CUVIER. 143 



thousand species of fishes, and was the joint production 

 of Cuvier and Valenciennes, its publication (so far as the 

 former was concerned) extending over the years 1828-31. 

 Palaeontology was always a favourite study with Cuvier, 

 and the department of it dealing with the Mammalia may 

 be said to have been essentially created and established by 

 him. In this region of investigation he published a long 

 list of memoirs, partly relating to the bones of extinct 

 animals, and partly detailing the results of observations on 

 the skeletons of living animals specially examined with a 

 view of throwing light upon the structure and affinities of 

 the fossil forms. In the second category must be placed 

 a number of papers relating to the osteology of the 

 Rhinoceros indicus, the tapir, the Hyrax capensis, the 

 hippopotamus, the sloths, the manatee, &c. In the 

 former category must be classed an even greater number 

 of memoirs, dealing with the extinct Mammals of the 

 Eocene beds of Montmartre, the fossil species of hippo- 

 potamus, the Didelphys gypsorum, the Megalonyx, the 

 Megatherium, the cave-hyaena, the extinct species of rhin- 

 oceros, the cave-bear, the Mastodon, the extinct species 

 of elephant, fossil species of manatee and seals, fossil 

 forms of crocodilians, chelonians, fishes, birds, &c. The 

 results of Cuvier's principal palaeontological and geological 

 investigations were ultimately given to the world in the 

 form of two separate works. One of these is the 

 celebrated " Recherches sur les Ossemens fossiles," in 

 four volumes quarto, published in Paris in 1812, with 

 subsequent editions in 1821 and 1825 ; and the other is his 

 " Discours sur les Revolutions de la surface du Globe," in 

 one volume octavo, published in Paris in 1825.' This latter 



