32 FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 



in the gypsum, mixed with Hmestone, in the environs of Paris 

 and of Aix, and in the marly fresh- water formations, covered 

 again with marine strata, in Alsace, Orleannais, and Berri. 



These organic remains are singularly remarkable, as belong- 

 ing to a variety and abundance of certain genera of pachyder- 

 mata, now rotally extinct, and approximating more or less in 

 character to the tapir, rhinoceros, and camel. These genera, 

 for whose discovery we are entirely indebted to the Baron, are 

 the palaeotherium, laphiodon, anoplotherium, antracotherium, 

 cheropotamus, and adapis. Of these there are about forty 

 species, all extinct, and to which there are none analogous in 

 the living world, except two tapirs and a daman. 



In the same formation with these pachydermata are some 

 remains of carnivora, of rodentia, of birds, of crocodiles, and 

 tortoises. Of the first, a bat, (and, singular to relate, the only 

 instance of the kind occurring in this or subsequent formations,) 

 a fox, an animal approximating to the racoons and coatis, a 

 peculiar species of genet, some other carnivora not so easily 

 determined, and, most remarkable of all, a small sarigue, a 

 genus now confined to America. There are two small roden- 

 tia of the dormouse kind, and a head of the genus squirrel. In 

 the gypsum of Paris, bones of birds are very abundant, consti- 

 tuting the remains of at least ten species. The crocodiles ap- 

 proximate to those of the present age, and the tortoises are all 

 of the fresh water. There are also remains of fish and shells, 

 in great part unknown at present. 



There can be no doubt that this immense animal population 

 of what Cuvier calls the middle age of the earth, has been en- 

 tirely destroyed. Wherever its debris have been discovered, 

 there are vast superincumbent beds of marine formation, prov- 

 ing the invasion and long continuance of the sea in the countries 

 inhabited by these races. Whether the countries subjected to 

 such inundation at this era were of considerable extent or not, 

 our present acquaintance with the strata in question does not 

 enable us to decide. These formations, however, embrace the 



