Excerpt from A Preliminary Note on Some New Mammals From the Upper Eocene of Egypt

The most remarkable of the smaller mammals in the present collec tion is perhaps the most peculiarly Specialised type of carnivore known. At present the only part of the animal obtained is the anterior portion of the left ramus of the mandible, but continued search will probably yield further remains. At first sight the specimen presents consider able superficial resemblance to the mandibular ramus of a large rodent, owing to the fact that the median incisors are enormously developed, with a long edentulous diastema behind. The incisor is of peculiar form; the inner border, where the tooth abuts against its fellow of the opposite Side, is nearly straight; anteriorly it terminates in a blunt point, while the outer border, which is Sharp-edged, bears a number of prominent crenulations. The upper surface of the tooth is concave from side to side, the ventral convex. These teeth, which are very large, and widen out toward the base, are implanted in deep sockets which appear to extend nearly as far as the hinder border of the symphysis, determining the peculiar form of the anterior portion of the ramus. (see figs. 1 and There is no trace of the other incisors or of the canine.

The symphysis itself is very extensive and widens out backwards; behind it the ramus is Sharply curved outwards and at the same time narrowed from above downwards. Throughout this region the alveolar' border is sharp-edged and edentulous; it is concave in outline, the concavity being external. Behind this, the ramus again curves directly backward and bears the cheek teeth, two of which are preserved in the specimen under description. The inner face of the ramus at this point is flat, the outer Convex; two foramina are seen on its outer surface, one a short distance behind the socket of the incisor, the other beneath the anterior border of the second cheek-tooth.

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