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 Monkeys (or Quadrumana, genus Eopithecus), Bats 

 (genus Vespertilio), Deer (Cervus), and Opossums (Didelphis) . Both 

 Britain and France had then wild beasts of these kinds, although 

 in the present age there are no Opossums out of America and 

 Monkeys are confined to the Tropical zone. 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 ascer- 

 tained, 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 Palaothere — so 

 named from Tva^aiog, ancient, and drjpiov, wild beast — is one of the most 



Fig. 826. 



PalaBotherium magnum. 



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

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

 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 Chozropotamus, 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 



