245 



1081. A cast of the right ramus of the lower jaw of the Charopotamus Cuvieri. 



From the Eocene freshwater deposits at Binstead, Isle of Wight. 



Presented by the Rev. C. Darwin Fox, M.A. 



The condyloid process in the Chaeropotamus is raised higher above the 

 angle of the jaw than in the true Carnivora, and it is less convex than in 

 the Hog, agreeing with the shape of the articular surface in the upper 

 jaw demonstrated by the Parisian specimen of the present rare extinct 

 Pachyderm. In the size of the coronoid process the Peccari exceeds the 

 true Hogs ; and in that respect, as well as in the form and position of its 

 canine teeth, makes a nearer approach to the carnivorous type : but in 

 the Chaeropotamus the coronoid process is still more developed in cor- 

 respondence with the greater bulk of the temporal muscle, the size of 

 which is indicated by the span of the zygomatic arches ; and the angle 

 of the jaw is produced backwards. In the wavy outline of the inferior 

 border of the lower jaw, the Peccari alone amongst the Hog tribe, re- 

 sembles the Chaeropotamus. The two detached molars of the lower jaw 

 described by Cuvier, loc. cit. p. 261, and which he compares with the 

 third and fourth molars of the Babyroussa, are shown by the present 

 specimen to be the fourth and fifth, or penultimate and antepenultimate 

 molars, counting backwards, of the Chaeropotamus, and correspond with 

 the penultimate and antepenultimate grinders of the Peccari. The last 

 molar of the lower jaw in both the Peccari and Babyroussa differs from 

 the preceding in having two accessory, smaller and more closelv approxi- 

 mated tubercles at the posterior part of the tooth, with a third small 

 tubercle in the middle of the interspace between these and the next pair 

 of tubercles. 



In the present specimen the last molar of the lower jaw of the Chae- 

 ropotamus presents the same additional posterior tubercles as in the 

 Peccari, and thus corroborates the conclusions of Cuvier as to the affi- 

 nities of the present extinct genus to the existing members of the Hog- 

 tribe. The other teeth correspond in every respect with the description 

 and figures in the ' Ossemens Fossiles'; but the fossil here described 

 yields another fact essential in characterizing the genus, and which the 

 fragments in Cuvier's possession were too imperfect to afford, viz., the 



