54 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. in. 



are survivals from the upper Eocene. Among the latter 

 are the Xiphodon and Kainothere, the Anchithere and 

 the Paloplothere, as well as the Opossum and carnivorous 

 Hycenodon. The two animals most characteristic of 

 this stage are the hog-like Hyopotamus, and the remark- 

 able creature the Anthracotherium, possessing back teeth 

 like the hog, but front teeth (premolars, canines, and 

 incisors) as well adapted for piercing and dividing flesh 

 as in any of the true carnivores. The living genera were 

 represented by the following animals. Rhinoceroses of 

 small size, some without horns, and tapirs, lived in the 

 forests ; there were squirrels and dormice, hedgehogs, 

 shrews, musk-shrews, together with beasts of prey be- 

 longing to the genera Mustela and Viverra. There 

 were also moles burrowing in the ground. There were 

 no true hogs nor representatives of the family of 

 elephants, and among a large and varied group of 

 animals representing the deer and the antelope there 

 were none bearing antlers or horns. 



The most important fact to be remarked in the mam- 

 malia of Europe at this period is that the opossums 

 were still lingering in the forests, and that the marsupial 

 ancestry of the Carnivores still asserted itself in the 

 singular combination of characters offered by the Hyceno- 

 don. Here we bid farewell to the European marsupials, 

 and none of their characters have been observed in any 

 placental mammal living in the Old World in any subse- 

 quent age. 1 



Lower Meiocene Birds. 

 We are indebted to Professor A. Milne-Edwards 2 for 



1 For details of lower Meiocene Species see Appendix II. A. 

 2 Oiseaux Fossiles, 4to. 



