MAMMALIA OF PLIOCENE PERIODS. 95 
entered into the evidences illustrating the 
state of animal life, during the period imme- 
diately preceding the formation of this diluvium, 
I must refer to that work for details respecting 
the nature and habits of the then existing popu- 
lation of the earth. It appears that at this 
epoch, the whole surface of Europe was densely 
peopled by various orders of Mammalia ; that 
the numbers of the herbivora were maintained 
in due proportion by the controlling influence of 
carnivora; and that the individuals of every 
species were constructed in a manner fitting 
history. Discoveries which have been made, since the publica- 
tion of this work, show that manv of the animals therein de- 
scribed, existed during- more than one geological period preceding 
the catastrophe by which they were extirpated. Hence it seems 
more probable, that the event in question, was the last of the 
many geological revolutions that have been produced by violent 
irruptions of water, rather than the comparatively tranquil inun- 
dation described in the Inspired Narrative. 
It has been justly argued, against the attempt to identify 
these two great historical and natural phenomena, that as the 
rise and fall of the waters of the Mosaic deluge are described to 
have been gradual, and of short duration, they would have pro- 
duced comparatively little change on the surface of the country 
they overflowed. The large preponderance of extinct species 
among the animals we find in caves, and in superficial deposits of 
diluvium, and the non-discovery of human bones along with 
them, afford other strong reasons for referring these species to a 
period anterior to the creation of man. This important point, 
however, cannot be considered as completely settled, till more 
detailed investigations of the newest members of the Pliocene, 
and of the diluvial and alluvial formations shall have taken 
place. 
