TERTIARY PERIOD. 



527 



tween the Pachyderms and the Stag among Euminants (as the 

 Anoplothere and Dichobune), — a far more graceful type of Mammal. 

 There were also Bats (genus Vespertilio), and Opossums {Didelphis), 

 besides some species of Rodents, the earliest of the tribe. Both 

 Britain and France had then wild beasts of the above-mentioned 

 kinds, although in the present age there are no Opossums out of 

 America. Didelphis is the only genus of the number now having 

 living species. There were no Edentates (species of the Sloth tribe) 

 in existence, as far as ascertained, although these are among the 

 lowest of Mammals. 



The first discovery of Tertiary Mammals in any part of the world 

 was made by Cuvier. The bones were gathered in the vicinity of 

 Paris, and a large number of extinct quadrupeds came to a new 

 existence through his researches. Among these the Palceothere — so 

 named from iralaiog, ancient, and dr/piov, wild beast — is one of the most 



Fig. 826. 



Palseotherium magnum. 



characteristic. The largest species of the genus, Palceotherium mag- 

 num (fig. 826), was of the size of a horse, and the smallest, P. curtum, 

 not larger than a sheep. The figure referred to represents the sup- 

 posed outline of the animal as restored, drawn partly from the 

 known form of the modern Tapir. The Anoplothere was another 

 Parisian species ; it was of more slender form, and, like the Eumi- 

 nants, it had but two toes, while the Palceothere had three. Another 

 kind, the Cheer opotamus, had the habit of the Mexican Peccary. 



Owen observes that the Eocene Mammals were in general re- 

 markable for having that completeness and regularity in the teeth, 

 and regularity also in other parts, which belong to the typical form 



