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By means of these wondrous and unexpected discoveries, man ascended endless centuries in the scale of time; he, in fact, preceded the mastodon; became the contemporary of the <i>Elephas meridionalis</i> the southern elephant; acquired an antiquity of over a hundred thousand years, since that is the date given by the most eminent geologists to the Pliocene period of the earth.
The quadrupeds obtained from that more ancient tuff comprise Elephas meridionalis, Hippopotamus major, Rhinoceros megarhinus, Antilope torticornis, Hyaena brevirostris, and twelve others of the genera horse, ox, stag, goat, tiger, etc., all supposed to be of extinct species.
The fauna to which Elephas meridionalis and its associates belong, can be shown to be of anterior date, in the north of France, to the flint implements of St. Acheul, by the following train of reasoning. The valley of the Seine is not only geographically contiguous to the valley of the Somme, but its ancient alluvium contains the same mammoth and other fossil species.
The nearest affinity, and that a very close one, of the European E. meridionalis is with the Miocene E. planifrons of India; and of E. primigenius, with the existing India species.
Hence it is remarkable that four or five of the fossil shells from Navidad, namely, Voluta alta, Turritella Patagonica, Trochus collaris, Venus meridionalis, perhaps Natica solida, and perhaps the large oyster from Coquimbo, are considered by Mr. Sowerby as identical with species from Santa Cruz and P. Desire. M. d'Orbigny, however, admits the perfect identity only of the Trochus.
Falconer. Elephas meridionalis. Elephas antiquus. Rhinoceros etruscus. Mr. Gunn informs me that the vertebrae of two distinct whales were found in the fluvio-marine beds at Bacton, and that one of them, shown to Professor Owen, is said by him to imply that the animal was 60 feet long. A narwhal's tusk was discovered by Mr. King near Cromer, and the remains of a walrus.
Among these are two species of elephant, E. meridionalis, Nesti, and E. antiquus, the former found in the Newer Pliocene beds of the Val d'Arno, near Florence. In the same bed occur Hippopotamus major, Rhinoceros etruscus, both of them also Val d'Arno species, many species of deer considered by Mr. Boyd Dawkins to be characteristic of warmer countries, and also a horse, beaver, and field-mouse.
Did you say Durwood?" said the little man, eagerly advancing upon the specialist with outstretched hand. "I'm delighted to meet one of our topmost men of science. Your illuminating work on Elephas Meridionalis is a classic." "I'm afraid you're confusing Sir Henry with a different Durwood," said the detective, coming to the rescue.
Successive Periods of Volcanic Action in Central France. With what Changes in the Mammalian Fauna they correspond. The Elephas meridionalis anterior in Time to the Implement-bearing Gravel of St. Acheul. Authenticity of the Human Fossil of Natchez on the Mississippi discussed. The Natchez Deposit, containing Bones of Mastodon and Megalonyx, probably not older than the Flint Implements of St.
The great oyster is here numerous in layers; the Trigonocelia and Turritella are also very numerous: it is remarkable that the Pecten Paranensis, so common in all other parts of the coast, is here absent: the shells consist of: Ostrea Patagonica, d'Orbigny; "Voyage Pal." Venus meridionalis of G.B. Sowerby. 4. Crassatella Lyellii, G.B. Sowerby. 5. Cardium puelchum, G.B. Sowerby. 6.
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