226 RevieiDs — Prof. 0. C. Marshes Dinocerata. 



■will naturally suggest itself. In size and proportions, Dinoceras 

 was intermediate between these two existing animals, and, in various 

 points of its structure, it resembled the one quite as much as the 

 other. In still other features, Dinoceras resembled the Hippopo- 

 tamus. 



" In its stature and movements. Dinoceras probably resembled the 

 Elephant as much as any other existing form. Its remarkable skull, 

 longer neck, and more bent fore limbs, gave it, however, a very different 

 appearance from any known Proboscidian. The high protuberances, 

 or horn-cores, on the head, the long, trenchant, canine tusks, and the 

 peculiar lower jaw modified for their protection, are features seen 

 together only in this group. 



"The neck was long enough to permit the head to reach the 

 ground, and hence a proboscis was quite unnecessary. The horizontal 

 narial opening, the long overhanging nasal bones, and the well- 

 developed turbinal bones, are likewise proof positive against the 

 presence of such an organ. There is some evidence of a thick 

 flexible lip, resembling, perhaps, that of the existing Khinoceros. 



'' The remarkably small brain, and the heavy massive limbs, indi- 

 cate a dull, slow-moving animal, little fitted to withstand marked 

 changes in its environment, and hence it did not survive the altera- 

 tions of climate with which the Eocene period closed. 



" Both the animals chosen for these two restorations wei'e evidently 

 males, as shown by the lofty protuberances, or horn-cores, on the 

 skull, and the powerful canine tusks. In the females, these parts 

 are but feebly developed, as shown in the specimens described in the 

 preceding chapters. The individuals here restored were certainly 

 thrice-armed, and well fitted to protect themselves, and their weaker 

 associates, from any of their Eocene enemies. 



" The exact form and nature of the offensive weapons which sur- 

 mounted the head of the Dinocerata cannot, at present, be determined 

 with certainty. That the paired osseous elevations seen on the skull 

 in all the known species of this group did not support the kind of 

 horns seen in the typical Ruminants is evident from their external 

 surface, which lacks the vascular grooves so distinct on the horn- 

 cores of those animals. 



" Possibly, the Dinocerata may have been armed with horns 

 similar to those seen in the American Antelope (Antilocapra) , since, 

 in this animal, the horn-cores are even smoother than in the order 

 here described. More probably, however, the bony protuberances 

 on the skull were covered with bosses of thick skin, hard enough to 

 be effective in combat. Evidence of such contests has apparently 

 been recorded in the injuries to the horn-cores of some individuals, 

 received during life. None of the covering of these elevations, or 

 horn-cores, has, of course been preserved ; yet a fortunate discovery 

 may, perhaps, reveal their nature by the form of a natural cast, as 

 the eye-ball of the Oreodon is sometimes thus clearly indicated in 

 the fine Miocene matrix which occasionally envelopes these animals. 



" The short robust feet of the Dinocerata were doubtless covered 

 below with a thick pad, as in the Elephant, since the whole under 



