FOSSIL EUMINANTIA. 79 



As might be anticipated from what has been said above, and as is indicated in the table of 

 classification of the Artiodactyla on page 336, Vol. II. , the oldest forms of cloven-hoofed Mammalia 

 must have been intermediate in structure between the Pigs and Ruminants. Such a creature existed 

 at the close of the Eocene period in Chcerapotamus, discovered first by the illustrious Cuvier in the 

 palteontologically most interesting gypsum beds at Montmartre. Another specimen has also been 

 found near Hyde, in the Isle of Wight. The creature was pig-like in size, and in the tuberculated 

 structure of its grinders, the parts, together with the lower jaw, alone discovered as yet. 



Hyopotamus, Dichobune, Xiphodon, and Cainotherium were four-toed Upper Eocene transitional 



SKELETON OF THE IRISH ELK. 



forms approaching the Ruminants, but all possessing upper cutting-teeth, the last-named differing but 

 little from the Deerlets. Oreodon is a genus of small pig-like animals, appearing first in the Miocene 

 of North America, and evidently closely related to the Ruminantia. Sivatherium was a gigantic 

 Ruminant with four horns in pairs, and evidently a trunk. Its remains are found in the Miocene 

 deposits of the Sewalik hills of India, Deer, Oxen, Goats, and Sheep first appeared in the Pliocene 

 period, as did Camels and Llamas. Antelopes and Giraffes existed earlier, namely, in the Late 

 Miocene. It is a fact of interest that Camels are abundant in the Miocene and Pliocene of North 

 America, whilst they are only very scantily distributed in the same strata of the Old World, Arabia 

 and Asia being their sole living habitat. 



Among the most interesting of the Pleistocene species which has been discovered in Great 

 Britain is the gigantic Irish deer, a species originally included with the Elk, on account of the pal- 

 mation and outward inclination of its huge antlers, in some specimens only a few inches less than 



