On the Lower Jaw of an Anthropoid Ape ( Dryopithecus ) from the Upper Miocene of Lérida (Spain)

Abstract

Remains of the Anthropoid Apes are so rare among fossils, that every new specimen is worthy of special description and discussion. I therefore offer to the Society some account of the fourth known example of the mandible of Dryopithecus fontani, which has been kindly lent to me by Prof. Luis M. Vidal, of Barcelona. It was found by Señor José Colominas near Seo de Urgel, Province of Lérida (Spain), in a deposit usually ascribed to the Upper Miocene; and, as already observed by Prof. Vidal, the specimen is of unusual interest, on account of its occurrence in association with the Hipparion fauna. The jaws of the same species previously discovered in France, are from Middle Miocene formations; while the only traces of the great Apes of a later date hitherto found in Europe are a few teeth from the Bohnerz of Würtemberg and the well-known femur from the Sands of Eppelsheim (Hesse-Darmstadt).