NORTH-CABOLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



211 



ORYCTEROCETU8 CORNUTIDENS. LEIDY. 



FIG. 33. 



The genus Orycterocetus was 

 originally proposed on the frag- 

 ment of a jaw, and several teeth 

 from the miocene deposit of Vir- 

 ginia. In my collection I have 

 a tooth like those just mentioned, 

 except that it is not quadrate, 

 which it is suspected, however, to 

 be an unimportant character. 

 The specimen was discovered in 

 the miocene deposit of North-Car- 

 olina. It is remarkable for its re- 

 semblance in form to a small ox- 

 horn, being elongated, conical 

 and curved. The base is excava- 

 ted as in the teeth of the sperma- 

 ceti whale, to which the extinct 

 cetacean was probably allied. In 

 structure, the tooth appears to be 

 wholly composed of dentine. The 

 length of the specimen in the 

 curve is 4J inches, but it appears 

 when entire, to have been half an 

 inch longer. The section of the 

 base is oval, and is 14 lines in one 

 diameter and 12 lines in the 

 other. 



