FAMILY SUID.E ; ANOPLOTHERIUM. SOLIDUNGULA. 333 



that this unwieldy monster must have been once an inhabitant 

 of our rivers. 



298. With this family we may also associate a curious fossil 

 genus, the Anoplotherium (or beast without weapons), of which 

 remains have been found with those of the Palaeotherium. It 

 is remarkable, in the first place, for the arrangement of its 

 teeth, which consist of six incisors, four canines, and fourteen 

 molars in each jaw, forming a continued line, uninterrupted by 

 that space between the canines and molars which is seen, more or 

 less, in every other animal except Man. The canines were small, 

 resembling incisors in their form, as in the lower jaw of the 

 Ruminants ; and the feet had only two toes, sheathed by separate 

 hoofs; but these toes had separate metacarpal and metatarsal 

 bones, as in the Hog, instead of springing from a single canon 

 bone. In these and other points, therefore, the Anoplotherium 

 seems to have been intermediate between the Ruminantia and 

 Pachydermata ; its head, judging from the skull, partook of the 

 form of that of the Horse and of the Camel, and did 

 not bear a prolonged snout. Several species have 

 been discovered, varying considerably in their gene- 

 ral form; thus, one was heavy in its build, and low 

 on its limbs, and from its flattened tail may be re- 

 - b garded as of aquatic habits ; whilst another present- 

 ed a light, slender, graceful form, with much of the 

 contour of the Gazelle ; and was probably a fleet 

 and active inhabitant of the dry land, like the 

 Antelopes and Deer. Others, again, seem to have 

 had the size, form, and habits of the Chevrotains. 

 299. We next pass on to the group of SOLID- 

 UNGULA, distinguished by the complete consoli- 

 dation of the toes, so that there is only one set 

 FIG. 167. FOOT OP ^ phalangeal and metacarpal (or metatarsal) 

 HORSE; t, tibia; ta, bones in each foot ; and the extremity is included 



fa', bones of tarsus; . . _ . * , 



c, metatarsal, or in a single large hoof. Occasionally, however, the 



spiint-bone* &> ' P resence f other toes is indicated ; for the pha- 



pt, phaiangeai langes and metacarpal bones are sometimes partly, 



or even completely divided, into two ; and the 



