SCIENTIFIC LABORS OF EDWARD LARTET. 179 



of 2Iesopitliccus Pentelicus, and Mesopitheeus major, were only the two 

 sexes of the same monkey. 



MM. Lartet and Gaudry mention a large edentate of Greece, like the 

 macrotherinm of Sansan ; they also describe the Thalassictis rohiista, 

 the Hystrix primigenia, and give details in regard to several other 

 species discovered by Wagner 5 but the most valuable facts brought to 

 light by their article relate to two fossil giraffes, one of which after- 

 wards became the type of the curious genus Ilelladotlierium. They also 

 pointed out the analogy between the fauna of Pikermi and that of 

 Gucuron, and the excavations of M. Gaudry and Cucuron have since 

 confirmed their views in this respect. 



M. Lartet observed that with the most ancient ruminants of the ter- 

 tiary period, that i)art of the molar-teeth which forms the enameled 

 crown above the socket was shorter and projected less beyond the edge of 

 the ah'eolus than with the quaternary ruminants or existing species of 

 the same family. 



M. Lartet concluded from this that the tertiary lynx, whose molars 

 are not so long in the crown as in the animal now in existence, must have 

 been shorter lived, since the duration of life necessarily depends upon the 

 functional persistence of those indispensable organs of nutrition. 



He also observed that in the old mammals the size of the brain was 

 small compared with that of the head. Cuvier had before been im- 

 pressed by the small relative volume of the brain of the anoplotherium, 

 and supposed in consequence that the animal had very little intelligence. 



The examx)les presented by M. Lartet in support of his thesivS are con- 

 clusive. Thus, the Bracliyodon eocenus of the eocene, the lophiodons of 

 Issel, have brains smaller and less complicated than that of the CaenotJie- 

 rium of the lower miocene of Allier; the brain of the Mipparion has 

 fewer convolutions than that of the horse ; the wild-cat ( Viverra antiqua) 

 of the miocene of Allier has a cranial boneless voluminous than that of 

 the living species, while its olfactory lobes are more developed. 



The size of the cranium, considered in relation to the length of the en- 

 ameled crown of the teeth, induced M. Lartet to suppose that the longev- 

 ity of animals increases in direct proportion to the cerebral development, 

 and consequently the animals now existing ought to live longer than their 

 corresponding types in the ancient world. 



I ought to mention among the researches of M. Lartet in regard to ter- 

 tiar}^ fauna, his latest work upon the Trecliomys Bonduelli, a rodent of 

 the size of a rat, from the upper marl of the gypsum of Pantin. Mo- 

 lars with a crown similarly formed may be found among existing ro- 

 dents of the American type. Among fossil rodents which have some 

 relation to the Trecliomys may be mentioned the Tlieridomys and the 

 Isoptyclivs. 



In the calcareous formations of Gironde, M. Lartet mentions the unex- 

 pected association of a rhinoceros with an anthracotherium and a paleo- 

 therium. These fossils were discovered by M. Delfortrie, of Bordeaux. 



