36 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



zoologist : Not only is the new genus Coryphodon now perfectly 

 established as such, but everything tends to prove that future 

 researches will result in the discovery of intermediate forms, or 

 genera of animals which are now wanting to fill up the gap existing 

 between the genera Coryphodon and Lophiodon. M. Hebert has 

 completed the entire dental system of the former, by the study of 

 ninety teeth found in a more or less perfect state of preservation. 

 Of these the canine teeth are more separated from the incisiva 

 than in the Tapir ; they are strong and very characteristic, resem- 

 bling those of no other known animal living" or fossil. It is now 

 almost certain that there exist two species of Coryphodon : the 

 first, called by Professor Owen, Coryphodon Eocenus, being more 

 than twice as large as the second species, which M. Hebert has 

 named Coryphodon Owenii. The latter of these two species was 

 certainly a larger animal than the Indian Tapir, the former mu&t 

 therefore have been a most prodigious beast. 



Whereas, in some instances^ fossil remains and structures of 

 organised beings are found perfectly preserved, even in their 

 minutest details, in others the animal or plant has left nothing 

 behind save a faint impression of its tissues, engraven on the 

 hard sandstone or argillaceous rock whilst still in a soft state ; 

 one of the earliest discoveries of these impressions was made in 

 Saxony, near Hildburghausen, by M. Kaup who found them on 

 the sui'face of some slabs of variegated sandstone belonging to 

 the Trias formation. M. Kaup and Alexander Von Humboldt 

 regarded them as impressions of the feet of certain Mammalia to 

 which the name Cheh'atherium was given. This was rather a 

 starthng assertion, as no remains of Mammalia had ever been 

 found in more ancient strata than the Tertiary. — Professor Owen, 

 however, is of opinion that the foot prints in question were made 

 by gigantic Batrachians. — Humboldt made known this important 

 discovery to the Paris Academy of Sciences on the 17th of August, 

 1835. Shortly after'wards numerous tridactyle markings were ob- 

 served in the VaUey of the Connecticut, but these appeai*ed to 

 have been produced by biped animals, and were doubtless impres- 

 sions left on the soft mud of the Trias by certain varieties of 

 extinct bu'ds, whereas the former were positively the marks of 

 quadrupeds — whether MammaHa or not remains to be learnt. M. 



