528 



CENOZOIC ERA— AGE OF MAMMALS. 



In the Miocene and Pliocene of Europe are first found remains of that 

 most destructive of carnivores, the saber-toothed tiger — Machairodus 

 (Fig. 904). In the Miocene of Europe, also, the first true Monkeys 

 (Fig. 903) were introduced (Flower). Before this, there were only 

 lemurs or Prosimise. 



Perhaps it is well to call attention to the fact that, while the 

 tapir-like Pachyderms predominate in the Eocene, the huge forms, 

 e. g., Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus family, and Proboscidians, 

 were first introduced and immediately became abundant in the Mio- 

 cene. 



American Localities. — 3. Marine Eocene of Alabama. — We select 

 this as an example of American marine Eocene. At Claiborne, Ala- 

 bama, according to Lyell, there occur no less than 400 species of shells, 

 besides many Echinoderms, and abundance of sharks' teeth. But the 

 most remarkable remains found there are those of an extinct whale — 

 Zeuglodon cetoides — so called from the yoke-like form of the double- 

 fanged molar teeth, which were six inches in length 

 (Fig. 905). The skull was long and pointed (Fig. 

 906), and set with the double-fanged teeth behind 

 and conical ones in front. The vertebrae, which are 

 in such abundance that they are used for making 

 fences and even burned by farmers to rid the fields 

 of them, are, some of them, eighteen inches long and 

 twelve inches in diameter (Dana), and the vertebral 

 column has been found in place nearly seventy feet 

 long (Lyell). The animal must have been more 

 than seventy feet long, and the remains of at least 

 forty individuals have been found (Lyell). They have 

 been found in southern Georgia as well as in Ala- 

 bama, and probably their range was quite extensive. 

 This animal is peculiarly interesting as the first appearance of the 

 very distinct order Cetacea. No intermediate links have yet been 

 found connecting this with other orders of mammals, or with the great 



Fig. 905.— Tooth of 

 Zeuglodon cetoides, 

 x I (after Gaudry). 



Fig. 903.— Head of Zeuglodon cetoides, x ^ (after Gaudry). 



reptiles. And yet, from their large size and marine habits, they are 

 more likely than land mammals to have been found, if they existed in 



