MAMMALS. 71 



majority of the species. The Pachydermata are represented 

 only by the wild boar, and the Ruminants by the stag, the roe, 

 and the chamois. At the same time it must be remembered 

 that several species which formerly dwelt in Switzerland have 

 been exterminated by the hand of man. The bones from the 

 pile-dwellings of Swiss lakes inform us that in their times two 

 large species of oxen (the urus and the bison) lived in Swiss 

 forests, and that, besides the common stag, the great elk and 

 the fallow deer were to be met with. From much later days we 

 have accounts of the wild horse, the wild goat, and the beaver, 

 which have ceased for a century to form part of the Swiss fauna. 

 But even if we add these animals which have been removed by 

 man's agency, we obtain only eight species of ruminants and two 

 pachyderms ; so that undoubtedly, at the time of the formation 

 of the Miocene, Switzerland possessed a much greater num- 

 ber of such animals. To these we must add Marsupials and 

 Quadrumana (monkeys), which are now entirely wanting in 

 Europe. 



Of the thirty-eight genera to which the Swiss Miocene Mam- 

 malia belong, twenty-nine are extinct ; and of the nine which 

 are still remaining, only three (Cervus, Sus, and Sciurus) still 

 occur in Switzerland. Of the others, one (Lagomys) inhabits 

 the temperate zone in Asia and North America, while five are 

 denizens of the warm and torrid zones the gibbons in India, 

 the opossums (Didelphys) in South America, the rhinoceros and 

 musk-deer in India and Africa, and the tapirs in India and 

 South America. 



The Miocene mammalian fauna of Switzerland approaches 

 more closely to the Eocene fauna than to that of the present 

 day. If compared with the Eocene fauna of the Jura, six genera 

 are found in common, although none of the species perfectly 

 agree. The Palaotheria (or tapir-like animals), which were so 

 abundant in theEocene period, are still represented by one species; 

 the horse-like Anchitherium and the Amphicyon (which was re- 

 lated to the dogs and the river-hog (Hyopotamus) are also continued 

 into the Miocene period ; and the squirrels extend down to the 

 existing fauna. The opossums (Didelphys} also have been found 

 elsewhere in Eocene deposits. Other Eocene genera approach 

 the Miocene ones very closely ; thus the Hyracotheria represent 



