394 



THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



interesting questions. The true red deer, or stag of Europe (C elaphus), 

 for example, was listed in this fauna l)y Dawkins, but Newton regarded it 

 as very uncertain, and other authors consider that it first appears only in 

 later Pleistocene times. The chief members of this mammalian assemblage 



Forest Bed Fauna. — The authen- 

 tic occurrence in the Poorest Bed de- 

 posits of a number of mammals which 



are as follows: 



Eolithic Man 

 (indicated by 



only) 



implements 

 Southern mammoths 



E. meridionalis, {?) E. trogoniherii 

 Straight-tusked mammoths 



(in Italy only) 

 E. antiquus 



Dicerorhine rhinoceroses 



D. etruscus 

 Primitive horses 



E. caballus fossilis 

 E. stenonis 



Hippopotami 



H. major 

 Polycladine deer 



C. sedgwicki 

 Roe deer 



C. capreolus 

 Axis deer (in Italy or 



southern Europe only) 

 Giant fallow deer 



C. dawkinsi, C. verticornis 

 (f) Musk oxen, or musk sheep 



(in Great Britain) 



(f) Ovihos moschatus 

 Bison 



Bison bonasus 

 {?) Primitive true cattle 



(f) Bos primigenius 

 Large beavers 



Trogontherium 

 Saber-tooth cats 



Machcerodus (f) cultridens 

 Wolverines, or gluttons 



(in Great Britain) 



Gulo luscus 



are commonly attributed to this 

 fauna was questioned by Newton ^ 

 after very careful study of all the 

 records and materials. It is cer- 

 tainly very important, now that we 

 recognize a series of glacial and 

 interglacial epochs, that mammals 

 belonging to late Pleistocene times 

 should not be attributed to the For- 

 est Bed Interglacial Epoch without 

 very conclusive testimony. Among 

 the records which Newton considered 

 ^ doubtful are the hysena, the broad- 

 nosed rhinoceros (D. megarhinus) , 

 the true cattle (Bos primigenius), the 

 red deer (Cervus elaphus), the moose 

 (Alces latifrons), and the giant deer 

 (Megaceros). The reference of the 

 musk ox (0. moschatus) by Dawkins 

 must also be considered somewhat 

 doubtful. 



Deer. — The presence of deer in 

 great numbers and representing many 

 different phyla is one of the most 

 distinctive features of the times; it 

 is certain that during the Norfolk 

 Interglacial period there existed nu- 

 merous and varied forms of deer life 

 both in Great Britain and southern 

 and western Europe. They belong 

 to several, probably to as many as 

 five, distinct phyla. The first of 

 these, the polycladine, or 'many- 

 branched ' deer, so distinctive of the 



1 Newton, E. T., Notes on the Vertebrata of the Pre-Glacial Forest Bed Series of the 

 East of England. Geol. Mag., Vol. VII, PI. XV, 1880, Pt. I, Carnivora, pp. 152-155, Pt. II, 

 Carnivora, pp. 424-427, Pt. Ill, Ungulata, pp. 447-452. 



