LECTURE IX. 243 



tivora, whicli excepting in tlie formation of the teeth^ are nearly- 

 allied to the rodentia^ a species of shrew {Sorex similis), for- 

 merly native in Sardinia, now perfectly extinct, has been found. 



Among the ruminants the deer species were well represented, 

 and belong to the extinct animals. The splendid Irish peat 

 deer {Gervus euryceros) , which in size equalled the reindeer, 

 and possessed enormous antlers, whose size and weight seemed 

 out of proportion to that of the animal ; the gigantic deer 

 {Gervus somonensis) which occurs in northern France, and 

 some less-known species found in French caves, are all extinct. 

 So too are certain antelopes {Antelope GhristoU and dichotoma) 

 found in caves of the south of France, a wild goat {Ibex Geven- 

 narum) of the Cevennes, and other two species of oxen {Bos 

 primigenius), of which we shall speak when treating of domes- 

 tic animals. 



Of all extinct species the pachydermata have excited the 

 greatest attention. No horses, of which an extinct species 

 {Uqiius fossilis) has, however, been discovered in France ; but of 

 the hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and elephants, some perfectly 

 preserved carcasses, especially of the latter, have been found as 

 far north as the coast of the Arctic sea. There existed probably 

 several species of extinct river horses {Hippopotamus Pent- 

 landi, major, minor) extending to England and Russia, which 

 could as easily have supported themselves in the marshy lakes 

 and large rivers of the diluvial period, as they can now in 

 central Africa. In Europe we find two* different species of ele- 

 phants J the one of which {Elephas meridionalis) was essentially 

 confined to the Mediterranean region, where it occurs along 

 with a rhinoceros {Rhinoceros leptorliinus) , which resembles 

 the double-horned rhinoceros of the Cape; whilst the other 

 species, the mammoth {ElejjJias primigenius), and another 

 species of rhinoceros {Rhinoceros ticho7'hi7ius) , carrying two horns 

 upon a nose, supported by an osseous septum, was enabled by 

 a warm hairy coat, which is wanting in the present species, to 



* Sir Charles Lyell, in his recent address to the British Association at 

 Bath, makes the following observations on this point : "We have now, there- 

 fore, evidence of man having coexisted in Europe with three species of ele- 

 phants, two of them extinct (namely, the Mammoth and the Elephas antiquus), 

 and a third, the same as that which still survives in Africa." — Editor. 



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