24 Professor Owen^ [Feb. 4, 



bones in man, have been discovered by M. Fontan, of Saint-Gaudens,iu 

 a marly bed of upper niiocene age, forming the base of tlie plateau on 

 which that town is built. The molar teeth present tlie type of grind- 

 ing surface of those of the gibbons {Hylobates), and as in that genus 

 the second true molar is larger than the first, not of equal size, as in the 

 human subject and chimpanzee. The premolars have a greater antero- 

 posterior extent, relatively, than in the chimpanzee ; and in this respect 

 agree more with those in the siamang. The first premolar has the 

 outer cusp raised to double the height of that of the second ; its inner 

 lobe appears from M. Lartet's figure to be less developed than in the 

 gorilla, certainly less than in the chimpanzee. The posterior talon of 

 the second premolar is more developed, and consequently the fore and 

 aft extent of the tooth is greater than in the chimpanzee ; thereby the 

 second premolar of Dryopithecus more resembles that in Hylobates, 

 and departs further from the human type. 



The canine, judging from the figures published by M. Lartet*, 

 seems to be less developed than in the male chin)panzee, gorilla, or 

 orang. In which character the fossil, if it belonged to a male, makes 

 a nearer approach to the human type ; but it is one which many of the 

 inferior monkeys also exhibit, and is by no means to be trusted as 

 significant of true afiinity, supposing even the sex of the fossil to be 

 known as being male. 



The shaft of the humerus, found with the jaw, is peculiarly rounded, 

 as it is in the gibbons and sloths, and offers none of these angularities 

 and ridges which make the same bone in the chimpanzee and orang 

 come so much nearer in shape to the humerus of the human subject. 

 Ti»e fore part of the jaw, as in the siamang, is more nearly vertical than 

 in tlie gorilla or chimpanzee, but whether the back part of the jaw may 

 not have departed in a greater degree from the human type than the 

 fore part approaches it, as is the case in the siamang, the state of the 

 fossil does not allow of determining. One significant character is, how- 

 ever, present, — the shape of the fore-part of the coronoid process. It 

 is slightly convex forwards, which causes the angle it forms with the 

 alveolar border to be less open. The same character is present in 

 the gibbons. The fore part of the lower half of the coronoid process 

 in man is concave, as it is likewise in the gorilla and chimpanzee. I 

 am acquainted with this interesting fossil, referred to a genus called 

 Dry )pithecus, only by the figures published in the 43rd volume of the 

 Coinptes Rendus de VAcadcmie des Sciences. From these it appears 

 that the canine, two premolars, and first and second true molars are in 

 place. The socket of the third molar is empty, but widely open above ; 

 from which I conclude that the third molar had also cut the gum, the 

 crown being completed, but not the fangs. If the last molar had existed 

 as a mere germ, it would have been preserved in the substance of the jaw. 



In a young siamang, with the points of the permanent canines just 

 protruding from the socket, the crown of the last molar is complete, 

 and on a level with the base of that of the penultimate molar, whence 



♦ Comptes Rendus dc le'Academie dcs Sciences, Paiis, vol. 43. 



