ORDER UNGULATA. 



333 



but the upper molars have low columns, with wide and open 

 valleys, the external surface of each lobe resembling that of Dich- 

 odon. The navicular and cuboid bones of the tarsus were united, 

 and the metatarsals fused into a cannon-bone, although the meta- 

 carpals were distinct. Allied to this genus are Phaneromeryx 

 and Protomeryx of the Upper Eocene of France ; while Chcero- 

 meryx of the Siwaliks of India may be provisionally referred to this 

 family. 



Family TRAGULiDiE. — The fossil forms included in this family 

 indicate a transition from the typical genus on the one hand to the 

 Dichodontidce, and on the other to the Cervidcz. The upper true 

 molars have four columns, and the earlier premolars are more or less 

 completely secant. None of the genera were furnished with antlers, 

 and it is probable that upper incisors were likewise always absent. 

 In the existing forms 

 the upper canines of the 

 males (fig. 1208) are in 

 the shape of tusks; there 

 is a long diastema in 

 both jaws ; the third 

 stomach, or 'psalterium,' 

 is wanting ; and the pla- 

 centa is diffuse. The 

 feet have supplementary 

 toes, and the metacar- 

 pals of the third and 

 fourth digits either unite late in life to form a cannon-bone, or re- 

 main (as in Hyomoschus) permanently separate. Bachitherium of 

 the Quercy Phosphorites, in which there are three premolars in each 

 jaw, shows resemblances both with Gelocus, Hyomoschus, and Pro- 

 dremotherium ; the upper teeth being very similar to those of the 

 latter. In Dorcatherium, with which the existing Hyomoschus of 



Africa appears generically identical, the premolars are ~— , and are 



(3-4) 

 of a secant type, and thus indicate affinity with the Dichodontidce ; 

 this genus is found in the Middle Miocene and Lower Pliocene of 

 the Continent, and also in the Pliocene of India. Tragulus, which 

 differs by the fusion of its metapodials into cannon-bones, and by 

 never having more than three lower premolars, is now confined to 

 the Oriental region, and is represented by one species in the Plio- 

 cene of India. Leptomeryx, from the Miocene of North America, 

 has four premolars, of which the first three are simply secant as in 

 Tragulus, while the fourth has an inner tubercle ; there are four 

 separate metacarpals, but the third and fourth metatarsals form a 

 cannon-bone, as in Gelocus. In Prodremotherium, of the Quercy 



Fig. 12 



-Reduced side view of the skull of 

 Tragulus javanicus. 



