210 



FLUVIO-MAEINE SERIES IN ISLE OF WIGHT. [Ch. XVl. 



(fig. 191), P. medium^ P. mimis^ P. mhnimum^ P. 

 curtum^ P. crassum ; also Anoi^lotherium commune 

 (fig. 190), A. secundarium^ Dlchohune cervinum^ and 

 Chceropotamus Cuvieri. Tlie genus Paleotliere, above 

 alluded to, resembled the living tapir in the form of 

 the head, and in having a short proboscis, but its molar 

 teeth were more like those of the rhinoceros (see fig. 

 ] 90). Paleotherium magnum was of the size of a 

 horse, three or four feet high. The annexed woodcut 

 (fig. 191) is one of the restorations which Cuvier at- 

 tempted of the outline of the living animal, derived from the study of the 



Lower Molar tooth, 



nat, size. 



Anoplotlierium com,' 



mune. 

 Blnstead, Isle of Wi^ht. 



Fifr. 191. 



Paleoiherium magnum^ Cuvier. 



entire skeleton. As the vertical range of particular species of quadrupeds, 

 so far as our knowledge extends, is far more limited than that of the tes- 

 tacea ; the occurrence of so many species at Binstead, agreeing with 

 fossils of the Paris gypsum, strengthens the evidence derived from shells 

 and plants of the synchronism of the two formations. 



Oshorne or St. Helen's series^ B. 2. — This group is of fresh and brack- 

 ish-water origin, and very variable in mineral character and thickness. 

 Near Ryde, it supplies a freestone much used for building, and called by 

 Professor Forbes the Nettlestone grit. In one part ripple-marked flag- 

 stones occur, and rocks with fucoidal markings. The Osborne beds are 

 distinguished by peculiar species of Paludina^ Melania, and Melanopsis^ 

 as also of Cypris and the seeds of Cliara, 



Headon series^ B. 3. — These beds are seen both at the east and west 

 extremities of the Isle of Wight, and also in Hordwell CliflTs, Hants. 

 Everywhere Planorhis euomphalus (fig. 192) characterizes the freshwater 

 deposits, just as the allied form, P. discus (fig. 181) does the Bembridge 

 limestone. The brackish- water beds contain Patomomya plana, Cerithium 

 mutabile, and C. cinctum (fig. 44, p. 30), and the marine beds Venus 

 (or Cytherea) incrassafa, a species common to the Limburg beds and 

 Gres de Fontainebleau, or the Upper Eocene series. The prevalence of 



