CHAPTER XIX.

FOSSIL MAMMALIA.

The remains of Mammalia discovered in a fossil state include an immense number of species, and furnish examples of almost every living genus, and of numerous genera, and even orders, of which no existing species are known. Yet amidst the vast accumulations of the skeletons of the higher orders of vertebrata contained in the tertiary deposits, and in the superficial drift, belonging to species which have successively appeared on the surface of our planet, flourished for indefinite periods of time, and then become annihilated, no vestiges of Man, or of his works, have been detected. Human skeletons, naturally imbedded, have hitherto only been observed in the silt of modern alluvial plains,[729] in peat-bogs (_Wond._ p. 64), and in conglomerates of recent date, such as are in the progress of formation on the sea-shores, particularly where the water is loaded with the detritus of shells and corals, and the waves transport the calcareous matter along the margins of creeks and bays, or deposit it in the shallows along the coast (see _Wond._ p. 87, and _Petrif._ p. 483).

[729] There seems, however, reason to believe that the human skulls and bones found with elephantine and other remains in the Alps of Swabia, are of contemporaneous origin with these extinct mammals. (See _Literary Gazette_, 1853, p. 1027.)

The geological distribution of fossil mammalia,[730]--the occurrence of the entire carcases of extinct species of Elephant and Rhinoceros in blocks of ice (_Wond._ p. 151),--of recent species in the superficial alluvial clay and silt,--of recent and extinct forms in the Drift or Pleistocene deposits (_Wond._ p. 147),--of the gradual preponderance of unknown species and genera, in proportion as we carry back our retrospect to the most ancient Tertiary strata (_Wond._ p. 254), --the sudden disappearance of all vestiges of the entire Class of Mammalia, with the last bed of the Eocene deposits,--with the exception of a few minute jaws in one set of beds of the Oolite in England (_Wond._ p. 510), and of a few teeth in the Trias (?) of Germany,[731] the sole records of the existence of any of the highest types of animal organization throughout the vast periods of the secondary formations--are so fully treated of in the _Wonders of Geology_, that I need not dwell upon the subject in the present volumes. Neither is it desirable to enter at large upon this department of Palæontology, for it were vain to attempt the elucidation of the anatomical characters of but one extinct species of Mammalia, without giving details of structure, that could only be successfully demonstrated in a work expressly devoted to the subject. Referring, therefore, to Cuvier’s _Ossemens Fossiles_, and to Professor Owen’s "_History of the British Fossil Mammalia_," 8vo. 1846, I must limit my remarks on the Fossil Mammalia to a brief summary of modern discoveries, with suggestions for the identification and collection of some of the most interesting or prevalent remains.

[730] For a notice of the distribution of mammalian remains in the Upper Tertiaries of Europe, see Phillips’s _Geology_, 1853, vol. i. p. 45, &c.

[731] For an account of these teeth of small insectivorous mammals from the "bone-bed" of Würtemberg, which has an analogous position at the top of the Trias with the "bone-bed" of Axmouth and Aust Cliff, see _Ly._ p. xiv. figs. 529-531.

The fossil remains of Mammalia will be considered under the following heads:--

I. Cetacea, or animals of the _Whale tribe_.

II. Ruminantia; including the _Camel_, _Giraffe_, _Deer_, _Sheep_, _Ox_, &c.

III. Pachydermata; comprising the _Proboscideans_, as the _Elephant_, and the ordinary _Pachyderms_, as the _Rhinoceros_, _Horse_, _Swine_, &c.

IV. Edentata: animals without teeth, or with only molars, as the _Ant-eater_, _Sloth_, _Megatherium_, _Mylodon_, &c.

V. Rodentia, or Gnawers; as the _Hare_, _Beaver_, _Rat_, &c.

VI. Marsupialia; animals with an abdominal pouch, as the _Kangaroo_, _Opossum_, &c.

VII. Carnivora; including the _Bats_, _Moles_, and the carnivorous tribes in general.

VIII. Quadrumana; _Apes_ and _Monkeys_.

IX. Bimana; or _Man_.

[Sidenote: FOSSIL WHALES.]

I. Fossil Cetacea.[732]--The _Cetaceans_, although popularly termed fishes, are as perfect air-breathing vertebrated animals, as the terrestrial mammalia, and, like them, give suck to their young. Instead of fore-feet or arms, they have a pair of fins or paddles, but are destitute of hinder extremities, the place of the latter organs being supplied by a powerful cartilaginous horizontal fin, appended to the tail. The Cetaceans, therefore, differ in this respect from the fossil marine reptiles, the Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus (see p. 662), which have two pairs of paddles. This order, as is well known, comprises the most colossal forms of animal existence,--the Whales. Some are herbivorous, others carnivorous; many have powerful teeth; others are edentulous, the jaw being furnished with a series of elongate plates of the substance familiarly known by the name of _whale-bone_.

[732] _Cetacea_: an order of aquatic mammalia, comprising the W hales, Narwhals, Porpoises, Dolphins, and Dugongs.

The fossil remains of Cetaceans have, for the most part, been observed in alluvial silt and beds of drift, in valleys still traversed by rivers; but many examples have been discovered in elevated sea-beaches, proving that, although, geologically speaking, these beds are of modern origin, yet great changes in the relative level of the land and sea must have taken place since these remains were imbedded. Thus, on the banks of the river Forth, near Alloa, in Scotland, the skeleton of a Whale (_Balænoptera_), seventy-two feet long, was discovered imbedded in clay, twenty feet above the highest tide.[733] Cuvier mentions the discovery of bones of a _Lamantin_ at Angers; of a Dolphin, and Rorqual, in Lombardy; and of a Grampus, in the pliocene of the Sub-Apennines.[734]

[733] Dr. Fleming’s _British Animals_, p. 39.

[734] For notices and descriptions of Cetacean remains found in England, see Owen’s _Brit. Foss. Mammalia_, p. 516, _et seq._

Otolithes of Cetaceans.--Petro-tympanic bones of several large whales have been found in great numbers in the red Crag of Felixstow; among them is one of the genus Physeter, or Sperm-Whale.[735]

[735] Proc. Geol. Soc. for 1845, p. 41; and Brit. Foss. Mam. p. 526, &c.

Brighton Fossil Whale.--An interesting discovery of the anterior half of one side of the lower jaw of a Whale, undoubtedly coeval with the extinct Mammoth (_Elephas primigenius_), was made in 1828 in the Cliff, east of Kemp Town, Brighton, under the following circumstances. On the face of the Cliff, in the ancient shingle which lies immediately upon the chalk and is surmounted by beds of calcareous rubble, containing bones and teeth of Elephants, to the height of one hundred and twenty feet, some fishermen had observed a huge bone, that had been laid bare by an unusually high tide and now projected two or three feet beyond the face of the Cliff. Unable to remove it, they broke off the extremity, a fragment of which was sent to me. Upon repairing to the spot a few days afterwards, I found that the fishermen had renewed their attack, and demolished a considerable portion of the bone in ineffectual attempts to dislodge it from its bed; and had desisted only from the apprehension of being buried beneath the overhanging cliff, which is composed of loosely aggregated materials. Unfortunately, the bone extended directly into the cliff, and it required several hours of labour, not unattended with danger, before an excavation was made sufficiently large to expose the entire specimen. It proved to be the anterior nine feet of the left branch of the lower jaw of a whale-bone Whale (_Balæna mysticetus_). It was of a light fawn colour externally, but the internal coarse osseous structure was delicately white; it was extremely brittle, and, upon attempting to move it, broke into a thousand pieces. Time would not permit of the application of a coating of plaster of Paris, for ere we had completed our task the tide was rapidly approaching, or this interesting relic might have been extracted entire. This portion of lower jaw, before it was mutilated by the fishermen, was twelve feet long, and thirty-six inches in circumference at the largest extremity. It must have belonged to a Whale from sixty to seventy feet in length.[736]

[736] The fragments of this jaw that were preserved are now exhibited in the British Museum, in Room V.

In the fluviatile silt of the valley of the Ouse, near Lewes (_Wond._ p. 63), the skull of a Porpoise and a portion of the cranium, with the socket of the long straight tooth, of a Narwhal (_Monodon monoceros_), were found twelve feet beneath the surface of the soil.

The bones of an herbivorous Cetacean, the _Manatus_, a genus now peculiar to the torrid zone, have been found in the eocene strata in various parts of France, associated with those of the Palæotheria and other extinct mammalia of the Paris basin.

[Sidenote: ZEUGLODON.]

Zeuglodon cetoides. _Lign. 249._[737]--The remains of a very remarkable Cetacean, of an extinct genus, were first made known by Dr. Harlan, of Philadelphia, who obtained a considerable portion of the jaws with teeth, vertebræ, and other bones of an animal of enormous size, from Alabama and Arkansas, United States. These relics were discovered in tertiary (_eocene_) limestone, associated with a marine shelly conglomerate, from a cliff near the bed of the river Owachita. When first observed, the bones extended along the face of the rock, with intervals between them, to the extent of one hundred feet, and the animal to which they belonged must have exceeded seventy feet in length. Dr. Harlan ascribed these bones to an unknown reptile, which he called Basilosaurus (_king of the lizards_); but a more correct investigation, by Professor Owen, proved their cetacean character, and the peculiar form of the worn molar teeth suggested the name of _Zeuglodon_ (_yoke-tooth_).

[737] Owen, _Geol. Trans._ 2d ser. vol. vi. p. 69, &c., plates vii. viii. ix.; Harlan’s _Medical and Physical Researches_, p. 337, &c.; Gibbes, _Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philadelphia_, 2d ser. 1847, vol. i. pp. 5 and 16; Bulkley, _Silliman's Journal_, vol. xliv. p. 409; Carus, _Nova Acta Cur. Nat._ vol. xxii. pt. ii. 1848.

The teeth (_Lign. 250_) are of two kinds, some having but one fang, and others two, implanted in separate sockets and placed obliquely in the jaw; they are of a compressed, conical form, with an obtuse apex, the crown being deeply conjugate, or contracted in the middle, as shown in the transverse section, _Lign. 249, fig. 2_. They are devoid of enamel, but the dentine is coated with cement, and their structure is decidedly mammalian; and a microscopical examination, Professor Owen states, incontestably proves their cetacean character. The longitudinal diameter of the middle tooth is three inches.

The vertebræ resemble those of the large cetacean known by the name of _Hyperoodon_; a caudal vertebra is figured _Lign. 249, fig. 3_. The original animal was related to the Dugong and Cacholot, and appears to have held an intermediate place between the latter and the herbivorous species.

[Sidenote: FOSSIL RUMINANTS.]

II. Fossil Ruminants. (_Owen’s Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 444, _et seq._)--The fossil bones of animals of this order are very numerous in the alluvial deposits, in caves, and in pleistocene deposits, in almost every part of the world. They are generally associated with the remains of the next group. The skulls of Oxen, and horns and bones of the Bison and Auroch, have been found in North Cliff, Yorkshire, at Walton in Essex, and other parts of England. The fossil oxen appear to have been one-third larger than the recent species; and the horns are relatively more massive than in the domestic race; some of the horns measure four feet across, at the widest expansion. In the immense accumulations of large mammalia in the tertiary beds of the Sub-Himalayan or Siwalik range, numerous remains of oxen occur. The teeth of one species are often found in the Elephant-bed at Brighton.

Of the Deer family the relics of several kinds have been discovered in Drift and Caverns. The cave of Kirkdale alone contained the remains of three species.[738] The bones of a species that cannot be distinguished from the common Bed Deer are found in the modern shell-marls of Scotland, associated with the remains of oxen, horse, boar, dog, wolf, and beaver. The bones and antlers of the Reindeer have been found at Brentford and other places (_Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 479; and _Rep. Brit. Assoc._ 1851. Sect. p. 69). The ossiferous caverns, which contain bones of Carnivora, also yield those of Deer; as the caves of Kirkdale and Banwell, &c. in England, and the celebrated caverns of Muggendorf, on the Continent. A species of Musk-deer has been found at Epplesheim; and bones of deer are associated with those of the Dinotherium, in Rhenish Hesse, in late Tertiary deposits. The teeth and a lower jaw, with other bones, of a species of deer, were obtained from the Brighton Elephant bed (_Wond._ p. 114).

[738] The Rev. Dr. Buckland’s _Reliquiæ Diluvianæ_; or, Observations on the Organic Remains found in Caves, Fissures, and Gravel; 1 vol. 4to. 1823, pl. viii. and ix.

The most celebrated fossil animal of this family is the Gigantic Stag or Deer of Ireland (see _Petrif._ p. 455; _Wond._ p. 132), whose bones and antlers are found in immense quantities in superficial marl, in Ireland, in the Isle of Man, and occasionally in England. (Geol. Journ. vol. iv. p. 42.) A skeleton that was found, almost entire, in marl abounding in fresh-water shells, at the depth of twenty feet, is six feet high, nine feet long, and nine and a half feet in height, to the top of the right horn. Some antlers are so large, that the interspace from one point to the other exceeds twelve feet.[739]

[739] See _Pict. Atlas_, pl. lxxi.; a good figure of the skeleton of the fossil Irish Deer is given in the Penny Cyclopædia, vol. viii. p. 364; for a detailed account of this gigantic animal, see Owen’s _Foss. Brit. Mammalia_, p. 444, and _Charlesworth’s Journal_, p. 87.

The Giraffe, the tallest of known quadrupeds, and now restricted to the deserts of Africa, was once a native of Europe and Asia, for fossil bones of a species of this remarkable ruminant have been found at Issoudun, in France, and in the Siwalik mountains, with several varieties of Elk and Deer.

Of the Camel, the only ruminant with incisor teeth in the upper jaw, a gigantic species has been discovered by Dr. Falconer and Captain Cautley, in the Siwalik range.

Fig. 1.--Fore-foot of the Horse. 2. ---- Deer. 3. ---- Anoplotherium gracile.

_m, m._ Metacarpal bones ("canon-bone" in the Horse.) _s_, in fig. 1, the "splint-bone," or rudimentary metacarpal. _p, p._ First or proximal phalangeal-bones ("pastern" in the Horse). _p^2, p^2._ Second phalangeals ("coronet" or "crown-bone" in the Horse). _u, u._ Unguals, or bones of the hoof ("coffin-bone" in the Horse).

In this category we must notice another most interesting discovery of the indefatigable and eminent naturalists above mentioned, namely, the _Sivatherium_ (see _Wond._ p. 163), an extinct animal, which forms, as it were, a link between the ruminants and the large pachydermata. The skull has four persistent horns, and was furnished with a nasal proboscis. The living creature must have resembled an immense Antelope or Gnu, with a short thick head and an elevated cranium, crested with two pairs of horns. A splendid specimen of the skull of the _Sivatherium_ has been placed in the palæontological collection of the British Museum by Dr. Falconer (_Petrif._ p. 456, _Lign._ 98).

[Sidenote: ELEPHANT. MASTODON.]

III. Pachydermata.[740]--The fossil remains of this order of mammalia are most abundant, and belong to numerous species, comprising many extinct genera of a highly interesting character. See Pictet’s _Paléontologie_, new edit. 1853, vol. i. p. 127, _et seq._

[740] See Owen on the Classification of the Pachydermata, _Quart. Geol. Journ._ vol. iv. p. 127, &c.

Fossil Elephants and Mastodons. _Lign. 253, 254, 258-260._ _Owen’s Hist. Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 217, &c.; _Wond._ pp. 147, 157.--The bones, teeth, and tusks of Elephants, equal in magnitude to, and distinct from the existing African and Asiatic species, are scattered throughout the superficial alluvial and pleistocene accumulations of Europe.

The fossil bones and teeth (_Pict. Atlas_, pl. lxxi. lxxiv.) of these gigantic animals are so abundant, that examples may be found in all the provincial, and in most private collections; and the British Museum possesses an unrivalled series of specimens of both groups of these colossal herbivorous mammalia, namely, the Elephants properly so called and the Mastodons (_Petrif._ pp. 463, 471). It contains an invaluable series of specimens from the Siwalik hills, presented by Capt. Cautley and Dr. Falconer (_Petrif._ p. 469); amongst which are remains in which the dental organs present every modification of structure, from that of the mastoid tubercles of the tooth of the Mastodon, to the vertical laminæ of cement, enamel, and dentine of the Elephant. The Museum also possesses the entire skeleton of the Mastodon (_Petrif._ _Lign._ 107) formerly exhibited by M. Koch, as well as the fine suite of jaws and teeth obtained by the same indefatigable collector. This collection demonstrates that all the bones and teeth, apparently of several species, and, as some have supposed, of distinct genera, belong but to the one grand Mastodon--the _M. giganteus_ of Cuvier; it also clearly proves that the young mastodon had a pair of tusks placed horizontally in the lower jaw; and that but one of these tusks became developed in the adult, and that only in the male.[741]

[741] This remarkable circumstance, in the infancy of palæontological science, gave rise to a very venial error; it was made to constitute the character of a new genus, to which the name _Tetracaulodon_ was applied.

It is therefore unnecessary to enlarge upon this subject, for an inspection of a few specimens will afford the student a clearer insight into the structure of the skeletons and teeth of these animals than any description. The form of the teeth, and the disposition of the dental elements, are illustrated in _Wond._ p. 143, and _Ly._ p. 159.

[Sidenote: DINOTHERIUM.]

Dinotherium. _Petrif._ p. 474; _Wond._ p. 173; _Bd._ i. p. 135, pl. ii.--At Epplesheim, forty miles north-east of Darmstadt, in beds of sand and marl of the median Tertiary formations, the jaws, teeth, skull, and other remains of the Dinothere, one of the most gigantic of terrestrial mammalians, have been discovered; they are preserved in the museum at Darmstadt. The length of the largest species is estimated at eighteen feet. The teeth had previously been found in France, Bavaria, and Austria; and, from their close analogy to those of the Tapir, were described by Cuvier as belonging to an extinct colossal animal of that genus. But subsequent discoveries have shown that the _Dinotherium_ was probably a proboscideal animal, and had two large curved tusks directed downwards in the anterior extremity of the lower jaw.[742]

[742] There are some fine specimens, and good models of the Darmstadt specimens, in the British Museum (_Petrif._ p. 474).

[Sidenote: CUVIERIAN PACHYDERMS.]

Cuvierian Pachyderms. _Lign. 255, 256._ _Owen’s Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 299, &c.; _Wond._ p. 254; _Bd._ i. p. 81; _Petrif._ p. 475.--A large proportion of the numerous bones and teeth which are found in the Tertiary gypseous deposits at Montmartre, near Paris, are referable to the several extinct genera of Pachydermata, which the genius of Cuvier first made known. The _Palæotheria_ and _Anoplotheria_ must be familiar to the intelligent reader, for the restored outlines of several species are appended to almost every work that treats of the ancient inhabitants of our globe. The details of their anatomical characters are given at length in _Oss. Foss._ tom. iii., illustrated with numerous plates.

The Palæotheria (_Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 316, _et seq._) resembled the Tapirs in their head and short proboscis, while their molar teeth approached those of the Rhinoceros, and their feet were divided into three toes, instead of four, as in the Tapirs. Upwards of eleven species have been discovered, varying from the size of the Rhinoceros to that of the Hog. Their remains are extensively diffused in the Upper Eocene strata in various parts of France; and have been found in the Isle of Wight.

The Lophiodon (_crested-tooth_), a genus distinguished from the former by the characters of the teeth, which more nearly resemble those of the Tapirs, comprehends twelve species, all found in the fresh-water Tertiary marls of France. A canine tooth of a species of _Lophiodon_ was found in the London Clay, in sinking a well on Sydenham Common, near the railway.[743]

[743] See Mr. Douglas Allport’s interesting _History of Camberwell_, p. 17, and Owen’s _Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 306.

The Anoplotheria have two characters not observed in any other animal, namely feet with two toes (see _Lign. 252_), the metacarpal and metatarsal bones of which do not unite into a single piece, as is the case in the ruminants; and teeth placed in a continued series without any interval between them (_Petrif._ _Lign._ 111); man alone has the teeth arranged in the same manner. I subjoin figures of molar teeth of _Palæotherium_ and _Anoplotherium_ (_Lign. 256_).

There are also sub-genera, as for example, _Xiphodon_ and _Dichobune_, characterized by peculiarities of dental and osteological structure; and _Anthracotherium_ (so named from two species having been found in a bed of Anthracite or Lignite, near Savone), a genus intermediate between the Palæotheria and Hogs. The skeletons of these remarkable animals are imbedded with the remains of carnivora, marsupialia, bats, birds, crocodiles, tortoises, and fishes.

In England, no remains of the extinct Pachydermata of the Paris Tertiary strata were discovered until a few years since, and they are still exceedingly rare. There have been found in the fresh-water limestone at Binstead, near Ryde, and at Seafield, Isle of Wight, (see _Geol. I. Wight_, 1854, Prefat. Note,) teeth and portions of the jaws of two species of Anoplotherium, four of Palæotherium, and one of _Chæropotamus_, an animal allied to the Hog Tribe (_Geol. Trans._ 2d ser. vol. vi. pl. iv.; and _Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 413, &c.).

The _Hyopotamus_ (_Lign. 257_) is a genus of Anthracotherioid pachyderms, two species of which have been determined by Prof. Owen (_Quart. Geol. Journ._ vol. iv. p. 103, &c.), from specimens of teeth found in the upper eocene of the north-west coast of the Isle of Wight, by the Marchioness of Hastings.

The _Palæotherium_, _Dichobune_, _Dichodon_, _Paloplotherium_, and others occur in the upper eocene fresh-water deposits of Hordwell Cliff (see _Charlesworth’s Journal_, No. 1, p. 5, and pl. ii.; _Quart. Geol. Journ._ vol. iv. p. 17, and pl. iii.; and _Rep. Brit. Assoc._ 1851, _sect._ p. 67).

Two species of a new genus, intermediate between the Hog and the Hyrax, named by Professor Owen _Hyracotherium_, have been discovered in the eocene sands at Kyson, in Suffolk, and in the London Clay of the cliffs at Studd Hill, about a mile to the west of Herne Bay.[744] The latter specimen consists of a mutilated skull, about the size of that of a Hare, with the molar teeth perfect.

[744] Geol. Trans. 2d ser. vol. vi. pl. xxi. p. 203; and _Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 419, &c.

The _Paloplotherium_, an allied genus, from Hordwell Cliff, is described in _Geol. Journ._ vol. iv. p. 103.

The other large fossil Pachyderms, belonging to the two existing genera of Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus, are found very extensively distributed in alluvial debris, in the ossiferous breccia of caverns, and in other pleistocene deposits; and their remains are frequently dug up in the superficial marls, clays, gravel, and sand of England. As the teeth of these animals will occasionally be met with by the collector, a brief explanation of their form and structure may be useful.

Fig. 1.--Inner surface of an incisor of _Hyopotamus_.

3.--Lateral view of an upper incisor of _Hyopotamus_.

4.--Outer aspect of the crown of the same tooth.

5.--Inner aspect of ditto.

2.--Lateral view of the upper incisor of recent Hog (_Sus scrofa_).

(These figures are from plate vii. _Quart. Geol. Journ._ vol. iv.; but the drawings have been accidentally reversed.)

[Sidenote: TEETH OF MAMMALIA.]

Teeth of Mammalia.[745]--The organization of the teeth in the herbivorous mammalia essentially consists in the adaptation of the three elements of dental structure to the peculiar conditions required by the habits and economy of the different species. Thus, in the Elephant (_Lign. 259, 260_), Horse (_Lign. 263_), &c., the dentine, cement, and enamel are disposed in vertical plates more or less inflected, the enamel and cement penetrating the body of the tooth, and embracing corresponding processes of dentine; an arrangement by which a grinding surface, composed of three substances of unequal densities, is produced and maintained in every state of detrition (_Owen_). But these teeth do not possess the symmetrical and complicated structure observable in those of many of the reptiles and fishes we have previously investigated. In the carnivorous mammalia, the enamel constitutes an external shell or case, investing the body of dentine and presenting sharp cusps or trenchant ridges, adapted for the laceration of flesh, as in the Tiger, or modified so as to form instruments for snapping and crushing bones, as in the teeth of the Hyæna. In the Mastodon, the crown of the tooth, when first emerged from the gum, presents a series of strong conical eminences (_Lign. 254_), that become worn down by use, at first into disks (_Ly._ p. 157), which, by further detrition, coalesce. The tooth of the Elephant (_Lign._ 259 and 260), on the contrary, consists of vertical plates of dentine, with an immediate investment of enamel, over which there is an external layer of cement that binds together the entire series of plates, often amounting to twenty or more; the horizontal surface produced by the detrition of such a structure, gives rise to the well-known grinding surface of the molars of the elephant (_Lign. 259, 260_; _Wond._ pp. 143 and 160; _Ly._ p. 159; Owens _Brit. Foss. Mam._ figs. 88-90, &c.). Detached plates of the teeth of Elephants, particularly of those which belong to the back part of the posterior grinder, and have not come into use, are puzzling to the inexperienced collector of fossil remains; and the first indication I obtained of the existence of the remains of fossil Elephants in Brighton Cliffs (_Wond._ p. 150), was from a mass of this kind, dug up in sinking a well in Dorset Gardens, and sent to me as a "petrified cauliflower."

[745] For the minute structure of the dental organs, the modes of dentition prevalent in the mammalia, and the homologies of the teeth, we must refer to Prof. Owen’s often-quoted works, the matchless _Odontography_, and the lucid and compendious Article on Teeth, in the _Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology_.

[Sidenote: HIPPOPOTAMUS.]

I subjoin (_Lign. 261, fig. 1_) a figure of the crown of a fossil molar tooth of a Hippopotamus, from Kent’s Cavern, Devonshire; in this specimen the summits of the cusps are worn down by use; and another, _fig._ 2, representing a perfect molar, with the conical cusps of the crown entire, found in Hertfordshire by W. D. Saull, Esq. The form of the worn surfaces of the molars of the Rhinoceros,[746] is shown in two different stages in the fossil teeth represented _Lign. 262_. Sir C. Lyell has given figures of the teeth of the Horse, Ox, Deer, &c. (_Ly._ p. 160); but teeth of the recent species are so readily obtained, and so much more instructive, that I would recommend the student to procure teeth of the domestic herbivorous, carnivorous, and rodent animals, and preserve them in his cabinet as objects for comparison with the fossil mammalian teeth he may discover (see _Pict. Atlas_, pl. lxxii.).

[746] See Translation of a Memoir by Giebel on the fossil remains of Rhinoceros in the _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._ vol. viii. part ii. p. 9, &c.

[Sidenote: HORSE.]

Fossil Horse. _Lign. 263_; and Owen’s _Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 383, _et seq._--The bones and teeth of one or more species of this widely distributed genus are found in the alluvium, in osseous breccia, and in caverns in numerous localities in Europe, Asia, and America. The teeth and bones of the horse are often met with in the Elephant-bed in Brighton cliffs; they are referable to a small species, about the size of a Shetland pony. The blue alluvial clay or silt of our existing river-valleys contains abundance of the remains of a horse not distinguishable from the recent.

In the Siwalik hills, collocated with the gigantic pachydermata, ruminants, and carnivora, the remains of two or more species of Horse have been discovered. One form (_Hippotherium_) is remarkably distinguished from any previously known by the extreme length and slenderness of its I legs, in which respect it must have closely resembled the Antelope; it did not surpass in size the common Deer.

IV. Fossil Edentata. _Petrif._ p. 476.--The remains of extinct colossal mammalia, related to the existing diminutive Sloths in the essential characters of their organization, but modified to suit the peculiar conditions in which they were placed and the enormous increase in bulk of their colossal frames, are strewn all over the vast area of those alluvial plains of South America, called the Pampas (_Wond._ p. 164). The deposits of these regions[747] consist of--1. Beds of clay, sand, and limestone, containing marine shells and teeth of sharks; these are the lowermost strata. 2. Indurated marl. 3. Red clayey earth with calcareous concretions, in which the bones of colossal terrestrial mammalia are abundant. This vertical section demonstrates, that an extensive bay of salt-water was gradually encroached upon, and at length converted into a muddy estuary, by detritus brought down from the interior of the country, and in which carcases of land-animals floated and ultimately became engulphed in the silt. It is in these last deposits, which now form the immediate subsoil of the Pampas, that the teeth of the _Megatherium_, _Mylodon_, _Glyptodon_, _Mastodon_, _Horse_, &c. have been found.[748]

[747] See "Buenos Ayres," &c., by Sir Woodbine Parish, 1852, pp. 209-223.

[748] See the charming volume entitled, "Journal of the Voyage of H. M. S. _Beagle_," by Charles Darwin, Esq; see also Prof. Owen’s descriptions in the "Zoology of the _Beagle_," and his Report, laid before the British Association in 1847.

The Megatherium (_Petrif._ p. 478, _Lign._ 112, 113; _Wond._ p. 167; _Bd._ p. 139, and pl. v.) is the best known to the general reader, from the graphic exposition of its configuration and habits by Dr. Buckland, and the splendid remains of its skeleton presented to the Hunterian Museum by Sir Woodbine Parish; but this animal is only one of several species of _Edentata_, equally interesting, and almost rivalling it in magnitude, which the labours of our own naturalists, Sir W. Parish, Mr. Darwin, and Mr. Pentland, and of Dr. Lund and other foreign savants, have brought to light. I can only advert to two other genera, namely, the _Glyptodon_ and _Mylodon_.[749]

[749] An able memoir in the Penny Cyclopædia, Art. Megatheridæ, and another under the title "Unau," will present the student with an epitome of all that is at present known of these extinct beings.

[Sidenote: GLYPTODON.]

Glyptodon (_sculptured-tooth_) clavipes. _Lign. 264._--The bony tesselated carapace, or shield, which was formerly assigned to the Megatherium (_Bd._ i. p. 159) has been proved,[750] by the discovery of other specimens, to belong to a gigantic animal, whose bones are occasionally found associated with those of the Megatherium, and which is closely allied to the Armadillo. This discovery was made by my friend, Sir Woodbine Parish, to whose indefatigable exertions the Hunterian Museum is indebted for its most splendid relics of fossil Edentata.[751] The bony dermal coat of the Glyptodon (a fine specimen of which is in the Hunterian Museum) was not disposed in rings as in the Armadillo, but is made up of polygonal pieces, accurately articulating with each other, and continuous over the whole of the upper part of the body and part of the tail; the tail also is enclosed in a case of this kind, like a sword in its scabbard (_Petrif._ p. 359, _Lign._ 75).

[750] See _Geol. Trans._ 1835, p. 438, &c.; and Prof. Owen’s elaborate Memoir on the Glyptodon in _Geol. Trans._ 2d ser. p. 81, pl. x. xiii.

[751] A restored figure of the Glyptodon, together with the skeletons of the Megathere and the Mylodon, are beautifully illustrated in the interesting volume on "Buenos Ayres and the Provinces of Rio de la Plata." 2d Edit. By Sir Woodbine Parish, K. C. H. &c.

The teeth of this animal, which are eight in number on each side of each jaw, are sculptured laterally, by two wide and deep channels (_Lign. 264, fig. 1_), which divide the grinding surface of the tooth into three portions (_Lign. 264, fig. 2_). The hind foot is very peculiar (see _Lign. 264, fig. 3_), presenting an extreme modification of the same general plan of structure as that of the Armadillo. The skeleton of this animal constitutes the type of a distinct genus (_Glyptodon_), related to the Armadillo (_Dasypus_).

[Sidenote: MYLODON.]

Mylodon.[752]--By this name is designated a gigantic edentate animal, allied to the Sloth, and formerly described as a species of Megalonyx, an almost perfect skeleton of which has been obtained from a fluviatile deposit, a few leagues to the north of the city of Buenos Ayres, and is now articulated and exhibited in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.[753] The animal appears to have been imbedded entire, and soon after its death, for the parts of the skeleton were found but little displaced, and the very few bones that are wanting, are such as might easily have escaped the search of the collector. But this magnificent specimen of the extinct fauna of South America must be seen to be properly appreciated. The skeleton measures eleven feet from the fore part of the skull to the extremity of the tail, the latter being three feet in length; the circumference of the trunk around the tenth pair of ribs is nine feet nine inches; the Megatherium is eighteen feet in length, and its girth fourteen and a half feet. These particulars will serve to convey an idea of the relative size of these gigantic animals. From certain peculiarities in the construction of the skeleton of the Mylodon, Prof. Owen, perceiving from the teeth that it was a vegetable feeder, and probably lived on leaves and the tender buds of trees, and its enormous bulk and weight forbidding the assumption that it climbed up trees and suspended itself by the branches, like the diminutive existing Sloths,--assigns to this creature the task of uprooting and felling trees, and feeding upon the foliage of the forests it laid prostrate. A remarkable development of the substance of the bones of the skull is presumed to hare been a provision against the fatal effects of a fracture of the cranium, to which the Mylodon, from its supposed uprooting propensities, is conjectured to have been peculiarly exposed; and the skull of the specimen in the College bears proofs of having had two fractures, from both of which the animal recovered. But whoever looks at the skeleton will perceive that the fore-feet are admirably adapted for seizing and wrenching oft the branches, and the hinder feet for clasping the trunk of a large tree; and there is nothing to forbid the supposition, that the animal could obtain a constant and ready supply of food, by climbing up the stem to a sufficient height, and wrenching off the branches. Prof. Owen states, that the Mylodon unites the two great groups of the _Unguiculata_ (animals with nails and claws), and the _Ungulata_ (hoofed animals), for it has both hoofs and claws on the same feet.

[752] Signifying _molar-tooth_,--a name intended to express that the animal has only teeth adapted for grinding; but this term is equally applicable to all the other megatheroid animals.

[753] See "Description of the Skeleton of an extinct gigantic Sloth (_Mylodon robustus_)," &c., by Richard Owen, F.R.S. Hunterian Professor of the Royal College of Surgeons, 1 vol. 4to. with twenty-four plates, 1842. The lithographs in this work, by Mr. Scharf, are of the highest excellence: the figure of the entire skeleton of the animal, on a scale of two inches to a foot, is admirable.

The dental organs consist of four molars on each side the lower, and five on each side the upper jaw. The teeth are implanted in very deep sockets, and are of the same size and form throughout, with a conical pulp-cavity at the base, indicating that their growth continued during the life of the animal. In structure they resemble those of the Megatherium and Sloth (_Bradypus_); being composed of a pillar of coarse dentine, traversed by numerous vascular or medullary canals, which is invested with a layer of very fine, dense dentine, with minute calcigerous tubes, and the whole surrounded by a thick coating of cementum: no enamel enters into their composition. (_Owen._)

V. Fossil Rodents.--Of the mammalia termed _Rodentia_ or Gnawers (see _Wond._ p. 143), of which the Mouse, Rabbit, and Beaver are examples, the remains of several genera are found in a fossil state; particularly in the caverns containing the bones of Carnivora. Dr. Buckland collected from Kirkdale Cave-bones of a species of Hare or Rabbit, Mouse and Water-Rat (_Reliq. Diluv._ pl. xi.).

In the eocene gypseous strata of France, two species of Dormouse and two of Squirrel have been found. From the tertiary sand at Epplesheim, with the bones of the Dinotherium, those of a species of Hamster or German Dormouse (_Cricetus_) were obtained.

Fossil teeth of a species of Porcupine (_Hystrix_) occur in the pliocene deposits of Tuscany.

Of the Beaver (_Castor_), some undoubted remains have been collected in this country. Those of a species apparently identical with the recent Beaver of the Danube, have been discovered in the fresh-water deposits of Essex,[754] Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Berks, and in Scotland; and the remains of the very large extinct species first observed in Russia (and named, by M. Fischer, _Trogontherium_,) have been found in the subterranean forest at Bacton, in Suffolk.[755]

[754] See Mr. Brown’s Paper on Copford, _Quart. Geol. Journ._ vol. viii. p. 188.

[755] See _Hist. Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 184, &c.; _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._ vol. iv. p. 42; and _Petrif._ p. 357.

[Sidenote: FOSSIL MARSUPIALIA.]

VI. Fossil Marsupialia.[756]--That the remains of an extinct species of gigantic _Kangaroo_ should be found in the fissures of the rocks and in the caverns of Australia, a country in which marsupial animals are the principal existing mammalia, is a fact that will not excite much surprise; but that beings of this remarkable type of organization should ever have inhabited the countries situated in the latitude of the European continent and of Great Britain, would never have been suspected, but for the researches of the geologist. The fossil remains of this class discovered in Australia[757] occur in the pleistocene deposits of Darling Downs, Melbourne, &c. and in fissures and caves in the limestone of Wellington Valley, imbedded in red ochreous loam, and are often incrusted by stalactitic concretions. One of the species exceeds the largest existing Kangaroo, and its bones are associated with those of the Wombat, and other marsupial animals (_Ly._ p. 155).

[756] Marsupialia; animals that carry their young in a pouch (_marsupium_), as the Kangaroo.

[757] Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1844, p. 223.

A species of Didelphys (_Opossum_) has been discovered in the gypseous limestone of Montmartre, and is figured and described by Cuvier (_Oss. Foss._ vol. iii. pl. lxxi.; see also _Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 76). It consists of a considerable part of the skeleton of a small animal, imbedded in gypsum; the block containing the specimen has been split asunder, and some of the bones are attached to the surface of one moiety, and the remainder to the other. From the character of the jaws and teeth, Cuvier pronounced that the animal was related to the Opossum, and confidently predicted that the two peculiar bones which support the pouch in these animals would be found attached to the fore-part of the pelvis; accordingly he chiselled away the stone, and disclosed these _marsupial_ bones; thus proving the truth of those laws of correlation of structure, which he was the first to enunciate and establish. But as there are true marsupials in which the _ossa marsupialia_ are merely rudimentary, for example, in the Dog-headed Opossum, or "Hyæna" of the Tasmanian colonists (_Thylacinus Harrisii_), in which they are merely two small, oblong, flattened fibro-cartilages, imbedded in the internal pillars of the abdominal rings, and are only six lines long and three or four lines broad,--it follows that in a fossil state the pelvis of a true marsupial animal may be destitute of those appendages which are commonly supposed to be an essential character of the marsupial skeleton. Thus the fossil pelvis of the Thylacinus, had that species been long ago, as it is soon likely to be, extinct, would not have afforded the certain evidence of its marsupial character to which Cuvier triumphantly appealed in demonstration of the Didelphys of the gypsum quarries of Montmartre; yet the Thylacinus would not therefore have been less essentially a marsupial animal.[758]

[758] See Prof. Owen, _Zoological Society’s Proceedings_, Dec. 1844.

[Sidenote: FOSSIL MAMMALIA.]

In the Eocene sand at Kyson, near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, among other mammalian remains (_Ly._ p. 203), Mr. Colchester, of Ipswich, whose researches have been rewarded by many interesting fossils, found a fragment of the jaw, with one premolar tooth having two fangs, of a small animal (_Didelphys Colchesteri_, Owen); and which Mr. Charlesworth (Curator of the Philosophical Institution of York) ascertained to belong to a marsupial animal allied to the Opossum.[759]

[759] See _Mag. Nat. Hist._ 1839, p. 450; _Rep. Brit. Assoc._ 1842, p. 73; and _Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 71, _fig._ 22.

But the specimens above described are far surpassed in interest by those discovered in the Triassic Bone-bed of Würtemberg and in the Oolite of Stonesfield; the latter consisting of several jaws and teeth of marsupial animals.

Triassic Mammalian Teeth.--In the thin layer of rolled bones, teeth, scales, and coprolite, so extensively spread over the top of the Trias and at the base of the Lias, both in England and in Würtemberg, and well known to collectors as the "Bone-bed" of Aust Cliff, &c. (_Wond._ p. 529), a few minute _mammalian_ teeth have been discovered by M. Plieninger at Diegerloch, near Stuttgart, Würtemberg. They appear to have belonged to one or more small Insectivorous quadrupeds, and have been described by Plieninger and Jäger. Sir C. Lyell, in the Prefatory Note to his Manual, 1852, fully treats of these interesting and most ancient mammalian remains, and gives several exact figures of the teeth.

[Sidenote: STONESFIELD MAMMALIA.]

Fossil Mammalia of Stonesfield.[760] _Lign. 265._ (_Bd._ pl. ii. _Ly._ p. 268. _Wond._ p. 510.)--The best known examples of the fossil remains of mammalia in the Secondary formations, and, excepting the teeth just mentioned, of the highest antiquity, according to our present knowledge of the earth’s physical history, are several mutilated lower jaws with teeth, of some very small animals, which are supposed to belong to insectivorous marsupial quadrupeds.[761]

[760] See Owen’s _Brit. Foss. Mam._ pp. 29-70, figs. 15-20; and _Petrifactions_, p. 401, _et seq._

[761] A small mammalian vertebra from Stonesfield is in Mr. Morris’s collection, and has been figured by Mr. Bowerbank, _Quat. Geol. Jour._ vol. iv. pl. i. fig. 4, and pl. ii. fig. 6.

These most important organic remains have all been found in the oolitic calcareous flag-stones of Stonesfield: deposits which, as we have already had occasion to notice, teem with other relics of great interest. Two specimens of the natural size are represented _Lign. 265_, and will serve for reference to the collector who may visit that interesting locality.

The existence of undoubted mammalia in the secondary formations was first made known by Dr. Buckland (in 1823), who, upon the authority of Cuvier, stated that the two specimens then discovered at Stonesfield belonged to marsupials allied to the Opossum (_Didelphys_). These fossils were the left branches of two lower jaws; both were imbedded in the stone by the external surface, the inner side only being exposed. One of the specimens has ten molar teeth in a row; the other (the beautiful fossil, _fig. 1, Lign. 265_, now in the British Museum,) has seven molars, one canine tooth, and three incisors. Five other specimens have since been found.[762]

[762] See _Brit. Foss. Mam._ pp. 15-70, for ample details of their anatomical characters, and physiological relations.

The _Amphitherium_ had thirty-two teeth in the lower jaw, that is, sixteen on each side; it is presumed to have been insectivorous, and to have belonged to the _placental_ mammalia. The _Phascolotherium_ had four true molar teeth, and three or four false molars, one canine, and three incisors in each branch of the lower jaw; and closely approximates to _marsupial_ genera now restricted to New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land. It is, indeed, as Professor Phillips first remarked, an interesting fact, that the other organic remains of the British Oolite correspond with the existing forms now confined to the Australian continent and neighbouring seas; for in those distant latitudes, the _Cestracionts_, _Trigoniæ_, and _Terebratulæ_ inhabit the ocean, and the _Cycadeæ_ and _Araucariæ_ flourish on the dry land (_Wond._ p. 894).

Thus we have evidence of the existence of the Marsupial order during the Secondary and Tertiary formations, a proof, as Dr. Buckland observes (_Bd._ p. 73), that this order, instead of being, as was once supposed, of more recent introduction than other orders of mammalia, was, in reality, the most ancient condition under which animals of this class first existed in the earlier geological epochs, and was coexistent with many other orders throughout Europe in the Eocene period; while its geographical distribution in the existing fauna is restricted to North and South America, and to New Holland, and the adjacent islands.

VII. Fossil Carnivora.--The fossil bones and teeth of numerous species of _Carnivora_, the order comprising the mammalia which prey on other animals, of which the Weasel, Bear, Cat, Dog, &c. are examples, abound in fissures and caverns, in conglomerated rocks, and in drifted sand and gravel. The remains of the colossal Pachyderms, the Mastodons and Elephants, lie buried, for the most part, as we have previously shown, in the superficial alluvial deposits; but the Carnivora, although occasionally entombed with the Herbivora in superficial gravels and loams, are principally found imbedded in the floors of extensive caverns.[763] In many instances, such immense quantities of bones and teeth of individuals of all ages, and belonging to but one or two species, occur in certain caves, as to render it probable that these were for a long period the dens of the extinct species of Bears, Hyænas, &c. whose bones they enclose.

[763] _Rep. Brit. Assoc._ 1842, sect. p. 62. For an account of the ossiferous caves of the Brazils, see _Petrif._ p. 483.

Another remarkable geological condition in which fossil bones of Carnivora occur, is that of an ossiferous conglomerate, or _bone-breccia_; that is, a conglomerate formed of fragments of limestone and bones, cemented together into a hard rock by a reddish calcareous concretion. This breccia is found in almost all the islands on the shores of the basin of the Mediterranean Sea; as for example, at Gibraltar, Cette, Nice, Cerigo, Corsica, Palermo, &c. The most celebrated of the bone-caves are situated in Franconia, and in many parts of the Hartz. That of Gailenreuth has long been known for its fossil treasures, which principally consist of the bones and teeth of two extinct species of Bears. One of these is equal in size to a large horse, and is termed _Ursus spelæus_ (Bear of the Caverns); and skeletons have been found of all ages, from the adult to the cub but a few days old (see _Wond._ pp. 176, 177). There are numerous caverns in the neighbouring district, some of which are equally rich in the remains of Carnivora.[764] Similar fossils are also found in the consolidated gravel and drift in various parts of Germany, and in the fissures of rocks containing iron-ore, at Kropp, in Carniola.

[764] A highly interesting account of the Ossiferous Caves of the Hartz and Franconia, by Sir Philip Grey Egerton, Bart, was published in 1834, _Geol. Proc._ vol. ii. p. 94. See also Captain Montagu’s notice of the Sophienhöhle further on, at p. 820.

[Sidenote: BONE-CAVERNS.]

Even in Australia, caves with ossiferous breccia are numerous; but the bones belong to extinct marsupial animals of genera still existing in the country (see _Rep. Brit. Assoc._ 1844; _Petrif._ p. 133; and _Wond._ p. 188). In England, several caverns presenting similar phenomena have been discovered. That of Kirkdale, near Kirby Moorside, Yorkshire, is well known from the celebrity it acquired by the graphic illustration of its contents by Dr. Buckland.[765] This cave, or rather fissure, for its dimensions were too limited to merit the name of cavern, was situated in oolitic limestone; it was two hundred and fifty feet long, from two to fourteen high, and six or seven wide. The floor was occupied by a bed of indurated mud, covered over with a thick crust of stalagmite; the roof and sides being invested with a similar calcareous sparry coating, as is commonly the case in all fissures in limestone rocks.[766] From this cave were obtained numerous bones of Hyænas, associated with bones, more or less fractured, of Tiger, Bear, Wolf, Fox, Weasel, Elephant, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus, Horse, Deer, Ox, Hare or Rabbit, Mouse, Water-rat, and fragments of skeletons of Ravens, Pigeons, Larks, and Ducks. Many of the bones exhibited marks of having been gnawed, and crushed by the teeth of some animals. From all the facts observed, and which are detailed by Dr. Buckland with his wonted graphic power, it is inferred that the cave was inhabited for a considerable period by Hyænas; that many of the remains found there were of individuals carried in and devoured by those animals, and that in some instances the hyænas preyed upon each other. The portions of bone referable to the elephant seem to prove that occasionally the large mammalia were also obtained for food; but it is probable that the smaller animals were either drifted in by currents of water, or fell into the chasm through fissures now closed up by stalactitical incrustations.

[765] Dr. Buckland’s celebrated work, "Reliquiæ Diluvianæ," contains an admirable description of these caverns and their contents, with numerous plates. The student, in consulting this volume, must separate the _facts_ from the diluvial theory, which, at the period of its publication (1823), they were supposed by Dr. Buckland and other eminent geologists to confirm.

[766] For a general description of the cave at Kirkdale, see _Wond._ p. 179; and for details, _Reliq. Diluv._ pp. 1-19. The ossiferous caves at Kirkdale, Torquay, and Banwell are noticed, _Petrif._ p. 482.

Kent’s Cave, near Torquay, Oreston Cave, near Plymouth, and several other caves in Devonshire, have yielded great numbers of bones and teeth of Carnivora and Pachydermata (see _Reliq. Diluv._ p. 67).

Kent’s Hole is the most productive ossiferous cavern in England, and its vicinity to Torquay renders it of easy access. An extensive collection of teeth and bones was obtained from this cave by the late Rev. J. MacEnery, comprising, in addition to the usual extinct Carnivora, skulls and teeth of Badger (_Meles taxus_), Otter (_Lutra vulgaris_), Pole-cat (_Putorius vulgaris_), Stoat or Ermine (_P. erminius_), &c. A selection of the choicest specimens in this collection is deposited in the British Museum.

In Glamorganshire, two large caverns, called Goat’s Hole, and Paviland Cave, containing numerous bones of Bear, Hyæna, Wolf, Fox, Rhinoceros, Elephant, &c., are situated in a lofty cliff of limestone, between Oxwich Bay and the Worm’s Head, on the property of Earl Talbot, fifteen miles west of Swansea (_Reliq. Diluv._ p. 82).

[Sidenote: FOSSIL CARNIVORA.]

In the western district of the Mendip Hills, in Somersetshire, there are several ossiferous fissures and caves. The most interesting are those of Hutton, on the northern escarpment of Bleadon Hill; and of Banwell, lying about a mile to the east of Hutton. They contain remains of two species of bear, one (_Ursus spelæus_) of immense size and strength; and of Tiger, Hyæna, Wolf, Fox, Deer, Ox, and Elephant.[767]

[767] See a Memoir "On the Caverns and Fissures in the Western District of the Mendip Hills," by the late Rev. D. Williams. Proc. Royal Society, June 2, 1831, p. 55.

From the caves at Hutton, the Rev. D. Williams obtained the milk-teeth and other remains of a calf-elephant, about two years old, and those of a young tiger, just shedding its milk-teeth; also the grinders of a young horse, that were casting their coronary surfaces; and remains of two species of hyæna.

But one instance of the fossil bones of Carnivora has been observed in the south-east of England. It occurred in a fissure in a quarry of sandstone at Boughton, near Maidstone; among other bones, the lower jaw of a Hyæna (see Frontispiece of Vol. I.), with the teeth, was obtained.[768]

[768] See _Mag. Nat. Hist._ 1836, vol. ix. p. 593; and _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._ vol. vii. p. 383.

In the modern silt of our alluvial districts, the remains of carnivorous animals, formerly indigenous to this island, are occasionally met with; and the skeleton of the Brown Bear (a species which inhabited Scotland eight centuries ago), and of the Wolf, whose extinction is of a yet later date, have been discovered. The Woodwardian Museum at Cambridge contains an entire skull of the Brown Bear (_Ursus arctos_), found in the Manea Fen of Cambridgeshire;[769] in an ancient fresh-water deposit, near Bacton, in Norfolk, the right lower jaw of the Bear of the Caverns (_Ursus spelæus_), has been discovered;[770] and the phalangeal bone of a large Bear has been found by Mr. J. Brown in the pleistocene deposits at Copford, Essex, with the remains of Beaver, Elephant, Stag, &c. (_Geol. Journ._ vol. viii. p. 187.)

[769] A beautiful lignograph of this specimen is given in _Hist. Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 77, _fig._ 24.

[770] Hist. Brit. Foss. Mam. p. 89.

Thus the remains of fossil Carnivora discovered in England comprise several kinds of Bear[771] (including the two species of the caverns of Germany, _U. priscus_ and _U. spelæus_), and of Tiger, Hyæna, Wolf, Fox, &c.

[771] _Petrif._ p. 398. In the _Pict. Atlas_, pl. lxxiii., is a good figure of a large Bear’s tooth. Teeth of Bear, Tiger, Hyæna, and Arvicola, are figured in _Ly._ p. 161.

Although we cannot dwell on foreign localities of Carnivora, I may mention that the lacustrine pliocene formation of Œningen occasionally yields fine remains. A splendid specimen, obtained from that locality by Sir R. I. Murchison, displays almost the entire skeleton of a Fox-like animal, the _Galecynus Œningensis_ of Prof. Owen.[772]

[772] See _Geol. Trans._ 2d ser. vol. iii. pl. xxxiii.; and _Quart. Geol. Journ._ vol. iii. p. 55.

The Seal, which is one of the marine carnivorous mammalia, also occurs in a fossil state in England. A femur of a species of _Phoca_ has been found, with the remains of a Monkey and Bat, in a tertiary deposit in Suffolk. In the tertiary strata of Malta an extinct species of Seal has also been discovered. In the bone-beds of New Zealand my son frequently found bones and teeth of Seals, probably of the species now inhabiting the South Pacific. (_Petrif._ p. 130.)

Of the Insectivora, the fossil remains of several genera occur. In England, the jaw with teeth of a large species of Mole (named Palæospalax,[773] _ancient mole_), has been discovered in a lacustrine deposit at Ostend, near Bacton, on the coast of Norfolk, associated with bones of Elephant, Deer, Roebuck, and Beaver. This animal must have been as large as a hedgehog. The only part of the skeleton hitherto obtained is a portion of the left side of the lower jaw, containing six molars; its natural affinities have therefore been inferred from the characters of the crowns of the teeth.

[773] _Hist. Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. 25.

[Sidenote: FOSSIL CHEIROPTERA AND QUADRUMANA.]

The Cheiroptera (_hand-wings_) or Bats, are mammalia which have the power of flight, from the bones of the phalanges or fingers being enormously elongated and giving support to a fine membranous expansion; they are rarely found fossil, although, from their habits of haunting and hybernating in fissures and caves, their skeletons often occur mingled in the earth of the floor of caverns, and imbedded in crannies of rocks, with bones of extinct animals.

The remains of a considerable portion of the skeleton of one species of Bat was discovered by Cuvier in the gypsum of Montmartre,[774] and another example in a gypseous deposit, at Köstritz, in Germany, with remains of extinct species of other mammalia. Two instances of British fossil Bats are recorded;[775] the one from Kent’s Cavern, collocated with the extinct Carnivora, and referred to the Horse-shoe Bat (_Rhinolophus_); the other from Kyson, in Suffolk, found in the same deposit with the remains of the Monkey, presently to be noticed.

[774] Discours sur les Révolutions de la Surface du Globe, par Baron G. Cuvier, 4to. 1826, pl. ii. _fig._ 1.

[775] _Rep. Brit. Assoc._ 1842, and _Brit. Foss. Mam._ pp. 11-18.

VIII. Fossil Quadrumana, or Monkeys.--The illustrious Cuvier, when commenting on the extraordinary fact, that among the innumerable fossil relics of the mammalia which peopled the continents and islands of our planet, through the vast periods comprehended in the tertiary formations, no traces of Man or of his works occur, emphatically remarked, that it was a phenomenon not less surprising, that no remains of the quadrumanous races, which rank next to Man in physical conformation, should have been found in a fossil state; and that the circumstance was the more remarkable, because the majority of the mammalia found in the younger and older tertiary strata have their congeners at the present time in the warmest regions of the globe; in those intertropical climates where the existing quadrumana are almost exclusively located.[776]

[776] Discours sur les Révolutions de la Surface du Globe, p. 171.

Fossil Ape of France.--But the remains of this order have at length been discovered in the most ancient of the tertiary deposits, and under circumstances which admit of no doubt as to the antiquity of the fossils or the strata in which they were imbedded; and almost at the same time in France and in the Sub-Himalayas; and very recently in the Brazils and in England. The first European specimen was discovered at Sansan, near Auch, about forty miles west of Toulouse, by M. Lartet, with remains of the Rhinoceros, Deer, Antelope, Palæotherium, &c. It consists of the lower jaw, almost complete, with all the teeth, of an adult animal, of an extinct species, related to the long-limbed and tailed monkey, called _Semnopithecus_, of which the Negro Monkey is an example. A fragment of another jaw has been found in the same locality.

Fossil Monkey of the Sub-Himalayas.--In the inexhaustible mine of fossil bones, discovered by British Officers in India, the upper jaw of an Ape was found by Messrs. Baker and Durand, and fragments of other jaws and some bones were subsequently collected by Dr. Falconer and Captain Cautley. These relics conjointly established the existence of a gigantic quadrumanous animal in the groves of India at the Eocene epoch, when the gigantic Tortoise, the lofty Sivatherium, and the colossal Mastodon tenanted the plains, and Hippopotami frequented the marshes and rivers. This fossil Ape also is related to the _Semnopithecus_.

Fossil Monkey of South America.--Dr. Lund, the eminent Danish naturalist, to whose indefatigable researches, and successful determination of the colossal Edentata, we have previously alluded, has discovered the bones of a gigantic Ape, four feet in height, related to the Capuchin Monkey, in the ossiferous breccia of the caves of Brazil.

British Fossil Monkeys, _Ly._ p. 202.--The first fossil relic of a quadrumanous animal from the British strata was obtained in 1839, from a bed of Eocene sand, at Kyson, a few miles east of Woodbridge, in Suffolk, by W. Colchester, Esq. The first specimen found consisted of a small fragment of the right side of the lower jaw, with the last molar tooth entire in its socket; another relic is the crown of one fang of the first molar tooth, of the same species. These relics have been referred to an extinct species of Monkey, related to the _Macacus_, which has been named _Macacus eocænus_, in allusion to the geological age of the stratum in which the remains were discovered.[777] In this Eocene sand have also been discovered the remains of a Bat (p. 813), and of a Marsupial (_Didelphys_, p. 805), and numerous fish-teeth (_Lamna_, p. 594); whilst in the clay overlying this sand were found the vertebra of a Serpent (_Palæophis_, p. 738) and several teeth of a Pachyderm (_Hyracotherium_, p. 791). Prof. Owen in the _Hist. Brit. Foss. Mam._ p. xlvi. figures and briefly notices the relics of another species of _Macacus_, from the newer pliocene, or pleistocene, brick earth at Grays, Essex.

[777] Owen, British Fossil Mammalia, p. 1, figs. 1, 3.

Fossil Human Bones.--In the Swabian Alps, human teeth and several perfect human skulls are said to have been found in deposits in which elephantine remains also occur. This subject was brought before the meeting of the German Association for the Advancement of Science at Tubingen, by Fraas and Jäger, and, if correctly reported, naturally leads to the conclusion that human beings were contemporaneous with the extinct elephants and some of the other large pachydermata in the regions referred to.

[Sidenote: ON COLLECTING FOSSIL MAMMALIA.]

On Collecting and Developing the Fossil Remains of Mammalia.--But few directions for the developing and repairing of the fossil remains of mammalia will be required in this place, the suggestions already offered, and particularly those in vol. i. pp. 45-49, embracing full instructions on this head.[778] On the method recommended in p. 46, for strengthening the friable bones of the large mammalia, I may observe, that the _drying-oil_ is prepared by boiling _litharge_ in oil, in the proportion of one ounce of the litharge to a pint of oil.

[778] Cement.--The following formula was given me by an eminent collector and developer of fossils:--

Gum mastic, one ounce;

Rectified spirit of wine, sufficient to dissolve it.

Isinglass, one ounce, soaked in water until soft; then dissolve it in pure rum or brandy until it is in the state of stiff glue: add to this a quarter of an ounce of gum ammoniacum, well rubbed and mixed.

Put the two solutions together in an earthen vessel, over a gentle heat; when thoroughly melted and united, put the mixture into smooth, well-corked bottles.

_Use._--Immerse the bottle in hot water until the cement is sufficiently liquid for use.

The search for fossils of this class is attended with much less certainty of success than for other animal remains. In the following list, page 818, the localities most likely to be productive are enumerated; but we have no caverns, as in Germany, so rich in remains of this kind as to ensure the discovery of specimens by the casual visitor; for the treasures of the most productive cave, that of Banwell, are prohibited; the proprietor carefully preserving every fragment. A short residence near some of the best localities and daily research are required for obtaining interesting specimens. For example, a residence at Ryde, for a search in the fresh-water tertiary limestone at Binstead; at Torquay, for Kent’s cavern; or some other town or village near the other caves in Devonshire; Herne Bay, for the London Clay at Studd’s Hill, that produced the Hyracotherium; Woodbridge or Kyson, for the Suffolk mammalia; Walton and Clacton, in Essex, for remains of Elephants in the pleistocene deposits of that coast.

In searching for bones and teeth in an unexplored cave, the following suggestions by Dr. Buckland will be found of great value. Select the lowest parts in the cavern or fissure into which any mud or clay can have been drifted or accumulated; and then break through the stalagmitic crust of the floor, and dig down into the silt and pebbles, &c. below, in which bones and teeth will be found, if the spot contains any relics of this kind. As a test for distinguishing the ancient bones found in these caves from those which may have been recently introduced, the tongue should be applied to them when dry, and they will adhere in consequence of the loss of their animal gluten, without the substitution of any mineral substance, such as we commonly find in the fossil bones of the regular strata. Human bones found in caves always possess too much animal gluten to adhere to the tongue when dry.[779]

[779] Dr. Buckland on Fossil Bones of Bears in the Grotto of Osselles, near Besançon, in France. _Geol. Proc._ vol. i. p. 22.

Along the eastern coast of England, and often off the mouth of the Thames, the fishermen dredge up teeth, tusks, and bones of Elephants; and good specimens may sometimes be thus procured. The Ramsgate fishermen employed in trawling in the North Sea and English channel, frequently bring up in their gear fragments of fossil bones of Mammoths, and other mammalia. From the bank of the Goodwin-sands, large tusks have been procured. On the shore near Herne Bay, very fine mammalian remains are occasionally obtained. In the Museum at Canterbury, there was (and I believe is) a good collection of fossil bones of large Pachydermata procured from the neighbouring coast. It is a remarkable fact, that immense quantities of the bones of Mammoths, or fossil Elephants, are strewn over the bed of the German Ocean and English Channel.[780] The late Mr. Woodward informed me, that the teeth and tusks of Elephants collected along the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts, within his own cognizance, must have belonged to upwards of five hundred individuals.

[780] _Geol. Trans._ 2d ser. vol. vi. p. 161.

BRITISH LOCALITIES OF FOSSIL MAMMALIA.

Bacton, Norfolk. See _Ostend_.

Banwell Cave, fifteen miles from Bristol, and three from Banwell Station. Bones and teeth of Bears, Hyænas, a Felis larger than the Lion; but chiefly of Deer and Oxen.

Berry Head, Devonshire; Cave. Carnivora; as Bear, Badger, Tiger, Pole-cat, Stoat.

Binstead, near Ryde, Isle of Wight. _Upper Eocene._ Fresh-water limestone. Teeth and bones of Anoplotherium, Palæotherium, Chæropotamus, Dichobune.

Brighton Cliffs. Between Kemptown and Rottingdean, in the beds above the Chalk. _Pleistocene._ Teeth and bones of Elephant, Horse, Deer, Oxen; jaw of a Whale.

Copford, Essex. _Pleistocene._ Elephant, Stag, Ox, Beaver, Bear, &c.

Crayford, Kent. _Pleistocene._ Elephant, Horse, &c.

Easton, a mile and a half north of Southwold. Mastodon tooth, and Carnivora.

Folkstone, Kent. _Pleistocene._ On the top of the west cliff and in the valley; bones of Elephant, Hyæna, Hippopotamus, Ox, Horse, Stag, &c. (_Quart. Geol. Journ._ vol. vii. p. 257.)

Grays, Essex. _Pleistocene._ Elephant, Monkey, &c.

Harwich, Essex. _Pleistocene._ Elephant’s teeth, &c.

Herne Bay. In _London Clay_; Hyracotherium, Chæropotamus. In _Pleistocene_ deposits; Elephant, Whale.

Hoe, near Plymouth, raised Beach at. _Pleistocene._ Elephant, Rhinoceros, Bear, Deer, Whale, &c.

Horstead, Norfolk. _Pleistocene._ Mastodon tooth.

Hutton Caves, near Banwell, Somersetshire. Carnivora, Pachydermata, &c. See p. 783.

Isle of Man. _Pleistocene._ The gigantic Irish Deer (_Cervus megaceros._)

Kent’s Cave, near Torquay. The most productive of the British ossiferous caverns (see p. 813). Bear, Badger, Tiger, Wolf, and other Carnivora; Rhinoceros, Elephant, and other Pachydermata.

Kirkdale, by Kirby Moorside, Yorkshire (see p. 783). I know not if any accessible part of this celebrated cave remains.

Kyson, near Woodbridge, Suffolk. On the side of the river Deben, about a mile from Woodbridge, in the parish of Kyson (Kingston). The strata consist of, 1. Red crag, the uppermost. 2. London clay, about twelve feet. 3. White and yellow sand. In this lower Eocene bed the relics of _Monkey_, _Didelphys_, and _Bat_.

Manea Fen, Cambridgeshire. _Pleistocene._ Skull of Bear.

Newbourn, Suffolk. _Pleistocene._ Mastodon tooth. Leopard.

Newbury, Berks. _Pleistocene._ In the peat and shell-marl, Boar, Ox, Roebuck, Stag, Beaver, Wolf, Ass, &c.

Norwich. _Pleistocene._ Mammoth’s teeth and bones.

Oreston Cave, near Plymouth. Carnivora, Wolf, Bear, Hyæna, &c.

Ostend, near Bacton, on the coast of Norfolk. In a lacustrine deposit of dark clay and greenish sand, with charred trunks and branches of trees. A section presents--1. Uppermost: Drift. 2. Black earth, with shells. 3. Reddish sand. 4. Norwich crag, in patches. 5. Chalk. Nos. 2 and 3 are lacustrine; and in these Pleistocene beds have been found Gigantic Mole (_Palæospalax_), Elephant, Deer, Roebuck, fossil Beaver (_Trogontherium_), jaw of Bear (_Ursus spelæus_). See Hist. Brit. Foss. Mam. p. 85.

Paviland Cave, fifteen miles west of Swansea; between Oxwich Bay and the Worm’s Head, Glamorganshire. Rhinoceros, Mammoth, Hyæna, Wolf.

Plymouth. Caverns near elevated Beach, at the Hoe. Elephant, Rhinoceros, Bear, &c.

Postwick, near Norwich. _Pleistocene._ Tooth of Mastodon.

Seafield, Isle of Wight. _Upper Eocene._ Palæotherium.

Southbourn, Sussex. _Pleistocene._ The plain of alluvial mud and clay, called the "_Wish:_" a section seen on the sea-shore between the Sea-houses and the foot of the chalk hills. Elephant, Hippopotamus, Deer, Horse, Ox.

Southwold, Suffolk. _Pleistocene._ Elephant, Rhinoceros, Horse, Deer, Mastodon: Otter, in Red Crag.

Stonesfield, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire. _Great Oolite._ The only known locality in England of remains of mammalia of the Secondary period. See p. 805.

Studd Hill, a mile westward of Herne Bay. _London clay._ _Hyracotherium_.

Swansea (Paviland Cave, near). See Paviland.

Wirksworth, Dream Cave. A perfect skull of Rhinoceros; in Dr. Buckland’s museum, at Oxford.

Woodbridge, Suffolk. At Kyson, near Woodbridge. _Eocene._ Teeth of Monkey, &c.

_Note._--For notices of the occurrence of Mammalian Bones at Betchworth, Brighton, Dover, East Bourn, Folkstone, Maidstone, Marden, Peasemarsh, the valley of the Wey, Stonesfield Slate, Thames Valley, &c., see _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._ vol. vii. (consult Index). Of foreign localities, Tibet, Upper Punjab, Siwalik Hills, Vichy, &c., are also referred to in the same volume.

BONE CAVES IN FRANCONIA.

⁂ Captain Willoughby Montagu having favoured me in 1844 with an account of the state of the principal caves in Franconian Switzerland, which he had lately visited, the subjoined extract may be useful to the continental traveller. The cave of _Sophienhöhle_ appears to be highly interesting; the stalactites remaining uninjured, and the ossiferous floor in the state in which it was discovered; whilst the much-frequented caverns have been stripped of every relic by the spoliations of visitors during the last century and a half.

"The northern part of Bavaria, which is denominated 'Franconian Switzerland,' is situated about the centre of a triangle, formed between Bamberg on the N.W., Bayreuth N.E., and Nuremberg S.; the best road from this latter city diverging beyond Erlangen to the north.

"The nearest route from London is through Belgium, from Ostend or Antwerp, by the line of railroad which (since October, 1843) passes on from Liege and Verviers, by Aix-la-Chapelle to Cologne. Thence by steam up the Rhine, by Coblentz to Mayence, and again by railway to Frankfort. In summer there are steam boats up and down the Maine, as far as Wurzburg, daily, and higher up, between Schweinfurt and Bamberg, which latter distance is performed in eight hours going up. and five down. Or there is a diligence (_eilwagen_) from Frankfort direct to Nuremberg, from which place (or Bamberg, &c.) a carriage must be hired to Muggendorf, the principal village of that interesting district. It lies about half way on the post road between Erlangen and Bayreuth, and has two tolerable country inns; the people are civil, and moderate in their charges, at least for the freshest trout and good wine of Bavaria.

"This charming spot and neighbourhood attracts not only the geologist and lover of the picturesque, but also the angler, who finds excellent fishing in the clear, rapidly-winding streams of the Wiesent, with its tributary waters, all of which are romantically placed in the suddenly deep dales of this table-land. The Wiesent flows through Forchheim into the Regnitz, westward, and this into the Maine, north.

"As to the time necessary to get there, during the summer days it would only require one to pass through Belgium to Aix, including the transit of this frontier into Prussia, with slight search of baggage. Then, in between four and five hours to Cologne, where the steamers generally wait for the arrival of these trains; and, taking the first boat up, it is possible to reach Bingen (if not Mayence late) the same evening. From Frankfort, by diligence, starting at 11 A.M., and travelling all night, Nuremberg may be reached on the second day; and the centre of operations, about Muggendorf, on the fifth from quitting the sea-coast. In returning by the Maine,--from Wurzburg to Mayence maybe performed in one long day, and then on the Rhine, the descent being much quicker than the upward course against the streams, the return homewards may be accomplished in one day less.

"The nearest way to Ostend is by the South-Eastern Railroad to Dover, and embark for Belgium.

"The newly-discovered cave, called _Sophienhöhle_, lies on the right bank of a streamlet, which gives its name to a romantic and rocky valley, _Ahorn-thal_, and flows S.W. toward Gösweinstein, until it falls into the Wiesent. The situation of the cave is near Klaustemerhöhle, and opposite to Ludwigshöhle: and it is far easier of access than Gailenreuth, and may be inspected by ladies with the greatest facility. An intelligent female showed us through its lofty and interesting details. This cave is nearly 300 feet wide, and 150 feet in height. The quantity of fossil bones strewed about the floor was very great, notwithstanding many of the finest specimens had been removed, and were to be seen in the neighbouring castle of Count S----; added to this, the long, pendant curtains of stalactite, and the stupendous size of the cavern, contributed to make it appear to me far surpassing in interest that near Gailenreuth, called _Zoolithen-Höhle_, which I had visited the day before. The keys of this cavern--for this, as well as the other celebrated caves, is locked up, to guard against depredations--are kept at the large farm or steward’s house, hard by. The state of the weather prevented our visiting Forstershöhle (_Forest Cavern_), which lies further N.E. beyond the little town of Weischenfeld, near Zeubach; but which, we were informed, was equal in interest to this of Sophienhöhle. The tourist desirous of visiting this interesting district, will find Mr. Murray’s Handbook of Southern Germany an excellent guide: I can vouch for its accuracy."

RETROSPECT.

_"Ce que nous connaissons est peu de chose; ce que nous ignorons est immense."_

La Place.

We have now arrived at the close of this argument; we have taken a general survey of the fossilized relics of the various classes of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and have explained the methods by which the inscriptions on these "Medals of Creation" may be deciphered.

But numerous as are the facts that have passed in review before us, and great as the accession of geological knowledge has been during the last fifty years, the data hitherto obtained are insufficient to elucidate many of the obscure pages of the earth’s physical history; and to future discoveries must be left the full interpretation of many phenomena as yet obscurely presented to us.

In vain we endeavour to penetrate the veil which shrouds from our view many of the mighty events that preceded the history of our race, for,--although the shades of colossal and unknown forms belonging to the remote ages of a past eternity obey the spell of the true magician Science,--yet of the innumerable beings which through countless centuries

"The Earth has gather’d to her breast again, And yet again, the millions that were born Of her unnumber’d, unremember’d tribes--"

how few, comparatively, could even the transcendent genius of Cuvier reveal!

If we endeavour to trace the order of succession, in which the extinct and existing types of animal and vegetable organization have appeared upon the face of our globe, as demonstrated by fossil remains, we at once perceive how imperfectly our knowledge enables us to present a true picture of the development of organic life as it existed in the remotest ages. Ascending from the _Granite_--that shroud which conceals for ever from human ken the earliest scenes of the earth’s physical drama--the first glimpses we obtain of animated nature are a few sea-weeds, shells, and Crustacea. But can we doubt for a moment that that ancient sea had its boundaries and its shores--that then, as now, there were islands and continents, and hills and valleys, and streams and rivers, teeming with appropriate inhabitants? The little Lycopodiaceous seed-vessels in the Ludlow bone-bed afford as certain indication of dry land, as the olive branch which the dove brought back to the Ark; one fact of this kind overthrows a host of theories based upon negative evidence.

Throughout the lower palæozoic rocks organic life presents numerous modifications; and the remains of small placoid fishes appear in the uppermost Silurian. In the Devonian we meet with rare reptilian remains and foot-prints. In the Carboniferous rocks the sauroid Batrachians have left their relics and their foot-tracks. In the succeeding period these reptiles predominate; and on the sands of the Triassic ocean we have the foot-prints of monster reptiles and the tracks of bipeds--colossal bird-footed creatures--of which no other vestiges remain, and to which the existing order of creation affords no parallel.

The last bed of the Trias affords the first indication of Mammalian life.

We now enter upon that marvellous epoch, during which reptilian organization obtained its fullest development--when the Iguanodon and Megalosaurus--

"Mighty Pre-Adamites who walked the earth, Of which ours is the wreck--"

Byron.

were the principal inhabitants of vast islands and continents. But here, as at an earlier period, we have proof that warm-blooded animals existed; and the diminutive marsupial insectivorous Mammalia of the Oolite and the birds of the Wealden attest that the system of animal creation was complete.

Leaving behind us the Age of Reptiles, we approach that of the colossal Mammalia, when extensive countries were peopled by the enormous herbivorous Megatheres, the Mastodons, and gigantic Pachyderms, long since become extinct. But with these lost forms many existing races were contemporary; including the Monkey tribes, which, of all animals, approach nearest to man in their physical organization. Thus, by slow and almost insensible gradations, we arrive at the present state of animate and inanimate nature. But even after the existing continents had attained their present configuration, in the period immediately antecedent to the human epoch, innumerable tribes of carnivorous animals swarmed throughout the temperate climates of Europe; the Tiger, Hyæna, and Bear prowled through the woods and inhabited the caverns; and the Horse and Elephant, with gigantic Deer and Oxen, tenanted the plains.

But of Man and of his works not a vestige appears throughout the vast periods embraced in this review. Yet were any of the existing islands or continents to be engulphed in the depths of the ocean, and loaded with marine detritus, and in future ages be elevated above the waters, covered with consolidated mud and sand, how different would be the characters of those strata from any which have preceded them! Their most striking features would be the remains of Man, and the productions of human art--the domes of his temples, the columns of his palaces, the arches of his stupendous bridges of iron and stone, the ruins of his towns and cities, and the durable remains of his earthly tenement imbedded in the rocks and strata--these would be the "Medals of Creation" of the _Human Epoch_, and transmit to the remotest periods of time a faithful record of the present condition of the surface of the earth, and of its inhabitants.[781]

[781] See Sir H. Davy’s Last Days of a Philosopher.

APPENDIX TO PART III.

PROFESSOR OWEN’S CLASSIFICATION OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

(_From the Hunterian Lectures for 1843._)

Kingdom--ANIMALIA (_animals_).

Sub-kingdom--Vertebrata (_having a spinal column_). Class--Mammalia (_animals that give suck_). Aves (_birds_). Reptilia (_reptiles_). Pisces (_fishes_).

Sub-kingdom--Articulata (_having external-jointed skeletons_). Class--Crustacea (_having an external crust, or hard skin_). Arachnida (_spiders_). Insecta (_insects_). Annelata (_composed of rings_). Cirripedia (_having curled-feet_).

Sub-kingdom--Mollusca (_soft animals_). Class--Cephalopoda (_feet around the head_). Gasteropoda (_belly-feet_). Pteropoda (_wing-like feet_). Lamellibranchiata (_with lamellated gills_). Palliobranchiata (_mantle-gilled_). Tunicata (_enveloped in a cloak_).

Sub-kingdom Radiata (_radiated animals_). | /-----------------------------------------\ Nematoneura Acrita (_with thread-nerves_). (_with indistinct nerves_).

Class--Radiaria (_rayed animals_). | /---------------------------------------\ Echinodermata Acalephæ (_having a spinous skin_). (_with a stinging skin_).

Class--Polypi (_polypes_). | /-----------------------------|-------------------\ Ciliobrachiata Anthozoa Nudibrachiata (_with ciliated arms_). (_flower animals_). (_with naked arms_).

Class--Entozoa (_internal animals_). | /-----------------------------------------\ Cœlelmintha Sterelmintha (_hollow worms_). (_solid worms_).

Class--Infusoria (_infusorial animalcules_). | /----------------------------------------\ Rotifera Polygastrica (_wheel animalcules_). (_with many digestive sacs_).