The discovery and re-arrangement of these and other forms, now swept from the face of the globe, are the noblest triumphs of the great French zoologist, who gathered them, as we have seen, from heaps of confused fragments, huddled together pell-mell, comprising the bones of a great many species of animals of a former age of the world, all unknown within the historic period. The generic characters of Palæotherium give them forty-four teeth, namely, twelve molars, two canines, and twenty-eight others, three toes, a short proboscis, for the attachment of which the bones of the nose were shortened, as represented in [Fig. 153], leaving a deep notch below them. The molar teeth bear considerable resemblance to those of the Rhinoceros. In the structure of that part of the skull intended to support the short proboscis, and in the feet, the animal seems to have resembled the Tapir.
Fig. 153.—Skeletons of the Palæotherium magnum (a) and minimum (b) restored.
The geological place of the extinct Palæotherium seems to have been in the first great fresh-water formation of the Eocene period, where it is chiefly found with its allies, of which several species have been found and identified by Cuvier. Dr. Buckland is not singular in thinking that they lived and died on the margins of lakes and rivers, as the Rhinoceros and Tapir do now. He is also of opinion that some retired into the water to die, and that the dead carcases of others may have been drifted into the deeper parts in seasons of flood.
The Palæotherium varied greatly in size, some species being as large as the Rhinoceros, while others ranged between the size of the Horse and that of a Hog or a Roe. The smaller Palæotherium resembled the Tapir. Less in size than a Goat, with slim and light legs, it must have been very common in the north of France, where it would browse on the grass of the wild prairies. Another species, the P. minimum, scarcely exceeded the Hare in size, and it probably had all the lightness and agility of that animal. It lived among the bushy thickets of the environs of Paris, in Auvergne, and elsewhere.
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.
Fig. 154.—Anoplotherium commune. One-twentieth natural size.