130 



FAUNA ANTIQUA SIVALENSIS. 



TV. ON THE FOSSIL HIPPOPOTAMUS OP THE 

 SEWALIK HILLS.i 



BY HUGH FALCONER, M.D., AND CAPTAIN P. T. CAUTLEY. 

 {Read Zrd February, 1839.) 



Prom the abundant remains of this genns that have been 

 procured from the Sewaliks, and particularly the perfect 

 specimens now in onr possession, we are at no loss in recog- 

 nizing the characters which distinguished the Sewalik species 

 so remarkably, not only from the existing Hippopotamus of 

 Africa, but also from the fossil species hitherto found and 

 described. 



The greatpointof peculiarity is that the Sewalik fossil has six 

 incisors of a character peculiar to itself, independent of the form 

 of the cranium, which differs very materially from other varie- 

 ties. The numerous fragments in our collection enable the pro- 

 portions of the bones of the head and face to be very tolerably 

 ascertained ; and these, added to three nearly entire skulls, 

 one of which is that of an animal just approaching adult, and 

 the other two of a more advanced age, are so perfect as to 

 leave no doubt of the characteristic distinctions of one or 

 more new species. 



To the fossil variety now to be described, we propose the 

 name Sivalensis, a name so far applicable as attaching it to 

 its locality, and commemorating the region m which its re- 

 mains have been scattered in such profusion. 



In the African Hippopotamus, figured by Cuvier and so 

 fully described in the first volume of the ' Ossemens Fossiles,' 

 we find the incisors consisting of four slightly curved teeth 

 in the upper, and in the lower jaw four straight teeth project- 

 ing forwards at an obtuse angle with the plane of the grinding 

 surface, the two centre ones being of considerably larger pro- 

 portions than the others, and being formidable weapons either 

 for tearing the roots and weeds, from which the animal de- 

 rives its nourishment, or for defence. In the fossil Hippo- 

 potamus before us, these large and powerful teeth are replaced 

 by others of a smaller size but in a greater number, there 

 being no less than six, those in the uiDjDer jaw being slightly 



' Eeprinted from the ' Asiatic Ee- 

 searehes,' vol. xix. p. 39. Numerous 

 drawings illustrating almost every bone 

 in the skeleton of the HipiMjwtciiyms 

 (Hexaprotodoii) Shmlensis and Meryco- 



fotamus dusiirdlis will be found in the 

 Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis (Plate lix. 

 it seq.) The illustrations in this re- 

 print are copied from the Fauna. — [Ed.] 



