64 THE MAMMALIA. 



break off, for no result, millions of commenced 

 series, than that so-called accident should prevail 

 within the absolute laws of Nature. 



Gaudry, in a very admirable work, 1 , has given 

 an account of the main substance and the results 

 of all the palaeontologico-zoological inquiries. 



Of even greater importance to the question 

 of transition- and intermediate forms are the 

 works of Filhol, a young compatriot of Gaudry's. 

 We refer to his papers on the ' Phosphorites of 

 Quercy,' 2 which appeared in 1876 and 1877 ; also 

 his article on the ' Fossil Mammals of St. Gerard le 

 Puy,' and his comprehensive treatise on the * Fossil 

 Mammals of Ronzon,' which appeared in 1882. 



Phosphorite belongs to the Upper Eocene for- 

 mation of South-western France, deposits of non- 

 crystallised phosphated lime. It is found in cracks 

 and hollows which have been filled up from above. 

 The deposit, Filhol says, was no doubt the result 

 of warm springs, which from time to time caused 

 extensive inundations, and drowned or suffocated 



1 Gaudry, Les enchainements du monde animal dans les 

 temps geologiques. Mammiferes tertiaires (1878). 



2 Filhol, Becherches sur les Phosphorites du Quercy. Etudes 

 sur les fossiles qu'on a rencontre's, et specialement les mammiferes. 

 Annales des sciences geologiques, vii., viii. ; Mammiferes fossiles de 

 St.-Oerard le Puy, Ibid. x. ; Mammiferes de Ronzon, xii. 



