MESOPITHECUS. 383 



Genus Dryopithecus, Lart. — In the larger miocene ape 

 (Dryopithecus Fontani) the canine is relatively larger than in 

 the Hylobates, and the incisors, to judge by their alveoli, are 

 relatively narrower than in the chimpanzee and human sub- 

 ject. The first premolar has the outer cusp pointed, and 

 raised to double the height of that of the second premolar, 

 and its inner lobe is more rudimental than in the chimpanzee,* 

 and departs proportionally from the human type. The poste- 

 rior lobe or talon of the second premolar is more developed, 

 and the fore-and-aft extent of the tooth greater, than in the 

 chimpanzee, thereby more resembling the second premolar of 

 the siamang, and less resembling that of the human subject. 

 The last (third) molar is undeveloped in the fossil jaw of the 

 Dryopithecus, and its amount of departure from the human 

 type, and approach to that of Innus, cannot be determined. 

 The canine is more vertical in position than in Troglodytes or 

 Pithecus, but this character is offered by some of the small 

 South American apes. From the portion of humerus associ- 

 ated with the jaw of Dryopithecus, the arm would seem to 

 have been proportionally longer and more slender than in 

 the chimpanzee and gorilla, with a cylindrical shaft, more 

 like that in the long-armed apes (Hylobates), and less like the 

 arm of the human subject. 



The characters of the nasal bones, orbits, mastoid processes, 

 relative length of upper limb to trunk, relative length of arm 

 to fore arm, relative length and size of thumb, relative length 

 of lower limb ; and above all, the size of the hallux and shape 

 of the astragalus and calcaneum, must be known before any 

 opinion can be trusted as to the proximity of Dryopithecus to 

 the chimpanzee or the human subject. 



Genus Meso pithecus, Wagn. — In tertiary formations of 

 Greece, at the base of Pentelicon, remains of a Quadrumane have 



* Compare Comptes Eendus de l'Acad. des Sciences, torn, xliii (July 28, 

 1856, plate, fig. 7), with Trans. Zool. Soc, vol. iv., plate 32, fig. 3, p. 3. 



