Associated remains of two small skeletons from Klipfontein, Fraserburg / by H.G. Seeley.

  • Harry Govier Seeley
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Associated remains of two small skeletons from Klipfontein, Fraserburg / by H.G. Seeley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    The skull fragments next described are also from the dried bed of the stream, and were found on the same level, within a foot of the specimen just described. There is, therefore, a possibility that they belong to the same animal. They are in similar preservation, the bones being more or less dissolved away, so that the matrix remains as a mould. The anterior part of a skull, very imperfectly preserved, indicates a depressed lanceolate snout, with the nares divided in the usual way and lateral, placed above the incisor teeth. Three incisor teeth are indicated on each side, the middle tooth being larger than the other two. A diastema succeeds, on the inner side of which, in an ovate vacuity, is the small summit of the mandibular canine, longitudinally ovate Fig. 2. Anterior fragment of a skull showing incisor (i), and canine teeth (c), possibly referable to Theromus. in section, and not much larger than the base of the middle incisor. It shows no trace of cutting edges. The root of the maxillary canine is relatively large (fig. 2, c), compressed laterally, ovate in section, and extending obliquely upward and backward. It has a pulp-cavity ; its base contracts ; its extremity is not preserved. The length of this anterior fragment of the snout is under 2-| inches. The alveolar region beyond the canine is lost, and there is, therefore, no evidence of molar teeth. The roof bones of the snout appear to be flattened, rounding into maxillary bones at the sides, and there appears, on the right side, to be an indication of the pre-frontal bone at the posterior fracture. In advance of the canines the width does not appear to have exceeded inch, but the preservation is imperfect. A posterior fragment of a skull shows the palate and base of the brain case by means of a natural mould, and above this, by a fracture, there is partial exposure of the roof of the skull, including the narrow frontal bones with the orbital cavity externa] and somewhat lateral, separated by post-frontal hones, which extend trans- MDCCCXCV.—B. X