THE MIOCENE OF EUROPE, ASIA, AND NORTH AMERICA 261 



tween 1845 and 1861, ami nionograi)ho(l by Deperot ^ (1887, 1892) and 

 Gaillard - (1899). The latter autlior has increased the faunal list of La 

 Grive to sixty-three species, and the new types he records all tend to em- 

 phasize the more recc^it age than Sansan of this rcmarkaljly rich fauna. 

 The most famous parallel of La Grive is that of Steinheim (28), Wiirttem- 

 berg, in which upward of thirty species have ])een recorded by Peters, 

 Fraas,-' and others, twenty of which are common with those of La Grive. 



Of the physiography of this famous deposit of La Grive, Gaillard ^ 

 remarks (1899, p. 77) : "The fauna was so varied that from it we can deduce 

 soine ideas in regard to the region it inhabited. Th(^ presence of flying 

 squirrels (Sciuropterus) and of certain tree-living forms of the insectivorous 

 and carnivorous orders proves that the country was wooded ; gentle streams 

 flowed along the bases of the hills to collect in a lake or marsh at the bottom 

 of the valley. The edges of this body of water were the haunt of rhinoc- 

 eroses, otters, and of various birds. The numerous insectivores show that 

 insects were abundant, and indicate a warm and humid climate. We are 

 fully justified in assuming that the Dauphine in the Miocene period had 

 very much the general aspect of certain wooded regions in the tropics 

 to-day." Deperet says (1887, p. 252) of this locality in the southeastern 

 part of France that there was easy means of communication both with 

 the Garonne valley and with Germany and Switzerland. 



The chief and most interesting newcomer is the ancestral bear (Ursavus 

 primoevus), of which Schlosser * observes: "This is a small animal, showing 

 certain resemblances to the short-snouted Malayan sun-bear {Helarctos), 

 though not directly ancestral to it. It is in the main line of descent of 

 the brown bear, being ancestral to the upper Miocene Ursus buckhi." 



Gaillard sums up the fauna of La Grive (1899, pp. 75-78) as including 

 one primate (Pliopithecus), seven bats, nine insectivores, sixteen genera, 

 and many more species of carnivores, including the saber-tooth tiger 

 Machcerodus jourdani, a true feline {Felis zitteli) a little smaller than the 

 domestic cat, three species of the feline Pseudcelurus, the primitive bear 

 (Ursavus), the large, extinct, bear-like dogs Dinocyon and Amphicyon, the 

 otter (Lutra), three small mustelines of the genus Mustela, a number of 

 civets (Viverra and Herpestes), and a genet (Progenetta) . There are numerous 

 rodents, among them squirrels, dormice, hamsters, picas. The probos- 



' Deperet, C, Recherches sur la Succession des Faunes Vertebres Mioc6nes de la Vallee 

 du Rhone. Extr. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Lyon, 1, IV, Lyons, 1887. Also, La Faune de 

 Mammifdres Miocenes de la Grive-Saint-Alban (Is&re). Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Li/on, Vol. V, 

 1892, pp. 1-9.3. 



2 Gaillard, C, Mammifdres Miocenes Nouveaux ou Peu Connus do la Grive-Saint-.Vlhan 

 (Is^re). Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Lyon, Vol. VII, Lyons, 1899. 



' Fraas, O., Die Fauna von Steinheim. Jahreshefte Ver. vaterl. Naturkunde Wurttem., 

 Vol. XXVI, Stuttgart, 1870. Also, Beitriige zur Fauna von Steinheim, Jahreshefte Ver. 

 Vaterl. Nnturkurule Wurttem. , Vol. XLI, Stuttgart, 1885. 



* Schlosser, M., Uber die Bilren und Barenahnlichen Formen des Europilischen Tertiiirs. 

 Palasontographica, Vol. XLVI, Stuttgart, 1899, p. 102. 



