CHAP, in.] MAMMALIA AND BIRDS OF UPPER MEIOCENES. 59 



Edwards belong principally to living families, but do 

 not present us with any living species. There is a 

 parroquet more slender than that of the Allier, and large 

 gallinaceous birds about the size of peacocks frequented 

 the borders of the lakes. The shores of the sea in which 

 the marine faluns of the Loire were deposited, were in- 

 habited by cormorants, geese, herons, and pheasants. 1 



Land Mammalia and Birds of Upper Meiocenes. 



The third well-marked invasion of Meiocene Europe 

 by the mammalia is that represented by the remains 

 found in Germany at Eppelsheim, in Hungary at 

 Baltavar, in France at Mont Leberon, in Spain at 

 Concud, and in Greece at Pikermi. Numerous ante- 

 lopes and two closely allied species of gazelle spread 

 in vast troops over the plains of Hungary, Spain, 

 Southern France, and the shores of the Mediterranean. 

 A large wild hog with small canines, and two sorts 

 of rhinoceros, horned and hornless, a tapir, gigantic 

 elephant -like creatures, the Deinoiherium, and the Mas- 

 todon, roamed through the forests and bathed in the 

 rivers, and fell a prey to the great sabre-toothed feline 

 Machairodus. All these genera, it will be remembered, 

 lived also in the forests of the mid Meiocene age in 

 France, Switzerland, and Italy. Great herds of Hip- 

 parions, animals resembling small asses or quaggas, 

 intermediate in structure between the Anchithere and 

 the horse, wandered over the whole of Europe, the 

 greater part of Asia and of North America. A small 

 deer with bifurcating antlers, resembling the Muntjak of 

 tropical Asia, ranged over France and Germany, while 



1 Ann. des. Sc. Nat. 5 e ser. Zool. et PaUont. Ixvi. p. 1. 



