1 893.] DR. rOBSXTH MAJOB OS" THE TOOTH OF AJST ANT-BEAR. 239 



i\r. livinffstonianus carried its northern I'ange onwards to the 

 Zambesi. 



Mr. Neumann stated that the species had a very strong musky- 

 odour, which presumably came from the suborbital glands, and 

 also that there were in this species very well marked interdigital 

 pits. 



Dr. 0. J. Forsyth Major exhibited a tooth of an Ant-bear 

 {Orycteropus) from the Upper Miocene of Maragha (Persia), and 

 made the following remarks : — 



"The tooth, of which I present a sketch (see woodcut), forms 

 part of a small collection of Mammalian remains from Maragha 

 (Persia), sent to the British Museum, together with remains of 

 several other interesting Mammals from the same deposit, by 

 M. E. Damon\ 



"As to its belonging to Orycteropus — of Avhich it is apparently an 

 antepenultimate right lower molar — there cannot be the least doubt, 

 there being no other Mammal that presents this general form, as 

 well as the minute structure, which was compared by Cuvier with 

 the section of a cane, and is produced by the polygonal prisms 

 of dentine, each of which has a tubular pulp-cavity in its centre. 



6 c 



Lower molar of Orycteropus gaudryi. 

 a. Top Tiew ; b. Side view; c. Part of lower surface, much magnified. 



" With regard to the specific determination, up to the present 

 date only one fossil form of this genus is known, namely Oryc- 

 teropus gaudryi. Major, from the Upper Miocene of the isle of 

 Samos. The size of the Maragha tooth is that of the Samos form, 

 viz. about one fifth smaller than that of the living species. As 

 the present known fauna of Maragha, which is not numerous, has 

 not less than 13 species in common with Samos, I feel myself 

 fairly entitled to apply the same specific name to the fossil from 

 Maragha. 



" Apart from the size, there are but small differences between the 

 fossil and the recent species of Orycteropus. The upper profile of 

 the skull is more horizontal in the fossil form. The lachrymal is 

 more elongate and absolutely longer in the snlaller Miocene form, 

 the relative proportion in the length of the two being as 23 : 21-5 

 millim. ; in the recent species this bone is almost square. 



1 See Quart. Journ. Geol. See. foi- May 1886, pp. 173-176. 



17* 



