578 EOCENE AND OLIGOCENE PERIODS 



been generally differentiated, but it is known in northern Africa 

 and in Patagonia, 1 where it is partly marine and partly non-marine. 



OLIGOCENE LIFE 



Vegetation. The forests of the Oligocene were similar to those 

 of the Eocene, especially in Europe, where palms continued to be 

 abundant and varied, growing even in north Germany. The Floris- 

 sant beds of Colorado contain a variety of angiosperms, representa- 

 tive of orders now found in the latitude of the middle and southern 

 states. 



Land animals. All species of insects in the Florissant beds 

 (over 790) are extinct. This indicates that although the types had 



Fig. 486. Titanotherium validum Marsh, photograph of a mounted specimen 

 in the Carnegie Museum. (Holland.) 



become modern, the species continued to change with relative 

 rapidity. Fish fossils are abundant in the same beds. 



Mammals continued their rapid evolution. The Carnivora 

 came into clear definition, and were represented in the White River 

 beds by ancestral dogs, cats, raccoons, and weasels, while some creo- 



1 Hatcher, Geol. Mag., 1902, p. 136. 



