LARGE FOSSIL HIPPOPOTAMUS. 411 



fossil Rhinoceroses, differs most essentially in the absence 

 of the third trochanter, or process from the middle of the 

 outer side. It may be distinguished from the femur of 

 the great Ruminants, as the Aurochs or Giraffe, by the 

 head being more detached from the shaft and more sphe- 

 rical, and by the superior development of the lower ex- 

 tremity, especially the back part of the condyles. 



The astragalus is a very characteristic bone : its anterior 

 surface (fig. 150), which, as in other hoofed quadrupeds 

 with toes in even number, is almost equally divided by 

 a low vertical ridge into two articulations, differs from 

 that in the Ruminants and the Hog by the slight con- 

 cavity of those facets : there is also a well-marked arti- 

 cular surface on the outer side of the bone for the lower 

 end of the fibula, and a similar one on the inner side for 

 the lower end of the tibia or internal malleolus. The 

 anterior view of the astragalus of the Rhinoceros (fig. 1 49) 

 is placed by the side of that of the Hippopotamus to show 

 the unequal division of the anterior (scapho-cuboid) arti- 

 cular surface, characteristic of the hoofed quadrupeds with 

 toes in uneven number, as the Horse, the Rhinoceros and 

 the Elephant. 



The fluviatile accumulations of sand and gravel at Crop- 

 thorne, near Evesham, in Worcestershire, in which Mr. 

 Strickland discovered the remains of the Hippopotamus, 

 Bear, Aurochs, and other extinct Mammals, constitute 

 terrace-like hillocks, from one to four miles distant from the 

 present bed of the Avon, above which their summits rise to 

 a height of forty feet. They are very analogous to the 

 deposits on the banks of the Thames, in which the remains 

 of the Hippopotamus were discovered in such abundance by 

 Mr. Trimmer. The value of Mr. Strickland"^ discovery 

 is greatly enhanced by the care with which the shells of 



