PALIEOTHERIUM.
This is one of the most extensive of the lost genera yet known, and it is at the same time purely fossil ; or, at least, no such living animals have yet been discovered. Cuvier has determined that it comprises ten species. The five which stand first in the subjoined list belong to the Paris basin, so often mentioned in this article, and the others have been observed in various parts of France, sometimes in analogous fresh-water deposits, and at others in the alluvial soil. We are not aware that our naturalists have yet determined on the presence of any of these in England, but are not without hopes that this will prove the case, as these accurate researches arc of very recent date among our geologists. We cannot here do better than give a sketch of the leading characters of this tribe, together with Cuvier's own technical arrangement and definitions.
It was, in the first place, ascertained by the teeth, that these were herbivorous animals. The nature of the canine teeth separates this genus from the rhinoceros, and that of the grinders approximates it to the hog. It was con cluded by Cuvier, that it possessed a snout resembling that of the Tapir. It was ascertained that there were three toes on the foot. Thus there is an analogy to the rhinoceros as well as to the tapir, but the Palxotherium is considered as having had a longer neck in proportion than the hog or tapir, that it approached to those ruminant animals that have a long neck and a slender form, such as the stags and antelopes, and that the tail was short. It
appears to possess sixteen ribs. Of the Palzeotherium minus, a great part of the skeleton was found.
Generic Characters.—Dentes quadraginta quatuor; sci fleet: Primores utrinque sex; Laniarii quatuor, acuminati paulo longiores, tecti; viginti octo; utrinque sep tcm; quorum superiores quadrati, inferiores bilunati. Nasus productior, flexilis. Palma et plant tridactylx.
Species 1. P. magnum. Statura equi.
2. P. medium. Statura. suis; pedibus strictis s ubel on ga tis.
,3. P. crassum. Statura suis; pedibus latis bre vioribus.
4. P. curtum. Pedibus ecurtatis patulis.
5. P. minus. Statura ovis; pedibus strictis, di gitis lateralibus minoribus.
o. P. giganteum. Statura rhinocerotis.
P. tapiroides. Statu•a bovis; molarium in feriorum colliculis fere rectis, transversis.
6. I'. buxovillanum. Stattni suis; molaribus inferioribus extus sub-gibbosis.
9. P. aurelianense. Statura suis; molarium in feriorum angulo intermedio bicorni.
10. P. occitanicum. Staturtt ovis; molarium in feriorum angulo intermedio hicorni.
The form of the canine teeth would seem to prove that this was a carnivorous genus.