes de la famille 

 des Dugongs et des Lamantins." — Ibid. p. 422. 



X " En un mot, cetait, suivant nous, un Dugong avec les incisives en de- 

 fense infeVieures." — Ibid. 



§ See Proceedings of the Zoological Society, March 27, 1838. 



Z2 



