THE MIOCENE PERIOD. 313 
both the Old and New Worlds ; and some of the species attain 
gigantic dimensions. 
Amongst the Amphibians we meet with distinctly modern 
types, such as Frogs (Rana) 
and Newts or Salamanders. 
The most celebrated of the 
latter is the famous Andrias 
Scheuchzert (fig. 242), dis- 
covered in the year 1725 
in the fresh-water Miocene 
deposits of (Eéningen, in 
Switzerland. The skeleton 
indicates an animal nearly 
five feet in length; and it Fig. 240.—Tooth Fig. 241.—Tooth 
was originally described by OF ITE IER ORE apart Bie 
Scheuchzer, a Swiss physi- 
clan, in a dissertation published in 1731, as the remains of one 
of the human beings who were in existence at the time of the 
Noachian Deluge. Hence he applied to it the name of Homo 
diluvit testis. In reality, however, as shown by Cuvier, we 
have here the skeleton of a huge Newt, very closely allied to 
the Giant Salamander (J/Zenopfoma maxima) of Java. 
The remains of feftiles are far from uncommon in the 
Miocene rocks, consisting principally of Chelonians and Cro- 
codilians. ‘The Land-tortoises ( Zestudinide) make their first 
appearance during this period. The most remarkable form 
of this group is the huge Colossochelys Atlas of the Upper 
Miocene deposits of the Siwalik Hills in India, described by 
Dr Falconer and Sir Proby Cautley. Far exceeding any 
living ‘Tortoise in its dimensions, this enormous animal is 
estimated as having had a length of about twenty feet, measured 
from the tip of the snout to the extremity of the tail, and to 
have stood upwards of seven feet high. All the details of its 
organisation, however, prove that it must have been “ strictly 
a land animal, with herbivorous habits, and probably of the 
most inoffensive nature.” ‘The accomplished palzontologist 
just quoted, shows further that some of the traditions of the 
Hindoos would render it not improbable that this colossal 
Tortoise had survived into the earlier portion of the human 
period. 
Of the 4zvds of the Miocene period it is sufficient to re- 
mark that though specifically distinct, they belong, so far as 
known, wholly to existing groups, and therefore present no 
points of special palzeontolgical interest. 
The dZammatls of the Miocene are very numerous, and only 
ductus. Miocene. 
