10 



The Modentia and TJngulata. 



Gallery 

 No. 1. 



North side, 

 Table case, 

 No. 24. 



The Great 



Extinct 



Beaver. 



Table-case, 

 No. 24. 



Ccelogenys. 



The living beaver is not only widely spread, but its fossil 

 remains prove it to have had an equally wide distribution in the 

 past. It was once abundant in this country, even down to 

 historic times,* and its remains have been frequently found in the 

 Pleistocene deposits of the valley of the Lea, near London, in 

 the Cambridgeshire fens, and elsewhere. It is probably still 

 living on the Elbe in Germany, on the Rhone in France, on 

 the Danube, the River Kola and other Russian and Siberian 

 rivers, in the Kurile Islands, and in North America. 



A far larger beaver, the Trogontherium Cuvieri, formerly 

 inhabited the south of Russia and the east of England. Its 

 remains have been found at Taganrog, Sea of Azof, and near 

 Odessa ; also in the Pleistocene Forest-bed series of the Norfolk 

 coast. A similar gigantic form, the Castoroides ohioensis, 

 occurs in the Post-Tertiary deposits of Ohio, New York, 

 Mississippi (Natchez), &c. 



Remains of a large rodent (Myoxus melitensis) have been 

 found in the Post-Pliocene deposits of the Island of Malta, 

 associated with those of the kt Pigmy Elephant." The 

 "Viscacha" (Lagostomus trichodactyhis), a marmot-like animal 

 related to the " Chinchilla," inhabits the grassy plains or 

 " pampas " of S. America, from Buenos Ayres to Patagonia. 

 Its remains are found fossil in the Pampas formation. Another 

 South American rodent, the " Paca" (Ccelogenys paca) has been 

 met with in a fossil state in the cavern deposits of Minas 

 Geraes, Brazil. 



Sub-order 2. — Duplicidentata. 



Hares &c. ^ n this sub-order are included the hares, rabbits, and pikas 



(Lagomys). 

 Lag-omys. The Lagomys, or "tail-less hare," occurs in Brixham Cave 



and Kent's Hole, Torqua}* ; entire skeletons have been obtained 



from the Miocene freshwater deposits of Oeningen. 



Remains of the hare are also found fossil in many newer 



Tertiary deposits. 



TJngulata, 

 or Hoofed 

 quadrupeds. 



Order VI.— UNGULATA (Hoofed Animals). 



All the animals belonging to this order are known as 

 ''hoofed quadrupeds." They are all vegetable-feeders, and are 

 sub-divided as follows : — 



* The town of Becerlej. in Yorkshire, is said to derive its name from the 

 beavers inhabiting its vicinity ; many Welsh names, as, Llyn-yr-afange, or 

 the beavers' lake ; Nant-yr-afancwm, or the vale of the beavers, attest its 

 presence in the Principality, where it is said to have survived down to the 

 12th century. 



