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PROCEEDINGS OP SOCIETIES. 
ample anatomical evidence from Kaup’s figure of the nearly-perfect skull, dis¬ 
covered in the same locality in 1836, to show that it could not have been supported 
on the spine of a terrestrial animal; seeing that the superior and posterior parts 
of the cranium wanted those compensative contrivances which exist in the crania 
of terrestrial Mammalia which t possess ponderous skulls. This was exemplified by 
referring to the crests and prominences already alluded to, which characterize the 
skulls of the Elephant, Horse, Boar, Tiger, and Dog. The lecturer then alluded 
to the condyles in the skull of the Dinotherium , which were placed in the 
direction of the longitudinal axis of the head; this he compared with the same 
articulating processes in the Dugong, Lamantin, and Porpoise, and showed the 
striking affinity which exists between the Dinotherium and the skull of the 
Dugong. Similar opinions had been recently expressed by some of the most 
eminent comparative anatomists of the French School. Pie next described the 
character of the molar teeth, showed their affinity to those of the Tapirs and other 
Pachydermes, and their near approximation to the Cetacea; the wonderful form 
of the lower jaw was described as a unique specimen of organic structure, and the 
singular manner in which its anterior third is arched downwards, to carry two 
enormous tusk incisors demonstrated,—the nearest analogy to which exists in the 
Dugong; these were viewed in reference to the probable aquatic habits of the 
animal, and were regarded as rakes for tearing up submarine vegetation. From 
a minute anatomical review of its singular organization, the lecturer infered 
that the Dinotherium was a marine animal, nearly allied to the Dugongs and 
Lamantins, which inhabit the seas of the Torrid Zone, and could not be supposed 
to have any affinities with the lacustrine quadrupeds as stated by Kaup and 
Buckland ; these opinions he had formed anterior to the publication of Dumeril 
and De Blainville’s views—to which he had been led by a similar process of 
reasoning. 
The Mammalia of the Elephantoidal period of the tertiary strata next engaged 
the lecturer’s attention, a large proportion of which belong to the Pachy¬ 
dermes, as the Elephant, Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Horse, and numerous 
ruminants, on the inordinate increase of which Carnivora of the order of Lions, 
Tigers, Hyeenas, Wolves, and Bears roamed through the forest, or lurked in the 
dens and caves, to desolate the then existing animal kingdom. The general 
character of the earth’s surface during this epoch, he observed, must have been 
very different from that of the present day, for we can adduce the most conclusive 
evidence to shew that the extreme regions of the North, and the shores of the Icy 
Sea, possessed a temperature nearly equal, and a vegetation as luxuriant, as that 
which now clothes the dry land of the Torrid Zone. In support of this opinion 
the lecturer adduced the fossil Elephant, which was found sealed up in a block of 
ice near the mouth of the Lena, with its skin and flesh so well preserved that it 
