THE PLIOCENE OF EUROPE, ASIA, AND NORTH AMERICA 321 



boar of the period {S. strozzii) exhibits tusks more like those of the Asiatic 

 boar {S. celebensis) than those of the European boar. 



The horse (Equus stenonis) which frequented northern Italy in Upper 

 Pliocene times reached a height of nearly 15 hands (1.524 m.); it is distin- 

 guished by the narrow anterior pillar (protocone) of the upper molar teeth 

 and is regarded by Ewart ^ as one of the possible ancestors of existing horses, 

 on his theory that these breeds may be traced back to several wild ancestral 

 stocks. Contemporaneous with E. stenonis in the Upper Pliocene of Europe 

 was the E. sivalensis of the Upper Pliocene of southern Asia, which may 

 also have had a share in the making of modern domestic breeds. 



The L. dubia is distinct from the common 

 Mammals from the Red otter (L. vulgaris). The L. reedii is of a very 

 AND Norwich Crags.^ brachyodont type, resembling the L. sivalensis 



Lutra dubia of India. The seal Phocanella agrees with 



Lutra reedii that found in the Belgium Pliocene by Van 



Phoca moorei Beneden. The beaver Trogontherium minus 



Phocanella minor is represented by teeth much smaller than 



Trogontherium minus those of its successor in the Pleistocene, T. 



Mesoplodon floris cuvieri; its incisor has the front rounded, with 



Mesoplodon scaphoides rugose enamel, thus differing from Castor. 



Ailurus anglicus Dawkins The supposed panda, Ailurus anglicus Daw- 

 kins, from the Red Crag of Suffolk is repre- 

 sented by a perfect upper molar tooth, which strikingly resembles the cor- 

 respondmg teeth of Ailurus fulgens of Asia, but is one-third larger in size. 



II. PLIOCENE LIFE OF ASIA 



Our first glimpse into the life of the forested regions of southern Asia 

 during Miocene times (p. 273) is followed in the Pliocene by a fuller knowl- 

 edge of what is altogether the grandest assemblage of mammals the world 

 has ever seen, distributed through southern and eastern Asia, and prob- 

 ably, if our vision could be extended, ranging westward toward Persia and 

 Arabia into northern Africa. 



It is the most truly cosmopoHtan aggregation because in its Upper 

 Pliocene stage it represents a congress of mammals from four great con- 

 tinents, namely: (1) native, or autochthonous manmials of southern Asia, 

 (2) survivals of the fauna known at earlier periods in Europe, presumably 

 common to northern Europe and Asia, (3) mammals of African origin, 

 (4) mammals of North American origin. 



By the close of the Pliocene the contributions of these four continents 



' Ewart, J. Cossar. The Possible Ancestors of the Horse Living under Domestication. 

 Science, n.s., Vol. XXX, no. 763, Aug. 13, 1909, pp. 219-223. 



^ Newton, E. T., On Some New Mammals from the Red and Norwich Crags. Quart. 

 Jour. Geol. Soc, Vol. XLVI, Aug., 1890, pp. 444-4.53. 

 Y 



