Bactrian Camel 275 



by Dr. A. Nehring, of Berlin, who expresses himself in favour of the view 

 that some, at least, of the two-humped camels which roam at liberty over 

 the wastes of the Gobi are indigenous wild animals. 



Years ago the occurrence of remains ot tossil camels [Camclus 

 shci/t'/isis) was recorded by Falconer and Cautley in the Tertiary strata ot 

 the Siwalik Hills of Northern India. The dentition of this species is 

 numerically the same as in the two living members of the group ; and 

 from this circumstance, coupled with the well-known affinity between the 

 extinct fauna of the Siwaliks and that of Africa at the present day, it is not 

 improbable that the Siwalik camel was the ancestor of the single-humped 

 African species, since, as will be shown below, there is a probability 

 that the ancestor of the Bactrian species had a fuller dental series. 



And here it may be well to mention that in adult modern camels there 

 are normally five pairs of cheek-teeth in the lower jaw behind the tusks, or 

 canines. The first pair (the first premolars) are, indeed, somewhat like 

 a canine in form, and are separated by a gap from the canine in tront 

 and from the remaining four of the cheek-teeth behind. Of the latter, 

 the last three pairs are the true molars, while the tooth in tront ot them 

 represents the last of the typical series of four premolars. 



Now in the lower jaw of a fossil camel recently described trom the 

 Pleistocene Tertiary strata of Rumania, by Herr Stefanescu, under the 

 name of Comclus a/ntcnsis, there are six, in place of five, pairs of lower 

 cheek-teeth, the tooth representing the third lower premolar being 

 developed. Evidently we have here an ancestral type of camel, and it 

 is noteworthy that, according to Dr. Nehring, this supernumerary lower 

 tooth occasionally makes its appearance in living camels, although it is 

 not mentioned in which species. The remains of the Rumanian camel 

 were discovered on the left bank of the Aluta (Olt) river, a tributary 

 of the Danube, not far from Slatina. 



Evidently, remarks Dr. Nehring, this Rumanian camel was a member 



