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From the London Clay. (Lithornis Vulturinus) and of a Bird

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From the London Clay. (Lithornis Vulturinus) and of a Bird Downloaded from http://trn.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on November 11, 2012 Transactions of the Geological Society of London XX.−−Description of the Fossil Remains of a Mammal (Hyracotherium leporinum) and of a Bird (Lithornis vulturinus) from the London Clay. RICHARD OWEN Transactions of the Geological Society of London 1841, v.s2-6; p203-208. doi: 10.1144/transgslb.6.1.203 Email alerting click here to receive free e-mail alerts when new articles cite service this article Permission click here to seek permission to re-use all or part of this article request Subscribe click here to subscribe to Transactions of the Geological Society of London or the Lyell Collection Notes © The Geological Society of London 2012 Downloaded from http://trn.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on November 11, 2012 [ 203 ] XX.—Description of the Fossil Remains of a Mammal (Hyracotherium leporinum) and of a Bird (Lithornis vulturinus) from the London Clay. By RICHARD OWEN, ESQ., F.R.S., F.G.S., etc. [Read December 18, 1839.] PLATE XXI. UNTIL the present year, the remains of the highest organized animals which were known to exist in the marine Eocene deposit called the London Clay, were those of Reptiles and Fishes ; and the danger of founding conclusions in Palaeontology from negative evidence was, perhaps, never more strikingly illustrated than by the fact, that the first scientifically determined relic of a warm-blooded animal from that formation proved to belong not only to the Mammiferous class, but to the highest order of that class, if Man be excepted. Besides the remains of the Quadrumanous species just alluded to, there have since been discovered the teeth of Cheiroptera, of Plantigrade and Digitigrade Carnivora, and of a species probably belonging to the Marsupial order*. These most interesting fossils have been disinterred from the London clay, underlying the coralline crag, near Kyson in Suffolk. I now propose to describe a fossil indicative of a new and extinct genus of the Pachydermal order, and the remains of a bird, both from the London clay at the estuary of the Thames; the latter fossils being the first of their class which have been discovered in this member of the Eocene tertiary deposits. The Pachydermal fossil consists of a small mutilated cranium, about the size of that of a Hare, containing the molar teeth of the upper jaw nearly perfect and the sockets of the canines. It was discovered in the cliffs of Studd Hill, about a mile to the west of Heme Bay, and was submitted to my examination by William Richardson, Esq., by whom it has since been presented to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.f * Annals of Natural History, Nov. 1839. f For an account of the discovery of the Hyracotherium and a description of the beds near Heme Bay, see Mr. Richardson's paper, posted, p. 211. 2D2 Downloaded from http://trn.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on November 11, 2012 204 Mr. OWEN on the Fossil Remains of a Mammal The molars are seven in number on each side, and resemble more nearly those of the Charopotamus than the molars of any other known genus of existing or ex­ tinct Mammalia. They consist of four spurious molars (premolares) and three true molars (molares), PL XXI. The first and second spurious molars, counting from before backwards, have simple subcompressed crowns, surmounted by a single median conical cusp with a small anterior and posterior tubercle at the outer side, and a ridge along the inner side of its base : they are separated from each other by an interspace nearly equal to the antero-posterior diameter of the first molar, which measures two lines and a half. The second and the remaining molars are in close juxtaposition. The third and fourth false molars present a sudden increase of size and of complexity of the grinding surface, with a corresponding change of form. The plane or trans­ verse section of the crown is subtriangular with the base outwards and nearly straight, the apex inwards and a little forwards, rounded off, to which the anterior and posterior sides converge in curved lines; the grinding surface supports three principal tubercles or cusps, two on the outer and one on the inner side : there are two smaller elevations, with a depression on the summit of each, situated in the middle of the crown, and the whole is surrounded with a ridge, which is developed into a small cusp at the anterior and external angle of the tooth. These teeth form the principal difference between the dentition of the present genus and that of the Charopotamus, in which the corresponding false molars are relatively smaller and of a simpler construction, having only a single external pyramidal cusp, with an internal transverse ridge or talon at its base. The true molars, three in num­ ber on each side, closely correspond in structure with those of the Cheer opotamus. They present four principal conical tubercles, situated at near the four angles of the quadrilateral grinding surface. Each transverse pair of tubercles is connected at the anterior part of their base by a ridge, which is raised midway into a smaller conical tubercle with an excavated apex. The crown of the tooth is surrounded by a well-marked ridge, which is developed, as in the third and fourth false molars, into a sharp-pointed cusp at the anterior and external angle of the tooth. The hindmost molar is more contracted posteriorly, and its quadrilateral figure less regular than the two preceding molars. The sockets of the canines or tusks indicate that these teeth were relatively as large as in the Peccari; and that they were directed downwards as in that species, and as most probably also in the Chceropotamus. The temporal muscles were as well-developed as in the Peccari, the depressed surface for their attachment ex­ tending on each side of- the cranium as far as the sagittal suture. The frontal bones are divided by a continuation of the sagittal suture. The na- Downloaded from http://trn.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on November 11, 2012 and of a Bird from the London Clay. 205 sal suture runs transversely across the cranium parallel with the anterior boundary of the orbits. The lacrymal bone reaches a very little way upon the face. The external angle of the base of the nasal bone, which is of considerable breadth, joins the lacry­ mal, and separates the superior maxillary from the frontal bone. The anterior margin of the malar bone encroaches a little way upon the face at the anterior boundary of the orbit. The external aperture of the sub-orbital canal is situated about three-fourths of an inch from the anterior boundary of the orbit. The under surface of the palatal processes of the maxillary bones is rugose, as in the Peccari; the portion of the skull, including the intermaxillary bones and the incisive teeth, is unluckily broken off and lost. That the eye was full and large, is indicated by the size of the optic foramen and the capacity of the orbit, the vertical diameter of which equals one inch. The upper part of the cranium, anterior to the sagittal suture, is slightly convex from side to side, its longitudinal contour is nearly straight. The face gradually becomes narrower anteriorly ; it is slightly concave at the sides. The general form of the skull was probably intermediate in character between that of the Hog and the Hyrax. The large size of the eye must have given to the physiognomy of the living animal a resemblance to that of the Hare and other timid Rodentia. Without intending to imply that the present small extinct Pachyderm was more closely allied to the Hyrax than as being a member of the same order, and similar in size, I propose to call the new genus which it unquestionably indicates, Hyra- cotherium, with the specific name leporinum. The indications which the present fossil has yielded of the generic characters and form of the Hyracotherium are the more interesting on account of the absence of similar information regarding the equally rare extinct Eocene genus Chceropota- mus, with which it is most closely allied. The resemblance of the molar division of the dental system in the Hyracothe­ rium and Charopotamus is sufficiently close to warrant the conclusion, that their canines and incisors, if not precisely similar, would differ only in form and pro­ portion. Hence we may venture to remove, analogically, some of the uncertainty which still attaches itself to the dental characters of the Chceropotamus. " Avoit il en haut une canine comme en bas?" asks Cuvier, in his account of the fragments of jaws on which he founded the genus. Their presence in the pre­ sent fossil warrants an affirmative reply being given to this question. With respect to the incisor teeth, these, together with the ossa intermaocillaria, are wanting in the present specimen; and they have not yet been found in any of the fragments Downloaded from http://trn.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on November 11, 2012 206 Mr. OWEN on the Fossil Remains of a Mammal of the extremely rare Pachydermal genus Charopotamus, to which the Hyracothe- rium bears the closest affinity. PI. XXI. Fig. 1 to 4. Fig. 1. View of the palatal surface of the skull and of the grinding surface of the molar teeth of the Hyracotherium leporinum, natural size. Fig. 2. View of the upper or coronal surface of the same. Fig. 3. Side view of the same. Fig. 4. The series of molar teeth, with the socket of the canine of the right side of the upper jaw, mag­ nified two diameters.
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