142 THE MAMMALIA. 



as fossils, and extends back as far as into the 

 Middle Miocene. A powerful Boar is one of the 

 numerous fauna found in Pikermi. Its discoverer, 

 Gaudry, has given it the name of S. Erymanthius. 

 The line is continued through the strata of the 

 Eocene by the genus Palteochcerus and Choerotherium, 

 still with, or rather already with, a dentition of the 

 Pig species, but still with less reduced, or, more 

 correctly speaking, still with a full number of toes. 

 Even Palaochcerus typus from the Lower Miocene of 

 southern France shows the characteristic teeth of 

 the genus Pig (Fig. 17) : on either side three incisors, 

 a good-sized canine (c), four premolars and three 

 molars. A still earlier form of the tuberculate- 

 toothed animal is Choerotherium, which still has four 

 toes almost equally developed. The ' ancestral line ' 

 of Primeval Pigs is thus evident enough for those 

 who choose to follow it, and is more distinct than 

 many a human pedigree. 



Among the cousins of this family who could not 

 maintain an existence, and whose position is, in fact, 

 somewhat doubtful, are Chceropotamus, and also the 

 colossal animal Anthracotherium, from the Coal for- 

 mation, which attained the size of a rhinoceros. 



America likewise possessed a line of pig-shaped 

 animals which may be traced from the Eocene up 



