36 



The Perissodactyla — Palceotherium, etc. 



Table-case, 

 No. 4. 



in France, Germany, Greece, India, and China. It is remark- 

 able for the abnormality in the structure of the feet, so much 

 so indeed as to render it for the future unsafe to predict the 

 character of an animal from a single bone, and to invalidate the 

 old maxim, ex pede Herculem. While the proximal bones of 

 the feet retain their normal perissodactyle character, the 

 phalanges have been modified to resemble those of Edentates, 

 the second phalangeal bone having a strongly developed distal 

 trochlea (pulley) for the articulation of the huge claw forming 

 the terminal joint. These phalangeals have been described 

 binder the names of Macrotherium and AncylotheriiLrn, and were 

 generally considered to belong to the skeletons of huge Eden- 

 tates. But Dr. Filhol, quite recently, found them in association 

 with the skull and the rest of the skeleton of Chalicotherium, so 



Fig. 43. — The third right upper true molar of 

 Chalicotherium sinense (Owen), from the 

 Pliocene of China. 



Fig. 44. — Anterior and distal aspects of a 

 second phalangeal bone of Chalicotherium 

 sira tense (Falconer and Cautley) from the 

 Older Pliocene, Siwalik Hills, India. 



Palseothe- 

 rium. 



Pier-case, 

 No. 9, and 

 Table-case, 

 No. 5. 



that these names are synonymous for the same animal. This is 

 evidently a very ancient family, and may have been directly 

 derived from the Condylarthra. 



Eamily Paljeotheeiidj:. — In the next cases are arranged 

 numerous remains of Palieotherium and allied genera — animals 

 which, by the number and characters of the teeth and also by 

 the structure of their skeletons, were all more or less inter- 

 mediate in form between the rhinoceros, tapir, and horse. 



The best known, and type of the family, is the Palceo- 

 tlierium, a tapir-like animal, first described by Cuvier from 

 skulls, teeth, and bones of numerous individuals and represent- 

 ing several species which were discovered in the Gypsum 

 Quarries (Upper Eocene) of Montmartre, Paris. 



