NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PRIMEVAL WORLD. 



Having speedily recognized the existence of numer- 

 I ous species, belonging to many distinct genera, " I at 

 length found myself," he says, " in a kind of charnel- 

 house, surrounded by the mutilated debris of hundreds 

 of skeletons, of more than twenty separate orders, all 

 piled around me in confused heaps : it was my task to 

 restore them to their original position. At the voice 

 of comparative anatomy every bone, and every frag- 

 ment of a bone, fell into its appointed place. I cannot 

 describe the pleasure I experienced in seeing, as I dis- 

 covered one character, how all the consequences which 

 I predicted from it were successively confirmed ; how 

 the feet were found to correspond in detail with the 

 facts ascertained from the teeth ; how the teeth were 

 in harmony with those indicated beforehand by the 

 feet ; how the bones of the legs and thighs, and every 

 connecting portion of the extremities, were set together 

 precisely as I had conjectured, before my conjectures 

 were verified by the discovery of the parts entire : in 

 short, how each species was, as it were, successfully 

 reconstructed from a single one of its component 

 elements." 



The character of the animal life of the Eocene stage 

 may be readily understood from a glance at the sub- 

 joined 



LIST OF VERTEBRAL, ANIMALS FOUND IN THE PARIS BASIN. 



Extinct Species of Extinct Genera. 



Paclnjderm.ata : 



Palseotherium, Anoplotherium, Chseropotamus, Adapis. 



Extinct Species belonging to Existing Genera. 



Carnivora : 

 Bat. 



Canis (large wolf, differing from any existing species), fox. 

 Coatis (Nasua), large coati, now inhabiting tbe tropical 



regions of America. 

 Racoon (Procyon), North America, 

 Genette (Viverra Genet/a of Linne, Genetta of Cuvier), now 



extending from Southern Europe to Cape of Good Hope. 

 Marsupialia : 



Opossum, small (D'ulel phis), allied to the opossum of North 



and South America. 

 Rodentia : 



Dormouse (^fl/oxus of Gmelin), two small species; squirrel 



(j&dnnu\ 

 Bird*. 



Nine or ten species, referrible to the following genera: Buz- 

 zard, owl, quail, woodcock, seaback, curlew, and pelican. 

 Reptiles : 



Fresh-water tortoises, trionyx, emys, crocodile. 

 Fishes. 



Seven extinct species of extinct genera. 



A remarkable feature in this list is the numerical 

 preponderance of Pachydermata among the earliest 

 fossil Mammalia, beyond the proportion they bear 

 among existing quadrupeds ; and it will be observed 

 that they supply, from the relics of a former world, 

 many intermediate forms wanting in the present distri- 

 bution of that important order. "As the living genera 

 of Pachydermata," remarks our authority, " are more 

 widely separated from one another than those of any 

 other order of Mammalia, it is important to fill these 

 vacant intervals with the fossil genera of a former state 

 of the earth; thus supplying links that appeared deficient 

 in the grand continuous chain which connects all past 



and present forms of organic life as parts of one great 

 system of creation." 



We proceed to a brief description of the principal 

 pachydermatous species ; of those curious creatures, 

 simulating every form tapir, llama, rhinoceros, sea- 

 cow, hog, antelope, ass, and camel and apparently 

 fulfilling the various functions now assigned to those 

 later families, which roamed at will in the dense forest, 

 and over the grassy plain, and along the reedy, swampy 

 bank of rolling river and ample lake, during the early 

 ages of the Cainozoic period. 



The Anoplotherium* This genus was established 

 by Cuvier from bones discovered in the Eocene strata, 

 near Paris; but its remains have also been found in 

 the same strata in the Isle of Wight, and elsewhere. 

 The animal's teeth are wholly unlike those of any other 



Anoplotherium commune. One-tweutiath natural size. 



pachyderm, past or present. They are arranged as in 

 the human jaw, in a continuous series without intervals 

 a circumstance distinguishing the Anoplotherium from 

 all quadrupeds ; and consist of six incisors, two molars, 

 two canines, eight pre -molars, and six molars in each 

 jaw. The upper molars are quadrangular ; the lower 

 marked with prominent ridges of enamel. It is sup- 

 posed that the Anoplotherium was partly carnivorous 

 in its food. It had no proboscis, nor was its snout 

 considerably elongated. The feet, as in the Ruminan- 

 tia, terminate in two toes, but have always separate 

 metacarpal and metatarsal bones. Numerous species 

 have been discovered, varying in size from that of a 

 small ass to that of a guinea-pig ; whence it is evident 

 that the smallest species must have been more diminu- 

 tive than any known hoofed quadruped. As great a 

 difference prevailed in shape and appearance, some 

 having graceful forms and slender limbs, others being 

 solidly and even inelegantly built. A few would seem 

 to have been adapted for a purely aquatic life ; but the 

 Anoplotherium proper was, in all probability, the type, 

 in manners and habits, of the modern tapir. 



The recognized genera are : Dichodon, Dichobune, 

 Microtherium, and Xiphodon. 



The Adapis, in form, resembled the hedgehog, but 

 was three times its bulk. Dr. Buckland is of opinion 

 that it formed a link connecting the Pachydermata with 

 the insectivorous Carnivora. 



* From the Greek, privative; WAov, armour; and li^m 

 beast. 



