74 THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



Tillodontia Amblypoda 



Tjriiiodonta Perissodactyla 



Edentata (an especially notable absence) 



Pholidota Ancylopoda 



Tubulidentata Carnivora-Fissipedia -■ 



Condylarthra (also an especially notable absence) 



In other words, this early African assemblage is conspicuously lacking in 

 the perissodactyl or odd-toed ungulates (horses, tapirs, and rhinoceroses), 

 so abundantly represented at the same time in the north, also in the charac- 

 teristic pangolins (Pholidota) and aardvarks (Tubulidentata) which are now 

 widely spread in Africa. The raptorial animals of early African times are 

 solely of the archaic type of Carnivora known as Creodonta, and do not in- 

 clude representatives of the dog, cat, hyaena, or civet families. Even antici- 

 pating the modification and enlargement of this limited assemblage by future 

 discovery, the conclusion is certainly supported by fact as at present known 

 that Africa formed a very important independent center of adaptive radia- 

 tion during the Eocene and early Oligocene period. 



Early migration between Europe and Madagascar. — Still more recently 

 (1905) Grandidier ' has discussed the former zoogeographic relations be- 

 tween Europe and Madagascar, as shown in the following citations : ' 



"The lemurs, as well as many others of the existing and extinct mammals of 

 Madagascar, show a close affinity to Eocene types of France. Cryptoprocta ferox, 

 the curious plantigrade cat known as the 'Fossa,' is allied to Proailurus and 

 Pseudcelurus. The viverrines are allied to Cynodidis. The Madagascan hippo- 

 potamus is perhaps allied to Acotheridum. Of birds, Mpyornis, so abundant among 

 the extinct animals of Madagascar, is comparable to Dasyornis londinensis of the 

 Eocene of the Isle of Sheppey, England. It seems thus that the last representa- 

 tives of the Eocene fauna of the north took refuge in Madagascar. This faunal 

 community is explicable only on the assumption of intermigrations between Eu- 

 rope and Madagascar, perhaps by way of Africa, in the early Tertiaries. If 'Le- 

 muria,' the great Indo-Madagascan continent, of which Madagascar is supposed 

 to be the sole remnant, ever existed, it must have been reduced to a long Indian 

 peninsula or archipelago in Mesozoic times. It is much more logical to suppose 

 that during the Tertiary the northwest coast of Madagascar for a short time 

 became united with the mainland of Africa by an isthmus, of which Mayotte, 

 the Comores, etc., are remnants. By means of this land bridge Madagascar was 

 peopled not only with African animals such as Hippopotamus and PotamochoevKS, 

 but also with the Eocene and Oligocene types so widely distributed in the northern 

 hemisphere, and remains of which appear also in Egypt, India, etc. Communica- 

 tion with Africa was finally interrupted and Madagascar continued its independent 

 existence, its inhabitants evolving without admixture of strange elements and main- 

 taining their primitive characteristics. Meanwhile Africa received ruminants, large 

 Carnivora, etc., by immigration, forms which are totally lacking in Madagascar." 



' Grandidier, G., Recherches sur les Lemuriens Dispanis et en particulier sur ceux qui 

 vivaient a Madagascar. Extr. Nouv. Arch. Mus., Ser. 4, Vol. VII, Paris, 1905. (See especially 

 pp. 138-140.) 



