The geographical distribution of animals, with a study of the relations ...

——chap, vi.] MAMMALIA OF THE OLD WORLD. 117not only find great felines, surpassing in size and destructivepower the lions and leopards of Africa, with hyaenas of a sizeand in a variety not to be equalled now, but also huge rhinocerosesand elephants, two forms of giraffes, and a host ofantelopes, which, from the sample here obtained, were probablyquite as numerous and varied as they now are in Africa.Joined with this abundance of antelopes we have the absenceof deer, which probably indicates that the country was openand somewhat of a desert character, since there were deer inother parts of Europe at this epoch. The occurrence of but asingle species of monkey is also favourable to this view, sincea well-wooded country would most likely have supplied manyforms of these animals.Miocene Fauna of Central and Western Europe."We have now to consider the Miocene fauna of Europegenerally, of which we have very full information from numerousdeposits of this age in France, Switzerland, Italy,Germany, and Hungary.Primates.—Three distinct forms of monkeys have been foundin Europe—in the South of France, in Switzerland, and Wurtemberg;one was very like Colobus or Semnopithecus ; the othersPliopithecus and Pryopithecus—were of higher type, and belongedto the anthropomorphous apes, being nearest to the genusHylobates or gibbons.Both have occurred in the South of France,The Dryopithecus was a very large animal (equal to the gorilla),and M. Lartet considers that in the character of itsdentition itapproached nearer to man than any of the existing anthropoidapes.Insectivora.—These small animals are represented by numerousremains belonging to four families and a dozen genera. OfErinaceus (hedgehog) several species are found in the UpperMiocene ; and in the Lower Miocene of Auvergne two extinctgenera of the same familyAmphechinus andTetracus—havebeen discovered. Several species of Talpa (mole) occur in theUpper Miocene of France, while the extinct Dinylus isfrom Germany,and Palonospalax from the Lower Miocene of the Isle of