161 



PAL.EORNIS. 



PAL^EOTHERIUM. 



16J 



C. Body elongated, fusiform, tail forked or rounded. 



Semionotus ; Lepidotus ; Pholidophorua ; Microps ; Notagogui. 



The generic character of Palieoniscus is thus given : 



All the fins of moderate size, with small rays on their edges ; the 

 dorsal fin opposite the interval of the ventral and anal fins. Scales 

 moderate. In some species the scales are large, and the body is 

 broader and shorter than in the others ; there are always large mesial 

 scales in front of the dorsal and anal fins. 



The geuus comprehends Palaonitcum and Palceothrissum of De 

 Blainville. 



The geological interest of this genus is considerable, inasmuch as 

 the numerous species appear to be very definitely distributed iu the 

 strata of the Carboniferous and Saliferous Systems of Europe and 

 America. The following is the series of species examined by Agassiz, 

 with their localities, and the names of the formations in which they 



1. Palaoniscut fttlltta Coal Formation 



2. P. Durernoy . 



3. P. minutta . . 



4. P. Blainvillii 



5. P. Voltzii . . . 



6. P. anytutta . 



7. P. Vratiilartwii . 



8. P. lepidurta . 



9. P. freicilebeni . . 



10. P. magnut 



11. P. macropomut . . 



12. P. elegant 



13. P. Robitoni . . 



14. P. itriolalut . 



15. P. arnatiitimm 



16. P. comtvi 



17. P. ylaphyrtu . . 



18. P. macrophlhalmus 



19. P. lonyiisimut . . 



20. P. carinatut . 



Coal Formation . . 



Coal Formation 



Coal Formation . . 



Coal Formation 



Coal Formation . . 



Rotheliegende . . 



Rotheliegende 

 Zechsteiu . . 



Zechatein . . , 

 Zechstein . . . . 

 Lower part of Magnesian 



Limestone 

 Carboniferous Limestone 



Carboniferous Limestone 

 Carboniferous Limestone 

 Magnesian Limestone . 

 Magnesian Limestone . 

 Jlaguesian Limestone . 

 Magnesian Limestone 

 Carboniferous Series 



' 



Sunderland, Massa- 

 chusetts ; West- 

 wick, Connecticut. 



Munster AppeL 



Munster Appel. 



Near Autun. 



Near Autun. 



Munster Appel. 



Ruppersdorf in Bo- 

 hemia. 



Scharfeneck in Co. 

 Glatz. 



Mansfield, Hesse, 

 Eisleben, A <. 



Mansfield. 



Mansfield. 



East Thickley in 

 Durham. 



Burdiehouse, near 

 Edinburgh. 



Burdiehouse. 



Burntisland.Fifesh. 



Durham. 



Durham. 



Durham. 



Durham. 



Newhaven, near 

 Edinburgh. 



The researches of Agossiz have given a simple and beautiful general- 

 isation of the distribution of these species; the scales of the Palceoniaci, 

 which abound in the Coal Formation, are almost universally smooth ; 

 those of the species which belong to the Magnesian Limestone are 

 almost universally striated or sculptured. We find a few exceptions 

 to this rule, as at Burdiehouse, and at Ardwick near Manchester, but 

 it rests on a considerable number of coincidences. It is an unexpected 

 result of Agasaiz's critical inquiry into the forms of fossil fishes, that 

 the Palceonuci of the English Magnesian Limestone are not identical 

 with those of the Zechstein of Germany, notwithstanding the supposed 

 contemporaneity of the rocks. 



PALjEORNIS. [PSITTACIDA] 



PEL.-EOSAU'RUS, the name given by Dr. Riley and Mr. Samuel 

 Stutchbury to a genus of fossil Saurians discovered in the magnesian 

 conglomerate on Durdham Down, near Bristol (1834). 



The conglomerate wherein the Saurian remains were found rests 

 upon the edge of inclined strata of mountain limestone, filling up the 

 irregularities of their surface, and consists of angular fragments of the 

 limestone cemented by a dolomitic paste. The thickness of the deposit 

 where the remains were discovered does not exceed twenty feet. 



Three animals were found, two belonging to the genug Palaosaurui, 

 and the other to a genus named by them T/ttcodontosaurus. [THKCO- 

 DONTO9AURU8.] 



The following is the generic character of the Palaotaurut .-Teeth 

 carinated laterally, and finely serrated at right angles to the axis, 

 differing from those of all the known Saurians. 



The two species are P. cylindrical and P. Plali/odon. 



PALvEOTHE'RIUM, Cuvier's name for au extinct genus of Pachy- 

 dermatous fferbivora discovered in the Gypsum Beds at Paris iu 

 company with A noplotheriun. [ANOPLOTHEKIUM.] The following are 

 the generic character of Palieotherium : 



a 1 i M tf 



Dental Formula : Incisors, - ; Canines, ; Molars, = 41. 



Three toes on each foot. A short fleshy proboscis, for the attachment 

 of the muscles of which the bones of the nose were shortened, leaving 

 below them a deep notch. 



The molnr teeth bear a considerable resemblance to those of the 

 Rhinoceros ; in the structure of that port of the skull destined to 

 support the short proboscis and the feet, the animal closely approached 

 ipirs. 



The pecie are numerous, and the following have been named : 

 P. maynum (Gypsum of Montmartre), /'. medium, (Gypsum of Mont- 



JTAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. IV. 



martre, Osseous Breccia, Sete, &c.), P. crassum, P. latum, P. cm-turn, 

 P. minus, P. minimum, P. indelerminatum (Gypsum of Montmartre), 

 P. Aurelianense (Lacustrine Formation of Orleans, Argenton, &c.), P. 

 Istelanum (Tertiary, Issel), P. Velaunum (Tertiary, Puyen-Velay). 



Skull of I'ttlirullieriuiH maijnum. (Cuvier.) 



Molur teeth of uppei jaw of the same, seen from above. (Cnvier.) 



External view of part of the lower jaw of the same. (Cuvier.) 



Remains of Palaotlieria. have also been found in the Tertiary 

 Formation near Rome, in the department of the Gironde, Provence, &o. 



Mr. S. P. Pratt discovered, in the lower and marly beds of the 

 quarries of Binstead in the Isle of Wight, which belong to the lower 

 Fresh-Water Formation, a tooth of an Anoplotherium and two teeth of 

 the genus PaUeotherium, animals characteristic of strata of the same 

 age in the Paris basin. The remains found by Mr. Pratt were accom- 

 panied not only by several other fragments of the boues of Pachy- 

 derms (chiefly in a rolled and injured state)) Du t also, in his opinion, 

 by the jaw of a new species of Ruminants, apparently closely allied 

 to the genus Motchus. From the occurrence of the latter fossil, Mr. 

 Pratt infers that a race of animals existed at this geological epoch 

 whose habits required that the surface of the earth should have been 

 in a very different state from that which it has been supposed to have 

 presented, in consequence of the frequent discovery of the remains of 

 animals which lived almost entirely in marshes. (' Geol. Proc.,' 1830.) 



In his work on ' British Fossil Mammals and Birds,' Professor Owen 

 describes four species of Palcrotherium from the Tertiary Beds of Great 

 Britain. They are P. magr\um, P. medium, P. crassum, and P. minus. 



The geological place of the extinct genus Palceothcrium is in the 

 first great Fresh- Water Formation of the Eocene Period of Lyell, 

 where it is found with its congeners, of which nearly 50 extinct species 

 were discovered by Cuvier. 



The zoological position of the genus appears to be intermediate 

 between the Rhinoceros, Horse, and Tapir. Their habits probably 

 approximated to those of the Tapirs. Dr. Buckland supposes that 

 these animals lived and died upon the margins of the then existing 

 lakes and rivers. He is also of opinion that their dead carcasses may 

 have been drifted to the bottom iu seasons of flood, nnd that some 

 perhaps retired into the water to die. The species varied greatly in 

 size, some having been as large as a rhinoceros, and others having 

 ranged from the size of a horse to that of a hog. 



We subjoiu illustrations which will give an idea of the relative sizo 

 of two of the British sprcies. The skull of P. magnum is the size of 

 that of a large horse ; that of P. minus is not bigger than the skull 

 of a roe. 



