LES ENCHAIN EMENTS DU MONDE ANIMAL 91 



of Pikermi constituted true intermediate types 

 between genera or even families now distinct. 



A little later, in a work on the Animaux fossiles du 

 Mont Luberon (1875), he endeavoured to show 

 that the fossil species of the end of the Miocene 

 period had undergone variations considerable enough 

 to justify the separation of several distinct races 

 characterized by the slightness, or, on the other hand, 

 by the clumsiness of the form of the paws among 

 the Hipparions ; or by the closeness together or the 

 distance apart of the horns in the Antelopes of the 

 genus Tragoceros. 



All these works, as well as some others, were only, 

 so to speak, the prelude to a great synthetical work 

 in three volumes, which appeared from 1878 to 1890, 

 and bore the suggestive title, Les Enchainements du 

 Monde Animal. Finally, from this endeavour to 

 apply the transformist method to the beings of 

 Primary, Secondary and Tertiary times, Gaudry 

 contrives to disentangle the principles involved in 

 the evolution of fossil animals in the form of ai 

 Essai de Paleontologie Philosophique published in 

 1896. 



These books of Gaudry had an undoubted in- 

 fluence on the transformist outlook of the younger 

 generation of French naturalists. This was due 

 in great measure to the simplicity of the exposition, 

 to the seduction of their style, to the studied geniality 

 of the thoughts expressed, to the visible effort 

 to be understood by all, and, finally, to the wealth 

 and beauty of the illustrations. But, taken in 

 its entirety, and compared with the almost con- 

 temporary scientific and philosophical work of 



