194 THE GEOGRAPHY OF MAMMALS 



plantigrade extremities, furnished with neither hoofs nor 

 claws, but with structures somewhat intermediate between 

 the two. Nevertheless, even among these primitive mam- 

 mals, it is possible to recognize the germs of the marked 

 characters which at the present day separate the various 

 Orders. In North America, in beds of the corresponding 

 age, a much more ample stock of remains of a similar 

 fauna is met with. Later on, in the Upper Eocene beds 

 a much larger number of Mammals appears, this fauna 

 containing at least a hundred genera, most of them of 

 large size, whereas to-day the European Mammal-fauna 

 consists only of fifty-four genera, and of these more than 

 half are of small size. At this epoch slight distinctions 

 between the European and American forms begin to 

 appear, showing that even at these early times there was a 

 commencing separation between the two great continents. 

 In the earlier part of the Miocene age, so far as we know, 

 no very great changes take place, but at the end of 

 Miocene time we find in several localities wonderful as- 

 semblages of fossil Mammals in great abundance and in 

 an excellent state of preservation, which enable us to 

 make a better comparison. Such localities have been 

 discovered at Pikermi in Greece, in the island of Samos in 

 the iEgean Sea, at Maragha in Persia, and, perhaps the 

 most important of all of them, in the Sivalik Hills at the 

 southern base of the Himalayas. 



This fauna bears a close resemblance to that of the 

 Ethiopian Region in the present state, especially as regards 

 the presence of Giraffes, Gazelles, and other Ungulates. 

 North of the Alps this fauna, although represented, is not 

 nearly so rich, many of the Antelopes and Giraffes being 

 absent and being replaced by various forms of Deer 



