MIDDLE TERTIARY. 1 77 



beds is the Hyopotamus. These are the newest 

 British deposits in the Isle of Wight of oligocene 



The lignites alternating with clays which fill 

 up the basill at Bovey Tr^cey in Devonshire are 

 probably of the same age. They form deposits 

 about ^co feet thick; probably once thicker. 

 With th( tion <>f a single beetle, the remains 



found in them are about fifty specie- of plants. 



The lignite itself is chiefly the flattened trunks of 

 the Sequoia Couttsict, About half the plants are 

 arded a- of peculiar Species and the remain- 

 ing twenty-five occur in tin- t/LlO( cue of Germany 

 and Switzerland. Among these trees are species 

 of : . laurel, cinnamon, the sour gum tree 



Nyssa, a palm, vine, and some ferns such as 



On the Continent the M beds attain 



^ular importance. Not only from the part 

 they take m forming the basins drained by SO 

 many r 1 m the Structure of the Alps, but 



also on account of the remarkable mammalian 

 remains which the] 



The Dinotherium % which appears to have been 



todon with tusks in its lower jaw, 



The three-toed horse, named 



Hipparion, is eve:: in-re interesting, while the 



lined at Pikermi, near Athens, include 



giraffes and many other animals which have long 



passed away from Europe. Perhaps the most 



extraordinary Miocene fauna is found fossil in 



the Siwalik Hills in India, which lie between the 



Jumna and the Ganges, and rise to a height of 



2000 or 3000 feet. The species of Hippopotamus, 



and allies of the giraffe and other African types 



which are there found, testify that change of 



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