220 Prof. II. Owen on the Occurrence 



in size to the later bears, lions, and tigers. The acquisition 

 of the most perfect and distinctive carnassial organization, as 

 exemplified in Felis proper, has not been manifested with 

 certainty by fossils from formations older than those of Mio- 

 cene age ; and there they are rare and do not exceed the 

 Jaguar in size (e. g. Machairodus, Kaup ; Felis cristata^ 

 Cautley and Falc). As Pictet well observes of the Carnas- 

 siers, " lis ont, pendant les premiers ages du ddveloppement 

 des mammif^res, ^t^ pr^c^d^s par des espfeces plus faibles, 

 plus lentes et plus omnivores "*. 



The modifications at present traceable in the Perissodactyle 

 division of hoofed mammals pass, as we have seen, in two 

 directions — one supplying the species with means of defence 

 and combat by thick hides and true horns, the other per- 

 fecting their means of escape by increased speed. 



In connexion with the elephantine proportions, feet, and 

 excessive development of an upper pair of tusks of Dinoceras^ 

 new interest is attached to the partial risings of the outer 

 table of the skull in certain Miocene Proboscidians. In Ele- 

 phas hysudricus the frontal pair, with their broader bases, are 

 divided by a channel ; in E. namadicus the coalesced bases 

 of the frontal risings project forward. One cannot call these 

 developments " horns," any more than the pair of bosses 

 which modify the lower contour of the mandibular rami of the 

 Megatherium^ like the similar developments in Dinoceras. 

 True horns, or keratose weapons, are pointed, whether they 

 consist of bone only or of both osseous and corneous sub- 

 stances; and when branched, as a rule, the snags are pointed. 



Cuvier first noted the relative inferiority of size and simpli- 

 city of surface of the brain in a large herbivore of the Eocene 

 period [Anoplotherium coinmune), whence he deduced the 

 inference that it must have been but poorly endowed with 

 intelligence. The probable or possible conditions of such 

 relative stupidity are not entered upon. In a beast of the 

 size of an ordinary ass, the brain was hardly so large as that 

 of a roebuck f. 



Gratiolet \ noted a similar simplicity of cerebral structure 

 in the Cainotherium of the lower Miocene of Allier, France. 



* Traits de Pali^ontologie, 8vo, 1853, vol. i. p. 226. 



t " Un hasard lieureux m'a aussi procure quelque id^e de la forme du 

 cerveau dans V Anoplotherium — il etoit peu volumineux a proportion, 

 aplati liorizontalement : ses hemispheres ne montroient pas des circonvo- 

 lutions, mais on voyoit seulement un eufoncement longitudinal peu prc- 

 fond sur chacim. Toutes les lois de I'analogie nous autorisent a con- 

 clure que notre animal 6toit fort depourvu d'intelligence." — Ossemetis 

 Fossiles, 4to, ed. 1822, tom. iii. p. 44, pi. vii. fig. 3. 



X BuUet. de la Society Philomathique, F^yner 1858. 



