380 HISTORICAL GEOLOGY. 



Its cemeteries are full of the remains of a former genera- 

 tion. But a little deeper down we find another cemetery 

 full of the remains of extinct animals of strange forms. 

 The masterly study of this fauna by the illustrious Cuvier 

 gave an incredible impulse to geology. One striking char- 

 acteristic of this fauna was the great predominance of 

 tapirlike animals. Of fifty species of mammals found 

 here, forty species were of this general kind. The most 

 celebrated of these remains are the Paleothere (Fig. 342) 



FIG. 342. Pateotherium magnum, x 5^. (After Gaudry.) 



and the Anoplothere. The Paleothere was a three-hoofed 

 animal allied to the tapir, and perhaps connecting with 

 the horse family. The Anoplothere,, on the contrary, was 

 a two-hoofed animal, apparently connecting tapirs with 

 the ruminants. In these two we have the even-toed and 

 the odd-toed hoofed animals almost united. The great 

 bird Gastornis, figured on page 375, was found here. 



It is probable that during the Eocene the Paris basin 

 was the place of an estuary, and the bodies of animals 

 of that epoch were washed down by a river and buried 

 in sediments at its mouth. 



In the European Miocene great numbers of remains 



