1898] MAMMALIA IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMElilCA 333 



Pliocene 



The Lower Pliocene vertebrate fauna of the Old World is well 

 known, not only from several widely-distributed localities in Europe, 

 but also from parts of Asia and Algeria. Among marine mammals 

 the Sirenian Halitherium and the primitive Cetacean ^(luaJodov still 

 survive ; but the large majority of the remains found in the marine 

 Antwerp Crag of Belgium, tlie lied and Coralline Crags of eastern 

 England, and the equivalent sub-Apennine strata of Italy, represent 

 genera of whales and seals closely similar to, or even identical with, 

 those now living. The land-mammals are very numerous, and are 

 best known from the freshwater deposits of Mount Leljeron and 

 Cucuron (Vaucluse) and Montpellier (Herault) in France ; from 

 Concud in Spain ; from the estuarine yellow sands of Eppelsheim, 

 Hesse Darmstadt ; from the Vienna basin and Baltavar in Hungary ; 

 and from a torrent-deposit at the foot of Pentelicon in the ravine 

 of Pikermi, near Athens. Abundant remains are also found in a 

 volcanic tuff on the Island of Samos in the Turkish archipelago ; in 

 a similar deposit at Maragha in Persia ; and in the well-known 

 Siwalik Formation of India. There are, moreover, traces of the 

 same fauna in China, Japan, the Philippines, Borneo, and Java. 

 In the European area true apes are represented by a single thigh- 

 bone from Eppelsheim, and by numerous skeletons of Mcsojnthccus 

 from Pikermi. Among Carnivora, Felis and Hyaena appear for the 

 first time, associated with Ictithermm, which seems to be an 

 ancestor of the latter ; primitive types of bears {Amphicyon, 

 Hyaenarctos) are also common, but Ursus itself is not yet found. 

 Dinotherium is now met with for the last time, and Mastodon 

 flourishes ; but there is as yet no true EU-plias. Antelopes abound, 

 except in the comparatively northern region of Hesse Darmstadt, 

 and there are several ancestral types of girafte {Palaeotragus, HcUa- 

 dotheinum). Typical pigs {Sus) are first found ; and the very 

 abundant Hipparion makes a close approach to the modern horses. 



The North American fauna which seems to represent the 

 Lower Pliocene is as yet very imperfectly known. One of the 

 lacustrine deposits containing it, however, clearly rests uncon- 

 formably upon the Loup Fork Formation, at least in one part 

 of Texas. The hornless rhinoceroses now appear for the last 

 time, species of Mastodon and true Equus occur, and there are also 

 llamas and peccaries. 



The latest (Upper) Pliocene mammalian fauna of Europe is 

 nearly similar to that of the Pleistocene, most of the genera being 

 identical and the species only slightly different. It is best known 

 from freshwater deposits in the Val d'Arno, Tuscany ; from a 

 torrent-deposit at Olivola in the Carrara mountains ; from Perrier, 



