pea TD ; { TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND PALAONTOLOGY IN THE ~ BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY), CROMWELL ROAD, LONDON, 8.W. WITH 6 PLATES AND 88 TEXT-FIGURES. HIGHTH EDITION. 4097 ma LONDON: u PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES. _ 1904. ZEON, [All rights reserved. | ( Ge! CH } mn é; PRICE SIXPENCE. : by ESN A CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell tong Library QE 716.B86G9 1904 fii mammals and birds Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003869124 B.M. GUIDE FOSS. MAMM. AND BIRDS. PLAN OF THE GALLERIES OF ConTENTS OF WALL-CASES AND PrmR-CAsKS. 1, 2. Remains from Caverns and Bone-beds. 3-5. Primates and Carnivora. 6-22. Uneulata. Ratite Birds. 26. Edentata. 27. Marsupialia, 28. Proboscidean Ungulata. 29. Siren: Proboscidean Ungulata. 30-43. Proboscidean Ungulata. @ lo = le CONTENTS OF TABLE-CASES. 1. Implements and Human Remains. la. Crag Mammals. 2, 3, Carnivora. 2a. Creodouta, Tisec- tivora, and Chiroptera, 4-11. Ungulata. 12, 12a, 13, 13a. Birds. 14, Ida, 15. Marsupialia, 14b, 15a. Kdentata. 16. Rodentia. 17-24. Proboscidean Ungulata. FOSSIL ne Pikermi Bone-bed. Klephant. 1. Stuffed Indian Mlephant. T. Skull of African therium elatum. M. Samotherium boissieri. MAMMALS AND BIRDS. PLATE I. SpecraL Cases AND STANDS. B. Mastodon americanus. ©. Dinotherium gigantenm. F, G. Skulls of Indian Elephant. Mlephant. J. Mlephas (Stegodon) ganesa. N. Sivatherium giganteum. D. Skeleton of Indian H. Tusks cf Elephants. K. Skull of Mammoth. L. Titano- DP. Klephas hysudricus. Q. Male Ivish Deer. R. Female Irish Deer. 8. T. Tovodon platensis. U. Dinocerus mirabile. V. Sirenia. rime americanum. FF. Great Auk. JJ. Aepyornithide. GG, Pachyornis elephantopus. KK. Skeleton of Ostrich, HH. W. Hlephas hys Y. Mylodon robustus. Z. Glyptodon clavipes. BB. Dodo. CC. Aptornis defossor, DD. Cnemiornis Dinornithide. O. Hlephas namadicus. Arsinoitheriwm zitteli. udricus. X. Megathe- AA. Phororhachos longissimus. calcitrans. EK. Harpagornis moorei. II. Dinornithidee. (To face Title-page. A GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY AND PALHONTOLOGY IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY), CROMWELL ROAD, LONDON, 8.W. WITH 6 PLATES AND 88 TEXT-FIGURES. EIGHTH EDITION. LONDON: PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES. 1904. PRICE SIXPENCE. (All rights reserved.) w LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W. TABLE OF CONTENTS. SS PAGE Table of Contents . ‘ : ‘ : : ; . iii List of Plates : . - : y , A ; v List of Illustrations in Text ; 2 “ : . . vii Preface ‘ é é f . : 5 3 Z 3 xi Introduction z ‘ ‘ . 7 “ a . xiii Table of Stratified Rocks , . : . . (Opposite p. xvi) Cuass I.—MAMMALIA. BoneE-BEDS CAVERNS . MammMats oF Pieiarneune Huwore Man ASSOCIATED WITH PLEISTOCENE Manipans BritisH Priocene Mamas 2 3 3 6 8 Sub-class I.— EuTHeRIA 9 Order I.—Primates 9 Sub-order 1.—ANTHROPOIDEA (Man and Monkeys) 9 Sub-order 2.—Lemvromweza (Lemurs) . : 10 Order II.—Carntvora (Flesh-eating animals) : 12 Sub-order 1.—Carnivora Vera (Cats, Dogs, Bears, &e.) 12 56 2.—CreEoponta (Primitive Flesh-eaters) 16 3.—Pinnipepia (Seals, Walrus, &c.) 17 Order III. _InsECTIVORA (Moles, Shrews, i 17 », IV.—Catroprera (Bats) 18 V.—Uneunata (Hoofed animals) . 18 ” Sub-order 1—PERISSODACTYLA (Odd- -toed) 18 - 2.—AncyLopopa (Curve-toed) . 5 . 27 ay 3.—ARTIODACTYLA (Even-toed) . ; . 28 a 4.—AmBLypopa (Stumpy-toed) . 5 . 44 ” 5.—Hyracoipga (Hyraa-like) . . . 48 0 6.—ConpyLarTHRa (Primitive) . F . 48 i 7.—TypotTHERIa (South American) ‘ . 48 5 8.—Toxopont1a (South American) : . 48 55 9.—Lirorrerna (South American) 3 . 48 » 10.—ProposcipEa (Elephants) . ‘ . 52 Order VI.—Ropentia (Gnawing animals) ; : . 66 » _ VII.—Srrenia (Sea-cows) 7 3 2 7 . 67 », WIII.—Crracza (Whales) é 3 . 69 . IX.—Epenrara (Sloths, Armadillos, &e.) : . 771 a2 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS. Sub-class II.—Mrraruprm . Order X.—Marsuprania (Pouched animals) Sub-class III.—PrororHeria . é Order XI.—Mv.LtTituBERCULATA P » XII.—Monorremata (Egg-laying maminals) Cuass II.—AVHS (Birds). Order I.—Carinat& (With keeled breast-bone) » I1.—Ratit# (With raft-shaped breast-bone) » LIII.—Saurvur# (With lizard-like tail) Index . LIST OF PLATES. —+ | . Plan of the Galleries ‘ . Frontispiece. . Block of Lower Pliocene Bene we from Pikermi, Greece. (Case A) To face page 2 . Opposite side of the same specimen . . To face page 3 . Skin of an extinct Ground-sloth, Grypotherium listai, from a cavern in Patagonia . : ; To face page 74 . Skeleton of the Gigantic Moa Dinoae maximus), from New Zealand. (Case GG) To facepage 92 . Slab of Lithographic Stone from Bavaria with remains of a Lizard-tailed Bird (Archzopteryx macrura). (Table-case 13) To face page 94 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT. me FIG. PAGE 1. Block of Flint from Crayford, Kent, broken by Paleolithic Man in making an Implement; also the unfinished Implement made from the same 7 2. Palatal view of left upper teeth of Adapis magna, from Upper Eocene, Hordwell . 11 3. Model of skull and mandible of Megaladapis insignis, from a Cavern in Madagascar : 11 4, Head of the ‘“ Sabre-toothed Tiger *’ (Machzrodus neogzeus), from the Pampa Formation of Buenos Aires. (After W. D. Matthew) . 13 5. Skull and mandible of the Cave-bear “(Ursus spelzus), from a Pleistocene Cavern Deposit in Bavaria . +14 6. Molar tooth of Hyznarctos, from the Red Crag of Suffolk . 15 7. Right ramus of mandible of Cephalogale brevirostris, from the Oligocene Phosphorites of France . 15 8. Skeleton of Hyznodon crwentus, Leidy, from the Oligocene of Dakota, U.S.A. (After W. B, Scott) . 4 16 9. Skeleton of fore foot of Perissodactyl or Uneven-toed Ungulata (Tapir, Rhinoceros, and Horse) ‘ 19 10. Skull and mandible of the Slender-nosed Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros leptorhinus), from the Pleistocene of Ilford, Essex . 20 11. Skull and mandible of Aceratheriwm megalodus, from the Upper Miocene of Colorado, U.S.A. (After Cope) . 21 12. Skeleton of Titanotherium robustuwm, from the Oligocene of Dakota, U.S.A. 23 13. Diagram showing the gradual loss of toes in the feet and increase of asia in the teeth of the Horse-like Ungulata . 24 14. Left upper teeth in maxilla of Palzotherium crasswm, from the Upper Eocene Gypsum of Montmartre, Paris. (After Gaudry) 25 15. Restoration of the skeleton and outline of the body of Palzotherium magnum. (After Cuvier) 26 16. Third right upper true molar tooth of Chalicotherium sinense, from the Pliocene of China 7 Q27 17. Skeleton of fore foot of Artiodactyl or Even- toed Ungulata (Pig, Deer, and Camel) . 28 18. Skull, symphysis of mandible, and tooth of Hippopotamus sivalensia, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India . a , . 7 : : : ‘ . 80 Vili LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT. FIG. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24, 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34, 35. 36. 37. 38, 39. 40. 41. 42, 43. 44, Third right, lower true molar tooth of Sus cristatus, a living Indian pig . Third right upper true molar tooth of Hyopotamus bovinus, from the Oligocene Hempstead Beds, Isle of Wight . Skeleton of Hyopotamus brachyrhynchus, from the Oligo- cene of Dakota, U.S.A. (After W. B. Scott) . Right upper teeth of Anoplotheriwm cayluxense, from the Oligocene Phosphorites of France . Right upper teeth of immature Anoplotherium secundariwm, from the Upper Eocene of Débruge, France . Skull of Cznotherium filholi, from the Oligocene Phospho- rites of France. Reduced side-view of skull of existing Chevrotain (Tragulus javanicus), from the Malayan region Mandible and teeth of Dichodon cuspidatus, from the Upper Eocene of Hordwell, Hampshire Skull and mandible of Samotherium boissieré, from the Lower Pliocene of the Isle of Samos. Skull of Sivatherium gigantewm, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India . Skeleton of the Irish Deer, Cervus (Megaceros) giganteus, from shell-marl beneath the peat, Ireland. Antler of Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), one of a pair dredged from the River Boyne at Drogheda, Ireland Skull and antlers of Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), from Bilney Moor, East Dereham, Norfolk. (After Owen) Antlers of fifth and sixth years of “Cervus” tetraceros, from the Upper Pliocene of Peyrolles, France. 5 Antlers of various Deer (Cervide) Skull of Bos aa alec from the Pleistocene of ‘Athol, Perthshire . Outline of upper view of skull of Coryphodon hamatus, to show the small size of the brain, with drawings of feet; from the Lower Eocene of Wyoming, U.S.A. (After Marsh) F Left upper and lower teeth of Coryphodon hamatus, from the Lower Eocene of Wyoming, U.S.A. (After Marsh) . Skeleton of Tinoceras ingens, from the Middle Eocene of Wyoming, U.S.A. (After Marsh) . , Skull and mandible of Arsinoitherium zitteli, from the Upper Eocene of the Fayum, Egypt , Skeleton of Phenacodus primzvus, from the Lower Eocene of Wyoming, U.S.A. (After Cope) Skeleton of Phenacodus primzvus, as now mounted in the American Museum of Natural History Skeleton of Toxodon platensis, from the Pampa Formation of Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic Skeleton of Mammoth (Elephas primigenius), with remains of dried skin on head and feet, from frozen earth near the mouth of the River Lena, Siberia z View of grinding surface of left last upper molar of Mammoth, dredged off the Dogger Bank, North Sea : Mandible of Mammoth, dredged off the Dogger Bank . PAGE 30 31 32 33 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 40 41 42 43 45 45 46 47 49 50 51 53 55 55 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT. ix FIG. 45. View of grinding surface of right second lower molar of Elephas antiquus, from the Pleistocene of Grays, Essex. 56 46. View of grinding surface of upper molar of Hlephas meridio- nalis, from the Upper Pliocene of Tuscany. . 57 47. Vertical longitudinal section of lower molar of Mastodon . 58 48. Vertical longitudinal section of molar of Blephas (Stegodon) insignis, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, PAGE India , 58 49. Vertical longitudinal section of molar of Elephas planifrons, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills . : 58 50. View of grinding surface of lower molar of Mastodon siva- lensts, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills . 59 51. View of grinding surface of upper molar of Elephas (Stegodon) cliftt, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills . 59 52. View of part of grinding surface of upper molar of Hlephas planifrons, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills. 59 58. Lower molar of Mastodon americanus, from the Pleistocene of North America 60 54, Skeleton of Mastodon americanus, “from. the Pleistocene, Missouri, U.S.A. 61 55. Skeleton of Tetrabelodon angustidens, from the Middle - Miocene of Sansan, France . 62 56. Left upper milk-molars of Tetrabelodon longirostris, from the Lower Pliocene of Eppelsheim, Hesse-Darmstadt . 62 57. Skull and mandible of Dinotherium gigantewm, from the Lower Pliocene of Eppelsheim .. 63 58. Left upper teeth of Dinotherium gigantewm, from the Lower Pliocene of Eppelsheim 2 63 59. Skull and mandible of Hlephas (Stegodon) ganesa, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India . 64 60. Skull and mandible of Tetrabelodon angustidens, from the Middle Miocene of Sansan, France. (After C. W. Andrews) 64 61. Skull and mandible of Paleomastodon beadnell, from the Upper Eocene of the Fayum, Egypt. (After C. W. Andrews) 65 62. Skull and mandible of Meritherwwm lyonsi, from the Middle Eocene of the Fayum, Egypt. (After C. W. Andrews) . 65 68. Teeth of Beaver (Castor fiber), from the Fens of Cambridge- ‘ shire . 7 64, Skeleton of Steller’s Sea-cow '(Rhytina gigas), from the Pleistocene of Bering Island . 68 65. Skeleton of Halithervum schinat, from the Oligocene of Hesse-Darmstadt . 69 66. Tympanic bone of Whalebone- Whale (Balena primigenia), from the Red Crag of Suffolk : 70 67. Skull and upper molar tooth of Zeuglodon cetoides, from the Eocene of Alabama, U.S.A. . 70 68. Skeleton of Sceldotheriwm leptocephalum, from the Pampa Formation of Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic . « Ae 69. Lower jaw of Megathertwm americanum, from the Pampa Formation of Buenos Aires . 73 70. Skeleton of Glyptodon eae. from the Pampa Formation of Buenos Aires . j 75 x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT. FIG. PAGE 71. Portion of tail-sheath of Hoplophorus, from the Pampa Formation of Buenos Aires . 72. Skull and mandible of Diprotodon australis, from the Pleisto- cene of Queensland : 78 73. Skull and mandible of Thylacoleo carnifex, from the Pleisto- cene of Australia . 79 74. Lower jaw and teeth of Triconodon mordaz, from the Purbeck Beds of Swanage. 80 75. Part of lower jaw and teeth of Spalacotheriwm tricuspidens, | from the Purbeck Beds of Swanage 2 80 76. Lower jaw and teeth of Phascolotherium bucklandi, from the Stonesfield Slate of Oxfordshire : 81 77. Lower jaws of American Jurassic Mammals. (After Marsh) 78. Upper molar tooth of Neoplagiaulaz eocenus, fromthe Lower 82 Eocene of Rheims, France . 83 79. Lower jaw and teeth of Plagiaulax becklesi, from the Purbeck Beds of Swanage . 83 80. Jaws and teeth of Multituberculata, from the Jurassic of Wyoming, U.S.A. (After Marsh) . 84 81. Skull of Tritylodon longzvus, from the Karoo Formation of South Africa ‘ 85 82. Lower molar teeth of the existing Australian Monotreme, Ornithorhynchus. (After C. Stewart) . 85 83. Skull and mandible of Odontopteryx toliapica, from the London Clay of Sheppey 4 87 84. Skeleton of Hesperornis regalis, from the Cretaceous of Kansas, U.S.A. (After Marsh) 88 85. Skeleton of Ichthyornis victor, from the Cretaceous of Kansas, U.S.A. (After Marsh) . 89 86. Restored skull and mandible of Phororhachos longissimus, from the Santa Cruz Formation of Patagonia . ; 90 87. Diagrammatic sketch of the fossil Archzopteryx macrura, from the Lithographic Stone of Bavaria 94 88. Head of Archwopteryx stemenst, from the Lithographic Stone of Bavaria. (After Dames) . < 3 95 PREFACE. SincE the last edition of the “Guide to Fossil Mammals and Birds” was published in 1896, the additions to the collection have been so numerous, and knowledge has advanced so much, that the book has now been entirely re-written by Dr. Arthur Smith Woodward, the Keeper of Geology. The present issue, however, retains all the original features of the Guide, and is not in any sense a systematic treatise. Its arrangement is determined by that of the cases and specimens, and it sometimes refers to trivial details which are of interest solely to visitors actually in the ” Galleries. As fossils can only be understood by those who have some acquaintance with the existing world of life, this Guide assumes on the part of the reader at least as much elementary knowledge as is contained in the Guides to the Department of Zoology. Many of the specimens bear small discs of green or red paper. Those marked with green discs are either “type- specimens,” or have been described and illustrated in some scientific work, to which a reference is given on the label. Those marked with red discs have been merely noticed or briefly described in print. E, RAY LANKESTER, Director. May, 1904. INTRODUCTION. OBJECTS much resembling fishes, shells, plants, and other remains of living things, have been noticed in rocks from time immemorial. So long ago as the fifth century, B.c., the philosopher Pythagoras seems to have observed sea-shells buried in the earth far away from the shores of the seas then existing; while Xenophanes of Colophon recorded the discovery of fishes and other animals embedded in the hard rock of the quarries near Syracuse. Herodotus afterwards referred to sea-shells from the stone quarries in the hills of Egypt and the Libyan desert. Other contemporary philosophers and writers made similar observations, and most of them appear to have reached the very natural conclusion, that these petrified relics were originally buried in the bed of the sea, which had hardened and become dry land through the retreat of the waters. At this early period in the study of natural philosophy, however, it was a common belief that animals could originate from the mud or slime of lakes and rivers, There was therefore another reasonable explanation of their occurrence as petrifactions in stone which seemed simpler, because it did not involve any startling theories as to great changes in the relations of land and sea. If certain animals could be generated in mud, it appeared quite probable that they should sometimes remain concealed in their native element without reaching the surface, and in that case they would become hardened into stone itself. As Theophrastus remarked concerning petrified fishes, they might have “ either developed from fresh spawn left behind in the earth, or gone astray from rivers or the sea into cavities of the earth, where they had become petrified.” These bodies thus appeared to be mere curiosities, and they were treated as such by Aristotle, xiv INTRODUCTION. who was content to regard them as produced by some plastic force in the rock which he could not explain. The authoritative opinion of Aristotle was almost universally accepted by the few writers who considered the subject before the revival of learning towards the beginning of the sixteenth century. By this time the numerous shells, teeth, and fish-remains met with in the stone quarries of Italy had induced several observers in that country to reconsider the question of their true nature. Similar discoveries in other European countries were also being discussed in their bearing on the same problem. The objects found in stone were now closely compared with the shells, teeth, and skeletons of the animals most nearly resembling them which still lived in the Mediterranean sea. The plant-remains were also studied deeply in connection with the leaves of the known existing vegetation. The result was that, although many observers still adhered to the long- prevalent belief, some of the most philosophical minds were compelled by strict reasoning to admit that the /fossilia (Latin, “things dug up”), or fossils, as they were now commonly termed, were really the remains of the once-living animals and plants which they appeared to represent. Leonardo da Vinci, the well known painter, was one of the first to support this opinion with unanswerable arguments ; while Steno, a Professor in the University of Padua, more than a century later, made it impossible any longer to doubt his demonstration of the facts. Steno’s collection was acquired by the English Gresham Professor, John Woodward, who bequeathed it to the University of Cambridge, where it is still preserved in the Woodwardian Museum. The true nature of fossils was thus settled by the beginning of the eighteenth century, and the next problem was to explain how the remains of sea-animals had been buried in the rocks far inland and at great heights among hills and mountains. For at least sixty years it was the prevailing opinion that all the phenomena could be accounted for by the Deluge recorded in the Pentateuch. There were, however, many difficulties in accepting this explanation, and the discussions at the time led to a most detailed study of the manner in which the fossils were grouped and distributed in the different kinds of rock. Observations accumulated at a remarkable rate, until, by the end of the eighteenth century, it became quite clear that the fossilised animals and plants could not have lived all together at one INTRODUCTION. xv time, but belonged to many different periods of the earth’s history. Their destruction and burial, therefore, could not be ascribed to any single great catastrophe. It was demon- strated that during past ages the distribution of land and sea, mountains and plains, had frequently changed—that, in fact, rain, rivers, waves, currents, volcanoes, and phenomena like earthquakes, were continually altering the earth’s surface, even under the eyes of man himself. The fossils were proved in most cases to be buried in displaced portions of sea-bottom, and in the mud of dried-up lakes; and it was realised that the relative ages of these deposits could be determined by the order in which they lay one upon another. Thus arose the true “science of the earth,’ which was named Geology by De Luc in 1778. An English civil engineer, William Smith (1769-1839), was perhaps the first to realise fully the possibilities of this new branch of learning. His profession necessitated much travel through the country, and his interest in the distri- bution of fossils in the different kinds of rock led him to make a large collection, which was acquired by the British Museum in 1816, and is now exhibited in Gallery No. 11 of the Department of Geology. His published maps and writings prove that the various features of the landscape, in districts where fossils occur, are naturally carved out of layers of rock, which are simply old sea-beds or lake-beds piled one upon another, the oldest at the bottom, the newest at the top, each containing its own definite and invariable set of fossils. They also show that in most cases when these old sediments were raised into dry land, they were tilted in various ways from their originally horizontal position; so that it is often possible in a short walk to pass over the cut edges of many successive layers, perhaps hundreds of feet in thickness, representing immense periods of time. While Smith and others were busily engaged in collecting fossils and observing their distribution, Blumenbach, Cuvier, Lamarck, Brongniart, and other naturalists were occupied with a detailed study of the fossils themselves. They soon demonstrated that, while most of these petrified remains could be interpreted by comparing them with the life of the present world, a large proportion represented animals and plants no longer existing. They also observed that the older the fossils, the more strikingly different they were from any animals and plants now living. It therefore became evident that fossils afforded a means of discovering xvi INTRODUCTION. the past history of life on the earth—of determining the gradual stages by which our present animals and plants have become what they are, and have assumed their present geographical distribution. Thus was attained the “science of ancient life,” which was named Paleontology by H. D. de Blainville and Fischer von Waldheim in 1834. The Department of Geology in the British Museum chiefly deals with fossils from the latter point of view, and attempts to explain the main features in the life of the Present by reference to that of the Past. Note to the Geological Time-scale-—The names in the three columns to the left are applied only to periods of time. The names in the two columns on the right are those of actual strata deposited during the time- periods opposite which they are placed. These strata or rock-groups are only a few out of the many that might have been mentioned, and it must not be inferred that those in the European column are the precise equivalents of those next them in the British column. It is just because rock-formations in different parts of the world so rarely are equivalent, that a time-scale is needed to which each can be referred. The absolute duration of the divisions on the time-scale is a matter of pure conjecture; but their relative duration can be roughly estimated from the thickness of the rocks. An attempt is made to represent this relative duration by the diagram to the right, which is based on the thickness of the rocks in N.W. Europe. (To be inset by this edge opposite p. xvi.) A GEOLOGICAL TIME-SCALE, WITH EXAMPLES OF FOSSILIFEROUS ROCKS. RELATIVE LENGTHS OF EPOCHS. ERAS. EPOCHS. AGES. BRITISH. EUROPEAN. | Bgl Wipes | TERTIARY. 1,600 ft. re aera! Z CRETACEOUS. 2,500 ft. HOLOCENE . .| PRESENT DAY . Blown sand, alluvium, beaches, hia if | | HISTORIC, tufa, peat, shell-beds, &c., as | | os NEOLITHIC. now forming. | ‘ JURASSIC, 5000 ft. PLEISTOCENE .| PALZOLITHIC . Alluvium, é&c., as above ; valley-gravels, } | a ei GLACIAL .. . Sees es bouldet-claye: brick-earth. | | ) ——_—_—_—_—______—} Norfo. ‘orest-bed, Wexford Gravels. | | a 3 & | PLIOCENE . . SICILIAN. | fy} | PEEAPE ISS COTE, = STIAN . , orwich and Red Crags. | a PLAISANCIAN | | Coralline Crag; Lenham-beds. . . Pikermi-beds. | e PERMIAN, _ 1,500 ft. SI ————_—_———___—_———_ | & | MIOCENE. . . | TORTONIAN. | 8 HELV ETIAN ae i a Ke - eee molasse. | } URDIGALIAN . ane a ae ane lobigerina Lst., Malta. | | = AQUITANIAN.. . ie a a = Beauce Limestone. | | CARBONIFEROUS, S | OLIGOCENE. .|RUPELIAN. . . | Hamstead. i 12,000 ft. hat TONGRIAN. . . | Bembridge F F f 2 . Sables d’Etampes. ' | 3 PRIABONIAN . . | Osborne and Headon A x ‘ . Phosphorites of Quercy. - eS ee eee 3 EOCENE . . ./ BARTONIAN .. .. | Barton and Bagshot ‘ A P . Gypsum of Montmartre. | LUTETIAN . . . cae : ° ‘ ji : : Pappa grossier. | | = LONDINIAN. . ondon Clay. § x : 2 . Sables de Cuise. | | 5) = DEVONIAN. 7 THANETIAN . . | Thanet Sands . é - . 5 . Sables de Bracheux. 10001 MONTIAN . . . na si a £2 Poudingue de Ciply. zs CRETACEOUS DANIAN. . | Chalk in Norfolk and Charing detritus . Maestricht Chalk. SILURIAN, &\| SENONIAN . . . | UpperChalk . ‘ . Gosau-beds. 24 Be TURONIAN. . . | Middle Chalk . : ¥ : . Plainer-Mergel. ; | | ae 7000 ft. 5|| CENOMANIAN _. | Lower Chalk; Chalk marl. 3 - Tourtia. } - ALBIAN . . .. .| Upper Greensand ; Red Chalk ; Gault. a & APTIAN . . . . | LowerGreensand . . Schratten-Kalk. 2 a 2 URGONIAN. . . | Speeton Clay; Tealby Beds : Wealden Orbitolite Limestone. Bat a St) NEOCOMIAN . . | Spilsby; Purbeck latanglan, Berriasian. _ %, Se ee ee IS, |+ i) JURASSIC. PORTLANDIAN .. | Portland Stone é 3 ‘ F . Tithonic. | al B KIMMERIDGIAN . | Kimmeridge Clay . . Lithographic Stone. | = ORDOVICIAN. nm Q]| CORALLIAN. . . | Corallian Limestone ; Ampthill Clay . Sequanian. | PI &/])| OXFORDIAN . .| Oxford Clay . 2 . Brauner Jura ¢. | 15,000 ft. i) | , 3\| CALLOVIAN. . . | Kellaways Rock ee Fr ie jo = S|} BATHONIAN ... | Cornbrash ; Forest Marble ; Great Oolite i we 0s ja | g BAJOCIAN . ... | Inferior Oolite, Yorkshire Estuarine 5 3 sae Aa a | fo) AALENIAN. . . | Midford and Northampton Sands . : ¥ » af. | | A 2 (| TOARCIAN . ._. | Bridport Sands, Upper Lias ‘ F Pod lees o 44| PLIENSBACHIAN Marlstone, Middle Lias . : ‘ . Schwarzer Jura. | | 4 | | | ms 4 SINEMURIAN . . | Lower Lias Bf Be at -# Hl oy TRIASSIC . .| RHAETIAN. . . | White Lias; Tea-green Marls . 4 . Késsener Schichten. | 2 KEUPERIAN . . | Waterstones, Elgin Sandstone Z . Keuper and Raibl Beds. | ne CONCHYLIAN . . | Pebble Beds, Variegated Sandstone . . Muschelkalk, Bunter. ae a CAMBRIAN, PERMIAN . .|PUNJABIAN . .| Red Marls & Sandstones, Magnesian Zechstein. | | | 8 12,000 ft. ARTINSKIAN Limestone ; Penrith Beds. Rothliegende. ie le OO ooo Bohemian gas-coal. | | th Vai CARBONI- OURALIAN . . . | Coal Measures. n|\a | B= BH FEROUS, MOSCOVIAN . . | Millstone Grit; Yoredale Beds. =] a. |e fg, BERNICIAN. . . | Mountain Limestone; Culm. é BS Se ge Te as 8s 3 DEVONIAN . .| CONDRUSIAN . . | Upper Devonian Psaminites du Condroz. ||, 2F 4 EIFELIAN . . . | Middle ig t Old Red Sandstone . Jesiccoa Limestone. | | aa) Ay COBLENTIAN . . | Lower $5. Hupsriick Slates. | | - zs = A —————__——_ | | | BBS ° | SILURIAN . .|LUDLOVIAN . . | Downton and Ludlow Series. ‘ . Gotland Limestone. | | | os 4 WENLOCKIAN _. | Wenlock and Woolhope Series. . . Cyrtograptus Shales. fo |} sos S VALENTIAN . . | Tarannon and Llandovery Series. . Pentamerus Limestone. oe 5o2 ° eee ear ‘ ne wae PRECAMBRIAN, f | ORDOVICIAN ./ CARADOCIAN . . | Bala, Chirbury and Caradoc Series . . Grés de May. j |e 3 Oe il LLANDEILIAN. . | Llandeilo and Middleton Series. a ass Extent unknown. Ps ARENIGIAN . . | Arenig, Shelve, and Skiddaw . - . Orthoceras Limestone. - a3 "| Tremadoc and ‘Shineton Beds . 3 . Ceratopyge Limestone. s e 3 2 CAMBRIAN . .| OLENIDIAN. . . | Lingula Flags . ‘ : - Olenus Shales. | © 283 PARADOXIDIAN . | Menevian Series . Andrarum Limestone. iS Hag OLENELLIAN . . | Harlech, Caerfai, and Hartshill Series. Eophyton Sandstone. ia BS PRECAMBRIAN Bo ie Se A large series of rocks of which only the uppermost have yielded fossils, and those for the most part obscure, as the worm-burrows in the Longmynd. A GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. GALLERIES Nos. 1, 2—FOSSIL MAMMALIA. THE Mammalia, or warm-blooded quadrupeds which nourish their young with milk, are so modern, geologically speaking, that most of their fossil remains occur in comparatively superficial deposits where they have not been much petrified or mineralised. A large proportion of the fossil bones of this Class thus appear almost as fresh as those of newly- prepared skeletons, being merely stained by the sand or mud in which they have been buried. Some of the bones, from the most recent deposits and Pleistocene formations, are indeed changed only by the loss of their animal-matter, which causes them to become brittle and powdery; and when these are disinterred it is necessary to harden them by treatment with a solution of gelatine or glue, which often produces a shiny surface. Most of the bones from the sandstones, shales, and limestones of the earlier Tertiary formations, have their animal- matter replaced by silica and oxides of iron, which also fill their interstices and impart to these specimens a natural hardness. The fossil Mammalia are arranged in the Galleries not according to their geological age but primarily in the natural groups recognised by zoologists. The extinct representatives of each Order are placed together, the various Sub-orders and Families being usually arranged in a descending scale from the highest to the lowest. This arrangement within the Order obviously corresponds more or less with the geological succession of its various representatives; for the higher groups occur later in time, the lower groups earlier. B Case A. Pier-case 2. 2 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. The series begins on the right-hand side of the entrance to Gallery No. 1 and is continued round this Gallery to the left-hand side of the same entrance. The peculiar Mammalia of the Orders Edentata, Marsupialia, and Monotremata are placed in Gallery No. 2. Many of the larger specimens are necessarily mounted on separate pedestals or in separate cases, not in their exact systematic position but as near the allied fossils as possible. Bone-BeEps. Most of the fossil remains of Mammalia are obtained from “bone-beds” or great accumulations of bones, which have been formed by the death and rapid burial of large troops of animals, or by the washing together of portions of skeletons by streams and currents. In the Island of Samos, for example, there is an extensive bone-bed of Lower Pliocene age, which seems to have resulted from the destruction of herds of quadrupeds by a fall of volcanic dust from some neighbouring eruption. In Greece there are several bone- beds also of Lower Pliocene age, which must have accumu- lated rapidly in lakes or temporary pools. These have been excavated especially at Pikermi, near Athens, and a fine slab from one of them, presented by Mr. Alexander Skousés, is shown in a special Case A, near Table-case 1. In this small specimen (Plates IJ, III) there are remains of carnivores, antelopes, gazelles, the three-toed horse (Hipparion), and two birds, crowded together in red marl, which was originally mud washed down from the neighbouring marble-range of Pentelicon. Many of the bones are in natural association (as, for instance, those of one bent leg of Hipparion), showing that parts of the skeletons were buried rapidly before all the ligaments and muscles which held them together had decayed. At Olivola, in the Carrara Mountains, Italy, there is an Upper Pliocene torrent-deposit filled with bones and pebbles; and good examples of this are shown in Pier-case 2 (top shelf). In many places, in the deposits left by rivers, there are great collections of bones brought together by eddying currents, such as those discovered in the valley of the Thames during the working of brick-fields at Ilford and Crayford. There are also numerous fissures, especially in limestone districts, largely filled with accumulations of bones which have fallen or been washed into them. When these bones are mingled with angular fragments of rock and B.M. GUIDE FOSS. MAMM. anp BIRDS. PLATE II. Block of Lower Pliocene Marl from Pikermi, Greece, crowded with remains of Mammals and a few bones of Birds; about one-fifth nat. size. The central skuil belongs to Hipparion, the surrounding bones to Hipparion, various antelopes, and one small carnivore. (Case A.) (1 face p. 2, B.M. GUIDE FOSS. MAMM. anp BIRDS. PLATE IIT, Block of Lower Pliocene Marl from Pikermi, Greece, crowded with bones (opposite side of specimen shown in Plate II.). The bent hind limb of Hipparion is conspicuous, surrounded by other bones of this animal and antelopes, with bird-bones below. (Case A.) {To face p. 3. MAMMALIA. 3 cemented together by carbonate of lime, they are termed Pier-case 2. “bone-breccias” (Italian breccia, a crumb). Examples are shown from Gibraltar, from Minas Geraes, Brazil, and from the Wellington Caves, New South Wales (Pier-case 2, top shelf). Treacherous ground, like a swamp or peat-bog, is often rich in the skeletons and other remains of animals which have become mired by accident. The salt marshes or “licks” of North America thus yield remarkable skeletons of the mastodon (Stand B), while the tundras of Siberia entomb innumerable carcases of the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros. CAVERNS. The bone-bearing deposits on the floors of caverns in Wall-case limestone districts are particularly interesting, because in ,,, y : : : ier-case 2. many cases the fossil remains have not been introduced by apble-case accident, but by men or wild beasts which have inhabited 1. these retreats. In England and Wales, for example, a large proportion of the caverns were hyzna-dens during the Pleistocene period, and the remains both of the hyenas and of their prey are found in the red clay covering the floor. Other caverns were inhabited by primitive man, either exclusively by him or only at times when the hyenas were driven out; and in such cases there are articles of human workmanship, traces of fire, and even bones of man himself, in the same kind of deposit. This “cave-earth,” as it is termed, is mainly the residue of decomposed limestone, and it is mixed with drippings of lime-water, which evaporate and leave a crust of carbonate of lime. When a cavern becomés deserted and the drippings are undisturbed, the limy crust thickens slowly into a layer of ‘“ stalagmite,” which seals up whatever may be beneath in a permanent state of preservation. A specimen of the resulting floor from Brixham Cave, near Torquay, enclosing an antler of a reindeer, is seen in Wall-case 1. An interesting piece of stalagmite enclosing human remains, from the cavern of Bruniquel, France, is also shown in the same case. MAMMALS OF PLEISTOCENE EUROPE, Unfortunately, the surface of the land changes so rapidly by weathering and “denudation” (natural wearing down and washing away), that no once-inhabited caverns hitherto discovered date back further than the Pleistocene period. B2 Wall-case 1. Pier-case 2. Pphls Saee Pier-case 2. Wall-case 1 Pier-case 2. 4 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. For this comparatively modern geological epoch, however, they have furnished a nearly complete idea of the human races and the animal life inhabiting western Europe at least ; and a typical collection of remains illustrating this story is exhibited in Wall-case 1, Pier-case 2, Table-case 1, and two adjoining special frames. The western portion of continental Europe in the Pleisto- cene period included the British Isles, which had not at that time been separated from the mainland. The probable extent of the land is shown by a map on the pillar adjoining Pier-case 2. The hollow at present occupied by the North Sea would then be a wide valley or plain through which rivers flowed; and it was inhabited by troops of mammals whose remains lie scattered in abundance over the Dogger Bank and other portions of the existing floor of the sea. These bones and teeth are continually dredged up by the fishermen, and a typical series of them, from the collection of Mr. J. J. Owles, of Great Yarmouth, is shown in Pier- case 2. Here there is evidence of wolf, hyena, bear, beaver, ox, bison, an extinct fallow-deer (C. brownz), Irish deer, rein- deer, elk, horse, woolly rhinoceros, and mammoth. Though the specimens were doubtless originally buried in the sands and gravels deposited by the rivers, they must have been washed out by the scour of the tides and currents, for they have lain for some time exposed on the sea-bed, as shown by the remains of serpul, oyster spat, and other marine organisms upon them. As proved by the fragmentary bones and teeth exhibited in Wall-case 1 and Pier-case 2, the British ca\erns yield evidence of a remarkable series of mammals living together in this part of Europe during the Pleistocene period, some being now confined to the Arctic Regions, others to the Tropics, others still living here, and some now quite extinct. The complete list (except rats, mice, etc.) is as follows :— : NortHERN anD Arctic Mammatia. Glutton (Gulo luscus). Arctic Fox (Canis lagopus). Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Lemming (Myodes lemmus and Cuniculus torquatus). Pica (Lagomys pusillus). Marmot (Arctomys marmotta). Souslik (Spermophilus erythrogenoides). MAMMALIA. 5 TEMPERATE MamMALIA. Wild Cat (Felis catus). Lynx (Felis lynz). Otter (Lutra vulgaris). Badger (Meles taxus). Stoat (Mustela erminea). Weasel (Mustela vulgaris). Marten (Mustela martes). Fox (Canis vulpes). Wolf (Canis lupus). Brown Bear (Ursus arctos). Grisly Bear (Ursus horribilis), Horse (Equus caballus). Bison (Bison bonasus). Roebuck (Capreolus caprea). Stag (Cervus elaphus). Wild Boar (Sus scrofa). Hare (Lepus euwropezus). Rabbit (Lepus cuniculus). Beaver (Castor fiber). SouTHERN MAMMALIA. Lion (Felts leo). Leopard (Felis pardus). Kaffir Cat (Felis caffra). Spotted Hyzena (Hyzna crocuta). Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius). Extinct MamMMatia. Sabre-toothed Tiger (Machzrodus latidens). Short-nosed Cat (Felis brevirostris). Cave-bear (Ursus speleus). Woolly Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros antiquitatis). Narrow-nosed Rhinoceros (RK. leptorhinus). Large-nosed Rhinoceros (Rf. megarhinus). Irish Deer (Cervus giganteus). Urus (Bos primigenius). Mammoth (Elephas primigenius). Straight-tusked Elephant (Elephas antiquwus). The remains of some of these animals have an interesting distribution. The cave-bear occurs most abundantly in the oldest layer of the floor, as in Kent’s Cavern and the Cres- well Caves. It is the only animal found in some of the caverns of Franconia and the Harz Mountains, Germany, where most of the individuals are aged and seem to have retreated to these quiet spots to die. The British lion appears to have been most numerous in the neighbourhood of the Mendip Hills. The hippopotamus ranged as far north as Kirkdale Cave in the Vale of Pickering, Yorkshire. The Wall-case 1 Pier-case 2. Wall-case Pier-case 2. Table-case 1. 6 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. mammoth occurs chiefly in the hyzna-dens, where it is represented only by the teeth of young individuals which would be a much more ready prey than the full-grown beasts. The hyzna-dens are easily recognised, not merely by the abundance of the remains of the hyznas themselves, but also by their “coprolites” (or fossilised excrement) and the gnawed bones of their prey. The tooth-marks of these animals are often quite distinct; and the long bones of their prey are usually represented only by the middle of the shaft, the ends having been gnawed away until the hyenas could scoop out the whole of the marrow with their tongue. Very good examples are exhibited from the Brixham, Doward’s Wood, Wookey, and Creswell Caves. The old river-deposits in the valley of the Thames, which are contemporaneous with the lower cavern deposits, have yielded remains of the same mammals as the latter, with the addition of the elk (Alces machlis), the musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), and the saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica). These will be referred to again when treating of the systematic collection. Man ASSOCIATED WITH PLEISTOCENE MAMMALS. During the whole of the Pleistocene period, while the mammals just enumerated lived in western Europe, man was undoubtedly present as a wandering hunter. Very few of his bones occur; but his implements of stone and bone, with occasional traces of his fires, are found in intimate association with the remains of the wild beasts. A few examples of the primitive implements are arranged in Table-case 1 and in the drawers of an adjoining cabinet, which contains the greater part of the late Sir Joseph Prestwich’s collection. All the stone implements found in the Pleistocene deposits are of the “ Paleolithic” or ancient-stone-age type, t.e., they are roughly chipped (not polished), and their broadest end would be grasped or fixed, while their narrowest or pointed end would be used for chopping, cutting, or scraping. In the valley of the Thames, as in many other places, these implements were of flint; and some of the spots on the river-bank where the Paleolithic hunter actually made his equipment have been discovered. One such “ floor,” explored by Mr. Flaxman C. J. Spurrell at Crayford in Kent, is illustrated by a selection from his collection in Table-case 1. Here are the flakes which were struck MAMMALIA, 7 away in trimming the flint-nodules to shape, and among Table-case them is a broken jaw of a woolly rhinoceros, which may 1. possibly represent part of the workman’s food. There are also completed implements. One example was accidentally broken before it was finished, and so thrown away. Mr. Spurrell recovered the two pieces, and also the numerous flakes which were struck off in the fashioning of it. With Fie. 1.—Block of Flint from Crayford, Kent, broken by Paleolithic Man in making an implement (A), which was never finished because it was accidentally fractured; one-third nat. size. (Spurrell Collection, Table-case 1.) great patience and skill he replaced all the flakes, thus Table-case restoring the flint-nodule to the original form which it had 1. when Paleolithic man selected it for his work (Fig. 1). The finest and most varied Palzxolithic stone implements (flint or chert) are found with the bones of the Pleistocene mammals in the higher layers of the caverns. They denote a more advanced race of men, which Professor Boyd Dawkins se case Table-case la. 8 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. has compared with the living Eskimo. The stone imple- ments are supplemented by Done harpoons, bone pins or awls, and even by well-made bone needles. The sinews of reindeer were doubtless used for sewing together skins, just as they are employed by the Lapps and Eskimo at the present day. Pierced teeth were probably strung together into necklaces and armlets. There are also incised bones, with outlines roughly portraying the animals of the chase. Examples of the stone and bone implements from Kent’s Cavern, Torquay, and from the French caverns, are shown in Table-case 1. One incised reindeer antler in the same Case from a French cavern displays the rough outline of the fore- part of a horse. Plaster casts of more celebrated bone implements and outline sketches of the same age, are placed in a frame on the wall adjoining the window. This small selection of the handiwork of Paleolithic man is exhibited here merely to illustrate his association with the Pleistocene mammals. The principal collection both of Paleolithic and later workmanship in the British Museum is placed in the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities at Bloomsbury, and is described in “A Guide to the Antiquities of the Stone Age,” obtainable at the British Museum, Bloomsbury, W.C. The late Sir Joseph Prestwich and some other geologists have expressed the opinion, that there is evidence of the presence of man in western Europe at a remote time even before most of our valleys were excavated and before the present drainage-system of our land was established. This evidence consists in rough pieces of flint, which seem to have been chipped artificially along one or more edges, and may have been used by man. These supposed implements were first noticed by Mr. Benjamin Harrison in the high-level plateau-gravels, probably of Upper Pliocene age, in Kent; and many of his specimens are included in the Prestwich Collection, of which the principal series is exhibited in Table-case 1. They are termed “eoliths” by those who believe that they represent the dawn of the Stone Age of Man. BRITISH PLIOCENE MAMMALS. Very little is known of the mammals inhabiting the British area during the Pliocene period. They are “only represented by very fragmentary remains in the marine Pliocene Crag deposits of East Anglia, and by equally un- MAMMALIA, 9 satisfactory teeth and bones lately found in a fissure in the Table-case Carboniferous Limestone near Buxton, Derbyshire. A typical series of the Crag fossils is exhibited in Table-case 1a. Mastodon, Hipparion, Tapirus, Gazella, and Hyzxnarctos, are the most noteworthy genera. Some of the specimens may have been washed out of Miocene deposits. SYSTEMATIC COLLECTION. CLass.—_MAMMALIA. SuB-cLass ],—EUTHERIA. OrvER I,—PRIMATES. SUB-ORDER 1,—Anthropoidea. As already mentioned, the bones and teeth of man are very rare in geological formations—he is usually represented merely by his handiwork. A few important specimens, however, have been discovered, and plaster casts of these are exhibited in Table-case 1. There is a copy of the top of a skull, of a very lowly type, found with the remains of Pleistocene mammals in a cavern in the Neanderthal, near Diisseldorf,Germany. There are also copies of two imperfect skulls and some limb-bones of a similar lowly kind of man discovered in undoubted association with Pleistocene mammals in the cavern of Spy, near Namur, Belgium. These specimens seem to represent a human race inferior to any now existing, but comprising powerfully built individuals. The forehead is low; the bony ridges above the eyes are very prominent ; and the chin is somewhat retreating. The radius and ulna are unusually divergent in the middle of the fore-arm. The femur is somewhat bent, and the tibia is comparatively short, so that the leg cannot have been quite upright in walking. la. Table-case 1 Pier-cases 2, 3. Most of the actual bones of man preserved in the Pier-case 2. collection are probably quite modern compared with the primitive race just mentioned. In Table-case 1 there are parts of the skeleton of an aged man found at a depth of 34 feet in the Thames mud during the excavation of Tilbury Docks. In Pier-case 2 is placed the famous human skeleton Pier-case 2. Table-case 1 Pier-case 3. Pier-case 3. 10 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. fossilised in limestone, which was obtained in 1813 by Sir Alexander Cochrane, R.N., from the island of Grande-Terre, near that of Guadaloupe in the West Indies. The rock in which this specimen was discovered is quite a modern beach- formation. The oldest known traces of a man-like skeleton are the roof of a small skull, two grinding teeth, and a diseased femur, discovered by Professor E. Dubois in a bed of volcanic ash containing remains of Pliocene mammals near Trinil in Java. A plaster cast of the piece of skull is placed in Table- case 1. It shows that the capacity of the brain-case in this animal, which has been named Pithecanthropus erectus, can scarcely have exceeded two-thirds that of the average man. The forehead is very low, and the bony ridges above the eyes are prominent. The man-like apes or Simiide, which are represented at the present day by the gibbons, orangs, chimpanzees, and gorillas, in the tropics of Asia and Africa, also lived in southern Europe in the latter part of the Miocene period. A characteristic thigh-bone of one of these apes (Paidopithex rhenanus) has been found in the lowest deposits of the Pliocene period even so far north as Eppelsheim, Hesse- Darmstadt. All the fossil forms are known merely by pieces of jaws and isolated limb-bones, of which plaster casts are exhibited in Pier-case 3. The Old World monkeys are proved to date back to the Middle Miocene period in Europe. Mesopithecus, from the Lower Pliocene of Pikermi, near Athens, is known by nearly all parts of the skeleton, and fine skulls are shown in Pier- case 3. It is allied to the living Indian Semnopithecus. Macacus, which still survives in Europe on the rock of Gibraltar, is represented by one molar tooth (named Macacus pliocenus by Owen) from the Pleistocene brick-earth of Grays, Essex. No other evidence of a fossil monkey has been found in Britain. SUB-ORDER 2.—Lemuroidea. The lemurs, which are evidently of a lower grade than the monkeys and apes, immediately preceded these Anthro- poidea both in Europe and North America, and became extinct, at least in Europe, as soon as the latter appeared. They were quite abundant in both regions during the Eocene and Oligocene periods. Fine skulls and other remains of Adapis and Necrolemur, which are typical lemurs from the MAMMALIA. 11 red Phosphorites of southern France, are shown in Pier- Pier-case 3. case 3. There are also jaws of the same animals from the Upper Eocene of Hordwell, Hampshire (Fig. 2), and jaws of an allied genus from the Eocene of Dakota, U.S.A. At the present day the lemurs are confined to Madagascar, parts of Africa and _ the southern Asiatic region. They are especially characteristic of Madagascar, and are all small animals adapted exclusively Fic. 2.—Palatal view of left upper for a life in trees. In the teeth of a Lemur (ddapis magna) : from Upper Eocene, Hordwell, surface deposits and caverns of Hampshire; nat.size. (Pier-case3.) Madagascar theirfossil remains are numerous, and among these it is easy to recognise large and even gigantic extinct kinds (Nesopithecus, Megaladapis, Fig. 3.—Model of skull and lower jaw of a supposed aquatic Lemur (Megaladapis insignis), from a Cavern in Madagascar; one quarter nat. size. (Pier-case 3.) etc.) which lived in the Pleistocene and Prehistoric periods. The largest species of Megaladapis (M. insignis), of which various fragments are exhibited and of which a restored Pier-case 3. Pier-case 3. 12 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. model of the skull (Fig. 3) is placed on the top shelf ot Pier-case 3, must have been about as large as a donkey. It clearly did not live in trees, and it may perhaps have been adapted for an aquatic life. The bony rims of the orbits are curiously produced and arranged like those of a hippopotamus. OrpER JI —CARNIVORA. SUB-ORDER 1.—Carnivora Vera. The true cats or Felide are well represented among fossils, which trace back the ancestry of this highest surviving tribe of flesh-eaters to Miocene European animals much resembling the existing Cryptoprocta of Madagascar. Felis itself first appears in the Middle or Upper Miocene of Europe, and culminated in the great cave-lion, which is probably only a variety of the existing Felis leo of Africa and Asia. Among the numerous remains of this animal in Pier-case 3 may be particularly noticed the fine skull obtained by Mr, Flaxman Spurrell from the Pleistocene brick-earth of Crayford, Kent. The small ancestral Felide are represented by jaws of Pseudelurus and Progwlurus from the Miocene of France. Still more deadly than the Felide must have been the extinct Nimravide or Macherodontide, of which many were as large as lions, with over-grown upper canine teeth and with fore-limbs as effective as grappling irons. A diagram of a complete skeleton of Machexrodus from the pampa of South America (now in the National Museum, Buenos Aires), is placed in the upper part of Pier-case 3, above the remains of this and the allied genera. Machwxrodus is often named the “sabre-toothed tiger,” in allusion to its large, laterally-compressed upper canine teeth, which have finely serrated edges. The mouth seems to have opened to an abnormal extent to permit the effective use of these terrible weapons (Fig. 4). As shown by the fragmentary fossils, Machxrodus is represented first in the Miocene of France and Germany; next in the Pliocene of France, England, Italy, Greece, Hungary, the Isle of Samos, Persia, and India; and finally by the largest species in the Pleis- tocene of France, Germany, Italy, England, North America, Ecuador, Brazil, and Argentina. Teeth from Kent’s Cavern and the Creswell caves prove its association with the cave- Cy MAMMALIA. 13 men in England. The complete extinction before historic Pier-case 3. times of so widely-spread an animal is very remarkable. Hoplophoneus, of which skulls are exhibited, is an allied Fie. 4.—Diagram of head of the “Sabre-toothed Tiger” (Macherodus neogzus), from the Pampa Formation of Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic, showing the widely open mouth; one-eighth nat. size. (After W. D. Matthew.) genus from the Oligocene White River Formation of North America. Husmilus, represented by jaws, is one of the small ancestral forms from the Oligocene Phosphorites of southern France. In the exhibition of remains of Hyzenide (Pier-case 3) Pier-case 8. the largest space is occupied by the European cave-hyena, which seems to have been essentially identical with the existing spotted hyena (Hyena crocuta) of Africa. Indi- viduals in all stages of growth are represented by the jaws and teeth from the English caverns, and by other fragments from river deposits and the Norfolk Forest Bed. Other true hyenas are known by fossils from the Lower Pliocene of Greece, Samos, Persia, and India; but there are no traces of 'the family in America. Jetitheriwm, from the Lower Taple-case Pliocene of Greece, Samos, Persia, and India, is known not 2. only by fine skulls, of which there are some in Table-case 2, but also by the greater part of the skeleton. It is an ancestral genus, connecting the Hyznide with the Viverride. The Viverride, or civets, mongooses, and their allies, Table-case 2. Pier-case 3. Pier-case 4, Table-case 3. 14 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. are very old Carnivora, which appear to have been always small animals confined to the Old World. As shown by remains in Table-case 2, Viverra itself seems to have lived unchanged from the Upper Eocene period to the present day. The Mustelidx, or weasels, badgers, and otters (Table- case 2), also date back to the Upper Eocene period, beginning in the Old World and then spreading to America. The occurrence of the glutton (Guwlo luscus) in the English and Welsh cave-earths, and in the Forest Bed, is interesting. The raccoons, or Procyonide, are scarcely known among fossils; but teeth from the Red Crag (Lower Pliocene) of Suffolk seem to belong to the existing Indian Adlurus or a closely allied genus (plaster cast in Table-case 2), The Canide, or wolves, foxes, jackals and dogs, have scarcely changed in any essential respects since the Miocene period, when they already flourished both in the Old World and in North America. Murchison’s famous “fossil fox of Oeningen,” from the Upper Miocene of Baden, is a typical member of the family. Cynodictis and allied genera (Table- case 2), from the Oligocene Phosphorites and the Upper Eocene of France, connect the Canidae with the Viverridae. The bears, or Urside, which are at present distributed over nearly all the world, except Australia and New Zealand, have only had so wide a range since the dawn of the Pleistocene period. So far as known, the family began its Fic. _5.—Skull and lower jaw of the Cave-bear (Ursus speleus), from a Pleistocene Cavern Deposit in Bavaria; about one-sixth nat. size. existence in Europe and Asia, where there are many remains of Pliocene, Miocene, and Oligocene animals which must be regarded as ancestors. The true bears of modern times are mixed feeders, and have teeth modified accordingly. In the MAMMALIA. 15 Pleistocene period an extinct species of very large size, whose Pier-case 4. remains are frequently found in the caverns of Europe, Table-case is named the cave-bear (Ursus speleus). A skeleton, recon- ; structed from the bones of several individuals from French caverns, is exhibited in Pier-case 4. Remains of this species (Fig. 5) are common in the English and Welsh caverns, but it does not appear to have reached Ireland or North America. Table-case Stands oO, P, W. Pier-cases 36, 37. Table-case 23. 58 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. Fic. 47.—Vertical longitudinal section of molar tooth of Mastodon, showing open valleys between cross-ridges, thick enamel (b), and the dentine (c); two-thirds nat. size. (Table-case 24.) Fic. 48.—Vertical longitudinal section of molar tooth of Elephas (Stegodon) insignis, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India, showing wide valleys between cross-ridges filled with cement (a), the layer of enamel (b), and the dentine (c); one-third nat. size. (Table-case 24.) Fie. 49.—Vertical longitudinal section of molar tooth of Elephas plani- frons, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India, showing deep valleys between cross-ridges filled with cement (a), the layer of enamel (b), and the dentine (c); one-third nat. size. (Table-case 24.) Fic. 50.—Grinding surface of lower molar tooth of Mastodon sivalensis from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India; two-thirds nat- size. (Table-case 23.) Fic. 51.—Grinding surface of upper molar tooth of Hlephas (Stegodon) clifti, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India; one-half nat. size. Pier-case 36.) Fic. 52.—Grinding surface of incomplete upper molar tooth of Elephas planifrons, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India; two- thirds nat. size. (Pier-case 34.) Pier-cases 386, 37. ‘Table-case 23. Pier-cases 35, 36. Stand J. Table-case Pier-case 37. Table-case Pier-case 88. Table-cases 23, 24. {Stand B. 60 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. angular roof-like shape of the cross-ridges of the teeth (Figs. 48, 51), has these ridges more numerous and usually deeper, while the intervening valleys are partly filled with a soft tooth-substance termed cement. Stegodon is generally re- garded as a sub-genus or section of Elephas proper, and various remains of it from India, Burma, and China are exhibited in Pier-cases 35, 36. A fine skull of Elephas (Stegodon) ganesa with immense tusks (Fig. 59) from the Siwalik Formation, presented by General Sir W. E. Baker, is mounted on a separate stand (J). In the true Hlephas the tocth-ridges are excessively deepened and comparatively numerous (Figs. 49, 52), while the intervening valleys, now mere crevices, are filled to overflowing with cement. This progressive complication is well illustrated by a series of sections of teeth arranged in regular order in Table-case 24. The Pliocene Stegodon has only been found in southern and central Asia, some of the adjacent islands, and northern Africa. Mastodon, however, ranged over southern and central Europe, and in the Pleistocene period extended nearly throughout North and South America. Among European species may be mentioned M. arvernensis, from the Upper Pliocene of France, Italy, Germany, and the Red Crag of England, illustrated in Pier-case 37 and Table-case 23; also M. atticus and M. pentelici from the Lower Pliocene of Greece, exhibited in the same Cases. Among North American species M. americanus (Figs. 53, 54) is the most important, and is represented not only by the partially recon- structed skeleton (Stand B) at the entrance to the Gallery, but also by numerous remains in Pier-case 38 and Table-case 23. It lived until the arrival of prehistoric man in North Fic. 58.—Lower molar America, as shown by the occurrence tooth of Mastodon ameri- of stone arrow-heads with its bones. canus, from the eisto- The best known South American one-third nat. size, Species is M. hwmboldti, of which a (Table-case 23.) fine skull is mounted in Pier-case 39 (40). Though found nearly all over South America, its remains are especially abundant in the lake deposits or flood deposits in the valley of Tarija, Bolivia, where large herds must have perished. MAMMALIA. 61 The Pliocene and Pleistocene mastodons just enumerated Pier-cases clearly possessed the ordinary elephant proboscis, and would ,,,38-42 be elephants to all outward appearance. Young individuals, °98, 24 however, exhibit a diminutive pair of tusks projecting from Stand B. the front of the lower jaw. They are thus reminiscent of their predecessors of the Miocene period in Europe and northern Africa, which had well-developed and functional lower tusks throughout life. These ancestral mastodons, of the genus Tetrabelodon, are illustrated by numerous remains from the Middle and Upper Miocene and Lower Pliocene of Fic. 54.—Skeleton of Mastodon americanus, from the Pleistocene of Benton County,'Missouri, U.S.A.; greatly reduced. (Stand B.)! Europe in Pier-case 41 (42). None of the species were so Pier-case! large as those of the genus Mastodon itself. Their skull 41., (Fig. 60) is quite like that of an elephant, and the spreading upper tusks only differ from modern elephant tusks in being provided with a band of enamel along one side. Their lower jaw, however, is produced at the chin (symphysis) into a remarkable bony spout-shaped elongation, tipped with a pair of chisel-shaped tusks, which cannot have worked against the upper tusks, but evidently met some kind of pad on the palate. Tetrabelodon must thus have possessed an immensely Pier-case Wall-case 43. Case Cc. 62 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. elongated face, and as its neck was longer than that of a modern elephant, it would be able to reach the ground with the front of its mouth. The general shape of the animal is well shown by a partially restored skeleton in the Paris Museum, of which a photograph is placed on the wall near Pier-case 41 (see also Fig. 55). Fic. 55.—Skeleton of Tetrabelodon angustidens, from the Middle Miocene of Sansan, France; greatly reduced. (After A. Gaudry.) Fic. 56.—Left upper milk-molars of Tetrabelodon longirostris, from the Lower Pliocene of Eppelsheim, Hesse-Darmstadt; nat. size. (After A. Gaudry.) Dinotherium, a contemporary of Tetrabelodon, with smaller, simpler and more numerous grinding teeth, has the bony symphysis of its mandible bent downwards and the terminal lower tusks curved backwards. The only known skull of this animal, with a plaster cast of the mandible (Fig. 57) from the Lower Pliocene of Eppelsheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, is mounted in a special Case marked C; and teeth (Fig. 58) MAMMALIA. 63 and other remains both from Europe and the Siwalik Wall-case Formation of India, are exhibited in Table-case 23 and . Case C. Wall-case 43. Fic. 57.—Skull and mandible of Dinotherium gigantewm, from the Lower Pliocene of Eppelsheim, Hesse-Darmstadt; one-fifteenth nat. size. (Case C.) Fie. 58.—Lett upper teeth of Dinotherium giganteum, from the Middle Miocene of Sansan, France ; one-quarter nat. size, (After A, Gaudry.) No Proboscidean earlier than Letrabelodon occurs in Wall-case Europe; but it is preceded in the Upper Eocene of Egypt by 43, 64 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. Wall-case a still smaller animal, Palwomastodon, of which various remains are exhibited in Wall-case 43. This genus (Fig. 61) Fig. 59.—Skull and lower jaw of Hlephas (Stegodon) ganesa. showing immense tusks, from the Lower Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India; one thirty- second nat. size. (Stand J.) Fic. 60.—Skull and lower jaw of Tetrabelodon angustidens, showing elongated chin with pair of terminal cutting teeth (J.i.), from the Middle Miocene of Sansan, France; one-twentieth nat. size. nar. position of nostrils; w.i. upper incisor or tusk. (After O. W. Andrews.) resembles Tetrabelodon in its tusks and elongated face, but differs in having a less elephant-like skull, with more numerous and relatively smaller grinding teeth. It is MAMMALIA. 65 preceded again in the Middle Eocene of Egypt by Moeri- Wall-case therium (Fig. 62), which comprises still smaller species whose relation to Elephas would hardly be suspected if all the intermediate gradations were unknown. Here the cross- Fig. 61.—Skull and lower jaw of Paleomastodon beadnelli, showing elongated chin with pair of terminal cutting teeth (J.i.), from the Upper Eocene of the Fayum, Egypt; one-twelfth nat. size. nar. position of nostrils; w.i. upper incisor or tusk. (After ©. W. Andrews.) Fic. 62.—Skull and lower jaw of Mocritherium lyonsi, from the Middle Eocene of the Fayum, Egypt; one-seventh nat. size. ant orb., antorbital foramen; c., canine; ex. oc., exoccipital ; fr., frontal; 2. 1-3, incisors; ju., jugal; m. 1-3, molars; ma., maxilla; n., nasal; p.a., parietal; par. oc., paroccipital; p.m. 2-4, premolars; p. mzx., pre- maxilla; pt., post-tympanic process of squamosal; s.oc., supra- occipital: sq., squamosal. (After C. W. Andrews.) ridged molars are first becoming recognisable; one pair of incisors above and below is growing at the expense of its fellows to become real tusks; and the arrangement of the bones of the skul] is beginning to show features which are known only in the order Proboscidea. Several instructive F Wall-case 43. Table-case 16. 66 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. fragments, and plaster casts of skulls from the Cairo Museum, are placed in Pier-case 43. The fossils, so far as known, show therefore that the earliest forerunners of the elephants were small marsh- dwellers which lived on a succulent food in the African region. They gradually increased in size, without essentially altering their limbs and body; but as their legs lengthened and their neck shortened, their face and chin gradually became elongated to reach the ground for browsing. When this strange adaptation had reached its maximum degree, the chin suddenly shrivelled, leaving the flexible, toothless face without any support. Thus arose the uniqué proboscis of the elephants, which has become prehensile by stages which cannot be traced, because soft parts are not preserved in ordinary geological formations. For comparison, a stuffed modern Indian elephant, and a skeleton of the same are placed in the middle of the Gallery (stands D, E); while the head of an African elephant, skulls and tusks are arranged in the bay between Pier-cases 36 and 37. Recent skulls and teeth, some described by Corse in the “ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society” more than a century ago, are also placed in Pier-case 28. OrpER VI.\—RODENTIA. Fossil remains of rodents or gnawing mammals are common in Tertiary formations throughout the world, and a typical collection is exhibited in Table-case 16. The extinct kinds, however, do not differ much from those now living, although they can be traced back as far as the Middle Eocene period. Among the fossil remains of Sciuromorpha, those of the beaver (Castor) are conspicuous. This animal first appears in the Upper Pliocene of Italy, France, and England; and the common C. fiber had a remarkably wide range in Europe during the Pleistocene period. Good specimens are shown from the Fen-land (Fig. 63) and from the valley of the Lea, Essex. It does not appear to have been exterminated in Britain until about the twelfth century, and there are still allusions to it in some names of places (e.g., Beverley and Nant-yr-afancwm). Trogontherium cuviert is a giant beaver, which ranged from Russia to England during early Pleistocene times. A skull, jaws, and other remains from the Norfolk Forest Bed are exhibited, with plaster casts of a Russian skull and mandible of the same species. MAMMALIA. 67 Among Myomorpha, it is interesting to notice that the lemmings (Myodes lemmus and Cuniculus torquatus) occur in the Pleistocene of England. There are also remains of a large dormouse (Leithia melitensis) found with the pigmy elephants in the caverns of Malta. Fic. 63.—Left upper (A) and right lower (B) teeth of Beaver (Castor fiber), from the Fens of Cambridgeshire. nat. size. Among Hystricomorpha, a skull of the gigantic Castoroides ohwoticus from the Pleistocene of North America is shown; and there is a drawing of a complete skeleton of this animal, natural size, on the adjacent wall. There are also remains of various genera from South America, where the extinct Pleistocene Megamys (not represented in the collection) must have been as large as an ox. The Lagomorpha, or rabbits, picas, and hares, date back to the Oligocene period. OrpDER VIJ.—SIRENIA. The extinct representatives of the “sea-cows,” so far as known, are very little different from the surviving members of the Order. Recent discoveries in Egypt merely suggest that during the Eocene period they were most closely con- nected with the early Proboscidean Ungulata. Various fossils show that in Tertiary times they had a wider geographical distribution than at the present day. Steller’s Sea-cow (Rhytina gigas), which formerly browsed on the sea-weed on the shores of Bering Strait, lived until 1782, when it was exterminated by the Russian sailors who F 2 Table-case 16. Pier-case 29 (30). Case V. 68 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. Pier-case fed upon its flesh. It was described by Steller, a German naturalist in the Russian service in 1751, and a copy of his 29 (30). Case V. Pier-case 29 (80). S Av oa 5 as oe) he: loge Sas SSS zee vere pasceaa (Case V.) Fic. 64.—Skeleton of Stoller’s Sea-cow (Rhytina gigas), from Pleistocene of Bering Island; one-fortieth nat. size. drawing of the living animal is fixed on the Pillar between Pier- cases 20 and 21. This massive creature sometimes attained a length of 25 feet; and a nearly complete skeleton of an individual about 20 feet long (Fig. 64) is mounted, with other remains, in a large case marked V. Rhytina was destitute of teeth, which were replaced by cor- rugated, horny plates; it also appears to have lacked ordinary hands. Its bones occur in the peat-bogs and swamps of the islands round which it lived, and they are discovered by prodding the soft ground with an iron bar which strikes them. Halitherium from the Oligocene and Lower Miocene of Europe, is essentially a manatee, but it lacks the apparently unlimited supply of grinding teeth which characterise the surviving animal. It also exhibits a less rudimentary pelvis than any other known Sirenian, with a small bone representing the femur. A restored model of a skeleton of Halitherium schinzi about 8 feet long (Fig. 65) from the Oligocene of Hesse-Darmstadt, is mounted in Case V; and there are numerous actual remains of this species from the same locality in the collection. There is also an imperfect skull, named Halithertwm canhami, from the Red Crag of Suffolk (see Table-case 14.). Fedsi- notheriwm is a closely similar animal from Northern Italy. Prorastomus is another extinct genus known only with certainty by the unique skull from an early MAMMALIA. 69 Tertiary limestone in Jamaica, which is exhibited in Pier- case 29 (30). It is peculiar in possessing a complete set of teeth, incisors and canines as well as premolars and molars. Fragments of jaws, possibly of another species of the same genus, occur in the Upper Eocene of Northern Italy. Pier-case 29 (80). Fic. 65.—Skeleton of Halitheriwm schinzi, from the Oligocene of Hesse- Darmstadt; one twenty-fifth nat. size. (Case V.) The oldest known Sirenians are Hotheriuwm and Hosiren from the Middle Eocene of Egypt. Brain-casts, a plaster cast of a skull, and other remains are exhibited in Pier-case 29 (80). Skeletons and stuffed specimens of the living manatees and dugongs are placed in Case V and Pier-case 29 (30) for comparison with the fossils. See “Guide to the Galleries of Mammals,” p. 84. OrpvER VIII.—CETACEA. The fossil remains of whales, porpoises, and dolphins are placed with the living members of the Order in the Gallery of Cetacea (Department of Zoology). They are all very fragmentary. The typical modern Balenidz do not occur below the Pliocene, where they are represented chiefly by ear-bones (tympanics), of which a good series from the Red Crag of Suffolk is exhibited (Fig. 66). Small whalebone whales, however, existed so long ago as the Oligocene period both in Europe and North America, although there are no remains in the collection. Teeth and bones of the toothed whales are more fre- quently met with among fossils. All the kinds which still live seem to have been in existence before the close of the Pliocene period. Even the strange compact snouts of the beaked whales, such as Mesoplodon, are common fossils in the Pliocene Crag of England and Belgium, and a good collection is mounted for exhibition. Some of the earlier Gallery of Cetacea, Zool. Dept. 70 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. Gallery of toothed whales of the Miocene period differed from every Cetacea, Zool. Dept. Cetacean now living, and approached more normal mammals in the circumstance, that all their teeth were enamelled, while some of those at the back of the jaw were two-rooted. Instructive illustrations may be seen in plaster casts of skulls of Sgqualodon grateloupi from the Miocene of France and Fic. 66.—Tympanic bone of Whalebone-whale (Balezna primigenia), from the Red Crag of Suffolk; one-half nat. size. Fria. 67.—Skull (A) and upper molar tooth (B) of Zeuglodon cetoides, from the Kocene of Alabama, U.S.A.; A greatly reduced, B one-fifth nat. size. Bavaria, and in an almost unique skull of Prosqualodon australis from the Patagonian Formation of South America. The Miocene toothed-whales with enamelled two-rooted teeth are especially interesting, because they connect the modern simple-toothed tribes with some whale-like creatures, the Zeuglodonts, which appear to have flourished in the seas MAMMALIA. 71 throughout the world during the Eocene period. Zeuglodon (yoke-tooth), thus named by Owen in allusion to the shape of its hinder teeth (Fig. 678), has jaws so peculiar that they were originally supposed to belong to a reptile, which was termed Basilosaurus. The skull (Fig. 674) is not completely that of a whale, though it is elongated and depressed, with the nostril on the middle of the upper surface. Each side of either jaw is provided with four simple teeth in front and five double-rooted teeth behind. The neck must have been unusually long for a whale and not rigid. There are also traces of an armour of small bony plates. Plaster casts of the skull and teeth, besides actual teeth of the typical Zeuglodon cetoides, from the Eocene of Alabama, U.S.A., are exhibited, proving the animal to have been of rather large size. A plaster cast of part of a skull of Z. osiris from Egypt is also shown. Orper IX.—EDENTATA. The sloths, anteaters, and armadillos have been cha- racteristic of the South American region since early Tertiary times, and they do not appear to have wandered farther than the southern part of North America at any period. They are quite a degenerate and insignificant race at the present day, compared with their former representatives. The modern sloths and anteaters are almost unknown among fossils, but the peculiarities of both these families are combined in the skeleton of the extinct ground-sloths. These animals, in fact, exhibit the head and teeth of a sloth associated with the back-bone, limbs, and tail of an anteater. They lived in great numbers in South America during the latter part of the Tertiary period, ranging even so far north as Kentucky in the Pleistocene ; and some of them survived to be contemporaries of man at a very recent Prehistoric date. The Miocene or perhaps Upper Eocene forms are quite small, but they become larger as they are traced upwards in the geological sequence, and many of the Pleistocene and Prehistoric species rival elephants and rhinoceroses in bulk. The best known ground-sloths are Megatheriwm, Scelido- therium, and Mylodon, all well represented in the collection. They obviously could not live in trees like the little sloths which exist at present in the South American forests ; but their hind quarters are very massive and their stout tail would serve with their hind legs to form a rigid tripod on Gallery of Cetacea, Zool. Dept. Wall-case 26. Table-case 14b, 15a. Case Y. SS SSRN si ee) GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. 72 ey could rest when reaching the leaves of trees for food. A plaster cast of the skeleton of Megatherium, 18 feet Stand X. which th Case Y. long, and a slightly restored actual: skeleton of Mylodon, somewhat smaller, are mounted on stands marked X, Y, in the attitude which it is believed they usually assumed when MAMMALIA. 73 feeding. The original bones and teeth of Megatheriwm, other Stand X. remains of Mylodon, and numerous parts of the skeleton of Case ¥- Scelidotherium (Fig. 68) are arranged in Wall-case 26. The bones bear conspicuous crests and ridges, which indicate the muscular power of these animals. The feet are twisted, so that their side rather than their palm would be used when walking; and one, two, or three of the toes on each foot terminate in a great claw. The fore quarters are arranged for the easy motion of the grasping arms. The front of the mandible is spout-shaped (see Figs. 68, 69), evidently adapted to a long protrusible tongue, which could be used like that of a giraffe for pulling leaves off the trees. The few grinding teeth would continually grow as they were worn down throughout life, and those of Megatherium (Fig. 69) are made Stand X. Fic. 69.—Lower jaw of Megatherium americanum, showing double- ridged molar tecth and long spout-shaped symphysis (d), from the Pampa Formation of Buenos Aires, Argentine Republic; one-eighth nat. size. (Wall-case 26.) extremely powerful by consisting of alternate soft and hard plates of tooth-substance, which produce cross-ridges on the crown. The skeletons of the ground-sloths are wonderfully well preserved in the Pampa Formation of the Argentine Republic, and it is the rule rather than the exception to find them whole. Most of them are discovered on the borders of old lakes and rivers, evidently in the position in which the animals suddenly died. They are supposed to have perished in the mud and soft ground when attempting to reach the water to drink during dry seasons ; for droughts are common even at the present day in the country where they formerly lived. In the time of the ground-sloths, however, the pampa can scarcely have been the bare plain that it is now ; it must have borne forest vegetation. Both human bones and stone implements have occasionally uae eae a. Table-case 15a. Wall-case 26. 74. GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. been found in the province of Buenos Aires so intimately associated with remains of the ground-sloths that there can be no doubt as to the survival of these gigantic quadrupeds until the time of man at least in the southern part of South America. The most important discoveries, however, which appear to prove this survival, were made in 1897 and subsequent years by Dr. F. P. Moreno, Dr. R. Hauthal, Baron Erland Nordenskjéld, and others, in a cavern near Consuelo Cove, Last Hope Inlet, Patagonia, between the 51st and 52nd degrees of south latitude. Here, in an absolutely dry and powdery deposit on the floor of the large cavern, were found numerous broken bones of several individuals of a ground-sloth, Grypotherium, which was nearly as large as Mylodon and only differed from the latter in minor features. With the bones were several pieces of skin, evidently of the same animal, which showed marks of tools and seemed to have been stripped off the carcase by man. There were also large lumps of excrement, besides masses of cut grass which may have been intended for fodder. With the Grypotherium were found bones of other extinct animals; and in the same cavern there were implements of stone and bone, remains of fires, and even the bones of man himself. The Argentine explorers, in fact, concluded that the Grypotherium had actually been kept in the cavern and fed by man, who eventually killed the animals for food. A series of specimens illustrating this discovery is exhibited in Table-case 154. The sharply broken bones are remarkably fresh in appearance, still bearing the dried and shrivelled remains of gristle, simews and flesh. The pieces of skin (Plate IV) are covered with dense, coarse hair on the outside; while the inner layer of their substance is filled with small nodules of bone, which are exposed on the inside where the skin is slightly decayed. Similar little bones have been found in great numbers with the skeletons of Mylodon in the Pampa Formation (see Wall-case 26), so that this ground-sloth and its allies must have been armoured with a bony mail beneath the hairy outer surface of the skin. The lumps of excrement from the cavern consist only of remains of grass, without any traces of leaves. Among associated animals may be particularly noted the extinct horse, Onohippidium, of which there are characteristic teeth besides many well-preserved hoofs. The armadillos which lived with the Pampean ground- sloths, were also gigantic compared with their existing A B.M GUIDE FOSS. MAMM. AnD BIRDS. PLATE IV. Skin of Extinct Ground-sloth (Grypotheriwm lista) from a Cavern near Last Hope Inlet, Patagonia; one-sixth nat. size. The outer side (A) bears coarse hair; the inner side (B) exhibits small nodules of bone imbedded in the substance of the skin. (Table-case 15a.) (To face p. 74. MAMMALIA. 75 representatives. They exhibit great variety, but their coat Wall-case of mail (carapace) is always rigid, not divided into the over- ,, , 26. Table-case 14b. Case Z. mation of Buenos Aires, (Case Z.) one-eighteenth nat. size. Fic. 70.—Skeleton of Glyptodon clavipes, from the Pampa For Argentine Republic Wall-case 26. Table-case 14b. Case Z. Table-case 14b. 76 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. lapping cross-bands which enable the surviving armadillos to roll into a ball when attacked. Glyptodon (Fig. 70) is one of the best known genera, and owes its name (“sculptured tooth”) to the circumstance that hard and soft portions alternate in the teeth, thus imparting a sculptured appearance to their grinding surface. The actual armour of a fine specimen is mounted, with a plaster cast of the skeleton, in Case Z. As here exhibited the total length of the animal, measured along the curve of the back, is 11 feet 6 inches ; while the body shield or carapace measures 7 feet in length by 9 feet across. The armour obviously consists of small bony rosettes or bosses compacted together, and it must have been originally covered with a thin outer skin. There is a little shield on the top of the head; and the covering of the tail is arranged in successive, overlapping rings. At times of danger, the animal would probably be able to draw up its Fig. 71.—Portion of tail-sheath of Hoplophorus, from the Pampa Forma- tion of the Argentine Republic; one-quarter nat. size. (Wall-case 26.) legs close to the body, so as to rest its carapace on the ground, while its armour-plated head would be bent down- wards in front. The massive tail must have moved freely behind the carapace, and in one genus, Daedicurus, the solid end of the tail-sheath is somewhat expanded to bear a cluster of bony bosses which would give it the aspect of a powerful club (see Wall-case 26). Hoplophorus is a smaller elongated animal having the end of the tail-sheath without rings (Fig. 71). It is illustrated by a good series of specimens in Wall-case 26. The earlier remains of armadillos from Patagonia, as shown by the collection in Table-case 148, represent animals much smaller than those from the Pampa Formation, and some of them have a banded carapace like that of the living armadillos. It must, in fact, be understood that the tree- sloths of the present South American forests and the MAMMALIA. 77 burrowing armadillos of the existing pampa are not the Table-case degenerate descendants of the gigantic Pleistocene animals 14. just described. If all their ancestors were known, they would probably prove to have been always small; and they have survived changes which the larger beasts could not withstand, because they exist in comparatively secure retreats and do not need a great amount of food. It is sometimes doubted whether the so-called Edentata of the Old World—the pangolins and aard varks—are really related to the South American animals of this Order. Unfortunately, the known fossils do not help to solve the problem. Some small bones from the Oligocene Phosphorites of France, now in the Paris Museum, seem to belong to ancient pangolins; while skulls, jaws and teeth of the aard vark or Cape anteater (Orycteropus), which is now confined to Africa, are exhibited from the Lower Pliocene of Samos, Greece, and Persia (Table-case 148). No animals ancestral to these are recognisable. Sus-cLass I].—METATHERIA. ORDER X.—MARSUPIALIA. Like the sloths and armadillos of South America, the Wall-case kangaroos and wombats of Australia were preceded in the dixie. caees Pleistocene period by comparatively gigantic relatives. The 14 14a, 15. largest of these rivalled the rhinoceros in bulk, and its thigh- bone was so completely adapted for the support of a massive body, that when it was first discovered it was mistaken by Owen for the thigh-bone of an elephant. The jaws, however, and other parts of the skeleton soon enabled Owen to publish a satisfactory account of the animal, which he named Dipro- todon (‘“two-front-teeth”) in allusion to the rabbit-like or wombat-like arrangement of the anterior cutting teeth (incisors). The original specimens from the river deposits of Queensland, many collected by Dr. George Bennett, are arranged in Wall-case 27 and Table-case 15, with the remains of an allied smaller animal, Nototherium, from the same region. Notwithstanding its great size, the general shape of Diprotodon must have been much like that of the existing wombats of Australia, and it seems to be related both to the phalangers and the kangaroos. The skull (Fig. 72) measures about three feet in length. The grinding teeth are ridged, much like those of a primitive elephant 78 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. Wall-case such as Dinotheriwm. The toes, as proved by complete Table-cases SXeletons discovered some years ago on the dry salt plain 14, 14a, 15, bordering Lake Eyre in South Australia, were five in number but remarkably short and slender. Table-cases The remains of kangaroos from the river deposits of 14,15. Queensland and New South Wales, and from the Wellington Caves, New South Wales, indicate animals of various sizes from that of the smallest living species to that of a donkey. The unique original collection described by Owen is ex- hibited in Table-cases 14, 15. The largest extinct species referred to Procoptodon and Palorchestes, though essentially kangaroos, had the fore and hind limbs less disproportionate Fig. 72.—Skull and lower jaw of algigantic’ extinct Marsupial, Diprotodon australis, from the Pleistocene of Queensland ; with a Human Skull (B) to show comparative size. (Wall-case 27.) in size than any living members of the family, and would probably be unable to leap. Table-case The largest of the extinct wombats, found with Dipro- 14a. todon and the large kangaroos, is Phascolonus, of which the lower jaw and upper front teeth are shown in Table-case 14a, It was about as large as an ox. Here are also numerous remains of wombats of more ordinary size. Table-case The phalangers seem to be represented among fossils by the so-called “pouched lion” of Owen, Thylacoleo carnifex, which is also found with Diprotodon and the large kangaroos in the Australian river deposits and caverns. Numerous unique fragments are exhibited, with a restored model of the MAMMALIA. 79 skull and mandible (Fig. 73), in Table-case 14. This animal Table-case was regarded by Owen as having preyed upon the large 14 Australian herbivores in the same way that the lion feeds at present on the antelopes and other herbivores in Africa. The lion-like shape of the head and jaws, with the great cutting tooth followed behind by little crushing teeth, seemed to Owen to justify this conclusion. Other naturalists, however, have doubted whether Thylacoleo fed on flesh, or at least was more than a mixed feeder, because its large front teeth are incisors, and no known existing carnivore has canine teeth too small for grasping. The undoubted carnivorous marsupials contemporary with the extinct animals just enumerated, were identical with those still surviving in Tasmania. They are species Fie. 73.—Skull and lower jaw of Thylacoleo carnifex, from the Pleistocene of Australia; one-fifth nat. size. (Table-case 14.) of the “ Tasmanian Wolf” (Thylacinus) and the “ Tasmanian Devil” (Sarcophilus), of which jaws are exhibited in Table- case 14. Unfortunately no satisfactory remains of mammals are known from rocks below the Pleistocene in the Australian region; and the exact connection between the pouched animals of Australia and the mammals of other parts of the world has not yet been revealed by fossils. It is, however, interesting to notice that the Tasmanian Zhylacinus and Sarcophilus just mentioned are essentially similar to the Creodonta, which flourished in the northern hemisphere at the beginning of the Tertiary period (see p. 16), and to the Sparassodonta, which survived until still later times in South America (see p. 17). It is also worthy of remark that the small pouched opossums, now confined to the American 80 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. Table-case tropics, lived with the Creodonta both in Europe and North 14a. America, while other undoubted little pouched animals, such as Hpanorthus, accompanied the Sparassodonta and early opossums in South America. Jaws of these small marsupials, some from the Lower and Upper Eocene of England, and from the Lower Miocene of France, are shown in Table case 144. A few South American jaws are arranged with them. From these and other considerations it seems likely that Fic. 74.—Lower jaw and teeth of Triconodon mordaz, from the Purbeck Beds of Swanage; nat. size. (Table-case-14a.) Fic. 75.—Part of lower jaw and teeth of Spalacotherium tricuspidens, from the Purbeck Beds of Swanage; outline-fig. nat. size, c and d being lateral and upper views of a molar tooth. (Table-case 14a.) the Australian region has remained isolated from the rest of the world since the end of the Secondary epoch, and that its marsupials are the slightly altered survivors of the mammal- life then characteristic of every continent. Table-caze The only known mammals of the Secondary or Mesozoic oe epoch are creatures about as large as rats, whose jaws and limb-bones have been found in the Upper Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks of North America, and in the Jurassic (Purbeck Beds and Stonesfield Slate) of England. Most of them seem to have been insectivorous marsupials, and one MAMMALIA. 81 jaw of a young Triconodon from the Purbeck Beds of Swanage is believed to show a single tooth being replaced in the typical marsupial fashion (see p. 17). The unique collection from the Purbeck Beds, made by Mr. 8S. H. Beckles, is arranged in Table-case 148, and comprises several jaws of Triconodon (Fig. 74) and Spalacotheriwm (Fig. 75), besides remains of other genera described by Owen in his “ Mono- graph of Mesozoic Mammals” (Paleont. Soc., 1871). With these are some jaws from the Stonesfield Slate, including the original specimen of Phascolotherium bucklandi (Fig. 76), Fic. 76.—Lower jaw and teeth of Phascolotherium bucklandi, from the Stonesfield Slate of Oxfordshire ; outline-fig. nat.size. (Table-case 14a.) which was so much discussed by Cuvier, Agassiz, and others early in the last century. Drawings of the American Mesozoic jaws are placed with this collection for reference (Fig. 77). SuB-cLass JIJ.—PROTOTHERIA. OrpEeR XI_—MULTITUBERCULATA. In some of the jaws of Mesozoic mammals, and in a few similar specimens from the base of the Eocene, both in Europe and North America, there are crushing teeth which bear two or three rows of tubercles or are provided with tubercles round the edge. The otherwise unknown animals to which these jaws belong are named Multituberculata, and they are supposed to be related to the ancestors of the living egg-laying mammals (Monotremata) of the Australian region, because the young Ornithorhynchus has somewhat similar multituberculate teeth (see Fig. 82, p. 85). G Table-case 14a. 82 GUIDE To THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. Fic. 77.—Lower jaws of American Jurassic Mammals, from Wyoming, U.S.A.; A, B, twice nat. size; C-F, thrice nat. size; G, four times nat. size. Named by O. C. Marsh as follows :—a. Docodon striatus ; B. Dicrocynodon victor ; 0. Priacodon Jeroz; vp, Dryolestes priscus ; E. Dryolestes voraz; F. Asthenodon segms ;’ @. Laodon venustus. a, canine; }, condyle; ¢, coronoid process; d, angle; 9, mylohyoid groove; s, symphysial surface, MAMMALIA. 83 The largest of these mammals are represented in the Lower Eocene of New Mexico, U.S.A., by jaws which are named Polymastodon in allusion to their “teeth with many nipples.” One piece of jaw and two plaster casts of com- plete jaws are exhibited in Table-case 144. A much smaller Maultituberculate, Ptilodus, occurs with Polymastodon in New Mexico, while the allied Neoplagiaulax (Fig. 78) is found in the Lower Eocene of Rheims, France; but there are no i — Sap eH Fic. 78.—Upper molar tooth of Neoplagiaulax eocenus, grinding surface and two lateral aspects, from the Lower Eocene of Rheims, France; the lower line indicating nat. size. (After Lemoine.) specimens of these in the collection. Nearly similar teeth and jaws are met with in the Upper Cretaceous Laramie Formation of North America; and others, of the genus Plagiaulaz, of which several jaws are shown in the Beckles Collection from the Purbeck Beds, have cutting teeth in front and multituberculate teeth only behind (Fig. 79). Two-rooted multituberculate teeth, belonging to an un- known animal named Microlestes, are found even in the Fic. 79.—Lower jaw and cutting teeth of Plagiaulax becklesi, from the Purbeck Beds of Swanage; twice nat. size. (Table-case 14a.) Rheetic Formation of England and Wiirtemberg. Specimens of the very small M. moorei are exhibited from a Rhetic fissure-deposit at Holwell, near Frome. They bear tubercles round the edge of the crown and closely resemble the hinder teeth of Plagiaulax. A skull with multituberculate teeth from the Upper Triassic Karoo Formation of South Africa was also placed here for some time. This (Fig. 81) was described under the name of Tritylodon longevus and assigned to a mammal by Owen; while a fore limb from the same formation, named Theriodesmus phylarchus by Seeley, G 2 Table-case 14a. 84 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. Fie. 80.—Upper and lower jaws of American Jurassic Multituberculata, from Wyoming, U.S.A.; three to six times nat. size, as marked. Named by O. C. Marsh as follows :—a-c. Ctenacodon potens; x, F. Ctenacodon serratus; G, H, 1, K, N. Allodon fortis; 3, m. Allodon laticeps; D, &. incisors of Ctenacodon. In upper jaws:—l, 2, 3, incisors; a’, first premolar; a”, second premolar; 6, fourth premolar; b', third premolar; v, second true molar; m, malar arch; s, suture with maxilla. In lower jaws:—a, incisor; b, condyle; c, coronoid process; 7, root of incisor. MAMMALIA. 85 may perhaps belong to a similar animal. In the Triassic Table-case period, however, the Theriodont Reptiles so closely approached 14a. Fig. 81.—Skull of Tritylodon longevus, palatal view (a) and upper view (d), incomplete behind, from the Karoo Formation (Trias) of Basuto- land, South Africa; two-thirds nat. size. (Gallery of Fossil Reptiles, Table-case 32.) the lowest mammals that skeletons alone hardly suffice for the exact determination of their affinities. Tritylodon and Theriodesmus are now arranged with the Theriodonts in the Gallery of Fossil Reptiles (Table-case 32). OrpER XIT.—-MONOTREMATA. The existing monotremes of the Australian region are Table-case evidently the much -altered 14a. survivors of a very ancient race, and owe their escape from extinction to their small size and burrowing habits. Their predecessors, however, are almost unknown. Plaster casts of some limb-bones of a of the existing Australian large Echidna from the Wel- Monotreme (Ornithorhynchus), lington Caves, New South showing their multitubercu- ole . late crown; three times nat. Wales, are exhibited in Table- dina. (After C, Stewart.) case 14a, Table-case 86 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. GaLLERY No. 2.—FOSSIL BIRDS. Remains of birds are very rare among fossils, except in comparatively modern deposits on land; and even under these circumstances they are usually quite fragmentary. They occur most commonly in swamps, such as the English Fenland ; in the bed of silted-up lakes; and in caverns and fissures. They are only found by rare accident in the marine deposits of an earlier geological date. Cuass.— AVES. OrpER I].—CARINATA. The English Prehistoric and Pleistocene birds, so far as known from the local deposits just mentioned, were essen- tially similar to those which have lived in this country during historic times. Of special interest, however, is the discovery of remains of the pelican in the Fenland, and in refuse heaps on the site of an ancient British village near Glastonbury (see Table-case 13). It is also worthy of note that the great auk or gare fowl (Alea impennis), which became extinct in 1844, has been found in deposits in the north of England, Scotland, and Ireland; and a complete skeleton of this bird, discovered by Professor John Milne in a guano deposit on Funk Island, off Newfoundland, is exhibited in a special Case near the S.E. window. Among older remains of European flying birds exhibited in Table-case 13, may be noted a leg-bone of an albatross from the Red Crag of Suffulk; bones of flamingo-like birds (Palelodus, Phenicopterus), a species of ibis, ducks, and other birds from the Miocene of France; and various eggs and feathers in Miocene freshwater limestones and lignite from France and Germany. Still older is the unique collection of remains of Lower Eocene birds from the London Clay exhibited in the same Table-case. These fossils chiefly represent fish-eating sea- birds, among which Odontopteryx and Prophaethon are especially noteworthy. The skull of Odontopteryx (Fig. 83) is remarkable for its strongly serrated jaws, the little pointed AVES. 87 processes of bone being doubtless originally covered by similar elevations of the horny beak, which would act like teeth in dealing with the slippery prey. This bird was PES Xs (anaes eee Fie. 83.—Skull and lower jaw of Odontopteryx toliapica, with bony denticles on jaws, from the London Clay of; Sheppey; two-thirds nat. size. (Table-case: 13.) probably related to the living gannets. Prophaethon resembles a modern frigate bird, but has relatively larger hind legs. Like the other fossils of the London Clay, these birds indicate a subtropical climate in the south of England at the time when they lived here. From the London Clay there is also part of a large skull named Dasornis londiniensis hy Owen, who thought it might perhaps belong to a Ratite bird like the ostrich. More satisfactory remains of a large running bird, Gastornis, from the Lower Eocene of England, France, and Belgium, suggest affinities with the geese rather than with the ostriches. The earliest of all true and typical birds hitherto dis- covered, are represented in Table-case 13 by a few bones of Enaliornis from the Cambridge Greensand (Upper Cretaceous) and by vertebree, a pelvis, and limb-bones, with plaster casts of other bones, of Hesperornis from the Chalk of Kansas, U.S.A. The vertebre with saddle-shaped ends are especially well preserved. These fossils seem to belong to swimming birds like the existing divers (Colymbus); and the larger bones from Kansas indicate a species H. regalis (Fig. 84), which would measure from three to four feet in height. A large drawing of a skeleton restored by the discoverer, Professor O. C. Marsh, is framed near the window. Hesper- ornis has teeth in a groove in each jaw, though the extremity of its upper jaw is toothless, and would probably be covered with the usual horny beak. The bird must have been flight- less, as indicated by its flattened breast-bone (sternum). A Table-case 13. 88 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. Table-case little flying bird with keeled sternum, Ichthyornis (Fig. 85), 18. has also been found in the Kansas Chalk, but is not represented in the collection. Its teeth are in distinct sockets, and some of its vertebre are biconcave. Fic. 84.—Skeleton of a toothed flightless bird, Fespeternis regalis, from the Cretaceous of Kansas, U.S.A.; about one-eighth nat. size. (After Marsh. See Table-case 13.) Table-case § Among quite recently exterminated Carinate from the ee. southern hemisphere, the rails from New Zealand (Aptornis), AVES. 89 the Chatham Islands (Diaphorapteryx) and Mauritius (Aphan- apteryc), are of great interest on account of their close resemblance to each other and to the living weka rail (Ocydromus) of New Zealand. As they are all unable to fly, nn Gesnea Te Ge tneal Fig. 85.—Skeleton of a toothed flying bird, Ichthyornis victor, from the Cretaceous of Kansas, U.S.A.; one-half nat. size. (After Marsh.) it is difficult to understand how they reached such widely separated islands, unless these are pieces of a comparatively modern continent which has become submerged. They are Table-case 18a. Case CC. Table-case 18a. Case CC. Case DD. Wall-case 25. Case EE. Wall-case 5. Case BB. Table-case 12a. Case AA. 90 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. illustrated by various specimens in Table-case 13a, and by complete skeletons of Aptornis and Diaphorapteryx in a special Case marked CC. With these rails there also lived flightless geese and coots on the islands of the southern Ocean. An incomplete skeleton of the large flightless goose (Cnemiornis calcitrans) from New Zealand is mounted in Case DD; and there is a reconstructed skeleton of a coot (Palxolimnas chathamensis) from the Chatham Islands in Wall-case 25. Other remains of the same birds and their allied genera are arranged in Table-case 134. They and the smaller kinds of moas in New Zealand were probably the food of a large and powerful bird of prey (Harpagornis mooret), of which the greater part of a skeleton is mounted in Case EE. Fic. 86.—Restored skull and lower; jaw of Phororhachos longissimus, from the Santa Cruz Formation of Patagonia; one-sixth nat. size. (Case AA.) A reconstructed skeleton, with plaster casts of the head and foot, of the extinct dodo (Didus zneptus) or flightless ground-pigeon of Mauritius, is exhibited in Case BR, and there are other bones in Wall-case 25. This bird, however, is better illustrated in the Department of Zoology, where there is also a skeleton of the allied solitaire (Pezophaps) from Rodriguez. To a somewhat earlier geological period must be assigned the extinct cariamas and other birds from the Santa Cruz and other Tertiary Formations of Patagonia, which are com- prised in the Ameghino Collection in Table-case 12a. Phororhachos, the best known genus, is characterised by a very large head and a small body, as shown by the associated AVES. 91 parts of a single individual here exhibited. One of the largest species, Phororhachos longissimus, is represented by a nearly complete lower jaw and the sharp tip of the upper jaw, which are enough to justify the model of a restored skull and mandible of this bird mounted in an adjoining special Case (AA). The model (Fig. 86) measures nearly two feet in length, and is much larger than the head of any other known bird. The use of the powerful hooked beak is unknown. OrpvER I].—RATITA. The ostrich-like flightless birds were much more numerous and more widely distributed in the Pleistocene period than they are at the present day. They were especially charac- teristic of the southern hemisphere, and some of them attained a gigantic size. These birds were most numerously represented in New Zealand, where they survived until the aniival of the Maories, and may even have existed in some places at the time of Captain Cook’s visit in 1777. They are referred to in many native legends under the name of “ Moa,” but they remained unknown to science until 1839, when the shaft of a small thigh-bone, now exhibited in Table-case 12, was described by Owen. He recognised that this bone belonged to a flightless bird of a heavier and more sluggish kind than the ostrich, which he proposed to name Dinornis struthioides (“terrible bird like an ostrich”). By the exertions of the Hon. Walter Mantell and numerous later explorers a won- derful series of Dinornithide of many genera, species, and varieties has gradually been discovered, and these birds are now well represented in the collection. Of the largest species, Dinornis maximus, there is a nearly complete skeleton of one individual 8 ft. 6 in. in height in Case GG (see Plate V). With this is placed another complete skeleton of one of the smallest species, Anomalopteryx parva, only three feet in height. There is also a stuffed specimen of a kiwi (Apteryx), which is the sole survivor of the Ratite in New Zealand at the present day. In boxes on the floor of the case are some of the bony rings of the windpipe found with the fossil skeletons. The skeleton of a medium-sized bird with very stout legs, Pachyornis elephantopus, is mounted in Case FF, and in front of this there is a small slab of sand- stone from a hardened beach bearing the footprint of one of the moas. Skeletons of two more slender small species, Table-case 12a. Case AA. Wall-cases 23-25. Table-case 12. Case GG. Case FF. Case HH. Wall-cases 23, 24. Table-case 12. Case GG. Wall-case 24, Wall-case Case IT. 92 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. Anomalopteryx didiformis and Emeus gravipes, are exhibited in Case HH. There are also various more fragmentary specimens of Dinornithide in Wall-cases 23 and 24 and in Table-case 12. In the latter may be noticed, besides eggs and feathers, the mummified remains of the head, neck and legs of a small species from a very dry fissure-cavern in Otago. This specimen shows, in addition to the skin, the bony (sclerotic) plates round the eye, the tracheal rings of the windpipe, and the sheath of the claws. Many of the more fragmentary bones were obtained from the old cooking-places of the Maories, who seem to have hunted and fed upon the moas. As shown by the fine skeleton of Dinornis maximus (Plate V), the wing is more reduced in the Dinornithide than in any other known birds. There is nothing beyond a small scapulo-coracoid bone, which does not even bear a socket for the limb. The feathers agree much more closely with those of the Australian emus and cassowaries than with those of the New Zealand kiwis. In the Australian region there were emus in the Pleisto- cene period. There was also another large Ratite bird, Genyornis newtoni, of which remains have been discovered near Lake Callabonna, South Australia. As shown by a hind limb in Wall-case 24, it had three remarkably slender toes. It lived with the small-toed Diprotodon already mentioned (p. 78). Ratite birds were also abundant in Madagascar at a quite recent geological period, although none now survive in that island. They seem to have been most closely similar to the Apteryx and moas of New Zealand, and one species, Aepyornis titan, of which there are limb bones in Wall-case 25, probably exceeded in size the largest of the New Zealand birds. A specimen of moderate dimensions, Aepyornis hildebrandti, is represented in Case II by a reconstructed skeleton, which exhibits a short and broad breastbone, like that of Apteryz, with remains of a very small wing. Eggs of Aepyornis are not uncommon in the sand bordering the lakes of Madagascar, and they are sometimes washed out during stormy weather. Under these circumstances they float on the water and are picked up by the natives. Fine examples are shown in Case II. The largest measures three feet in its largest circum- ference by two feet six inches in girth, and its liquid contents would equal a little more than two gallons. Such eggs would probably be laid by the largest species, Aepyornis titan and B.M. GUIDE FOSS. MAMM. anp BIRDS, Skeleton of the Gigantic Moa (Dinornis maximus) from New Zealand ; one-seventeenth nat, size. (Case HH.) [Yo face p, 92. AVES. 93 A, maximus, but it is worthy of note that in the New Zealand Apteryx the egg is enormous compared with the size of the bird which lays it (see Case GG). The living rheas of South America were preceded in the Tertiary period by large birds like Brontornis, of which plaster casts of limb bones are exhibited in Wall-case 25. The two-toed ostriches, which are now confined to Africa and Arabia, ranged into the Indian and south-eastern European regions in Pliocene times. Remains of Struthio asiaticus from the Siwalik Formation of India are placed with the skeleton of a modern ostrich in Case JJ. A small piece of limb bone from the Eocene of the Fayum, Egypt, exhibited in Table-case 12, probably represents an ancestor of the ostriches, which has been named Hremopezus ecocaenus, Orper II] —SAURURA. Birds are proved by their structure to be closely related to reptiles; and many of the extinct reptiles exhibit pecu- liarities which are now exclusively confined to birds. It is therefore interesting to observe that the oldest known birds, which date back to the latter part of the Jurassic period, approach the reptiles more nearly than any existing birds in at least four respects. They are peculiar in (1) the possession of true teeth, (2) the biconcave or flat-ended shape of their vertebre, (3) the completeness of three clawed fingers in the wing, and (4) the elongated, not tufted, shape of the tail. In allusion to the last-mentioned feature they are named Saururee (“lizard-tails ”). Of these primitive birds only two satisfactory specimens have hitherto been discovered, both in the Lithographic Stone of Bavaria, which is of the same geological age as the Kimmeridge Clay of England. They seem to belong to two species of one genus, and the first specimen, representing Archeopteryz macrura of Owen, is shown in Table-case 13. The piece of limestone in which the skeleton is preserved has split along the plane of weakness caused by the presence of the fossil itself, so that some of the bones adhere to one face while other portions are retained by the counterpart slab. It is thus necessary to exhibit the two slabs side by side, the one supplementing the other. As shown by the accompany- ing photograph (Plate VI) and the explanatory diagram (Fig. 87), there is a typical bird’s “ merrythought ” (furcula) Wall-case 25. Case II. Wall-case 25. Case JJ. Table-case 13. Fig. 87.—Diagrammatic sketch of the fossil lizard-tailed bird, Archzxo- pteryx macrura, from the Lithographic Stone (Upper Jurassic) of Hichstadt, Bavaria; about one-quarter nat. size. a, acetabulum; b, cast of brain-cavity of skull; c, ribs; cr, carpals; f, femur; fu fur. cula; %, humerus; i, ischium; mi, tarsometatarsus; p, phalanges of foot; 7, radius; sc, scapula; ¢, tibia; «, ulna; 1, 2, phalanges of hand (Table-case 13.) ; B.M. GUIDE FOSS. MAMM. anp BIRDS. PLATE VI. Fossil Lizard-tailed Bird, Archeopteryx macrura, from the Lithographic Stone (Upper Jurassic) of Hichstadt, Bavaria; about one-quarter nat. size. (Table-case 13.) [To face p. 94. AVES, 95 between the wings; and the hind leg is exactly that of a perching bird. The long tail, however, comprises a row of twenty slender vertebra, each bearing a pair of feathers. Owing to the fine grain of the stone, the feathers both of the wings and the tail are perfectly displayed in impressions, which were made when the actual feathers were originally buried in the soft limy mud. Of the second specimen of the Archxopteryx, now in the Berlin Museum, a plaster cast is placed next to the first example in Table-case 13. It retains the head, which is quite bird-shaped, though its jaws are provided with teeth Fig. 88.—Skull and lower jaw of Archxopteryx siemensi, showing teeth, from the Lithographic Stone (Upper Jurassic) of Hichstidt, Bavaria ; nat. size. (After Dames. Original in Berlin Museum, plaster cast in Table-case 13.) in sockets (Fig. 88). It also exhibits the three clawed fingers of the wing. A photograph of the specimen is fixed head downwards on the wall near the window, to show the lizard- like sprawl assumed by the skeleton at the time it was buried. Table-case 13. A. Aard vark, 77. Aceratherium, 21. Adapis, 10. Aepyornis, 92. Ailurus, 14. Albatross, 86. Alca, 86. Alces, 41. Allodon, 84. Amblypoda, 44. American horses, 22. Amphicyon, 15. Amphitragulus, 42. Anchitherium, 25. Ancylopoda, 27. Ancylotherium, 27. Anomalopteryx, 91. Anoplotheriide, 33. Anoplotherium, 33. Anteater, 71, Antelope, 43. Anthracotheriide, 31. Anthracotherium, 31. Anthropoidea, 9. Antlers, 42. Apes, 10. Aphanapteryx, 89. Aptornis, 88. Archzopteryx, 93. Arctotherium, 15. Armadillo, 71, 74. Arsinoitherium, 47. Artiodactyla, 28. Asthenodon, 82. Aves, 86. Badger, 14. Balaenide, 69. Basilosaurus, 71. Bat, 18. Beaked whales, 69. Bear, 14. ( 96 ) INDEX. Se Beaver, 66. Birds, 86. Bison, 43. Bone-beds, 2. Bone-breccias, 3. Bos, 438. Borhyena, 17. Bovide, 43. Brachyodus, 33. Bramatherium, 37. Brontornis, 93. Bubalus, 44. C. Cenotheriide, 33. Cenotherium, 35. Camel, 35. Canide, 14. Capreolus, 41. Cariama, 90. Carinate, 86. Carnassial tooth, 17. Carnivora, 12. Castor, 66. Castoroides, 67. Cats, 12. Cattle, 43. Cave-bear, 15. Cave-earth, 3, Cave-hyzena, 13. Cave-lion, 12. Caverns, 3. Cephalogale, 15. Cervide, 38. Cervus, 38. Cetacea, 69. Chalicotherium, 27. Chevrotain, 35. Chiroptera, 18. Choeropotamus, 31. Civets, 13. Cloven hoof, 28. Cnemiornis, 90. Colymbus, 87. Condylarthra, 48. Coot, 90. Coprolites, 6. Coryphodon, 44. Creodonta, 16. Criotherium, 44. Ctenacodon, 84. Cud-chewers, 31. Cuniculus, 67. Cynodictis, 14. D. Daedicurus, 76. Dasornis, 87. Deer, 38. Antlers, 42. Desman, 18. Diaphorapteryx, 89. Diastema, 33. Dichodon, 35. Dicotyles, 31. Dicrocynodon, 82. Didus, 90. Dinoceras, 46. Dinocerata, 46. Dinornis, 91. Dinotherium, 62. Diprotodon, 77. Diver, 87. Docodon, 82. Dodo, 90. Dog, 14. Dogger. Bank, 4. Dolphin, 69. Dorcatherium, 35. Dormouse, 67. Dryolestes, 82. Duck, 86. E. Echidna, 85. Edentata, 71. Elasmotherium, 22. Elephant, 52. Elephas, 52. Elk, 41. Elotherium, 31. Emeus, 92. Enaliornis, 87. Eoliths, 8. Eosiren, 69. Eotherium, 69. Epanorthus, 80. Equidae, 22. Eremopezus, 93. Eutheria, 9. Even-toed hoofed animals, 28. INDEX. EF. Fallow deer, 41. Felide, 12. Felis, 12. Felsinotherium, 68. Flamingo, 86. Fossil Fox of Oeningen, 14. Fox, 14. G. Gare fowl, 86. Gastornis, 87. Gazella, 44. Genyornis, 92. Geology, xv. Giraffa, 37. Giraffe, 37. Giraffide, 37. Glutton, 14. Glyptodon, 76. Gnawing mammals, 66. Goose, 90. Great auk, 86. Ground-pigeon, 90. Ground-sloth, 71. Grypotherium, 74. Guadaloupe Man, 9. Gulo, 14. ° H. Halitherium, 68. Hare, 67. Harpagornis, 90. Hedgehog, 17. Helladotherium, 37. Hesperornis, 87. Hipparion, 2, 24. Hippidium, 22. Hippohyus, 30. Hippopotamide, 29. Hippopotamus, 29. Hoofed animals, 18. Hoplophoneus, 13. Hoplophorus, 76. Horse, 22. Hyena, 13.. Hyena-dens, 13. Hyenarctos, 15. Hyznide, 13. Hyzenodon, 17. Hydaspitherium, 37. Hyopotamus, 31. Hyotherium, 31. Hyracodon, 22. Hyracoidea, 48. Hyracotherium, 25. 97 98 Hyrax, 48. Hystricomorpha, 67. I, Ibis, 86. Ichthyornis, 88. Ictitherium, 13. Insectivora, 17. Trish deer, 38. J. Jackal, 14. Jurassic Mammals, 80. K. Kangaroo, 77. L. Lagomorpha, 67. Laodon, 82. Leithia, 67. Lemming, 67. Lemuroidea, 10. Lemurs, 10. Lion, 12. Listriodon, 31. Litopterna, 48. Llama, 35. Lophiodon, 25. M. Macacus, 10. Macherodontide, 12. Macherodus, 12. Macrauchenia, 50. Macrotherium, 27. Mammoth, 52. Man, fossil, 9. Manatee, 68. Marsupialia, 77. Mastodon, 57. Megaladapis, 11. Megalohyrax, 48. Megamys, 67. Megatherium, 71. Merycopotamus, 33. Mesohippus, 25. Mesopithecus, 10. Mesoplodon, 69. Metatheria, 77. Microlestes, 83. Moa, 90, 91. Moeritherium, 64. Mole, 17. INDEX. Mongooses, 13. Monkeys, 10. Monotremata, 81, 85. Multituberculata, 81. Musk-ox, 43. Mylodon, 71. Myodes, 67. 2 Myogale, 18. Myomorpha, 67. N. Neanderthal Man, 9. Necrolemur, 10. Neoplagiaulax, 83. Nesodon, 50. Nesopithecus, 11. Nimravide, 12. Nototherium, 77. O. Odd-toed hoofed animals, 18. Odontopteryx, 86. Okapi, 37. Olivola, 2. Onohippidium, 22, 74. Opossum, 79. Oreodon, 35. Oreodontide, 35. Ornithorhynchus, 81. Orycteropus, 77. Ostrich, 91. Otter, 14. Ovibos, 43. Oxen, 43. P, Pachyornis, 91. Paidopithex, 10. Palelodus, 86. Paleolimnas, 90. Paleolithic implements, 6. Paleomastodon, 64. Paleontology, xvi. Paleoreas, 44. Paleotherium, 25. Palorchestes, 78. Pangolin, 77. Peccary, 31. Pelican, 86. Perissodactyla, 18. Pezophaps, 90. Pheenicopterus, 86. Phalanger, 77. Phascolonus, 78. Phascolotherium, 81. Phenacodus, 26. Phororhachos, 20. Pica, 67. Pig, 30. Pikermi, bone-bed, 2. Pinnipedia, 17. Pithecanthropus, 10. Plagiaulax, 83. Pleistocene Europe, 3. Pleistocene Mammals, 4. Pleistocene Man, 6. Pliocene Mammals, 8. Pliohyrax, 48. Poebrotherium, 35. Polymastodon, 83. Porpoise, 69. Pouched lion, 78. Priacodon, 82. Primates, 9. Primitive Man, 9. Prozlurus, 12. Proboscidea, 52. Procoptodon, 78. Procyonide, 14. Prodremotherium, 35. Prophethon, 86. Prorastomus, 68. Prosqualodon, 70. Proterotheriide, 52. Prothylacinus, 17. Protohippus, 24. Protorohippus, 25. Prototheria, 81. Pseudelurus, 12. Pterodon, 17. Ptilodus, 83. Purbeck Mammals, 80. Pyrotherium, 50. R. Rabbit, 67. Racoon, 14. Rail, 88. Rangifer, 41. Ratite, 91. Red deer, 41. Reindeer, 41. Rhinoceros, 18. Rhytina, 67. Rodentia, 66. Rodents, 66. Roebuck, 41. Ruminants, 31. 8. Sabre-toothed tiger, 12. Saiga, 43. INDEX. Samos, Isle of, 2. Samotherium, 37. Sarcophilus, 79. Saurure, 93. Scelidotherium, 71. Sciuromorpha, 66. Sea-cows, 67. Seal, 17. Sectorial Tooth, 17. Selenodont, 31. Sheep, 43. Shrew, 17. Simiide, 10. Sirenia, 67. Sivatherium, 37. Sloth, 71. Solitaire, 90. Spalacotherium, 81. Sparassodonta, 17. Spurrell’s flint, 7. Spy Man, 9. Squalodon, 70. Stalagmite, 3. Stegodon, 57. Steller’s Sea-cow, 67. Struthio, 93. Suide, 30. Sus, 30. Tapir, 26. Tapiride, 26. Tapirus, 26. Tasmanian Devil, 79. ————. Wolf, 79. Tetrabelodon, 61. Theriodesmus, 85. Three-toed horse, 24. Thylacinus, 79. Thylacoleo, 78. Tilbury Man, 9. Tinoceras, 47. Titanotheriide, 22. Titanotherium, 22. Toothed birds, 87. whales, 70. Toxodon, 50. Toxodontia, 48. Tragoceros, 44. Tragulide, 35. Trichecodon, 17. Triconodon, 81. Tritylodon, 83. Trogontherium, 66, Tylopoda, 35. Typotherium, 48. 99 100 Uz Uintatherium, 46. Ungulata, 18. Urside, 14. Ursus, 15. Urus, 43. Viverride, 13. Walrus, 17. Weasel, 14. INDEX. Whale, 69. Wild-boar, 30. Wolf, 14. Wombat, 77. Woolly rhinoceros, 19. X. Xiphodontide, 35. Z. Zeuglodon, 71. LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W. BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY). DAYS AND HOURS OF ADMISSION. The Exhibition Galleries are open to the Public free, every WEEK-DAY, in January, from 10 a.m. till 4 P.M. February, San ANY La htc bode tag Marck, ‘ay ean, apie apy Oy, April to August, ~ pi lanl SANT eostehe ery September, i iis ay janens Bons Oo eon October, UCI gr athe Parte G tly 5 November and December, iho Gh? ree Tek eae meas Also, on Monpays and Sarurpays only, from May ist to the middle of July, till 8 p.m., and from the middle ot July to the end of August, till 7 p.m. ~ The Museum is also open on SunDAY AFTERNOONS throughout the year. ‘be Museum is closed on Good Friday and Christmas Day. By Order of the Trustees, E. RAY LANKESTER, Director. LONDON: PRINTED BY WM. CLOWKS AND SONS, LTD., DUKE ST,, STAMFOKD ST., S.E., AND GT. WINDMILL ST., ¥ ae ea