THE PLIOCENE PERIOD, 325 



range in Europe in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene periods, 

 and it is still the most widely distributed member of its family. The 

 best known of the Pliocene tailed apes, the Mesopithecus, left abundant 

 relics at Pikermi, near Athens. The Mesopithecus was closely related 

 to the present Indian Semnopithecus, on the one hand, and to the Macacus, 

 on the other. An allied genus, Dolichopithecus , which lived in France, 

 is interesting on account of its large and long skull. ■ The tropical 



Fig. 467a. — Head of Smilodon, — a saber-toothed tiger. Outline restoration, showing 

 the widely-gaping jaws. (After Knight.) 



deposits will doubtless tell an interesting story of primate evolution 

 when carefully studied. 



Much the most interesting discovery of recent date is that of the 

 remains of a man-like skeleton found near Trinil in Java and named 

 Pithecanthropus credits. The relics include the roof of a skull, two 

 molar teeth, and an abnormal femur. The form of the last indicates 

 that its possessor walked erect, in a sense that distinguished it from 

 the apes. The forehead was low and the frontal ridge prominent, 

 and in general the characteristic features were intermediate between 

 those of the lowest men and of the highest apes, as shown in Fig. 468. 

 The brain volume was about two thirds that of an average man. The 

 interpretation of these remains has elicited much difference of opinion. 

 By some they are thought to represent a dwarfed and diseased man; 



