GEOLOGICAL AGE OF MAST. ARVERNENSIS. 51 



So also in regard to the Crag Suiclce referred by Professor 

 Owen to the Eppelsheim species, Sus palceochoerus and Sus 

 antiquus of Kanp. The Crag specimens upon which the 

 identification is founded are limited in each case to a single 

 detached upper molar. The tooth referred by Prof. Owen to 

 Sus palceochoerus assuredly bears a very close resemblance to 

 the figure of that of the Eppelsheim species with which he 

 compares it; but the evidence, it must be admitted, is too 

 limited to bear out a satisfactory specific identification ; for 

 aught that is shown to the contrary, except a slight difference 

 of size, both of the Crag teeth may belong to the same 

 species. An extinct species of Sus, S. Arvemensis of Croizet, 

 has been found in the Pliocene strata of Auvergne ; another 

 supposed species, S. provincialis of Gervais, in the marine 

 Pliocene sands of Montpellier ; and species, as yet undeter- 

 mined, of the same genus, occur in the Pliocene deposits of 

 Italy. Is it certain that the ' Red Crag ' molars of Sus differ 

 from all these ? 



The Equus of the Red Crag is stated by Professor Owen to 

 resemble in the molar teeth his Equus pliciclens of the Oreston 

 Cavern, reconcileable with a Pliocene origin. The evidence 

 respecting the teeth of the form considered by Prof. Owen 

 ' as probably of the subgenus Hipparion ' has not been ad- 

 duced. This subgenus had hitherto been regarded as strictly 

 confined to Miocene strata, but Gervais 1 has attempted to 

 distinguish several species from the marl beds of Curcuron in 

 the Vaucluse, the age of which, whether Miocene or Pliocene, 

 he alleges, still remains to be determined. 



As regards the two Cervine Ruminants from the Red Crag 

 the determination of the form which Prof. Owen refers to 

 Gervus clicranocerus of Eppelsheim rests upon two shed antlers 

 and two detached molars. The horns undoubtedly closely 

 resemble those figured by Kaup of that species ; but, as 

 Prof. Owen states, a species presenting the rare character of 

 a similar bifurcate form of antler, and named Gervus australis 

 by Marcel de Serres, 2 has been discovered in the Pliocene 

 marine sands of Montpellier ; and it has not been shown that 

 the Crag form differs specifically from it. The identification 

 which is most at variance with the conclusions hitherto ac- 

 cepted is that of the shed antler, said to be from a Crag pit 

 at Felixstow, which Professor Owen (in the reference to the 

 figure) describes as the ' base of the antler of the Megaceros 

 Hibernians ; ' inferred to occur in a formation where the 

 majority of the Mammalian species are regarded as Miocene. 



1 Paleontol. Fran<;.T,ise, torn. i. p. 177. 



3 Gervais, Paleuntol. Frannaise, torn. i. p. 85. PI. vii. figs. 1-3. 



