PRIMEVAL MAN 225 



in any way resembling them. The horse, the 

 Hon, and the elephant were the three striking 

 representatives of this vast and varied fauna 

 which were common to all five continents. 



The North American fauna of this type 

 reached its height about the time — extending 

 over many scores of thousands of years — 

 when successive ice ages alternated with long 

 stretches of temperate or subtropical climate 

 throughout the northern hemisphere. During 

 the period when this great North American 

 fauna flourished hunter-savages of archaic type 

 lived amid, and partly on, the great game of 

 Europe. But, as far as we know, men did not 

 come to America until after, or at the very end 

 of, the time when these huge grass -eaters and 

 twig-eaters, and the huge flesh-eaters which 

 preyed on them, vanished from the earth, owing 

 to causes which in most cases we cannot as yet 

 even guess. 



Much the most striking and interesting col- 

 lection of the remains of this wonderful fauna 

 is to be found near one of our big cities. On 

 the outskirts of Los Angeles, in southern Cali- 

 fornia, are asphalt deposits springing from 

 petroleum beds in the shales below. The oil 

 seeping up to the surface has formed shallow, 

 spread-out pools and, occasionally, deep pits 



