156 THE RECENT. 



gist, tapir -like pachyderms (palcvotherium, anoplotherium\ 

 akin to those of the Malayan peninsula and South America, 



ss. 



Restored Outlines Xiphodon, Anoplotheiium, PalaeoUierium. 



and river-hogs (hyopotamus, cliceropotamus), like those that 

 now wallow in the mire of African rivers, have left their 

 remains in thousands, testifying at once to the warmth of 

 the climate and to the long continuance of conditions fav- 

 ourable alike to individual growth and to numerical abun- 

 dance. An exuberance of pachydermatous quadrupeds, 

 foreshadowing in their varied forms the solidungulates and 

 ruminants of a subsequent era, is perhaps the most notable 

 feature of the period ; for, though the remains of whale, 

 opossum, mole, bat, and even monkey, have been detected 

 in the earlier tertiaries of Europe, the dominant impress of 

 mammalian life over a larger section of the northern hemi- 

 sphere was undoubtedly palasotheroid. In the forest, over 

 the plain, and by lake and river-swamp, these curious crea- 

 tures held supreme sway, simulating every form sea-cow, 

 tapir, hog, rhinoceros, ass, camel, antelope and apparently 

 performing every function now assigned to these later and 

 diverse families. During the prevalence of the genial cli- 

 mate that then prevailed, we find not only an unusual flush 



