MAMMALIA. 643 



Family XVI. Hij)]jopotamina. 



4 



Hippopotamus L. Incisors j , the lower procumbent, horizontal, 



with the middle longer; canines large, worn obliquely into a very 



smooth surface at the back part: molars ^^ — = or in adults -p, — ^; 



7 — 7 b — b 



tuberculate, complex, posterior four large. Feet short, tetradacty- 



lous, with short hoofs. Body obese, covered with skin nearly 



naked. Tail short. 



Sp. Hijjpopotamus amphihius L., BuFF. Hist, not., Suppl. Tome vi. PI, 4 

 (copied in Schreber, Tab. 318), PL 5, Smith Illustr. of the Zool. of South 

 Africa, Mamm. PI. 6, Cuv. R. Ani., ed. ill., Mamrtiif. PI. 78, fig. i ; the 

 river-horse, das Flussiiferd, known also amongst the colonists of the Cape 

 of Good Hope by the name of Zeehoe; a very heavy and sluggish animal, 

 attaining a length of more than eleven feet ; it resides by preference in rivers, 

 sometimes also in the sea, and lives solely on plants, especially grass. This 

 animal, which was formerly met with in Egypt, now lives nowhere more 

 northward than Abyssinia, but further south throughout the whole of 

 Africa. There seems to be no distinct difference observable between the 

 Abyssinian Hippopotamus and that of South Africa. On the Osteology 

 see Cdvier Ann. du Mus. V. pp. 299 — 7,2s. Some notices upon the sto- 

 mach and its three divisions, on the intestinal canal of nearly twelve times 

 the length of the body, without caecum, and on some other viscera, were 

 given not long ago by Peters Rise nach Mossambique, Sdugth. s. 180, 181. 

 A smaller species from West Africa has been described by Morton as 

 Hippopotaimi.s minor, and afterwards as Hipp, liberiensis. Journal of the 

 Acad, of nat. Sc. of Philadelphia, Sec. Ser. i. 1850, pp. 231 — 239, PI. 

 32 — 34. On the Osteology of this species comp. Joseph Leidy, ibid. 11. 

 1854, pp. 217 — 224, PI. 21. Amongst other osteological peculiarities 

 there are only two incisors in the lower jaw. It was proposed to make a 

 new genus of it under the name of Choeropsis, which seems unnecessary. 



Different fossil species of this genus are known from the tertiary strata 

 and the diluvial period; amongst these last is Hippopotamus major Cuv., 

 of which many remains have been found in France, Italy and elsewhere. 

 Compare CuviER Rech. s. les Oss. foss. I. pp. 304 — 334, and Pictet Pa- 

 heontol. i. p. 320 — 322. 



Order V. Ruminant ia. 



Feet bisulcate, with two toes insistent, ungulate; two supple- 

 mentary hoofs in many. Molar teeth complex, upper incisors 

 mostly none, lower eight, more rarely six; canines mostly none. 

 Four stomachs, or in some three. Metacarpal and metatarsal bone 

 single, bipartite below. Otlier characters of the Artiodactyles. 



41—2 



