CHAP. HI. LOWER MEIOCENE MAMMALS. 53 



the analogous species of Europe are found in the 

 Mediterranean countries, in America, in the southern 

 United States (Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, and Caro- 

 lina), and also in California, in the Caucasian region of 

 Asia, in Japan, in Asia Minor, in Madeira, and the 

 Canary Islands. Swiss Meiocene species are also repre- 

 sented in the torrid zone of Asia, in the Sunda Islands, 

 and in tropical America. 



"When the mass of vegetation is considered, which 

 was the special characteristic of Switzerland in Meiocene 

 times, greatly increased prominence is given to the 

 Japanese types by the abundance of camphor trees and 

 Glyptostrobi ; to the Atlantic element by the laurels ; to 

 the American types by the numerous evergreen oaks, 

 maples, poplars, planes, liquidambars, Robinice, Sequoice, 

 Taxodia, and ternate-leaved pines ; and to the types of 

 Asia Minor by the Planer ce and a species of poplar 

 (Populus mutabilis). The greatest number and the most 

 important of the types of the Swiss Meiocene flora belong, 

 therefore, to a belt lying between the isothermal lines of 

 59 and 77 Fahr. (15 to 25 Cent.), and in this zone 

 America is now the region mostly correspondent to the 

 natural character of the Swiss Meiocene land." 1 



Lower Meiocene Mammals. 



The mammals inhabiting the Meiocene forests of 

 Europe must be considered in three divisions, as they 

 appeared successively in time. The first group of 

 mammals presents, as may be expected, an assem- 

 blage of forms, some of which are new, while others 



1 Heer's Primeval World of Switzerland. Transl. Heywood, vol. i. pp. 

 370, 371. 



