I02 VESTIGES OF THE 



considerable number are pachydermata,* of a character 

 approximating to the South American tapir : the names, 

 palaeotherium, anthracotherium, anoplotherium, lophi- 

 odon, &c., have been appHed to them with a considera- 

 tion of more or less conspicuous peculiarities ; but a 

 description of the first may give some general idea of 

 the whole. It was about the size of a horse, but more 

 squat and clumsy, and with a heavier head, and a lower 

 jaw shorter than the upper; the feet, also, instead of 

 hooves, presented three large toes, rounded, and unpro- 

 vided with claws. These animals were all herbivorous. 

 Amongst an immense number of others are found many 

 new reptiles, some of them adapte'd for fiesh water; 

 species of birds allied to the sea lark, curlew, quail, 

 buzzard, owl, and pelican ; species allied to the dormouse 

 and squirrel ; also the opossum and racoon ; and species 

 allied to the genette, fox, and wolf. 



MIOCENE SUB-PERIOD. 



In the miocene sub-period, the shells give eighteen per 

 cent, of existing species, showing a considerable advance 

 from the preceding era, with respect to the inhabitants 

 of the sea. The advance in the land animals is less 

 marked, but yet considerable. The predominating forms 

 are still pachydermatous, and the tapir type continues 

 to be conspicuous. One animal of this kind, called the 

 dinotlmnum, is supposed to have been not less than 

 eighteen feet long : it had a mole-like form of the 

 shoulder-blade, conferring the power of digging for food, 

 and a couple of tusks turning down from the lower jaw, 



* Thick- skinned aninmls. This tonn lins been given by (hivior 

 to an order in which the hog, elephant, horse, and rhinoceros are 

 iDcluded. 



