504 



CENOZOIC TIME. 



tribe, it is a perissodactyl, that is, it is odd-toed, the third toe of the 

 normal five being longer than the others, instead of being an artio- 

 dactyl, or even-toed, like the Hog, Hippopotamus, and all Ruminants. 

 So far as is now known, the perissodactyls existed before the Hogs ; 

 and the Tapir-like kinds among them were the earliest. In this 

 connection, it is of interest to note that the character of odd-toed is a 

 mark of higher grade than that of even-toed, as is illustrated by its 

 belonging to the higher Herbivores and to Man. In even-toed or 

 artiodactyl Herbivores, the fourth finger is enlarged to an equality 

 with the third, and the first is wanting ; and thus the greatest force 

 of the toes or fingers is toward the little toe, instead of toward the 

 first or big toe ; and hence it is that the feature indicates inferiority. 

 The Hog type is therefore lower in grade than that of the Tapir, 

 whether posterior to it or not, in time of origin. 



The genera Hyrachyus and others (near Lophiodon of the European 

 Eocene) and Palceosyops (related to Palceotherium) are among the 

 Tapir-like groups of the "Wyoming region in the Middle Eocene. 



Another kind somewhat allied to these, but Rhinoceros-like in 

 habit, and having horns in pairs, existed in the Later Eocene of the 

 same region. Among them, there were the Dinoceras of Marsh, and 

 the Uintatherium of Leidy — animals like an Elephant in size, but 



Fie. 919. 



Dinoceras mirabile (X%)- 



without his trunk, outdoing the Rhinoceros in horns, the number being 

 probably three pairs, and surpassing any known wild boar in its huge 



