Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Volume 23 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1875 Excerpt: ...the former being shorter, stouter, and less curved than in the hog. The molars and premolars are arranged in straight lines, those on opposite sides parallel, the palate is very narrow, an inch only in width between the teeth. In front of the superior canines is a deep triangular fossa in which rest the inferior canines in the closed mouth, so that these teeth are covered by the upper lip and probably never lie external to it or become as long as in the hog. Perhaps the most important osteological character is the formation and position of the glenoid cavity for articulation with the lower jaw. It is concave and comparatively very small being only 0-7 of an inch in median transverse diameter, and situated in the middle of the zygomatic arch 1-8 inches in front of the styloid process. In the hog this process is an inch wider, flat, and rests upon the posterior root of the zygomatic arch, and impinges upon the body of the temporal bone, and its posterior border lies on nearly the same transverse plane as the styloid process. Other peculiarities might be noticed, as the comparatively large external auditory meatus occupying a position much anterior and inferior to that of the hog. The orbit is more nearly closed by bone than in the hog. These differences seem to indicate an animal more carnivorous than the hog while the comparative smallness of the superior portion of the occiput suggests less of a rooting disposition. I may here suggest, that, could it be shown that in his day, large mollusks abounded in the soft bottoms of shallow streams and estuaries, the conditions of his comfortable existence would seem to have been fulfilled. A comparison with other living genera of this family shows a very near relationship to the peccaries. Prof. J. S. Newberry assure...