12 
THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE OX. 
of the shells belong to the present species, the recent species in 
the newer being much more abundant than in the older division. 
Now it is during the miocene period of the tertiary deposits, 
containing an admixture of extinct genera of lacustrine mamma- 
lia of the first or eocene series with the earliest forms of genera 
existing at the present time, that the Ox was introduced into the 
world. 
But, previous to introducing our hero in propria persona, we 
will just take a glimpse of the period which immediately pre- 
ceded his birth, — the eocene period. 
The seas and lakes of that remote period occupied areas which 
are now above the waters and rocks ; and mountains, hills and 
valleys, streams and rivers, diversified the surface of the countries, 
which are now destroyed or entirely changed, and whose past 
existence is revealed by the spoils which the rivers have accumu- 
lated in the ancient lakes and deltas. The vegetables that di- 
versified the surface were forests of oak, elm, and beech, — firs, 
pines, and other coniferous trees, — palm-tree firs, and the prin- 
cipal groups of modern floras ; while the waters, both salt and 
fresh, teemed with the few simple forms of vegetable structure 
peculiar to the climate. 
The changes in the relative level of the land and sea during 
this epoch were numerous and extensive, and one region in par- 
ticular still preserves traces of its original physical geography, 
the lowermost lacustrine deposits in Auvergne, in which are 
embedded the successive generations of aquatic insects, Crusta- 
cea and mollusca, with the bones of crocodiles and turtles in im- 
mense numbers ; about ten species of birds and fifty species of 
mammalia, among which the most conspicuous are the palm- 
otherium, anoplotherium, lophiodon, anthracocherium, cherop- 
tamus, and adapis. The nearest approach, among living ani- 
mals, to the form of these extinct quadrupeds, is found in the 
tapirs that inhabit the warm regions of South America, Ma- 
lacca, and Sumatra, and in the Daman of Africa. 
It would appear as if the animal kingdom was thus early 
established on the same general principles that now prevail ; 
but as the bones of all those animals are accompanied by the 
remains of reptiles such as now inhabit the fresh w ? aters of w^arm 
countries, as well as by the leaves and prostrate trunks of palm- 
trees, we cannot but infer that the temperature of France was 
much higher then than at present. This epoch, which is con- 
sidered a long one, was perfectly tranquil ; that is, free from the 
volcanic eruptions which evidently preceded it. But a change 
came over this scene; for either the district which we have been 
describing became 'elevated, or, what is probable, by the sea 
