Geology and Mineralogy considered with reference to Natural Theology/Plate 2

by William Buckland

Plate 2. V. 1 p. 64.

⁠A. Jaw of Didelphys Bucklandi, (Magnified to twice nat. size,) in the Collection of W. I. Broderip, Esq. and described by him in the Zoological Journal, V. III. p. 408, PL XI. (Broderip.)

2. Second molar tooth magnified.

5. Fifth molar tooth still further magnified.

⁠B. Fragment of lower Jaw of a small Didelphys from Stonesfield, in the Oxford Museum, (magnified one third.) This jaw has been examined by Cuvier, and is figured by M. Prevost, Ann. de Sci. Nat. Avr. 1825, p. 389, Pl. 18. The removal of a part of the bone displays the double roots of the teeth, in their alveoli, and the form of the teeth shows the animal to have been insectivorous. (Original.)

4. Fourth molar tooth magnified.

9. Ninth molar tooth magnified.

⁠C. 1. Lower Jaw of Dinotherium giganteum, (Tapirus Giganteus, Cuv.) The length of this Jaw, including the Tusk, is nearly four feet. V. I. p. 110. (Kaup.)

⁠2. Lower Jaw and part of upper Jaw of Dinotherium medium. (Kaup.)

⁠3. Jaw of Dinotherium medium, exhibiting the Crown of five molar teeth, most nearly resembling those of a Tapir. (Kaup.)^[1]

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1. All these unique remains of Dinotherium are preserved in the Museum at Darmstadt; they were found in a Sand pit containing marine shells at Epplesheim near Alzey, about forty miles N. W. of Darmstadt, and are described by Professor Kaup.

   Bones of Dinotherium have lately been found in Tertiary Freshwater limestone, near Orthes, at the foot of the Pyrenees; and with them, remains of a new Genus, allied to Rhinoceros; of several unknown species of Deer; and of a Dog, or Wolf, the size of a Lion.

   Our figures of Dinotherium are copied from the Atlas of Kaup's Description d'Ossemens fossiles de Mammiferes, Darmstadt, 1832-3.

   From the near approximation of this Animal to the living Tapir, we may infer that it was furnished with a Proboscis, by means of which it conveyed to its mouth the Vegetables it raked from the bottom of Lakes and Rivers by its Tusks and Claws. The bifid ungual bone (Kaup, Add. Tab. 11,) discovered with the other remains of Dinotherium, having the remarkable bifurcation which is found in no living Quadrupeds, except the Pangolins, seems to have borne a Claw, like that of these animals, possessing peculiar advantages for the purpose of scraping and digging; and indicating functions, concurrent with those of the Tusks and Scapulae, (see Vol. I. Page 110.)