Semnopithecus monspessulanus.
Macacus priscus.
Chalicomys sigmodus.
Lagomys loxodus.
Mastodon brevirostris.
Rhinoceros megarhinus.
Tapirus minor.
Antilope Cordieri.
A. hastata.
Cervus Cuvieri.
C. australis.
Sus provincialis.
Hyænodon insignis.
Hyæna ——?
Machairodus.
Felis Christolii.
Lutra affinis.
The Mastodon brevirostris of this list is considered by Dr. Falconer to be identical with M. arvernensis of MM. Croiset and Jobert.
The fauna of the Val d’Arno differs from that of Montpellier and of Auvergne, and yet is considered by Dr. Falconer to be eminently typical of the European pleiocene.[270] The animals identified by him in the museums of Italy are as follow:—
Felis.
Hyæna.
Machairodus cultridens.
Mastodon arvernensis.
M. Borsoni.
Elephas antiquus.
Elephas meridionalis.
Rhinoceros etruscus.
R. megarhinus.
R. hemitœchus.
Hippopotamus major.
All these animals, with the exception of Rhinoceros hemitœchus, have been discovered in the pseudo-pleiocene of Issoire, while the megarhine rhinoceros and Mastodon arvernensis are the only two which have been obtained from the marine sands of Montpellier. The pleiocene animals, therefore, inhabiting Northern Italy are more closely allied to those of Auvergne than to those of Montpellier.
If these three localities be taken as typical of the pleiocene strata, we shall find that several of the species range as far north as Britain, and occur in deposits which from the evidence of the mollusca, have been assigned to that age. Mastodon arvernensis, Elephas meridionalis, and Ursus arvernensis, have been obtained from the old land-surface which underlies the sand and shingle of the Norfolk Crag, in company with many forms of deer and antelopes which have not yet been identified, while the Hipparion is found in the marine crags of Suffolk.
The animals which especially characterize the pleiocene strata of Europe are Machairodus cultridens, Mastodon arvernensis and M. Borsoni, besides the genus Tapir.
If this fauna be compared with that of the preglacial forest-bed, it will be seen that the difference between them is very great. The pleiocene mastodon, tapir, the majority of the deer, and the antelopes are replaced by forms such as the roe and the red-deer, unknown up to that time. Nevertheless many of the pleiocene animals were able to hold their ground against the pleistocene invaders, although, subsequently, as I have already shown, they disappeared one by one, being ultimately beaten in the struggle for life by the new comers. The progress of this struggle has been used in the preceding pages as a means of classification. This fauna has not been discovered in any cave.
Summary of Characteristic Pleistocene and Pleiocene Species.
The following are the salient points of the pleistocene age offered by the study of the land mammalia in the area north of the Alps and Pyrenees.