52 



BRITISH AND EUROPEAN FOSSIL MASTODONS. 



common Otter (Lutra vulgaris 1 ) and Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) 

 having also been found in the same deposit, would require to 

 be very conclusive before the facts alleged could be received 

 as well established. For no fewer than eight species of 

 Cervus, belonging to the subgenera Busa and Strongyloceros, 

 with round antlers, have been described by the French 

 palaeontologists as occurring in the Velay and Auvergne, 

 besides eleven other species in Pliocene or Post-Pliocene 

 strata. 2 Several species with round-antlered horns have 

 also been obtained from the Val d'Arno, which would seem 

 to be identical with Auvergne forms (making liberal allowance 

 for doubles emplois in the specific names), and it is much more 

 probable, from the agreement in the other associated mammals 

 that the Crag species belonged to one of these than to the 

 existing Cervus elaphus. 3 Hippopotamus major and Rhinoceros 

 leptorhinus, 4 if not hitherto obtained from the Fluvio-marine 

 Crag, occur in abundance either in the blue clay or in the 

 ancient fwest or lignite-bed, which immediately overlies the 

 Crag in the sections along the Norfolk Coast ; and evidence 

 will be adduced in the sequel, that these beds are of the same 

 Pliocene age, in so far as is shown by the paramount proof 

 of identity of mammalian fauna. Taking together the 

 ascertained fossil Mammalia of these two beds, they agree 

 very closely with the Pliocene fauna of the Sub -Apennines, 

 viz. M. (Tetralophodon) Arvernensis, E. (Loxodon) meridionalis, 

 E. (Euelephas) antiquus, Rhinoceros leptorhinus, Hippopotamus 

 major, large Bovidw, and large Deer with round-antlered 

 horns. Among the Proboscidean forms the principal excep- 

 tion isthe absence of the Mastodon here called M. (Trilophodon) 

 Borsoni from the Crag and blue clay. This species, which 

 occurs both in the Astesan and Auvergne and other parts of 

 France, is so nearly allied to the Mastodon of North America 

 that the first discovered European specimens were regarded 



\ mmense accumulations of sand and 

 gravel, that it becomes almost impossible 

 to distinguish the specific Crag deposit 

 from the accompanying diluvial strata.' 

 — Phil. Mag. 3rd ser. vol. vii. p. 89. 



1 Owen, Brit. Foss. Mamm. p. 121. 



2 Pomel, Catal. Method, et Descript. 

 p. 103. 



3 Gervais has expressed doubts re- 

 specting the veritable association of these 

 living with extinct forms : — 



' II est egalement a supposer, que les 

 nouvelles reeherches des geologues 

 d'Angleterre demontreront aux palton- 

 tologistes de ce pays que certains ani- 

 maux reconnus par M. Owen comme 

 £tant d'especes actuelles n'ontpas appar- 

 tenu, comme ils le supposent, a l'epoque 



pliocene. Tels sent le Cerf, la Loutre, 

 et le Sanglier ordinaires. Le Rhinoceros 

 tichorhinns, que nous considerons comme 

 caracteristique d\i pleistocene, nous 

 parait aussi devoir etre ray6 de la liste 

 des animaux pliocenes. On pourrait sup- 

 poser qu'il s'est glisse quelque ereur dans 

 la determination des pieces osseuses, re- 

 gardees comme telles, mais cette deter- 

 mination est garantie par la citation que 

 M. Owen fait de cette espeee dans sa liste 

 chronologique des Mammiferes fossiles en 

 Angleterre. et il est plus pfobable que 

 e'est sur l'age du terrain lui-meme que 

 Ton s'est trompe.' — Gervais, Paleontol. 

 Francaise, torn. i. p. 180. 

 4 See note 3, p. 49— [Ed.] 



