148 



MAMMALIAN DENTITION 



may be rightly inferred to have appeared comparatively re- 

 cently in Man's history. For example the second upper molar 

 has lost its hypocone as an independent cnsp while its meta- 

 cone is much reduced by the rounding of its contour. These 

 features are still more marked in the third molar. In the lower 

 molars, especially the second, the posterior moiety represent- 

 ing the talonid has increased considerably in transverse breadth 



Fig. 52. — Occlusal view of dentition in a native Tasmanian woman (O.102, W.R.UJ. 

 A primitive modern race recently become extinct. 



so that it now may actually exceed that of the anterior part. 

 The large size of the human hypoconid and entoconid is well 

 illustrated by this example. Many features however are 

 primitive: the molars are large and more especially they are 

 relatively long: each lower molar possesses a hypoconulid which 

 is axial in position: the distance between the tips of the meta- 

 conid and the entoconid is relatively great, in the first molar 

 greater than in the others: the lateral groove marking off the 

 protoconid from the hypoconid is quite extensive. In spite of 

 the presence of a well-developed chin the body of the mandible 



