94 FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 



The Lophiodon. 



We now arrive at those numerous ancient pacbydermata, 

 whose remains are concealed in the bosom of the earth, and 

 which differ more or less from all genera existing at the pre- 

 sent day. Accordingly, we find ourselves approaching the 

 deeper strata, those more completely covered by marine for- 

 mations, and which seem to appertain to eras more remote 

 than those in which the animals we have hitherto been survey- 

 ing existed. 



The species which constitute the genus lophiodon are not, 

 however, so widely removed from the tapirs, though, for the 

 sake of precision, the Baron has separated them. Like the 

 tapirs, they have six incisors and two canines in each jaw, and 

 the greater number of their molars exhibit the same transverse 

 hillocks. But in the first upper molars there are not two of 

 these, but one. In all, the hillocks are more oblique, and the 

 base of the teeth, especially of the last ones, is less rectangular ; 

 the molars have three hillocks, instead of two. The anterior 

 have hillocks much more unequal ; finally, in some species, 

 these more oblique and arched hillocks approach the crescented 

 form peculiar to the daman and rhinoceros, and thus conduct 

 us by degrees to that most extraordinary genus, the palaeo- 

 therium. 



The remains of the lophiodon have been found in such num- 

 bers and variety , and in so many different places, that our readers 

 must pardon us if we do not enter very minutely into their 

 geographical localities, and other circumstances under which 

 they were discovered. They have been found abundantly at 

 Issel, a village in France, along the declivities of the Black 

 Mountain, in the department of the Aude ; near Argenton, in 

 the department of the Indre ; near Buchsweiler, department 

 of the Lower Rhine ; along the eastern declivities of the 

 Vosges mountains ; at Soissons, Orleans, the Laonnois, and 

 the Vale of Arno. 



