MAMMALIAN FATJjSTA OE THE VAL D AEN^O. O 



§ 2. Relation to the Older Faunas. 



On the boundary-line between the Miocene and Pliocene we find 

 in southern Europe, and especially in the region of the Mediterranean, 

 and also as far to the east as the Siwalik mountains of India, a 

 richly developed fauna in which the Hipparion is the most widely 

 spread and important representative. This fauna is met with at 

 Pikermi in Attica, at Concud, and at Alcoy in Spain, at Oran and 

 Constantino in Algeria, at Montpellier and Mont Leberon (Cucuron) 

 in France, at Casino near Siena, in Italy, at Eppelsheim in Germany, 

 as well as in Austria-Hungary, the Balkan peninsula, and in Asia 

 Minor. ISTot one of the members of the fauna discovered in these 

 localities occurs in the somewhat younger fauna of the Yal d'Arno. 

 Yarious relations are certainly to be pointed out. The two Pliocene 

 Antelopes, Palcaoryx Meneghinii, Hiit., from Olivola in the valley 

 of the Magra, and Palceoreas montis caroli, in the valley of the 

 Arno, are closely allied to species of the same genera found in 

 Pikermi. The same intimate relation exists between the MacJiairodus 

 of Pikermi and those of the Yal d'Arno. The Mastodon Borsoni 

 from Asti and the upper valley of the Arno is so closely allied to 

 the Mastodon ta^nroides, of "Winterthur, (Eningen, and Pikermi, 

 that both forms are frequently mistaken one for the other ; and in 

 the same way the Pliocene M. arvernensis is closely allied to 

 M. longirostris. The relation of Equus Stenonis to Hipparion has 

 been dealt with in my treatise on the fossil horses of Italy. 



The mammalian fauna of Montpellier, as we know it from 

 Gervais's works (and which according to his final assertions also 

 contains Hipparion), shows us a mixture of both faunas, and not one 

 of transitional forms, but containing species identical with those of 

 the Yal d'Arno and others identical with those from Casino. 



Unfortunately the suspicion is not to be put aside that this mix- 

 ture only took place in the Museum ; so that we cannot draw any 

 conclusions from this case until the circumstances are satisfactorily 

 cleared up. 



The Yal-d'Arno fauna too was spread as far as India, and we 

 find its representatives in the Siwahks. Equus sivaleoisis, Ealc. 

 and Cautl., seems to me identical with E, Stenonis, Cocchi, from 

 the Arno Yalley ; the gigantic wild boar from the Siwaliks, 

 Sus giganteus, Ealc, is probably identical with S. Strozzii, Menegh., 

 from the upper valley of the Arno. So also, according to Eiitimeyer's 

 researches, the Siwalik oxen show a great similarity to those of 

 the Yal d'Arno. Lydekker distinguishes in the Siwaliks Mio-pliocene 

 strata {Hippaiion &c.), so that it must be said that this distinction 

 is based on local stratigraphical circumstances, and not merely 

 adopted by analogy with those in Europe. 



§ 3. The Shore-deposits of the Pliocene Sea in Italy contain the same 

 Mammalian Fauna as the Lacustrine deposits of the Yal d^Arno. 



We every now and then come across the assertion that the marine 

 Pliocenes of Italy are older than the lacustrine strata of the Arno 



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