THE PLIOCENE OF EUROPE, ASIA, AND NORTH AMERICA 307 



and yet the flora from the lower strata is indistinguishable from that of the 

 upper. ^ In the Val d'Arno we find the sassafras, bay, laurel, magnolia, 

 sweet gum, etc. ; thus the regions which harbored the rich forest and meadow 

 fauna of northern Italy in Upper Pliocene times abounded in trees familiar 

 to-day in the Carolinas of the southern United States. Similarly the 

 famous flora of Mcximieux is regarded by Deperet as representing all 

 the levels of the Pliocene. At Meximieux the bamboo (Bambusa) is 

 characteristic. 



Pliocene bii^ds. — The fosi^ils preserved in the numerous marine and 

 littoral formations of the Pliocene give us a picture of the substantially 

 modern character of the shore bird life of Europe, which may be compared 

 with that of North America, p. 459. In the Lower Pliocene of England we 

 discover in the Red Crag of Suffolk remains of Diomedea, an albatross 

 slightly smaller than the existing ' frigate birds' {Fregata). In northern Italy 

 are found the coot (Fidica), guillemots (Uria) of the size of the recent 

 spectacled guillemot, and the falcons (Falco). In the Middle Pliocene of 

 ]\Iontpellier and Roussillon we find representatives of the existing Grallse 

 (including herons, etc.) and of the family of Anatidse (which comprises 

 the ducks and swans), as well as gallinaceous forms (Gallus) related to Indo- 

 Malayan types. There were also crows (Corvus) and thrushes (Turdiis) 

 similar to existing European forms.- 



Pliocene primates.^- — In the Pliocene appear three of the catarrhine 

 monkeys closely related to the still living langur (Senmopithecus), to the 

 macaque (Macacus), and to the baboon (Cynocephalus). The Dolichopi- 

 thecus of France (Perpignan) is distinguished from the existing langur of 

 southern Asia through its elongate face and its relatively short and stout 

 limbs. 



The anthropoid apes do not survive in Europe; Dryopithecus appears 

 to have become extinct, as well as the gibbon line, which we have seen 

 represented in the Pliohylobates of the Upper Miocene of Eppelsheim. 



The chimpanzee from the Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, commonly 

 designated as Palceopithecus sivalensis, is fully identified by Schlosser with 

 the existing chimpanzee (Anthropopithecus) . According to Schlosser, also, 

 there is positive evidence of the existence of the orang (Simia) in the 

 Siwaliks, but fossil remains of the gorilla (Gorilla) have not yet been 

 discovered. 



To be reckoned with the primates also are the undiscovered makers of 

 the eoliths, or primitive flints found in various parts of Europe. 



' Ristori, Contrib. alia flora foss. d. Val d'Arno sup. Atti Soc. Toscana Sc, Vol. VII, 

 1886; also Consid. geol. s. Val d'Arno, id. p. 25G secj. 



^ Deperet, C, Les Animaux Pliocenes du Roussillon. Mem. Soc. Geol. France, Paleont., 

 no. 3, Paris, 1890, pp. 127-1.38. 



^ Schwalbe, G., IJber fossile Primaton imd ihrc Red(>utunf!: fi'ir die Vorgeschichte do3 

 Menschon. Mitteil. Philomat. Gen. Elsass-Lothrlngen, Vol. IV, no. 1, Decade 16 (1908), Strass- 

 .burg, 1909, pp. 45-61. 



