GEOLOGY. 2.' 9 



spelceiis ; Felis spelcea ; Hycena spelcea and striata; Gnis primi- 

 genia. 



Animals which have migrated elsewhere : Bison enropceus ; Ovi- 

 hos moscliatus ; Cervus tarandus f Capra ibex ; Antilope rupicapva 

 and saiga; Ardomys marmota ; Spermophilus, allied to S. Parry i ; 

 Felis lynx ; Strix hqjponica; Tetrao lagopiis, albus, and ur og alius ; 

 Fyrrhocorax alpinus. 



Animals still livino^ in the country : Castor enropceus ; Gypa^tes 

 harhatus ; Milvus regalis ; Falco tinnunculus ; Buteo cinereus ; Hirun- 

 do rupestris ; Corvus corax and pica. 



Elie de Beaumont is of the ojjinion, however, that the phenom- 

 ena of this basin are as well, and even better, explained by the 

 action of diluvian currents than by that of a vast glacier. — Comptes 

 Rendus, Jan.^ 1868. 



QUATERNARY DEPOSITS. 



In the "Proceedings" of the Geological Society of London, 

 Mr. Tylor attempts to disprove the conclusions of Mr. Prestwieh, 

 on the relative age of the quaternary deposits, and the epoch antl 

 manner of the excavation of the valleys on whose sides they rest. 

 He selects the well-known and typical Amiens gravel for this pur- 

 pose, and draws these two principal conclusions: 1. That the 

 surface of the chalk has assumed its present form prior to the dep- 

 osition of any of the gravel or loess now found resting upon it. 

 2. That the quaternary deposits indicate a pluvial period, just a3 

 the northern drift indicates a glacial period. 



FAUNA OF THE BRAZILIAN BONE-CAVES. 



According to Prof. Reinhardt, during the post-pliocene epoch 

 Brazil had a very rich mammalian fauna, of which the present 

 one may be called a mere fraction, as many of its genera, even 

 families and sub-orders, have disappeared, while verv few have 

 been added. This fauna had the same peculiar character which 

 now distinguishes the South American fauna from that of the Old 

 World, the extinct genera belonging to groups and families to this 

 day characteristic of South America. Only two genera, the ex- 

 tinct mastodon and the living horse", belong to families now lim- 

 ited to the eastern hemisphere. All the mammalian orders were 

 not in the same degree richer in genera in former times than now. 

 The hrida, ungidata, proboscidea, and carnivora, have relatively 

 sutlered the greatest losses; while some orders, as the l)ats and 

 the monkeys, number even more genera now than formerly. 

 This fauna differed much more from the modern one, and was es- 

 pecially more rich in peculiar genera, now extinct, than the cor- 

 responding fauna of the Old World. The scantiness of great 

 mammals in the present South American fauna, compared with 

 that of the eastern hemisphere, did not exist in the pre-historic 

 fauna ; the post-pliocene mastodonts, macrauchenias, and toxo- 



