Fig. 237.—Textularia Meyeriana, greatly enlarged. Miocene Tertiary. &c. Corals are very abundant, in many instances forming regular "reefs;" but all the more important groups are in existence at the present day. The Red Coral (Corallium), so largely sought after as an ornamental material, appears for the first time in deposits of this age. Amongst the Echinoderms, we meet with Heart-Urchins (Spatangus), Cake-Urchins (Scutella; fig. 238), and various other forms, the majority of which are closely allied to forms now in existence.

Numerous Crabs and Lobsters represent the Crustacea; but the most important of the Miocene Articulate Animals are the Insects. Of these, more than thirteen hundred species have been determined by Dr Heer from the Miocene strata of Switzerland alone. They include almost all the existing orders of insects, such as numerous and varied forms of Beetles (Coleoptera), Forest-bugs (Hemiptera), Ants (Hymenoptera), Flies (Diptera), Termites and Dragon-flies (Neuroptera), Grasshoppers (Orthoptera), and Butterflies (Lepidoptera). One of the latter, the well-known Vanessa Pluto of the Brown Coals of Croatia,

Fig. 238.—Different views of Scutella subrotunda, a Miocene "Cake-Urchin" from the south of France. even exhibits the pattern of the wing, and to some extent its original coloration; whilst the more durably-constructed insects are often in a state of exquisite preservation.

The Mollusca of the Miocene period are very numerous, but call for little special comment. Upon the whole, they are generically very similar to the Shell-fish of the present day; whilst, as before stated, from fifteen to thirty per cent of the species are identical with those now in existence. So far as the European area is concerned, the Molluscs indicate a decidedly hotter climate than the present one, though they have not such a distinctly tropical character as is the case with the Eocene shells. Thus we meet with many Cones, Volutes, Cowries, Olive-shells, Fig-shells, and the like, which are decidedly indicative of a high temperature of the sea. Polyzoans are abundant, and often attain considerable dimensions; whilst Brachiopods, on the other hand, are few in number. Bivalves and Univalves are extremely plentiful; and we meet here with the shells of Winged-Snails (Pteropods), belonging to such existing genera as Hyalea (fig. 239) and Cleodora. Lastly, the

Fig. 239.—Different views of the shell of Hyalea Orbignyana, a Miocene Pteropod. Cephalopods are represented both by the chambered shells of Nautili and by the internal skeletons of Cuttle-fishes (Spirulirostra.)

The Fishes of the Miocene Period are very abundant but of little special importance. Besides the remains of Bony Fishes, we meet in the marine deposits of this age with numerous pointed teeth belonging to different kinds of Sharks. Some of the genera of these—such as Carcharodon (fig. 241), Oxyrhina (fig. 240), Lamna, and Galeocerdo—are very widely distributed, ranging through both the Old and New Worlds; and some of the species attain gigantic dimensions.

Fig. 240.—Tooth of Oxyrhina xiphodon. Miocene.
Fig. 241.—Tooth of Carcharodon productus. Miocene.

Amongst the Amphibians we meet with distinctly modern types, such as Frogs (Rana) and Newts or Salamanders. The most celebrated of the latter is the famous Andrias Scheuchzeri (fig. 242), discovered in the year 1725 in the fresh-water Miocene deposits of Œningen, in Switzerland. The skeleton indicates an animal nearly five feet in length; and it was originally described by Scheuchzer, a Swiss physician, in a dissertation published in 1731, as the remains of one of the human beings who were in existence at the time of the Noachian Deluge. Hence he applied to it the name of Homo diluvii testis. In reality, however, as shown by Cuvier, we have here the skeleton of a huge Newt, very closely allied to the Giant Salamander (Menopoma maxima) of Java.