THE PRE-ADAMITE EARTH. 



went a complete change of form. It now submerged a vast surf ace r 

 which was previously dry land, included between Montpelier and 

 a tract to the west of Marseilles, extending on the north into 

 the departments of the Gard and the Drome. It extended also 

 to the N.E. as far as the tract upon which the Lower Alps 

 stand. Another arm of*this sea turned to the N.N.E., cover- 

 ing part of Savoy and Switzerland, and extending probably 

 to Vienna and still further in that direction, Thus three seas 

 were still found in the west of Europe the Ligerian basin 

 taking the place of the Anglo- Parisian basin. In England, 

 the Anglo-Parisian basin was limited to Suffolk and Norfolk, 

 where it covered the whole coast, and it probably extended 

 from thence across the Channel into Belgium, covering the land 

 around Antwerp. 



505. The seas during this period were peopled by numerous 

 animals unknown to any anterior epoch. Not less than 89 

 marine genera appeared for the first time, among which the 

 Gastropods amounted to 20, and the Foraminifera to 15. 

 Among the Crustacea which now first appeared in the seas, were 

 included the generic forms of which the Hermit crab and the 

 Lobster are types. 



506. But it was by its land animals that this period, compared 

 with all former ones, was more especially remarkable. It appears 

 by the table, that of the 57 genera of Mammifers ascertained 

 to have lived in this period, 47 had never before existed. Of 

 these genera a great number, remarkable either for their magni- 

 tude or their peculiar forms, have become extinct, among which 

 may be mentioned Palaeomys, Macrotherium, Dinotherium, 

 fig. 191, Toxodon, and Mastodon. Among the forms which 



Fig. 191. Diuotherium gigaiiteum. 



have survived, we find living types in the bear, the cat, the 

 weasel, the seal, the mouse, the beaver, the rhinoceros, the tapir, 

 and the stag. 

 134 



