FOSSIL GENUS BASILOSAURUS. 7 



in the cetaceous order, intermediate between the Cachalot and the herbivorous 

 species." The pecuUar form of a horizontal section of the tooth, suggested the 

 generic name of Zeuglodon, {yoke-tooth) (PI. I., fig. 8,) and the affinity with Cetacea, 

 the specific term cetoides. The following extract from Prof Owen's paper embodies 

 his remarks : 



"The teeth in their combination of an exaggerated condition of the conjugate 

 form — which is but indicated in certain teeth of the Dugong, with two distinct fangs, 

 in their oblique position in the jaw, and the irregular interspaces of their alveoli — 

 present very striking peculiarities ; and when to these dental characters we add the 

 remarkable and abrupt contraction of the distal end of the humerus, which is never- 

 theless provided with an articulating surface for a ginglymoid joint, and its remarkably 

 diminutive size, — a cetaceous character which is here carried to an extreme ; and 

 when we also consider the dense laminated structure of the ribs, and the third exag- 

 geration of a cetaceous structure in the extreme elongation of the body of the caudal 

 vertebrfe, we cannot hesitate in pronouncing the colossal Zeuglodon to have been one 

 of the most extraordinary of the Mammalia, which the revolutions of the globe have 

 blotted out of the number of existing beings." The geological position of these 

 remains was for a long time undetermined ; but Mr. Conrad and Mr. Lyell have 

 satisfactorily referred them to the Eocene period, as well those found in South Caro- 

 lina and Alabama, as those originally described by Dr. Harlan from the Wachita 

 river, in Louisiana. 



In 1843, the greater portion of a skeleton of this huge denizen of a former world, 

 was procured from Clark county, Alabama, and taken to New York by Mr. S. B. 

 Buckley, who published an account of the bones in the American Journal of Science 

 and Arts ;* and a subsequent number of the Journal contains another notice by Mr. 

 Buckley of these specimens.! They were sent to Albany, and placed by Dr. 

 Emmons in the saloon of the State geological collection, where I saw them in 1845. 

 They are now in the possession of Dr. J. C. Warren, of Boston, and have been in 

 part described by Professor Emmons, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture and 

 Science. J The figures given are from perfect teeth, vertebrae and ribs; and Prof. 

 Emmons, after noticing the drawings of Prof Owen, expressed his conviction that, 

 after taking all the circumstances into consideration, the two descriptions pertain to 

 the same animal, and adds — " Of the bones, besides the vertebras, we. have a femur 

 or humerus, and the ulna and radius, with a portion of a scapula, a portion of an 

 enormous pelvis, several ribs, two or three bones corresponding to the wrist, both 

 extremities of the lower jaw, and the extremity of the upper jaw, and many other 

 fragments of some importance. The vertebrjB extend in a hne 65 feet." 



This is the most extensive collection of bones of this animal hitherto found, except- 



♦ Vol. XLIV., for April, 1843. t Vol. II., for July, 1846, new series. J July. 1845, and April, 1846. 



