THE CANINE TOOTH OF GIRAFFES 



of the pig and other typi-dentate animals 

 (animals with " typical " dentition, that is to 

 say, little altered from the form and arrangement 

 in early mammalian ancestors). In the cattle, 

 sheep, antelopes and deer, this tooth has a quite 

 simple chisel-hke crown, Hke that of the incisors. 

 But in the giraffe it is very peculiar : the crown 



<5il<AffE KI.Li. jtKtM.oNj 



$^Kjo rHEf^iUwi 



d^lJirJE 



5tV(\7(lLr^lLllv). 



Fig. 111. — Front teeth of the lower jaw of the Giraffe and allied 

 animals, namely, the Samotherium, the Si^'atherium, and 

 the Okapi, to show the bilobed or bifoliate broad canine 

 tooth with its split crown — only known in animals of the 

 giraffe family. 



is divided by a slit into two halves, each of 

 which is large and broad. It is described as 

 bi-foliate (see Fig. 111). No other mammalian 

 animal was known with this peculiar shape of 

 this particular tooth among living animals until 

 the other day. But a great extinct animal from 

 India, the Sivatherium (Fig. 112), with much 



159 



