64 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. in. 



Meiocene Europe are confirmed by the distribution of 

 animal life. Among the insects of Switzerland we find 

 the white ants, or termites, now peculiar to hot countries, 

 dragonflies of South African type, land crabs, also pecu- 

 liar to the tropics, and among the mollusca inhabiting 

 the rivers and lakes, the exotic genus Melania. The 

 insect fauna, however, of Oeningen contains very many 

 forms now living in Switzerland and in southern Europe, 

 and is, on the whole, as Professor Heer observes, more of 

 Mediterranean than of tropical and American stamp. 



The amphibians and the reptiles belong to genera 

 now widely scattered, and some peculiar to warm 

 countries. The gigantic Meiocene salamander (Andrias 

 Scheuchzeri) , four feet long, is allied to those of southern 

 Japan and America ; a gigantic frog is closely allied to 

 the horned frog of Brazil ; a crocodile to that now found 

 in the Nile ; an alligator-tortoise, about three feet long, 

 to that of the genus now abundant in the warm rivers 

 of the Southern States ; and a river tortoise (Emys) to 

 those of the rivers of India and Africa. 



The secretary birds, ibises, flamingoes, parroquets, 

 and marabouts present us with an assemblage of birds 

 now found only in warm regions ; while the giraffes, 

 antelopes, deer, and rhinoceroses of middle and southern 

 Europe are forms analogous to those now restricted to 

 tropical Africa and southern Asia. Monkeys of various 

 sorts extended from the Mediterranean as far north as 

 Eppelsheim, and fed upon the figs and bread-fruits, 

 walnuts, almonds, dates, rice, and millet, as well as on 

 the acorns, then growing in those regions. 



