692 



iiKrouT — 1884. 



ikm 



mi 



the position in tlio nfoolofrical soqueneo is nscortainod : in elinvt, tliat homotaxis of 

 manne, frenli-watcr, and terrestrial forms implii's j-'t'oloi^ical synclironism. 



That, as a poneral rule, honiotaxis affords evidence that beds exhiljitiiif^ it 

 belon;:' approximately to the same frcolofrieal period appears supported by a huve 

 amoun! of evidence. ]Jut there an; somostartlinir exceptions. 1 propose to notice 

 a few typical instances, several of tliem Indian, in which the system of (leterniiniiirr 

 tho a-re of various formations by tlie fauna or lloru lias led to contradictory nsidts, 

 ])efore attempt int,"- to show wherein the source of the error appears to lie. Nothintr 

 would b ■ pained and much time would be lost by entering upon the details of all 

 the cases known, even if I were altle to give authentic particulars, which is doubt- 

 ful. It ■will be suHicient to cite some chanicterlstic examples, concerning' the 

 details of whicli satisfactory evidence is fortlicominp. 



PiJa-rmi licds. — There are but few fossiliferous deposits on the face of the earth 

 that havi' attracted more attention than the IMkermi be('s of Greece. In one of thi- 

 most cla-sical and famous sites of tlie world, a few miles east of Athens, just 

 where 



The mountains look on Marathon 



And Marathon looks on the sea, 



some red, silty beds occur, abounding in vertebrate remains. Soni(> of tlie bones 

 were described by \\'agner ami others, but for a complete account of the fainia we are 

 indebted t') Professor Albert Gaudry, wiio has liimself collected by far the greater 

 portio:: of the remains hitherto procured. Tlie fullowing is a list of the genera 

 deterniini?d ; . • unnecessary to give the specific names : — 



MA-AFMAIJA. 



Primmes. — Mesopithvcus, 1 sp. 



CA:?NiVOK.V. — Simocyon, 1; Mustcla, 1; rromephitis, 1; Icfithcrium, ■"; 



llycenarctus, 1 ; Ilya-na, 1 ; jryctinctin, 1 ; Fdis, 4; Mnchcerodus, 1. 

 Prokoscidka. — Mastodon, 2; Dinotherium, 1. 

 UNnTT'^,.VT.V. — C'halicotherium,\\ lihinoceios, ^ •. Arernfhcrium, 1; Loi)to(hm,\\ 



Jlipparioii, 1 ; Sus, 1 ; Camelopardnlis, 1 ; HvWidothcrmm, 1 ; Oranm, 1 ; 



l\ilo-otrayus,\ ; Profr(if/clap/iufi,\; I'<il(P0)'y.v,2 ; Trat/oc'cru8,2 ; PalfPoroiis,\; 



Avtidorcas (P), 1 ; Gazella, 1; Antilopc, '5; l)remothmum, 2; Ccrviis, 1. 

 KoDKNTiA. — ^flts (Acomyn), 1 ; Jli/stn'.r, 1. 

 Edi;xtata. — Ancylotherium, 1 . 



AVES. 



JViasmmin, 1 ; Gallus, 1 ; Gen, gcdlinac, indct., 1 ; Grus, 1 ; Gen. ciconidar, 

 indet., 1. 



Test ado, 1 ; Varanun, 1. 



REPTILIA. 



Of mammalia alone there are known from this deposit 33 genera, of which 22 

 are extinct, and 47 species. 



Now^, this fauna is almost invariably in European works quoted as Miocene. Of 

 the species found no less than 14 — Simocyon diaphonis, Ictitherium ruhHAtiim, 

 I. hippnrionum, Hyfcna eximia, Ilyccnictis yrceca, Mac/iccrodus cidtridciis, Maxtodon 

 furicensis, Dinotherium yiganteum, Rhinoceros scldeivrmncheri, llippanon ymcik, 

 Sus erymanthius, Ifelladothermm daveimnyi, Trayocirus amalthcw, and Gazclln 

 brevicornis — are met with in other lOuropean deposits assigned to the Mioceno 

 period. It is true that one of these deposits at least — that of Eppelsheim— bad 

 been sliown on stratigraphical grounds to be much more probably Pliocene 

 than Miocene, and the position of other deposits has been determined by th(> kind 

 of argument which, as I shall show, has proved misleading in the case of Pikerrai 

 itself. Nevertheless so general is the consensus of opiniou amongst palaeontologists, 

 that the beds witli llippanon at Pikermi and el.«ewhere are quoted as especially 

 included in the Miocene system by the French Committee of the International 



