M. Pomel on the Palwontology of Auvergne, 7 



and he has not given the necessary care to geological indi- 

 cations. Now, it is only by introducing an extreme degree 

 of precision into the zoological analysis of characters, and 

 the geological study of formations, that palaeontology can find 

 that solid and lasting foundation of which the precipitation 

 of some individuals has sometimes deprived her. 



M. Pomel, in the two memoirs with which we are ac- 

 quainted only by an extract, and which we hope will be laid 

 immediately before the public in extenso, shews that, in the 

 deposits of the basin of the AUier, there are three different 

 ages, which prove that three very distinct faunas have suc- 

 ceeded each other since the commencement of the tertiary 

 epoch, in this which corresponds at present to Auvergne. 

 The oldest of these faunas belongs to the miocene epoch, and 

 is contemporary with that of \hQ falims of Touraine, the sand- 

 stones of Fontainbleau, &c. It is characterised by numerous 

 lost genera. 



The second fauna, which M. Pomel considers more parti- 

 cularly in his first mempir, belongs to the pliocene period. 

 The organic remains of the animals which compose it have 

 been preserved in the most ancient deposits of the pumice 

 conglomerates, chiefly at the foot of Mount Perrier. The 

 genera, for the most part, belong to the existing fauna, but 

 the species are all extinct. We may mention, in particulai*, 

 the Cants megamastoides, the Ursidce, Mustela lutroides, Liitra 

 Bravardi, the Hysena of Mount Perrier, the genus Sienodon, a 

 Mastodonte, a species of Rhinoceros, tall and slender, a Tapir, 

 numerous species of Deers very different from those now liv- 

 ing, small Oxen, high on their legs, &c. 



The third fauna, which has been too often confounded with 

 the second, belongs entirely to the diluvian epoch. The bones 

 are preserved among the debris at the base or the sides of 

 hills, nnder lavas, in fissures, in the travertins and mud of 

 certain grottoes. The deposits containing them are scattered 

 over a multitude of localities, chiefly in the valley of Limagne. 

 The animals composing this fauna belong, in great numbers, 

 to the existing species. Dogs, martins, otters, &c., cannot 

 be distinguished from those now living; cats replace the 

 stenodons ; tliere is no niastodons^ and the elephant supplies 



