8 M. Pomel on the Palmontoloyy of Auvergne. 



its place ; the rhinoceros is the Siberian species {E. tichorU- 

 nus). The oxen exhibit the heavy forms of the present 

 kinds ; the horse and hippopotamus supply the place of the 

 lost genera. The Deers greatly resemble those of our own 

 times, &c. 



M. Bravard {Bull. Soc. Geol. iii., 197,) has attempted to 

 distinguish two distinct faunas in this epoch, and he sepa- 

 rates the elephantine fauna contained in the more recently 

 formed lands of Champeix, Veneix, Tour de Boulade, &c., 

 from the diluvian fauna contained in the caverns or fissures 

 of Coudes, and the sub-volcanic 'alluviums of Neschers. The 

 investigations of M. Pomel seem to prove that there are not 

 grounds for maintaining this division. 



The resemblance between the species of M. Pomel's dilu- 

 vian epoch and those of the existing world, seem to me to 

 furnish a new and powerful argument in favour of the opi- 

 nion which I expressed, {Traite Elem. de Paleontologie, torn. 

 i., note B,) that the diluvian epoch is connected without in; 

 terruption with the modern epoch. It was not, therefore, 

 without surprise that I saw M. Pomel conclude by saying 

 that it is impossible for him to admit my opinion on this sub- 

 ject. I am certain that if this skilful geologist again examines 

 the question, he will find, according to his own observations, 

 1*^, That the majority of the species of the diluvian epoch 

 have not been destroyed at the end of that epoch ; 2dly, That 

 there has not been a sudden appearance of an entirely new 

 fauna at the commencement of the modern epoch ; ^dly, That 

 between the diluvian and modern epoch there has been no 

 event which has acted on organisation in the same manner 

 as those which have separated the tertiary epoch from the 

 diluvian epoch, the cretaceous epoch from the tertiary, &c. ; 

 Athly, That consequently the diluvian and modern epochs are 

 not separated by characters similar to those which separate 

 the other geological epochs. M. Pomel may the more readily 

 admit these conclusions, since he insists, with reason, on the 

 fact that the gravels of the diluvian epoch have not been de- 

 posited by a decisive and instantaneous phenomenon, but 

 rather by a series ^ " of small successive local inundations 

 whigh could not operate at the same time, and that there was 



