154 THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



there exists no kind of relationship between these 

 strange Chalicotheridae and the existing or early 

 Edentata. A deep study of the structure of the 

 cranium, of the vertebrae, of the bones of the arm 

 and forearm, and of the tibia, clearly shows that 

 we are dealing with a true Ungulate, exceptionally 

 adapted for burrowing functions. 



Taking up the difficult problem of the origin of 

 the Apes, Gaudry solves it by relying solely on the 

 conical form of the denticles which bristle on the 

 crown of the molars in several of the existing Apes, 

 the Macaques, for instance. He believes that 

 these Apes are closely related to certain Tertiary 

 Ungulata, the Acotherulum, the Hyracoiherium, and 

 especially the Cebochcerus of the Vaucluse lignites, 

 whose molars, furnished with four rounded denticles, 

 have a singular resemblance to those of the Apes. 

 " Gervais had the happy idea of dubbing this animal 

 "with the name Cebochaerus (ape-pig), which well 

 " expresses its relations with the Pachyderms as 

 "well as with the Apes." But while some fossil 

 Pachyderms show a tendency towards the dentition 

 of the Apes, there is an ape, the Oreopithecus of the 

 Italian Miocene, which appears to have retained 

 in its molars some vestige of the Pachyderm form. 

 There is hardly need to say that there is nothing 

 serious in these hypotheses ; on the one hand, 

 the Cebochserus, from all its characteristics, dental 

 and cranial, is, undoubtedly, a true Suides in no 

 way connected with the Primates. On the other 

 hand, is it not known that the rounded denticles 

 of the molars indicate a simple adaptation to an 

 omnivorous diet, and are found, to a more or less 



