Description of the Cranium of a new Species of Erinaceus from the Upper Miocene of Œningen

Abstract

Among the collection of fossil remains purchased in 1871 by the British Museum from the executors of the late Professor van Breda, of Haarlem, was a small slab of limestone from the Upper Miocene of Œningen, Switzerland, containing the ventral half of a small mammalian cranium; of which only the dorsal aspect was exposed. At the time of writing part i. of the ‘Catalogue of fossil Mammalia in the British Museum’ (1885), I was unable to come to any conclusion as to the affinity of the specimen in its then condition, and it was therefore not entered. Shortly afterwards, however, Mr. W. Davies, F.G.S., of the British Museum, thought that the specimen might be “developed”; and by careful chiselling under his direction the palatal surface was cleared, and revealed the whole of the dentition of a species of Erinaceus in a most perfect state of preservation. Before discussing the affinities of the fossil form, it may be as well to give a brief notice of the extent and distribution of the genus. The dental formula is