AMPHITHERIUM. 



49 



this conjecture a close examination of the dental and 

 maxillary characters entirely disproves. 



The only inference which can be legitimately drawn from 

 the remarkable fossil above described is that which the 

 great Cuvier has left on record, viz., that it belonged to a 

 small ferine Mammal * with a jaw much resembling that of 

 an Opossum, but differing from all known ferine genera in 

 the great number of the molar teeth, of which it had, at 

 least, ten in a row. All that is now contended for in 

 respect of the present fossil is, that it offers to the Com- 

 parative Anatomist sufficient evidence of the accuracy of 

 Cuvier^ conclusion. 



I next proceed to consider the additional proof which 

 the subsequently discovered fossils from the same locality 

 have afforded. 



Fig. 17. 



AMPHITHERIUM PREVOSTH, No. 2. 



The above cut (No. 17) is copied from the figures of the 

 second specimen of Amphitherium Prevostii, described in 

 my Memoir in the Geological Transactions -f : the outline 

 gives the natural size, which corresponds precisely with 

 that of the foregoing specimen (fig. 16): in the finished 



* I use the word ' ferine ' as equivalent to the French ' carnassier,' the term by 

 which Cuvier signifies collectively the Cheiroptera, Insectivora, Carnivora, and 

 Marsupialia. t Loc. cit. PL 5, fig. 1 . 



