typical of the European Pliocene[1]. The animals identified by him in the museums of Italy are as follows:—
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Felis.
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Elephas meridionalis.
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All these animals, with the exception of Rhinoceros hemitœchus, have been discovered in the Pseudo-pliocene of Issoire, while the Megarhine Rhinoceros and Mastodon arvernensis are the only two which have been obtained from the marine sands of Montpellier. The Pliocene animals, therefore, inhabiting Northern Italy are more closely allied to those of Auvergne than to those of Montpellier.
If these three localities be taken as typical of the Pliocene strata, we shall find that several of the species range as far north as Britain, and occur in deposits which, from the evidence of the mollusca, have been assigned to that age. Mastodon arvernensis, Elephas meridionalis, and Ursus arvernensis, have been obtained from the old land-surface which underlies the sand and shingle of the Norfolk Crag, in company with many forms of Deer and Antelopes which have not yet been identified, while the Hipparion is found in the marine crags of Suffolk.
The animals which especially characterize the Pliocene strata of Europe are Machærodus cultridens, Mastodon arvernensis, and M. Borsoni, besides the genus Tapir.
If this Pliocene fauna be compared with that of the Preglacial Forest-bed, it will be seen that the difference between them is very great. The Pliocene Mastodon Tapir, the majority of the Cervidæ, and the Antelopes are replaced by forms such as the Roe and the Red Deer, unknown up to that time. Nevertheless many of the Pliocene animals were able to hold their ground against the Pleistocene invaders, although, subsequently, as I have already shown, they disappeared one by one, being ultimately beaten in the struggle for existence by the new comers. The progress of this struggle has been used in the preceding pages as a means of classification.
20. Conclusion.
The following are the salient points of the Pleistocene age offered by the study of the land Mammalia in the area north of the Alps, and Pyrenees.
The Pleistocene Period.
A. The latest stage.
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Palæolithic Man.
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Stag, comparatively rare. Northern forms of life in full possession of area north of Alps and Pyrenees.
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- ↑ Palæont. Mem. vol. ii. pp. 189, 190.
