RUMINANTS. 77 



incisors, which resemble the teeth of a horse. A considerably 

 smaller species (A. minimum, Cuv.) has hitherto been found only 

 in the lignites of Rochette and of the Paudeze. 



These Anthracotheria show an approximation to the Carnivora 

 in the structure of their anterior molars, which are pointed in 

 the same way as in the carnivorous animals, whilst the posterior 

 molars have the character of those of herb-eating Mammalia. 

 The animals therefore probably lived in part upon animal and 

 in part upon vegetable food ; they were Omnivora, like pigs. 



The order Ruminantia was only announced by a few spe- 

 cies in the Eocene period ; and their full development occurs in 

 Miocene times. The group of the Anoplotheria, which consti- 

 tutes the transition to the Pachydermata, is continued, but under 

 different forms. In place of the Anoplotherium the great C/iali- 

 cotherium (C. antiquum, Kaup) is found, an animal which pos- 

 sessed the same dentition, except that it had only six molars in 

 each upper jaw. It was as large as the Indian Rhinoceros, and 

 lived in the morasses of the Lower Miocene period ; its remains 

 are preserved in the lignites of the Hohe-Rhonen. The elegant 

 Dichobunes of Eocene times (vol. i. p. 279) are also extinct ; 

 but their place is taken by the Microtheria, small animals, less 

 than the rabbit, with the head round at the back and extended 

 in front into a short pointed snout, and possessing teeth similar 

 in their conformation to those of the musk-deer : these little 

 animals resemble the Pachydermata in the number of their teeth 

 and in the bones of the feet. Two species have been observed 

 in Switzerland (M. Renggeri, Meyer, at Aarau, and M. Cartieri, 

 Meyer, at Aarwangen) . 



Two species of the Cervidse, in Miocene times, inhabited Swit- 

 zerland. Among them was a musk-deer (Moschus aurelianensis, 

 Lart.) which has been found near La Chaux-de-Fonds, and is 

 most nearly related to an African species (M. aquations, Ow.) . 

 The genus Dorcatherium agrees with it in the long projecting 

 canine teeth of the upper jaw; but it has seven molars in the 

 lower jaw, whilst the Moschus has only six in each jaw. Dorca- 

 therium Naui was as large as a roe-deer, but was more slenderly 

 formed, and had the appearance of the. musk-deer. Its teeth 

 have been found on the Bucheggberg and near Elgg. 



The principal genus of the Cervidse is that of the true Deer 



