562 
PROFESSOR OWEN ON EOSSIL REMAINS OE EQUINES 
occasion to examine, which do not amount to more than three, naturally no conclusion 
in this respect can be founded ; yet I must not omit to remark that in one of these 
specimens is observed a pathological phenomenon, namely, a deformity in the structure 
of one of the molar teeth. All three specimens, notwithstanding they were partly 
young animals, considerably exceeded in size full-grown specimens of the race of horses 
introduced by the Portuguese.” — Op. cit. pp. 89-91. 
With respect to the malformation (‘ deformitet’), of the nature of which no account 
is given, I may refer to the case of a hollow tumour near the base of the crown, de- 
scribed and figured, in my ‘ British Fossil Mammals,’ pp. 388, 889, figs. 146, 147, as 
occurring in a permanent lower molar of an ‘ Equus fossilis’ from the blue clay at Cromer, 
an instance which, from the nature of the fossil and its association with the Proboscidia 
and other extinct mammals of that formation, exemplifies the liability to disease in the 
mammals of that (newer pliocene) period. 
Returning to Dr. Lund’s illustrations of the Equine fossils from the Brazilian caves, 
I may first remark that the one (fig. 12, Plate LXII.) discovered in the Sumidouro cave, 
in which human remains were found, in the points in which it differs from the existing 
Horse (Plate LVII. fig. 1, p 4) in regard to the pattern of the grinding-surface, and in 
size and shape, corresponds with that tooth on which the species Equus curvidens 
had been previously founded. No evidence whatever of the contemporaneity of the 
equine with the human remains in the Brazilian cave is adduced. A comparison of 
fig. 2, Plate LX1. (Equus curvidens , Ow.) with fig. 12, Plate LXII. ( Equus aff. 
caballo , Ld. *), fig. 9, Plate LXII. (Equus neogceusf), and fig. 10, ib. (Equus princi- 
palis, Ld.) $ will suffice to show that only to the first of Lund’s species can the Equus 
curvidens be referred, if, indeed, specific identity can be safely predicated on so few 
grounds as are afforded by the remarks of the Danish explorer. Unfortunately, in no 
part of Dr. Lund’s descriptions is any mention made of the degree of curvature of the 
teeth. It is possible that they were not obtained from the breccia sufficiently entire to 
yield this character ; otherwise it could hardly have escaped the notice of so acute an 
observer §. 
I shall recur in the sequel to the characters of the teeth which are unequivocally 
distinct from those of Equus curvidens, Ow., and of Equus aff. caballo, Ld., and now 
* (IV.) Tab. xlix. fig. 2. + Ib. fig. 3. J Ib. fig. 1. 
§ I have also to regret the want of notice of this character in the account of the teeth of Equines, alleged to 
be fossils, brought from South America (locality not stated) by Count de Castelnau, and from Tariga in Bolivia 
by Mr. Weddell. Professor Gervais, who has described and figured these specimens, remarks, “ II nous parait 
probable que cet Equus macrognathus [Mr. Weddell’s specimen] , notre Equus americanuslpn Chili, V Equus curvi- 
dens de Buenos Ayres, et V Equus neogcms des cavernes du Bresil, sont des animaux d’une seule et meme espece ” 
— p. 34, pi. vii. ‘ Expedition dans les parties centrales de l’Amerique du Sud, &c. (1843-1847) sous la direc- 
tion du Comte Francois de Castelnau,’ Septieme Partie, Zoologie (Anatomie par M. Paul Gervais), 4to, 1855. 
This remark leads me to doubt whether the figures in the original Danish Memoir of Lund had heen seen 
by Professor Gervais. 
