The treasury of natural history, or, A popular dictionary of zoology / by Samuel Maunder.

  • Maunder, Samuel, 1785-1849.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treasury of natural history, or, A popular dictionary of zoology / by Samuel Maunder. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    802/856 (page 780)
    all described and figured in a monograph, forming part of the Paleeontographical So- ciety’s publication for the year 1853. PLIOLOPIIUS VULPICEPS, or Fox- headed Plioloph. In the fourteenth volume of the “Journal of the Proceedings of the Geological Society,” Prof. Owen has enriched the annals of mammalian paloeontology with an elaborate memoir on the above-named animal. In his view, the fossil remains of this small, extinct hoofed herbivore form the best and most instructive record of mam- malian life hitherto obtained from the eo- cene deposits of the tertiary age. The en- tire skull of the Pliolophus was discovered embedded in an ovoid septarian nodule about a foot in diameter, in the 60-ealled Roman cement bed of the London clay, at Kyson, in Suffolk. The specimen was transmitted by the Rev. R. Bull, of Harwich, to the Professor, by whom we are informed that the cranium presented a peculiarity of “denti- tion not exhibited by any later or existing species of mammal.” The Pliolophus dis- plays close affinities to the extinct Palceo- therium and the existing Tapirs. PLIOPITIIECUS ANTIQUUS. The name employed by Gerrais to denote an extinct ape (allied to Hj/lobates), whose fossil remains occur in the miocene formation of Southern France. PLIOSAURUS. The name given by Prof. Owen to a genus of sauropterygian reptiles, or finned lizards, whose fossil re- mains “ are peculiar to the Oxfordian and Kimmeridgian divisions of the upper oolitic system. Some members of the genus have been discovered in similar beds in Russia. The most marked characters of the genus are those which have reference to the short, thick, conical, subtrihedral teeth, and more particularly to the abbreviated neck, in which, ns in the allied Ichthyosaur, the vertebras are much flattened and compressed together. The trunk and extremities re- sembled those of Plesiosaurus ; and, notwith- standing the shortness of the neck, it is con- jectured that some of the Pliosaurs attained a length of nearly forty feet. PLUTEUS. This name was originally employed to indicate a genus of minute ma- rine animalcules, the forms of which are now known, chiefly through the researches of Prof. John MUller, of Berlin, to be merely larval conditions of various species of Sea- urchin (Echinidce). Bipinnaria and Actino- trocha are also larval echinoderms, the for- mer being the young of Asterias. Pluteus larval have a quadrangular pyramidal figure, with a central body surmounted by a dome- like eminence. They also usually display four or six arms or tentacles, the margins of which are clothed with cilia, and on this account they bear some resemblance to the ciliograde Medusas. The young Echinus or the Ophiurus is developed on one side of the body of the Pluteus, becomes detached, and ultimately carries away the digestive organs of the poor larva, which, being thus uncere- moniously deprived of its stomach, gradually succumbs to the force of circumstances, ami soon perishes. The Bipinnaria is supplied with twelve or fourteen non-ciliated tr;ru; it lias a long cylindrical body, forming a kind of hood at the upper part, on the sum- mit of which the young Star-fish (Arterial) is developed, in a similar manner to the Ophiurus and Echinus. POLYPTYCHODON. A genus of finned lizards closely allied to the above, whose fossil remains “ have hitherto been met with only in the cretaceous formations : in the green sand of Kent and Cambridge, also at Kursk, in Russia, and in the chalk of Kent and Sussex.” The generic name impiief that the conical crowns of the teeth are sur- rounded by numerous longitudinal ridges. The P. interruptus is supposed to have equalled the Piiosaur in respect of bulk. POLYZOA. [See Brtozoa above.] POTAMOCHCERUS. Dr. Gray charac- terises this distinct genus of the family Suid* by the large bony protuberance with which the male is furnished on each side of hi* j face, about half-way between the end of the nose and the eyes ; a feature whence the various species have derived their expressive name of “Wart-hog.” The genus is aiso known by the ears in both sexes being elon- gated and rapidly attenuated, while they | end in a pencil of long hair*. The tail i» thick, long, and placed high up the back, i The species are confined to Africa. The , Wart-hog of South Africa i P. Utrvatvi) i* black, washed with grey, the sides of the lace being white, and a large *p°l under the J eyes being black. Like the rest of it* family* i it turns up the ground with it* dilated muz- zle, in search of the root* on which h prin- cipally feeds. It is a very active animal,! and. from the great size of its head and the 1