THE MIOCENE OF EUROPE, ASIA, AND NORTH AMERICA 269 



Characteristic life. — The mammals of southwestern France, of Mont 

 Leberon, and Croix Rousse, were also described by Gaudry (1873),^ and 

 more recently by Deperet." The smaller and more delicate build of the 

 Rhone valley mammals as compared with those of Pikermi may be due, 

 says Deperet (1887, p. 254), to the dry climate and scarcer nourishment 

 which they met with, this being the northern limit of their distribution. 

 Of artiodactyls, the suillines are represented by a giant species of true pig 

 {Sus major), related to the living boars through the Pliocene forms. Of 

 the surviving older ruminant fauna, Palaonieryx was a large and Micro- 

 7neryx a small hornless deer, while the muntjac Dicrocerus, with its small 

 bifurcated antlers, also was present. It is important to note that this is 

 the last appearance of the horned cervuline deer in Europe. The roe deer 

 (Capreolus matheronis) occurs here, although absent in the Pikermi fauna 

 (Gaudry, 1873, p. 77). Side by side with the troops of gazelles {Gazella 

 deperdita) with lyre-shaped horns, there existed Tragocerus with antilopine 

 affinities but flattened horns that gave it a general goat-like appearance. 

 The giant giraffe (Helladotherium) , the most majestic of the ruminants of 

 Europe, also occurs here. The rhinoceroses are of greater size, the Su- 

 matran type Dicerorhinus schleiermacheri being provided with large horns; 

 the hornless aceratheres also occur here (.4. incisivum). Most striking is 

 the fact that the brachyodont anchitheres have entirely disappeared, and 

 that both the horses (hipparions) and antelopes are provided with long- 

 cro^vned or hypsodont teeth. Among the carnivores, small and large, we 

 still observe the plantigrade Amphicyon and the gigantic Dinocyon, also 

 the primitive bear-like Hycenarctos, indicating an omnivorous radiation of 

 this division of the Carnivora. Schlosser ^ (1899) observes that while 

 Hywnarctos in a measure paralleled the bears in its evolution, it was not 

 in the line of descent of Ursus ; it possibly gave rise to the parti-colored 

 bear {Mluropus) of Thibet. Notable among the rodents are two meml^ers 

 of the true leporid family or hares {Lagodus and Titanomys), one of which 

 is ancestral to the Corsican pica. 



A very similar fauna has been more recently described * (Deperet, 

 1895) from IMontredon (134) (Herault), including evidence of troops of 

 hipparions, antelopes, and gazelles. Especially notable here, as in Pikermi 

 and Eppelsheim, is the absence of wolf or fox-like canids; this great family 

 is represented only by the curious short-faced Siniocyon. 



To the north in Eppelsheim (Fig. 134, 40) the chief feature is the 



' Gaudry, A., Animaux Fossilcs du Mont Lebcron (Vauoluse). Etude sur les Vertebres. 

 Paris, 1873. 



^ Dejjcret, C, Rcphorohps sur la Succession des Faunas de Vert6br6s Miocdnes de la Vallce 

 du Rhone. Extr. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Lyon, 1, IV, Lyons, 18S7. 



3 Schlosser, M., Uber die Biiren und Riirenahnlichen Formen des Europiiischcn Tortiiirs. 

 PalcEontographica, Vol. XLVI, Stuttgart, 189!), p. 142. 



* Deperet, C, Resultats des fouilles paleontologiques dans Ic Miocene sup6rieur de la 

 colline de Montredon. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Sept. 9, 1895. 



