M. Pomel on the Palwontolof/y of Auvergne, 9 



a long diluvian epoch which might more properly be called 

 alluvial, since the latter name has a more general accepta- 

 tion, and may be applied to diluvium, which is only an exag- 

 gerated paroxysm of this great period." 



There is another fact in M. PomeFs memoir, which ought 

 to be of great interest to geologists at a time when the atten- 

 tion is so actively directed to all that relates to glaciers. 

 During the diluvian epoch, that is to say, during the period 

 when the glacialists suppose that the extension of the glaciers 

 r.)und the Alps was much greater than it now is, animals 

 lived in the centre of France which are now banished to the 

 coldest regions of our hemisphere. The reindeer, the lago- 

 mys, the spermophilus, rarely the glutton, &c., seem by their 

 presence to justify the hypothesis that the climate of central 

 Europe has been for a time colder than at present. It is true, 

 adds M. Pomel, that we have not yet found any geological 

 traces of the existence of glaciers in Auvergne, although this 

 country presents very elevated mountain summits. 



The second memoir is devoted to the study of the miocene 

 epoch in the basin of the Allier. After giving a geological 

 sketch of the constitution of the deposits in the valley, M. 

 Pomel considers the vertebrate animals composing the fauna of 

 this remarkable period. Among the carnivora he particularly 

 hotices Amphicyon minor, a dog with a short head, which 

 appears to have wanted the second lower tubercular; two 

 civets {yiverra antlqua^ Blainv. and primceva, Pom.) ; the 

 Plesictis genettoides {Mustela plesictis, Delaizer and De Pa- 

 rieu), which forms a genus intermediate between the martins 

 and genettes ; Lutra Valeloni, (GeoflP. St Hil.) ; Meganthereon 

 brevidens, a remarkable species belonging to the tribe of cats, 

 and which ought to be united to some other species of Europe 

 and America, in order to constitute a genus which has al- 

 ready received the names of Meganthereon, Stenodon, Ma- 

 chairodus, and Trepanodon ; and a Pterodon, an anomalous 

 genus probably belonging to the subclass Didelphi. 



The Gnawers are numerous, but as yet little known. M. 

 Pomel mentions Steneofiber^ Archwomys, and the Rats. 



In the division of Pachyderms, we find the Dinotherium gi~ 

 g ante urn; a tapir of small size and slender limbs {Tapir Poi- 



