zetetic

& 8. [ Gr.zētētikos, from zēteō =to seek.] IMG:content-1123.png:[blocks in formation] Palæontology : 1. The type-genus of Zeuglodontidæ (q. v.). The remains were formerly supposed to be reptilian, and were named Bas i los a urus by Harlan. They were renamed by Owen (who demonstrated their Mammalian character), and the new name was chosen because the first section of a molar examined was taken from the base of the crown, where it was beginning to divide into the roots, and thus it looked like two single teeth yoked or linked together. (Trans. Geol. Soc. Tooth of Zeuglodon. Lond ., ser. ii., vol. vi., p. 67.) The names Phocodon and Phocodontia are sometimes given to the genus and family respectively, from the seal-like character of the dentition. Several species from the Eocene of the United States; a portion of a skull from the Barton Clay (Eocene) of Hampshire, England. 2. Any species or individual of the Zeuglodont i a (q. v.). "The earliest Cetaceans of whose organization we have anything like complete evidence are the Zeuglodons of the Eocene period, which approach in the structure of skull and teeth to a more generalized mammalian type than either of the existing sub-orders. The smallne of the cerebral cavity compared with the jaws and the rest of the skull they share with the primitive forms of many other types." - Encyc. Brit . (ed. 9th), xv. 393. zeug-lo-dont, a & s. [ZEUGLODONT I A.] A. As adj .: Of or belonging to the Zeuglodont i a. B As subst.: Any individual of the Zeuglodont i a.