mœritherium

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of extinct ungulate mammals, described from remains found in the Eocene of the Fayum, Egypt, and believed to represent the ancestors of the proboscideans. The animal was about the size of a large tapir; the molars are cross-ridged; there is one pair of tusk-like lower incisors; and the second incisors of the upper jaw are developed as tusks. The arrangement of the bones of the cranium shows some points peculiar to the Proboscidca.