374 TITERRA nASTIT^GSIJ3 IN THE FRENCH PHOSPHORITES. 



paring these teeth and the palate with the type cranium of V. 

 Hastingsice, I find so exact a correspondence between the two that 

 there can be no doubt as to their specific identity. Accordingly, we 

 have proof that Viverra JJastinr/sice occurs in the Oligocene deposits 

 of both sides of the English Channel. 



But having in the Quercy Phosphorites Viverra Hastingsice repre- 

 sented by the cranium, and V. aiigustidens by the mandible, the 

 question naturally arises whether these two so-called species are not 

 really one and the same. 



On comparing Mr. Davies's figure of the mandible ^ of the former 

 with M. Filhol's^ of that of the latter, it will be observed that the 

 Prench specimen is considerably the larger of the two. A reference 

 to M. EilhoFs text shows, however, that there is great individual 

 or sexual variation in the mandible of V. angustidens, the two 

 smallest out of four examples having a vertical depth of 12 

 millimetres, while the figured example has a depth of 16*5 mm. 

 Similarly the length of the lower carnassial varies from 8 to 

 9 mm. in different specimens, although the height is constantly 

 5 mm. The smaller specimens from the Phosphorites would 

 thus apparently agree in size with the Hordwell mandible. A 

 seeming diff'erence in the latter, presented by the separation of the 

 penultimate premolar from the carnassial, is due solely to fracture 

 of the ramus. 



Having proved that V. Hastingsice is common to the Oligocene of 

 France and Hordwell, and finding no characters by which the lower 

 jaw of the type of the latter can be satisfactorily distinguished from 

 the type of V. angustidens^ 1 consider, if M. Filhol is right in in- 

 cluding all the French lower jaws which he describes under one 

 species, that we must regard V. Hastingsice as specifically insepa- 

 rable from V, angustidens, and I accordingly figure the French 

 cranium under the latter and earlier name. 



The Mammals now known to be common to the Headon Beds of 

 Hordwell and the Isle of Wight and to the French Phosphorites are 

 Acotherulum saturninum, Gervais, Adapis magna, Filhol, Dacry- 

 therium ovinum (Owen), Necroggmnurus minor, Filhol, Palceo- 

 therium annectens (Owen), P. medium, Cuv., P. minus, Cuv., and 

 Viverra angustidens, Filhol. 



Discussion. 



Mr. Smith Woodward remarked upon the extensive acquisitions 

 of mammalia from the French Phosphorites lately obtained by the 

 British Museum. All the principal forms were now represented, 

 and it thus became possible to make direct comparisons with the 

 Hordwell fossils, as Mr. Lydekker had done with such interesting 

 results. 



^ As pointed out by Dr. Schlosser, op. cit. p. 8, the restoration of the 

 ascending ramus by Mr. Davies is incorrect ; it should rise much more obliquely 

 to the horizontal ramus, 



2 Ann. Sci. aeol. vol. vii. (1876) pi. xxvi. figs. 121, 122. 



