230 



TITANOTHERES OF ANCIENT WYOMING, DAKOTA, AND NEBRASKA 



Specific characters. — Cope writes: • 



The peculiarity of the species consists in the immense trans- 

 verse extent of the horn cores and their complete fusion into an 

 osseous wall which extends across the muzzle, forming a huge 

 plate or shield. The superior border of this shield is moderately 

 concave, a protuberant angle on each side representing the apex 

 of each horn core. The nasal bones form a flattened protuber- 

 ance much wider than long, which overhangs the nares. * * * 

 Measurements: Elevation of horn-core plate at middle line 

 behind, 180 millimeters; do. at lateral apex, 190 millimeters; 

 total width of do. at middle, 300 millimeters. Projection of 

 nasal bones beyond lateral base of horn-core plate, 20 milli- 

 meters; width of nasal meatus at base of nasal bones, 65 milli- 

 mieters; width of base of horn-core plate outside of nasal 

 meatus, 90 millimeters. Anteroposterior diameter of base of 



, Figure 190. — Type (holot3'pe) skull of Brontops validus 

 After Marsh. Nat. Mus. 4290. One-eighth natural size, 

 horn core above side of and parallel to nasal meatus, 85 milli- 

 meters. This species is nearest the M. platyceras S. and O., 

 which has transverse compressed horn cores. They are, how- 

 ever, distinct from each other, and not nearly so expanded 

 transversely as in the present form. The M. pelioceras, in fact, 

 carried a transverse shield on the end of its nose, which must 

 have given it an extraordinary appearance. 



Etymology. — we\Tri, small shield; Kepa^, horn; be- 

 cause the bases of the horns formed together a "huge 

 plate or shield" extending across the muzzle. 



Present determination. — The type specimen (fig. 192) 

 possibly represents a female of one of the long-horned 

 species of Brontotherium, perhaps B. curtum, B. platy- 

 ceras, or B. ramosum. The species is therefore practi- 

 cally indeterminate at present. 



FIRST EUROPEAN OLIGOCENE SPECIES, DESCRIBED BY 

 TOULA, 1892 



Menodus? rumelicus Toula, 1892 



Cf. Brontothermm rumelicum, this monograph, pages 660, 941 



Original reference. — Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math.-nat. 

 Classe, Sitzungsber., Band 101, Abt. 1, pp. 608-615, 

 1 pi., May, 1892 (Toula, 1892.1). 



Subsequent reference. — Ueber einen neuen Rest von 

 Leptodonf (Titanotherium?) rumelicus Toula spec, pp. 

 922-924, 1896 (Toula, 1896.1). 



Type locality and geologic horizon. — Near the railroad 

 on the Jambol line near Kajali, northwest of Burgas, 

 eastern Rumelia. Level, lower Oligocene (?). 

 The formation from which the type was re- 

 corded was correlated by Toula with the 

 " Belvedereschotter." 



On account of the extreme rarity of titano- 

 theres in Europe it seems important to 

 note the published evidence concerning the 

 provenience of the type and referred speci- 

 mens of this species. According to Toula the 

 specimens were received from his friend G. N. 

 Zlatarski in Sofia. Toula does not state that 

 Zlatarski himself collected the specimens. 

 He states only that they must have come 

 from near the railroad at Kajali, from the 

 great heaps of material which had been dug 

 up in the search for usable rubble ("taugli- 

 chem Schotter"), and that these "Schotter- 

 massen" should correspond at best with that 

 isolated remnant of a formation at Lidscha, 

 northwest of Burgas, of which he had already 

 spoken in his first report on the geology of the 

 eastern Balkans. He writes : "I have referred 

 to these 'Schotter' as Belvedereschotter, and 

 I believe, from the condition of preservation 

 of the specimens from Kajali, and especially 

 from the rusty sand grains still adhering to 

 them, that they must be referred to the 

 same kind of rock." Besides the specimens 

 of titanotheres Toula records a lower molar 

 and a canine of a "middle-sized rhinoceros" 

 from the same locality. Later he received 

 from the same locality, this also from Zla- 

 tarski, a fragment of the lower jaw of a titanothere 

 that included the symphyseal region (Toula, 1896.1, 

 pp. 922-924). But Toula has not disproved the 

 possibility that these specimens may have been im- 

 ported from America, perhaps by laborers returning 

 home from the western United States. (See p. 560.) 



Lectotype. — Third right lower molar and part of the 

 right ramus of the lower jaw. (See fig. 193.) 



Paratypes. — A second right lower molar and a 

 canine. 



Referred specimen. — The symphyseal region of the 

 jaw with the roots of pi, p2, Ps, and the worn p4, 

 in place. 



