196 TEN years' progress IX VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 



pithecus and probably of all Simiidae and Hominidae. And while no 

 conservative zoologist, on account of the great importance of this con- 

 clusion, will be over hasty in accepting it on faith, still a comparison of 

 Schlosser's figures of these specimens with casts or originals of various 

 human types and of Tertiary and recent Primates will enable the indi- 

 vidual student to judge himself of the force of Schlosser's argument. 



The discoveries of the early human skulls in France and of the human 

 jaw described by Schoetensack as Homo heideJhergensis are so fresh in 

 the minds of all zoologists that their enormous importance need not be 

 dwelt upon. There are, however, one or two points about this Heidel-- 

 berg jaw which are especially noteworthy. 



It is well known that although the massive jaw is more or less sug- 

 gestive of the Anthropoids, the teeth are typically human. This human 

 character is especially evident in the form of the canines and premolars. 

 The canines are rounded and project but little above the level of the 

 surrounding teeth, and the first premolar is a true bicuspid; whereas in 

 the typical Anthropoids, both Tertiary and recent, the canine is large 

 and very prominent, and the first premolar is large and compressed. 

 But if comparison be made with Schlosser's new genus PropJiopithecus, 

 above mentioned, it will be seen that in the latter the canine and pre- 

 molars are more or less intermediate in form between those of the 

 Heidelberg or other human jaw and the chimpanzee; that is to say, 

 as compared with the chimpanzee, the canine in Pro pliopithecus is small 

 and does not project very far above the level of the premolars, while 

 the first premolar is not large and compressed, but small and almost 

 bicuspid. Thus, not only in the form of the molars, but also in the 

 forrii of the canines and premolars, Proplio pith ecus is apparently less 

 specialized than either the Heidelberg man or the chimpanzee. 



Conclusion 



To state the obvious conclusion, the very substantial and encouraging 

 advances of the past decade in our knowledge of the groups under con- 

 sideration emphasize the importance of these orders in the general prob- 

 lems, of mammalian evolution. The great need is ever not only for re- 

 newed paleoontological discovery, but for a closer synthesis of the results 

 of anatomical and paleontological research. 



