Gatcdry— 'Fossil Animals of Pikermi, Attica. 213 



suet like substances, I take to be the cbips left by the hand of time, 

 the only record of a period during which an entire fauna may have 

 died out and been replaced by another ; and they teach us not to cal- 

 culate, from the thickness of the deposit, the centuries that may have 

 elapsed. 



isTOTiciES oip nvniEivLOiias. 



I. — On the Fossil Animals of Pikebmi, Attica. 

 By M. A. Gaudry. 



IN announcing the completion of the publication of his researches 

 on the fossil bones of Pikermi, undertaken for the Academy of 

 Sciences, Paris, during' the years 1855-1860, M. Gaudry described 

 the character of the specimens obtained, numbering 4940, which 

 belong to 371 individuals, and 51 species. 



At the time of Cuvier's works no fossil apes were known, but 

 since then fourteen fossil species have been discovered. The remains 

 of the Mesojpitlieciis of Greece are so numerous that the author was 

 able to figure the whole of its skeleton, and has determined it to be 

 intermediate between the Semnojntheci and the Macaci ; it has the 

 skull of the former, and the limbs of the latter. 



Besides apes, there have been found carnivora, the Limocynon, a 

 small bear, a small dog, a small cat, and a genus called FromepJdtis, 

 allied to the martens. 



There have also been found at Pikermi, three civets of the genus 

 Ictitlierium, very closely related to the hygena. 



Gigantic bones have been found in Greece, belonging, as he has 

 reason to believe, to the JDinoihermm ; they offer a very interesting 

 relation, for the limbs are those of a Proboscidian, whilst the skull 

 has analogies with those of aquatic animals, such as the Lamantins 

 (or Manatees) now living in the Atlantic Ocean. 



Formerly, the distinctions between the mastodon and the ele- 

 phant were very evident ; but the researches of English paleonto- 

 logists in India have revealed species intermediate between these 

 two genera. As species increase in number, their characters become 

 so nearly related that it is difficult to avoid Qonfounding them 

 with simple varieties. In order to be able to recognise the different 

 species of mastodon Dr. Falconer proposed to separate them into 

 Trilophodons and Tetralophodons ; but it is now foimd that the 

 mastodon of Pentelique possesses teeth of both Trilophodon and 

 Tetralophodon. 



The rhinoceros presents no less curious transitions than the 

 mastodon. The first fossil rhinoceros which Cuvier described 

 appeared very different from the living species, for its nostrils were 

 separated by a great partition ; we know now of at least two species 

 with a semi-partition, forming a passage between those that have a 

 partition and those that have none. One species of rhinoceros, 



