STEREOGNATHUS 311 



those of PliolopJius, which, though not close, is closer than to 

 the teeth of any other known animal, it is probable that the 

 StereognatJius was hoofed, and consequently herbivorous, or 

 deriving the chief part of its subsistence from the vegetable 

 kingdom. Cuvier has written, — " La premiere chose a faire 

 dans l'etude d'un animal fossile est de reconnaitre la forme de 

 ses dents molaires ; ou determine par la s'il est carnivore ou 

 herbivore, et dans ce dernier cas, on peut s'assurer, jusqu'a un 

 certain point de l'ordre d'herbivores auquel il appartient." * In 

 the case in question the form of the molar teeth of one jaw is 

 recognizable, but the herbivority of the fossil is not thereby 

 determined. We can only infer it to be more probable that 

 the fossil was a Herbivore than an Insectivore or a mixed-feed- 

 ing Carnivore. 



Admitting the herbivority of the fossil, it is not certain that 

 it was hoofed ; there is nothing in the form and structure of the 

 tooth to prove that. Both form and structure are compatible 

 with the hooness muticate type of herbivorous Mammal, as 

 shown by the Manatee ; it is the small size of the Stereogna- 

 tJius which renders it less probable that it was a diminutive 

 kind of Manatee, and more probable that it was a diminutive 

 form of Ungulate. But seeing the manifold diversities of the 

 multi-cuspid form of molar teeth in recent and extinct insec- 

 tivorous unguiculate quadrupeds, it is not impossible but that 

 the StereognatJius may have belonged to that order ; there is 

 no known physiological law forbidding it. 



The form of the cusps, and their regular symmetrical 

 arrangement in the StereognatJius, as compared with the known 

 modifications of multi-cuspid molars in certain small extinct 

 forms of hoofed quadrupeds, constitute the grounds upon which 

 an opinion is formed of its most probably belonging to the same 

 section of Ungulata. 



Then, is it not true, it may be asked, that by virtue of 

 * Osseraens Fossiles, 4to, torn, iii., 1822, p. 1. 



