Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/844

 814 ZEUGLODON ZHITOMIR Burmeister and Milller maintained that it be- longed to a mammal. It was afterward pur- chased by the king of Prussia for the palseon- tological museum in Berlin. There is a specimen in the Boston society of natural history, con- taining 36 vertebrae and 26 fragments of ribs and other bones. From all these sources it is known that the cranium was much elongated, and narrowed behind the frontal bones; the occipital region much and steeply elevated, as in the hog ; f rentals very wide above the or- bits ; face slender, with elongated nasal bones, and normal nasal openings unlike those of the cetaceans ; intermaxillaries long and slender, and the lower jaw resembling that of the dol- phins and sperm whales ; the occipital condyles are two as in mammals, and the squamous cranial sutures and bones of the ear as in ceta- ceans. The cervical vertebrae are very short ; the dorsals elongated, with small spinous and transverse processes, the former consolidated to the cylindrical bodies, but not contiguous ; their epiphyses are several inches thick, whereas in the cetaceans in bones of equal size they form plates not more than half an inch thick ; the bodies of the caudal vertebra? are very long; the ribs are short, of a dense lami- nated structure, somewhat thickened at the lower extremities, as in the sirenia ; bones of arm small, the distal end of the humerus being suddenly contracted, and having the articula- ting surface of a hinge-like joint. The form was probably cetacean, though slender, elon- gated, and more snake-like, with small anterior limbs like paddles, and no posterior extremities ; from the long chain and characters of the ver- tebra, and the shortness of the ribs, as figured by Pictet, it seems that the spinal column must have been freely movable in its several parts, presenting no anatomical impossibility to the zeuglodon's performing the part of a tertiary and perhaps modern sea serpent. (See SEA SERPENT.) The -dentition is peculiar ; in the largest and best known species (zeuglodon ce- toides, Owen) the formula is : incisors f-, ab- normal canines -^, and molars $- = 36 ; the anterior teeth are conical, the molars being compressed, serrated on the edges, and double- rooted ; the interval between the long roots of the molars is continued by a marked depres- sion on the sides of the crown, so that when the teeth are much worn each presents two surfaces united by a thin connecting sub- stance, whence the name given by Owen ; the prior name of phocodon of Agassiz is jnst as proper on account of the serrations of the cut- ting edges, like those seen in many seals, to which family some authors have approximated it. The dentition of the zeuglodon and the nasal openings prove that it was not a typical cetacean, and the molars and shape of the head also remove it from the dugong and manatee ; yet the affinities seem nearer to these aquatic types than to any other. In the mode of completion and succession of the teeth, ac- cording to Owen, it belongs to a higher type than that of any of the existing cetaceans ; he therefore regards it as an interesting link be- tween these (sperm whale, dolphin, &c.) and the sirenia (dugong and manatee). For fuller details and plates, besides the works quoted, see " Journal of the Academy of Natural Sci- ences of Philadelphia," 2d series, vol. i. (1847), pp. 5-17, including papers by Messrs. Gibbes and Tuomey. Several species are described. ZEl'S. See JUPITER. /Kl MS, a Greek painter, born probably in Heraclea in Bithynia about 450 B. C., died probably in Athens in the first half of the following century. He was a contemporary of Apollodorus of Athens and of Parrhasius, and was one of the leaders of the Asiatic or Ionic school, which succeeded the Athenian. His peculiar excellences consisted in a grand style, great mastery of form, effective color- ing and chiaroscuro, a dramatic effect of com- position, and felicity in the choice of subjects. He also exhibited to perfection that accuracy of imitation and skill in depicting sensual charms which formed the chief character- istics of his school. On the other hand, ac- cording to Aristotle, he failed to present char- acter in such a manner as to elevate the feel- ings and moral sentiments of the spectator, excelling rather in expressing the ideal stan- dard of human beauty, or in imitating such natural objects ns are incapable of an ideal representation. His most celebrated work was his Helen, painted for the city of Croton, which was designed, it is said, after five of the most beautiful virgins of that place, and continued for many ages to be visited by artists as the recognized type of female beauty. Among his other famous works were a Hercules strangling the serpents, which he presented to the Agri- gentines, Jupiter in the assembly of the gods, a Penelope, a Marsyas, a Cupid crowned with roses, and a family of centaurs. Late in life he had a contest with his young rival Parrha- sius for the preeminence in their art, of which the following is narrated : Zeuxis painted some grapes with such exactness as to deceive the birds, which pecked at them ; but Parrhasius, by a representation of a curtain which appa-. rently concealed a picture, deceived Zeuxis himself, and was adjudged the better painter. At another time Zeuxis painted a boy carry- ing grapes, at which the birds also flew ; but in this instance the artist was displeased at his success, remarking that if the boy had been as well painted as the grapes the birds would have feared to approach the picture. A great portion of the life of Zeuxis was passed in Ephesus, but he also painted in Macedonia, in Athens, and in the Greek colonies of Italy. ZHITOMIR, a town of S. W. Russia, capital of Volhynia, 83 m. W. of Kiev; pop. in 1867, 37,640, including chiefly Russians, Poles, and Jews. It has a Catholic and six Greek church- es and several synagogues, a handsome thea- tre, and a literary society. Its trade and manufactures are important.