ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lXXxiii 



of Wight, was made the subject of a communication by Mr. Gibson, 

 who stated that, though it had suffered much from pressure, Professor 

 Owen had been enabled to state his opinion from a clay-model, that 

 in all probability the bone was the femur of an Iguanodon, and if so, 

 being the largest of its kind yet recorded, that it merited the atten- 

 tion of the Society. 



Valuable as all these papers are, they afford only a small specimen 

 of the continuous and successful efforts of the greatest Palaeon- 

 tologist of our day to enlarge our knowledge of the natural history 

 of the earth at successive epochs ; and it is most gratifying to know 

 that the admiration we feel for such genius and skill is quite shared 

 in by our Continental brethren ; one proof of which may be derived 

 from the following notice of a paper by M. Ed. Hebert, who has 

 contributed an interesting memoir on a subject closely related to that 

 which has engaged our attention, and, in the hands of Dr. Falconer, 

 has produced such rich results. His principal object was to dis- 

 cuss the value of the genus Coryphodon of Owen, founded in 1846 

 upon a lower back molar, which in itself was very analogous to 

 that of the Tapir, and consequently to that of the Lophiodon, but 

 exhibited two transverse ridges instead of three, as in the Lophiodon. 

 To this genus M. Gervais had correctly referred the Lophiodon an- 

 thracoideus of Blainville, considering, however, that the genus could 

 only be considered a sub-division of Lophiodon. To determine the 

 question of the validity of the genus, M. Hebert examines the 

 dental formula, and shows that, whilst the lower molars differ little 

 from those of the Lophiodons and Tapirs, the difference from each of 

 these genera being about the same, the upper molars constitute a 

 distinct type from those of all other Pachydermata, — the Corypho- 

 don being more separated from them in this respect, than the Lophi- 

 odon, the Tapir, the Rhinoceros, and the Palaeotherium are from each 

 other. The canines, separated from the incisors by a space less long 

 than in the Tapir, are powerful and characteristic, resembling those 

 of no animal, living or fossil. The incisors are strong and regular, 

 with blunt points, having a singular resemblance to those of Anihra- 

 coiherium. M. Hebert concludes the comparison by observing that 

 the formation of this genus from a single tooth is an example of the 

 rare sagacity of Mr. Owen, and that, so far from any doubt being 

 thrown on the validity of the genus Coryphodon, it cannot be doubted 

 that future researches will bring to light new forms, intermediate 

 between the Coryphodon and the Lophiodon. He has also determined 

 the existence of two species of the genus, namely, the Coryphodon 

 eoccenus of Owen, found by M. Hebert in the lignite bed of the Sois- 

 sonnais, and another called by him C. Oweni, from the conglomerate of 

 the Plastic Clay, or lower in the series. The name C. anthracoideus 

 is of course abandoned, as merging in C. eoccenus. The C. Oweni 

 was larger than the Tapir of India; and the C. eoccenus must therefore 

 have been an animal of large stature. M. Hebert then gives a tabu-, 

 lar view of the mammiferous fauna of the Lower Tertiaries of 

 France : — 



