300 ANTHROPOID APES. 



boulder clay. To judge from the Norfolk strata, 

 these latter were of very long duration. Above the 

 fauna of the boulder clay are those of the diluvium, 

 followed by the fauna of the reindeer period and of 

 our own time. 



Whatever may be thought of the many changes 

 which have taken place, whether they are regarded 

 as the result of distinct and independent creations 

 or as the result of transformations, no geologist can 

 doubt that an immense tract of time was required 

 for the production of these forms. In the Middle 

 Miocene there is not a single species of mammal 

 which corresponds to any of our extant species. If 

 we start from the standpoint of simple palaeontology, 

 it would be difficult to assume that the being which 

 shaped the flints at Thenay can have remained un- 

 altered in the midst of all these changes. If, as 

 Gaudry remarks, it can be shown that the flints 

 collected by Bourgeois in the Beauce limestone 

 were really artificially shaped, he as a geologist 

 would not hesitate to recognize in the Dryopithecus 

 the author of this handiwork.* 



But, speaking provisionally, the Dryopithecus v.hich 

 is assumed to have used these flints, and of which we, 

 unfortunately, know only the little which can be 

 gleaned from a few fragments of bone, must remain 

 the object of an interesting hypothesis, so far as his 

 advanced anthropomorphism is concerned. No an- 

 thropoid now in existence has shown itself capable 

 of adapting stones, etc., to his personal use. More- 

 over, the most fanatical advocates of the doctrine of 



* Les Enchainements du monde animal, p. 240. 



