THE PRIMATES EXCEPT MAN 121 



Parapithecus possesses a short mandible and a dental arch 

 with divergent limbs, features so characteristic of the more 

 generalized early Primates. The jaw however is not deep 

 and there is marked obliquity of the symphysial region. In 

 these features and in the characters of the teeth the animal can- 

 not be called primitive. The canines are greatly reduced and 

 the third molars are also small. All the molars have lost the 

 paraconid. In the second and third mandibular molars the 

 protoconid lies more anteriorly than in the Lemurs or in Eocene 

 Primates. The molar cusps are rounded and incipient 



Fig. 41. — Mandibular dentition of Parapithecus fraasi, Schlosser (from cast by 

 Krantz, 9.823-12). An Oligocene omnivorous ancestor of modern Old-World Mon- 

 keys. The specimen shows that already some specialization had occurred in the Old- 

 World line. 



ridges connect the protoconid with the metaconid and the 

 hypoconid with the eiitoconid. Notwithstanding these features 

 the dentition in Parapithecus shows less specialization than 

 the teeth of modern Old-World Monkeys. 



The dentition of Parapithecus as just outlined is adapted 

 for an omnivorous diet. From this there have developed in 

 more recent times dentitions increasingly herbivorous or fru- 

 givorous in type. As examples of progressive adaptation the 

 Mona Monkey and the Arabian Baboon are taken but it must be 

 clearly understood that these animals are in no way closely 



