308 FAUNA ANTIQUA SIVALENSIS. 



to the same order. The specimen is herewith submitted 

 to the Society. It belonged to the left side of the upper 

 jaw. The evidence which would make it quadrumanous 

 is briefly this : There are two surfaces of wear, the one a flat 

 smooth disc on the anterior side, and the other a flexuous 

 smooth surface on the posterior and inner side, with a slight 

 oblique abrasion of enamel at the worn apex; the anterior 

 wear occasioned by the play of the lower canine upon the 

 upper, and the rear one, by the play of the posterior and 

 inner surface of the upper canine against the outer surface 

 of the first molar of the lower jaw. To produce this posterior 

 wear two conditions in the jaw were necessary : first, the 

 anterior molar of the lower jaw must have been quite close 

 to its adjoining canine ; and second, the upj)er canine must 

 have i^rojected above the level of the other teeth, so as to 

 overlap the lower first molar; otherwise the wear could not take 

 place. Now the first of these conditions is common to man, 

 Quadrumana and the Anoplotherium, and with a very partial 

 exception restricted among Mammalia to them ; the second, 

 among these three genera, is confined to the Quadrumana. 



In some of the Camivora, more especially in the Bear, 

 in which the number of molars is very variable, sometimes 

 the anterior false molar of the lower jaw is placed close to 

 the canine, as in the Ursus Tibetanws, and then the upper 

 canine may j^lay slightly against it. But this tooth, under 

 these circumstances, is very rudimentary, s;uall, and single- 

 fanged, and the utmost amount of its effect is to produce 

 a slight vertical streak on the enamel of the canine, at its 

 rear surface. The broad flat disc of wear which the fossil 

 has on its anterior side we believe never occm-s in the canines 

 of Carnivora, while it does in monkeys. The exception does 

 not, therefore, appear to invalidate the evidence that the 

 fossil is quadrumanous. 



It has been objected to us by a scientific friend, Mr. James 

 Prinsep, to whom the specimen was sent to be examined and 

 figured for the ' Journal of the Asiatic Society,' that the an- 

 terior surface is too extensive to have been naturally produced; 

 that it bears the marks of artificial abrasion ; and that, as we 

 ourselves did not see it dug out of the matrix, it was probably 

 ground down, as such teeth are highly prized as a medicine 

 and charm, in certain parts of India. 



On these objections we have to remark that the anterior 

 wear is quite as great, and precisely similar in aged male 

 monkeys, as is seen in the canine of a male Entellus, which 

 accompanies the fossil ; that the edge of enamel is elevated 

 slightly above the flat disc of ivory, which could not be the 

 case had the surface been artificially ground down ; that the 



