Charles Carter Blake

“ Suffice it to say that it is neither to Gorilla, to Koo- loo Kamba, to Orang, to Dryopithecus, nor to any known recent or fossil ape he can claim his descent. But the mind of the palæontologist, still aiming at a solution, re- calls the hideous ape-like character of the Neanderthal man, and strives to divest himself of the idea that this frightful being belonged to the same race as himself. Demonstration is lacking of the mode by which even so low and degraded a type could have been derived from the apes. ”

“ Stress has been laid upon the inferior size of the canine in Dryopithecus, compared with the Chimpanzees, Gorillas, and Orangs, as indicating its affinity to man; but the inferior monkeys also often exhibit this character, and "it is by no means to be trusted as significant of true affinity, even supposing the sex of the fossil to be known as being male." ”

“ It is most interesting to observe a similar anomalous diversity of structure exists in the recent species of ruminants most nearly allied to the Moschidæ and Microtheria.
I need only call attention to the fact that a large lacrymal opening is present in the Llama (Auchenia Llama) , and none in the Vicuña (A. Vicuna) ; that in the yellow-bellied musk (Moschus chrysogaster) a large, and in the small water-musk of Western Africa (Hyomoschus aquaticus) a small interspace exists ”

“ Hodgson, forms a huge lump of flesh bigger than, and like in shape to, the yolk of an egg, increases periodically in its dimensions, its backward pressure towards the cheek-bone would be seriously impeded by a bony wall, such as we find in the Tragulus pygmæus or the Auchenia Vicuna. The aponeurotic fascia which fills the lacrymal interspace in the Hyomoschus aquaticus, or the Auchenia Huanaca, would, however, yield more easily, and thus those species would in certain seasons have a greater development of their suborbital sinuses. ”

“ Lund in limestone caverns in Brazil, offers the nearest analogy to the howler monkeys (Mycetes) which are still found in the same locality. The Sapajou (Cebus macrognathus) , the Sagouin (Callithrix primævus) , and the little Ouistiti (Jacchus grandis) , are all Brazilian forms. No Transmutationist will assert the probable, or even possible, derivation of American types of men from the Platyrrliine monkeys.
Turning to the Old World, the earliest and one of the most interesting forms of fossil monkey has been discovered in the Eocene sand, at Kyson in Suffolk. ”

“ Whether demonstration will ever afford us such a solution is the object towards which Anthropologists, Zoologists, and Geologists are directing their best endeavours,—with what success remains to be seen. ”

“ Their function has been unknown, and their presence, although constant in each individual species, is variable in species nearly allied to each other. In the Cainotherium commune, Bravard (Microtherium Renggeri) , nearest allied to the Hyomoschus of the present day, ossification at this lacrymal point of intersection has extended to a much less degree than in its living analogue. The interspace in Cainotherium is longer in proportion to its breadth than the existing musk-deer (Moschus chrysogaster) . ”

“ The existence of a fossil species of true elephant distinct from Elephas primigenius in America has been only of late years brought under the notice of palæontologists. I have slightly alluded to the subject in the 'Geologist,' Vol. ”

“ The greater width between the enamel-folds may indicate a more sapid and juicy diet than that of the larch-eating elephants of Eschscholtz Bay. The nutritious prairie-grass of Texas did not require such formidable apparatus for its comminution as was possessed by the Siberian mammoths. ”

“ IV. p. 470. For many years remains of true Elephant have been found with those of Mastodon at various spots within the New World.
Cuvier ('Ossements Eossiles,' ed. 1834, vol. ii. p. 145) mentions only one species of American elephant, the remains of which had been discovered in Kentucky, Carolina, Ohio, Mexico, Louisiana, Virginia, and Maryland.
De Blainville ('Ostéographie,' Eléphans, p. 157: Atlas, pl. x.) alludes to a tooth of fossil elephant from Texas, which is apparently referable to Elephas primigenius. ”

“ The functional interpretation of this singular diversity of organization in animals otherwise so nearly allied to each other, may not be manifestly apparent to the philosophical zoologist. It was satisfactorily ascertained in the year 1836 [4] by the observations of Messrs. ”