THE ALLIES OF THE SQUIRREL 



439 



The remains of giant edentates have been found in South 

 America. Recent discoveries seem to show that some of 

 them were living within the period of man on that continent, 

 for some of the tribes of South American Indians have tra- 

 ditions respecting these monsters. In Europe and Asia there 

 were lions, hyenas, bears, rhinoceroses, and gigantic un- 

 gulates. In Australia, as will be expected from what has 

 been said of the distribution of the group, there were mar- 

 supials of various species, but none of the higher mammals. 



Fig. 230. Drawing of a mammoth made by prehistoric man 



on mammoth tusk 1 



But the great interest of the Age of Man centers about 

 man himself. If it is not yet possible to prove to the sat- 

 isfaction of everyone the existence of man in the Glacial 

 Epoch in North America, it is certain that he was in ex- 

 istence in Europe at that time. It would be interesting 

 to know, if possible, how far distant we should place this 

 period, and where man first appeared on the earth, but to 

 neither of these questions can any satisfactory answer be 

 given. Regarding the time, estimates have been made in 

 various ways, reaching conclusions which vary greatly. A 

 conservative estimate is that the Glacial Epoch began two 

 million four hundred thousand years ago and ended eighty 



1 From Lucas's Animals of the Past. 



