Petrifactions.* MINER 
the hippopotamus. Teeth of the hippopotamus have been 
found in Languedoc, in France, in Tufcany, and in Eng¬ 
land, particularly in fome parts of Gloucefterfhire, at 
Brentford, and at Walton in Effex; and Cuvier dilco- 
vered the remains of an individual of this genus, not 
more than half the fize of the common fpecies. “ The 
remains of this animal were found in two pieces of fand- 
ftone, in which the bones and teeth were difpofed in a 
manner much refembling that which is obfervable in the 
calcareous and ftalaCtitic maffes from Gibraltar, Dalmatia, 
and Cette. Unfortunately, no traces exifted by which it 
could be known where this fand-ftone had been found.” 
From the Hate of the teeth, and the advanced progrefs of 
the oflification, its inferior dimenfions could not have 
proceeded from its being a young animal. Beiides, a 
marked difference was obfervable in the ftru&ure of the 
lower jaw. 
13. Zoolithus tapiri. The fame indefatigable anato- 
mift, Cuvier, communicated to the Philomatic Society at 
Paris, that there are dug up in France the bones of two 
kinds of tapirs : one of the fize of the common tapir, 
which is no longer found alive in America; and the other 
of a fize equal to that of the hippopotamus, and of which 
living individuals no-where exiff. Both thefe kinds, like 
the common tapir, have teeth (grinders), the fummit of 
which is marked with two or three tranfverfe eminences 
or ridges that become blunted with age. Among the 
animals known at prefent, there is none but the lamantin 
(Trichechus manatus) which participates in this cha- 
rafter with the tapir. The want of incifive and canine 
teeth, however, and the form of the jaw-bones of the la¬ 
mantin, by no means permit them to be confounded with 
thofe of the tapir. The author had feen two confiderable 
portions of the lower jaw of the former, or fmall fpecies, 
in the cabinet of C. Dree. They were found on the laft 
declivities of the Black Mountain, near the village of 
Iffel, in the department of Herault, in a bed of coarfe 
gravel. They have no fenfible difference from the analo¬ 
gous parts of the common tapir. In regard to the large 
fpecies, the author knows of four fpecimens: 1. An ex¬ 
treme grinder found in a ravine near Vienne in Dauphiny, 
and defcribed and illuftrated by a figure in the Journal de 
Phyfique for Feb. 1773. a. A confiderable portion of a 
grinder found by C. Gilet-Laumont at Saint-Lary, in 
Comminge. 3. The germ of a grinder without roots, 
preferved in the mufeum of natural hiftory. 4. The two 
halves of a lower jaw, containing each five grinders, but 
broken at both ends, and confequently without the inci- 
fores or canine teeth, and without any determinate form. 
It may be eafily feen that four of thefe grinders have 
tranfverfe eminences, like thofe of the tapir; and that the 
one before is alone flat at the top, and without any pro¬ 
tuberance. It is probable that the animal was not full 
grown, fince it wanted the extreme grinder with three 
protuberances, and that the one next to it was not 
worn. From the fize of thefe teeth it evidently appears, 
that the animal to which they belonged muff in bulk 
have been equal at leaft to the hippopotamus, or perhaps 
to the elephant. It is not known where thefe two por¬ 
tions of the jaw were found; they were in part incrufted 
with fand. 
Thefe traces of the Hippopotamus and Tapir are fub- 
verfive of the theory of Faujas and others, who afcribe 
an Afiatic origin to our fubterranean exuvia; of mammi- 
ferous quadrupeds. 
Mod of our fcientific readers are doubtlefs aware that, 
in the gypfum-quarries near Paris alone, M. Cuvier ar¬ 
rived at the difcovery of two genera, containing feven or 
eight different fpecies of herbivorous animals, whofe ana¬ 
logues are at prefent entirely unknown. The firft, which 
feems to have formed a link between the Tapir and the 
Rhinoceros, he named Paleeotherium, or “ancient beaft;” 
and the fecond, Anoplutherium, or “ unarmed beaft,” on 
account of its want of canine teeth. In confequence of 
much careful and afliduous inveftigation, he difcrimi- 
r.ated four fpecies of the former, namely, magnum, medium , 
A L O G Y. Petrifactions. 52 # 
crajfum, and minus. The largeft he fuppofed to have been 
about' the fize of a common cow, or fmall horfe; and the 
final left not larger than a fox: of the medium, he in the 
year 1815 exhibited to the Royal Inftitute, ahead, re¬ 
cently extradited from the gyplum of Montmartre near 
Paris ; this head was complete, and confirms all the con- 
cluiions that had been previonlly deduced from the de¬ 
tached fragments. The largeft of the other genus, A. 
commune, he conjectured to have rather exceeded in fize the 
common wild boar ; the medium to have correfponded in 
its dimenfions to a fmall fheep ; and the minus to have been 
confiderably fmaller. “ The examination of fome remains 
of another animal, which mult have been about the fize of a 
rabbit, led him to fulpeft, but did not allow him to de¬ 
termine, that there had exifted a fmaller fpecies, to which 
he would have given the name of minimus [ minimum ]. 
He found fufficient reafon for exultation, at having been 
able to carry his difeoveries thus far, confidering the dif¬ 
ficulties of fuch inveftigations. The reader, he obferves, 
may form an idea of it, when he learns, that it required 
fix years to colleft and combine the materials of the in¬ 
quiry refpeCting the fore-feet of this genus.” 
Mr. Parkinfon, (Organic Remains, vol.iii.) after having 
defcribed the aftonilhing accumulation of the teeth and 
bones of animals in fome of the caverns of Germany and 
Hungary, gives his willing teftimony, that “ to the un¬ 
remitting labours of M. Cuvier we are indebted for almoft 
every important information relative to the nature of 
thefe bones. From the numerous fpecimens which he has 
obtained, he is enabled to ftate the aftonilhing faft, that 
thefe bones are fimilar, in the feveral caverns of an ex¬ 
tent of more than two hundred leagues; that three- 
fourths of thefe bones belonged to a fpecies of bear not 
known now to exift; a half, or two-thirds of the other 
fourth, to a fpecies of hyena now exifting; and the re¬ 
mainder to fome fpecies of the lion or tiger, to the wolf, 
dog, fox, polecat, or fome fimilar animals.”' 
Ornithouthus. —The body or parts ofa bird, changed 
into a foflil fubftance. Of this genus there are three 
fpecies. 
1. Ornitholithus roftri; the beak. Found in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Jena, and in the mountains on the confines 
of Swifferland, fometimes perfect, fometimes only im- 
prefled on a fchiftofe fwineftone. 
2. Ornitholithus offium; the bones of birds. Found in 
Silefia. 
3. Ornitholithus 'plumarum; the feathers of birds. 
Found principally at Oeningen, on the confines of Swif¬ 
ferland, impreffed on a fchiftofe fwineftone. 
Notwithftanding this enumeration, the foflil remains of 
birds are very rarely met with, though, as Parkinfon fays, 
they are frequently mentioned, and even defcribed, by 
different authors. Foflils much refembling the beaks of 
birds are fometimes found, but thefe are luppofed to be 
parts of fillies. Several 0/ thofe fpecimens which have 
been fpoken of, as petrifactions of whole birds, and of 
their nefts, have been merely calcareous incrqftations of 
very modern formation. Bones very much refembling 
the bones of birds have been found in the calcareous 
ftone of Oxfordlhire, and in fome parts of France and of 
Germany. 
Amphibiolithus. —The body or fome part of an am¬ 
phibious animal, changed into a foflil fubftance. Of this 
four fpecies are mentioned. 
1. Amphibiolithus teftudinis; the tortoife. This has 
been found entire, or in parts, fometimes in the ftone- 
quarries of Oxfordlhire; in a bed of lchift in Swifferland3 
on St. Peter’s Mountain, near Maeftricht,in Brabant; in 
Malta; in Leipfic, and other parts of Saxony; in a quarry 
about half a mile from Swanfea, in the Ille of Purbeck, 
at the depth of about a hundred feet. A foflil turtle, 
from a quarry in Dorfetlhire, was exhibited by Mr. Bul¬ 
lock to the Linnasan Society, on the 2d of March, 1813. 
The fpecimen was very perfeCl, and exhibited the fliell of 
the turtle almoft complete. The quarry, from the pieces 
of 
