190 THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



Milne Edwards ' has described the birds of Ronzon as including the 

 Accipitres (Teracus), Grallae, aUied to the plovers, also phoenicopterids, 

 including birds allied to the flamingoes but of more slender build and with 

 shorter feet. The gannets are also represented. 



Middle Oligocene, Stampian 



f Upper Tongrian 



Our knowledge of the European mammals of this stage extends still 

 more widely, especially to the east of the Adriatic, including a marl deposit 

 as far east as Styria (Austria) (Fig. 82, 48). The rich final deposits of the 

 phosphorites de Quercy are of this age. In this age, too, ^ are the lignites of 

 Cadibona (Liguria) (46), the deposits of Moissac (35) in southwestern France, 

 containing the first undoubted paired-horned rhinoceros (D. minutum),'^ also 

 of Cereste (22) and Manosque (23) in southeastern France; to the north 

 are the lacustrine sands of Ferte Alais (Seine-et-Oise) (1). In the summit 

 of the Stampian are the lacustrine deposits of Gannat (16) in central France 

 (Allier), which have yielded the large hornless tetradactyl rhinoceros (A. 

 gannatense) . Altogether Deperet has listed fifty localities, as shown in 

 Fig. 82. 



At this time the tree flora was one of sequoias and cinnamons. In 

 northern Italy flourished palms that require an even temperature of 25° C. 

 (77° F.) similar to that of Brazil. 



Characteristic mammalian life. — The aflfinity to America is strength- 

 ened by the arrival of fresh perissodactyls, including the first appearance 

 in Europe of the tapirs (Protapirus, Paratapirus) , of the true hornless 

 rhinoceroses (aceratheres), remarkably similar to those of the Middle Beds 

 of the White River group, Dakota, also of undoubted diceratheres, or 

 pair-horned rhinoceroses. The amphibious rhinoceroses, or amynodonts, 

 are represented by Cadurcoiherium with hypsodont teeth, in a state of 

 evolution closely similar to that of Metamynodon of our western plains. 

 An entire lower jaw of Cadurcoiherium ^ was found at Bournoncle St. 

 Pierre; there is little doubt that this highly specialized amynodont belongs 

 to the age of Moissac in France. These similarities tend to establish a 

 parallel with the Oreodon and Metamynodon Zones (Fig. 101) of the White 

 River group of South Dakota, which are accordingly regarded as of Middle 

 Oligocene age. 



The artiodactyl ruminants increase. — Fresh Asiatic elements make 

 their first appearance; e.g. the cervuline deer (Dremotherium) which, although 

 hornless, is compared with the existing muntjacs (Cervulus) of the southern 



' Milne Edwards, A., Oiseaux Fossiles de la France, 1869-1871, p. 552. 



^ This dicerathere of Moissac is more progressive in its horn development than any of 

 the ancestral diceratheres of the Oreodon Zones. 



3Boule,M.,LeCadurcotherium. C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris. 1896, Vol CXXII, pp. 1150-1152. 



