PLEISTOCENE OF EUROPE, NORTH AFRICA, AND NORTH AMERICA 399 



attained a height of only 5 ft. She remarks that the adaptabihty to which 

 E. antiquus owed its wide geographic distribution and its continued exist- 

 ence through a long period of time may explain its rapid diminution in size 

 under adverse circumstances. 



Rhinoceroses. — These animals belong to the dicerorhine phylum ; that 

 is, they are related remotely to the Sumatran, or Asiatic, and not to the 

 African rhinoceroses, although like the latter they lack the front or cutting 

 teeth. The stage typical of the period is the Etruscan rhinoceros {D. 

 etruscus), a browsing form with short-crowned teeth, first recorded in the 

 Val d'Arno. It appears probable that the related broad-nosed rhinoceros 

 (D. megarhinus or D. merckii), a grazing animal with long-cro\\aied teeth, 

 is not certainly recognized in the Forest Bed level, but first occurs in a later 

 interglacial stage; this point requires investigation. 



Human Culture Stages 



Eolithic flints. — As above noted, the earliest traces of man in beds of 

 this age were the incised bones discovered by Desnoyers at St. Prest near 

 Chartres in 1863. Doubt as to the artificial character of these incisions 

 has been removed by the recent explorations of Laville and Rutot which 

 resulted in the discovery of eolithic flints, fully confirming the discoveries 

 of the Abbe Bourgeois in these deposits in 1867. The associated fauna 

 includes the elephant {E. meridionalis) , the rhinoceros {D. etruscus), the 

 hippopotamus (H. major), the beaver (Trogontherium) , three species of bear 

 and one of the bison. Further confirmation is lent by the discovery of 

 Abbott of several worked flints, two in situ, in the Cromer Forest Bed. 



It is possible (Schotensack ^) that the Mauer sands, containing some 

 species of the First Fauna, as well as an elephant attributed to E. antiq'uuS) 

 are of this early date. (See pp. 401, 403). 



2. The Second, or Mid-Pleistocene Fauna 



Comparing the mammals of Europe now present with those demarcating 

 the stages in the Pliocene, Miocene, and earlier ages, we perceive that we are 

 truly entering a new life zone, which may be divided into two faunal sub- 

 zones, an earlier and a more recent. (See pp. 375, 389.) 



The mammals of this grand life zone have lost many resemblances to 

 those of the Upper Pliocene and are regarded by most authorities (pp. 377, 

 378) as belonging chiefly to the second and third interglacial epochs. They 

 are distinguished from those typical of the Norfolk Forest Bed by the dis- 

 appearance of certain surviving Pliocene forms and by the first appearance 

 in northern Europe of certain southern types, such as the hippopotamus and 

 the straight-tusked elephant. 



* Schotensack, O., Der Unterkiefer des Homo heidelbergensis aus den Sanden von Maucr 

 bei Heidelberg: Ein Beitrag zur Palilontologie des Menschen. Leipzig, 1908. 



