232 POSITION OF DINOTHERIUM chap. 



their small size enabling them to be accommodated in the jaw 

 together. The skull of Binotlierium is lower than that of Elephas 

 or Mastodon, The bones of the skeleton generally are like those 

 of Elephas. 



Though a suggestion of marsupial bones attached to the pelvis 

 has been discredited, there is no doubt that Dinotherium occupies 

 the most primitive position among tlie Proboscidea ; but at the 

 same time it cannot be regarded as the ancestor of Elephants, as 

 it is so much specialised in various ways. The incisors for one 

 thing forbid this way of looking at the creature. It is an ancient 

 genus found in lieds of Miocene age in Europe and Asia. It is 

 not known from America. The creature was larger than any 

 Elephant. Eighteen feet in length has been assigned to it. The 

 enormous weight of the lower jaw and tusks seems to argue that 

 it was at least partially aquatic in habit, and that it may have 

 used these tusks for grubbing up aquatic roots or for mooring 

 itself to the bank. At first there were naturalists who considered 

 it as an ally of the Manatee, and the skull is not unsuggestive of 

 that of the Sirenia. 



Pyrothcritim has been refeiTcd to the Proboscidea ; but our 

 knowledoe of that form is limited to a few teeth from Patao-onian 

 rocks of an uncertain age.'^ They are simple bilophodont molars, 

 very like those of Dinotherium. A tusk has been found in the 

 neighbourhood of these teeth which may possibly belong to the 

 same animal ; but it is uncertain. 



Sub-Oedee 7. HYPACOIDEA. 



This group of small mammals contains only one well-marked 

 genus which is usually named Hyrax, although Procavia seems to 

 be the accurate term. Popularly these creatures are known as 

 Coneys. They have a singular resemblance to Eodents, the short 

 ears and much reduced tail, besides the squatting attitude adopted, 

 contributing to this merely skin-deep likeness. They agree with 

 other Ungulates in the structure of the molar teeth, which are 

 much like those of Rhinoceros ; in the absence of a clavicle ; in 

 the absence of an acromion ; in the reduction of the digits of the 

 limbs to four digits in the manus and three in the pes. On the 



1 Lydekker, An. Mas. La Plata, Pal? Anj. iii. 1S94. 



