236 
EXTINCT MONSTERS 
quadrupeds which frequent the water much.” But was it really 
aquatic ? 
Xiphodon/ so named by Cuvier on account of the shape of 
its teeth, was a small and delicate animal, long, with slenderer 
limbs than the Anoplotherium ; its feet were provided with two 
toes, and the tail was short (see restoration in Plate XXXIX.). 
X. gracilis was obtained from the lignites of Debruge, near 
Apt. It was some three feet high, and of about the size of a 
chamois, but lighter in form, and with a smaller head. Cuvier 
says of this creature, “ Its course was not embarrassed by a long 
tail ; but, like all active herbivorous animals, it was probably 
timid, and with large and very mobile ears, like those of the 
stag, announcing the slightest approach of danger. Neither is 
there any doubt that its body was covered with smooth hair, and 
consequently we only require to know its colour in order to paint 
it as it formerly existed in this country, where it has been dug 
up after so many ages.” Instead of resorting to rivers and lakes, 
this graceful little creature probably kept to the dry land and fed 
upon aromatic herbs. 
Discoveries, chiefly made since Cuvier’s day, have shown that 
these ancient herbivorous mammals had carnivorous enemies, 
which doubtless kept down their numbers — not lions and tigers, 
but certain lower and less specialised ” creatures, from some of 
which the latter are descended. 
The nearest living ally of our Palseothere, that once inhabited 
Europe in great numbers, must be sought for a long way from 
home ; and it is highly instructive to observe that the further we 
wander away from the present down “ the corridors of time,” 
the further we must travel, geographically, to find creatures at 
all matching those that lived in early ages of the world’s history. 
1 Greek — xiplios, sword ; odous, odontos, tooth. 
