All these animals lived upon seeds and fruits, on the green twigs, or subterranean stems, and the succulent roots of the plants of the period. They generally frequented the neighbourhood of fresh water.

The AnoplotJierium (from ^j/ottAos, defenceless^ e-qpiou, animal)^ had the posterior molar teeth analogous to those of the Rhinoceros, the feet terminating in two great toes, forming an equally divided hoof, like that of the Ox and other Ruminants, and the tarsus of the toes nearly like those of the Camel. It was about the size of the Ass; its head was light; but what would distinguish it most must have been an enormous tail of at least three feet in length, and very thick at its

Fig 154. — Anoplotherium commune. One-twentieth natural size.

junction with the body. This tail evidently served it as a rudder and propeller when swimming in the lakes or rivers, which it frequented^ not to seize fish (for it was strictly herbivorous), but in search of roots and stems of succulent aquatic plants. " Judging from its habits of swimming and diving," says Cuvier, " the Anoplotherium would have the hair smooth, like the otter; perhaps its skin was even half naked. It is not likely either that it had long ears, which would be inconvenient in its aquatic kind of life; and I am incHned to think that, in this respect, it resembled the Hippopotamus and other quadrupeds which frequent the water much." To this description Cuvier had nothing more to add. His memoir upon \\q pachydcmiaious fossils of Montmartre is accompanied by a design in outline oi Anoplotherium commune^ which has been closely followed in Fig. 154* V 2

There were species of Anoplotherium of very small size. A. lepo-rimini (or the Hare-Anoplotherium), whose feet are evidently adapted for speed; A. minimum and A. obliquum were of still smaller dimensions;the last, especially, scarcely exceeded the size of a rat. Like the Water-rats, this species inhabited the banks of brooks and small rivers. The Xiphodon was about three feet in height at the withers, and generally about the size of the Chamois, but lighter in form, and with a smaller head. In proportion as the appearance of the Anoplotherium conimime was heavy and sluggish, so was that of Xipfwdon

Fig- "^SS' — Xiphodon gracile.

gracile graceful and active; light and agile as the Gazelle or the Goat, it would rapidly run round the marshes and ponds, depasturing on the aromatic herbs of the dry lands, or browsing on the sprouts of the young shrubs. " Its course," says Cuvier, in the memoir already quoted, " 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 snort 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." Fig. 155 is a reproduction from the design in outline with which Cuvier accompanied the description of this animal, which he classes with the

Anoplotherium, and which has received in our days the name of Xiphodon gracile. The gypsum-quarries of the environs of Paris include, moreover, the remains of other Pachyderms: the Chceropotamus^ or River-hog (from xo^'pos ir(^To/tos)^ which has some analogy with the living Pecan, though much larger; the Adapts, which reminds us, in its form, of the Hedgehog, of which, however, it was three times the size. It seems to have been a link between the Pachyderms and the Insectivorous Carnivora. The Lophiodoii, the size of which varied with the species, from that of the Rabbit to that of the Rhinoceros, was still more closely allied to the Tapir than to the Anoplotherium; it is found in the lower beds of the gypseous formation, that is to say in the " Calcaire Grossier." A Parisian geologist, M. Desnoyers, librarian of the Museum of Natural History there, has discovered in the gypseous beds of the valley of Montmorency, and elsewhere in the neighbourhood of Paris, as at Pantin, Clichy, and Dammartin, the imprints of the footsteps of some Mammals, of which there seems to be some question, especially with regard to the Anoplotherium and Palaeotherium. Footprints of Turtles, Birds, and even of Carnivora, sometimes accompany these curious traces, which have a sort of almond-shape more or less lobed, according to the divisions of the hoof of the animal, and which recall to mind completely, in their mode of production and preservation, those imprints of the steps of the Labyrinthodon which have been mentioned as occurring in rocks of the Triassic period. This discovery isinteresting, as it furnishes a means of comparison between the imprints and the animals which have produced them. It brings into view, as it were, the material traces left in their walks upon the soil by animals now annihilated, but who once occupied the mysterious sites of an earlier world. (See Fig. i, p. 12.)

It is interesting to picture in imagination the vast pasturages of the Tertiary period swarming with Herbivora of all sizes. The country now surrounding the city of Paris belongs to the period in question, and not far from its gates, the woods and plains were crowded with " game " of which the Parisian sportsman little dreams, but which would nevertheless singularly animate the earth at this distant epoch. The absence of great Carnivora explains the rapid increase of the agile and graceful denizens of the wood, whose race seems to have been so multiplied then, but which was ultimately annihilated by the ferocious beasts of prey which aftenvards made their appearance.

The same novelty, riches, and variety which distinguished the Mammals of the Tertiary period extended to other classes of animals.

THE WORLD BEFORE THE DELUGE.

326 The class of Birds, of which we can only name the most remarkable, was represented by the curious fossil known as the ''^ Bb^d of Moiit-marfre." The bones of other birds have been obtained from Hordwell, as well as the remains of quadrupeds. Among the latter the HycBHodoii, supposed to be the oldest known example of a true carnivorous animal in the series of British fossils, and the fossil Bat known as the Vespertilio Parisicnsis. Among Reptiles the Crocodile, which bears the name of Isle of Wight Alligator, Crocodilus Toliapiciis. Among the Turtles the Trio7iyx^ of which there is a fine specimen in the Museum of Natural History in Paris (Fig. 156). In the class Fishes we now see the Pletironectcs^ or flat-fish, of which Platax altissimtis and P/i07?ibus mi7iiimis are well-known examples. Among the Crusta- ceans we see the

Fig. 156.— Trionyx, or Turtle, of the Tertiary period. earhest crabs. At the same time multitudes of new Mollusca make their appearance Oliva^ Triton, Cassis, JIaJ'pa, Crepidula, &c. The hitherto unknown forms of Schizaster are remarkable among Echinoderms; the Zoophytes are also abundant, especially the Foraminifera, which seem to make up by their numbers for their deficiency in size. It was in this period, in the bosom of its seas, and far from shore, that the Nummidites existed, whose calcareous envelopes play such a considerable part as the elements of some of the Tertiary formations. The shelly agglomerates of these Protozoan Rhizopods constitute now very important rocks. The Nummulitic limestone forms, in the chain of the Pyrenees, entire mountains of great height; in Egypt it forms strata of considerable extent, and it is- of

XXIII.—Ideal Landscape of the Eocene Period.

these rocks that the ancient pyramids were built. What an enormous time must have been necessary to convert the remains of these little shells into beds many hundreds of feet thick! The Miliola were also so abundant in the Eocene seas as to constitute the greater part of calcareous rocks* out of which Paris has been built. Agglomerated in this manner, these little shells form the continuous beds of limestone which are quarried for building purposes in the environs of Paris, at Gentilly, Vaugirard, and Chatillon.

On the opposite page we present, in Plate XXIII., an imaginary landscape of the Eocene period. We remark amongst its vegetation a mixture of fossil species with others belonging to the present time. The Alders, the Wych-elms, and the Cypresses, mingle with Flabellaria; the Palms of extinct species. A great Bird — a wader, the Tantalus — occupies the projecting point of a rock on the right; the Turtle (Triojiyx)^ floats on the river, in the midst of Nymphaeeas, Nenuphars, and other aquatic plants; whilst a herd of Palaeotheria, Anoplotheria, and Xiphodon peacefully browse the grass of the natural meadows of this peaceful oasis.

With a general resemblance in their fossils, nothing can be more dissimilar, on the whole, than the lithological or mineral characters of the Eocene deposits of France and England; " those of our own island," says Ivyell,t " being almost exclusively of mechanical origin — accumulations of mud, sand, and pebbles; while in the neighbourhood of Paris we find a great succession of strata composed of limestones, some of them siliceous, and of crystalline gypsum and siliceous sandstone, and sometimes of pure flint used for millstones. Hence it is by no means an easy task to institute an exact comparison between the various members of the English and French series. It is clear that, on the sites both of Paris and London, a continual change was going on in the fauna and flora by the coming in of new species and the dying out of others; and contemporaneous changes of geographical conditions were also in progress in consequence of the rising and sinking of the land and bottom of the sea. A particular subdivision, therefore, of time was occasionally represented in one area by land, in another by an estuary, in a third by sea; and even where the conditions were in both areas of a marine character, there was often shallow water in one, and deep sea in

Similar beds of Miliolite limestone are found in the Middle Bagshot beds on the coast of Sussex, off Seisey — the only inst nee in England of the occurrence of such calcareous deposits of Middle Eocene age. — H. W. B. t *' Elements of Geology," p. 292.

THE WORLD BEFORE THE DELUGE.

330

another, producing a want of agreement in the state of animal life." The Eocene rocks, as developed in France and England, may be tabulated as follows, in descending order:—,

French. English. C Calcaire dela Beauce. Hempstead beds. \ Gres de Fontaine-

(. bleau. Upper Eocene. Calcaire Lacustre Fluvio-marine Bembridge beds. series. Moyen. Gypseous ' series of Montmar-or (Calcairetre. silicieux Osborne beds. Headon beds. I' Gresand Calcairede BeanchampMarin. Upper Bagshot sand. (S Upperens, Sables Moy- { Lower Sables Moy- Middle Middle Eocene. ( -^^^^^^ ^^^^ Bracklesham beds. \ shot. I ens, Lower Cal- Bae- j\ Glauconiecaire Grossier,Grossiere.and Lower Bagshot beds. (Lits coquillieres. (GlauconieWanting. Moyenne. Lower Eocene.—London clay (French equivalent: wanting). Woolwich and Reading beds, or Plastic clay (French: Argile Plastique; Glauconie Inférieure). Oldhaven beds. Thanet sands (French: Sables Inférieurs).

The Woolwich and Reading Beds, or the Plastic Clay of older "writers, consists of extensive beds of sand with occasional beds of potter's clay, which lie at the base of the Tertiary formation in both England and France. Generally variegated, sometimes grey or white, it is employed as a potter's earth in the manufacture of delf-ware.

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