V.] LOWER PLIOCENE FAUNAS. 197 



Miocene, indicates the lapse of a considerable interval of time 

 between the deposition of the two series of strata. And that this 

 is really the case, is demonstrated by the fact that there occurs 

 between the two a considerable thickness of marine deposits which 

 have not hitherto yielded remains of land mammals. It may be 

 noticed that while many of the insectivores and rodents from this 

 horizon belong to genera now inhabiting the Eastern Holarctic 

 region, among other forms we have marked instances of Oriental 

 (Lanihanotherium. Hylobates] or Ethiopian ( Galerix, Dorcatherium, 

 and Xerus) affinities in this assemblage; and it is thus evident that 

 at the epoch in question there was no trace of the differentiation 

 of Eastern Arctogaea into regions. 



Still more markedly are the same features displayed by the 

 older Pliocene fauna of Europe and Southern Asia. 

 This fauna, which was formerly regarded as of upper cen^Faun'a 

 Miocene age until shewn by Dr Blanford to be 

 unquestionably referable to the succeeding era of geological his- 

 tory, had a very wide distribution ; and it is represented at certain 

 localities, mostly at long distances from one another, by an extra- 

 ordinary profusion of remains. One of these charnel-holes occurs 

 at the village of Pikermi, near Athens, a second in the Isle of 

 Samos, in the Turkish Archipelago, and a third at Mont Leberon, 

 in Provence. This fauna is also met with locally in the valley of the 

 Rhone, at the foot of the Pyrenees, in Spain, Asia Minor, and at 

 Maraga in Persia. It is likewise represented in the regions lying 

 to the north of the Alps, only here the number of forms is less, 

 and the antelopes and giraffe-like ruminants, fitted for roaming 

 over the open plains of the south, are conspicuous for their 

 absence; their place being taken by forest-haunting deer. The 

 sand-beds of Eppelsheim in Hessen-Darmstadt, together with 

 strata in the neighbourhood of Vienna, and others in Hungary 

 and Rumania, may be cited as localities where the northern 

 section of this fauna is preserved. 



Taking first the European and Western Asiatic portion of this 

 fauna, and leaving its Oriental members for subse- 

 quent consideration, we find the Primates represented 

 solely by an extinct genus of monkey, taking its 

 name of Mesopithecus on account of presenting certain features 



