396 THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



We are disposed to consider all these deposits as of the same age as the 

 Forest Bed and thus belonging to the first faunal zone or Lower Pleistocene. 

 The mammals embrace substantially the same species, namely, the southern 

 elephant {E. meridionalis), the Etruscan rhinoceros (D. etruscus), prim- 

 itive species of horse, the giant hippopotamus (H. major), the large beaver 

 (Trogontherium) , and the bison (B. bo7iasus). 



From Durfort was obtained the magnificent skeleton of a southern mam- 

 moth (E. meridionalis) described by Gaudry ^ (p. 397). The giant fallow 

 deer are represented at St. Prest by the species C. carnutorum 'the deer of 

 the Carnutes.' St. Prest is famous because in 1863 Desnoyer first dis- 

 covered here the incised bones which are now considered as the work of 

 Eolithic man. 



The most recently discovered fauna of this age is that of Cajarc^ in the 

 northern part of the Rhone basin. Harle and Stehlin consider it transi- 

 tional between the St. Prest and Durfort and the Montmaurin deposits. 

 The elephant (E. meridionalis) is of a type more recent than that typical of 

 the Upper Pliocene. The Bos or Bison is of very large size. Especially 

 interesting is the fact that these authors positively determine here relatives 

 of the red deer (Cervus elaphus), leaving the specific reference doubtful. 

 There is a large badger (Meles taxus) characteristic of the Early Pleistocene, 

 a small wolf (Canis) no larger than a jackal. There is also a small species of 

 saber-tooth tiger (Machcerodus). 



In the cavern at Montmaurin in the Pyrenees ^ we have remains of an 

 early Pleistocene fauna as different from that of the Upper Pliocene as it 

 is from the Pleistocene cold fauna that followed it. According to Boule, it 

 includes the broad-nosed rhinoceros {D. merckii), the red deer, or stag (C 

 elaphus), the roe deer (C. capreolus), as well as the saber-tooth tiger {M. 

 latidens). The saber-tooth is certainly one of the most characteristic 

 mammals of this Lower Pleistocene stage. In southern France, accom- 

 panying the southern mammoth appear the primitive Etruscan rhinoceros 

 (D. etruscus) and the bison (B. bonasus). Flora. — Associated with the 

 remains of these animals at Durfort* were those of numerous plants 

 {Planera, Parrotia, Quercus, Fagus), of species now represented in the 

 Caucasus, in Persia, in southern Italy, Portugal, and Japan. Again, in 

 the interglacial forest of Moret (Seine valley) we find the fig (Ficus) and 

 the Judas tree (Cercis), indicating a mild temperature. The tree flora, like 

 that of Norfolk, thus indicates somewhat warmer conditions of temperature 

 than prevail at the present time, the temperature of 4° to the south. 

 Reid observes that the climate of this age was slightly warmer, but almost 



' Gaudry, A., L'Elephant de Durfort. Paris, 1893. 



■ Harle, E., and Stehlin, H. G., Une Nouvelle Faune de Mammif^res des Phosphorites du 

 Quercy. Bull. Soc. Geol. France, Ser. 4, Vol. IX, 1909, pp. 39-52. 



' Boule, M., La Caverne k Ossements de Montmaurin (Haute-Garonne). L'Anlhropol., 

 Vol. XIII, 1902. 



^ Gaudry, A., L'Elephant de Durfort. Paris, 1893. 



