I. On the osteology of the Hyopotamidæ

Abstract

The paper laid before the Society is intended to fill a certain deficiency in our knowledge of the extinct creation by giving a complete osteology of a family of Paridigitate Ungulata, which, by the completeness of its skeleton, unreduced number of digits, and rich development in generic and specific forms, I deem to be of great importance in our speculations on the pedigree of living Ungulata Paridigitata. On theoretical grounds, as well as from the consideration of rudimental parts in living Paridigitata, anatomists have always supposed that fossil representatives of this family, which could be regarded as the progenitors bf the recent Paridigitata, would certainly exhibit a much less reduced skeleton and a more complete number of digits than the recent genera do. Yet, strange to say, such complete forms were not forthcoming, and, if assumed on the evidence of their teeth, very little was known about the structure of their bony frame.