Dr. C. I. Foni/th Mnjor — On Tliohijrnx. 507 



YI. — Note upon Pliohyhax gr^ecus (Gaudr.) from Samos. 

 By C. I. FoKSYTH Major, M.D., F.Z.S. 



A MUTILATED skull of an Ungulate from the Upper Miocene 

 of Sainos, purchased by the Geological Department of the 

 British Museum in 189i, was in that year (before I left Europe) 

 identified by me as a Lej^)todun, and under this name it was registered 

 (M 5,419). 



The types of Leptodon grcecus, Gaudry, are two mandibular rami 

 from Pikermi, known by the excellent description, accompanied by 

 good figures, in the " Animaux fossiles et Geologie de I'Attique." 



The generic identity of the remains from Pikermi and Sainos 

 respectively is shown by (1) the general character of the molar teeth, 

 recalling the Palgeotheres, Paloplotheres, etc., and among recent 

 groups, more than all, the Procaviid^ (Hyraces), and (2) the special 

 character of the last upper and lower molar. Moreover, the agree- 

 ment in size entitles us to assign them to the same species : — 



Length of lower true molars (m. 1 — m. 3) from Pikermi 95 mm. 



Length of upper true molars (m. 1 — m. 3) from Samos 94 mm. 



In both specimens, the true molars increase in size from before 

 backward. In the lower jaw from Pikermi m. 3 is provided wiih 

 a third lobe of unusual dimensions, while the corresponding tooth in 

 the upper jaw of the Samos fossil exhibits also a considerable pro- 

 longation ot its posterior part. This tooth, by its complication and 

 great length as compared with m. 2 (43 : 25 mm.), presents a character 

 very unusual amongst Ungulates, and for which we find analogies 

 only among fossil tjngulates from Patagonia, more especially several 

 of the Protypotheridae, from which last I do not think that Ameghino's 

 Arch^ohyracidse need be separated. The prolongation of the palate 

 backward beyond the molar series and the posterior position of the 

 infraorbital foramen and orbit are further points of agreement 

 between the fossil from Samos on the one side and the Patagonian 

 Ungulates on the other. The teeth from Pikermi and Samos are 

 ratlier brachyodont, those of the Protypotheridfe highly hypselodont 

 or rootless ; characters which, as matters at present stand, rather 

 oppose the view of a South American origin of the Protypotheridee. 



A skull, also fi'om Samos, in the Stuttgart Museum, described 

 by Osborn in the Proceedings of last year's International Congress 

 of Zoology under the name of Fliohyrax Kruppii, corresponds with 

 the London skull in the elevated position of the orbit (which is 

 complete, as shown by the latter fossil), in the extension of the bony 

 palate backward beyond the molars, and in the structure of the 

 molars. The anterior part of the skull, missing in the British 

 Museum specimen, shows the relationship of Pliohyrax with Hijrux 

 " in the enlarged pair of incisor teeth," which approach more nearly 

 in form to those in female skulls of the recent genus. 



In a recent notice by Schlosser (Zool. Anz., Sept. 18 and Oct. 2, 

 1899), a lower jaw from Samos in the Munich Pala^ontological 

 Museum is described, and identified both with the Leptodon from 

 Pikermi and with the Stuttgart fossil. 



