XXXIV INTRODUCTION. 
Machairodus, the great Spelean Tiger, Hyena, and Bear, 
together with the gigantic pliocene Pachyderms, became 
extinct here and elsewhere, as it would seem, before the 
creation of Man,—which would indicate that the extir- 
pating cause, if it were extrinsic to their own constitution, 
had been due to changes of the configuration and climate 
of the great continent over which they ranged. We can 
only associate with the insular condition ef Britain the 
subsequent progress of extirpation, through the agency of 
Man, by which the smaller kind of Bear and the Wolf 
have ceased to exist with us. Whilst the Fox, the Badger, 
the Otter, the Polecat, the Wild Cat, and the Stoat, 
owe their prolonged existence, as British species, to their 
comparatively less noxious character and_ insignificant 
size. 
With regard to the Rodentia, the great Trogonthere 
seems to have become extinct in England and the Europzo- 
Asiatic continent before the historical period, whilst the 
smaller pliocene Beaver continued to exist with us like the 
Wolf, until hunted down by man: it still survives in a few 
of the great continental rivers.* Of the little Lagomys of 
our ossiferous caves no living example remains in either 
England or Europe: the species, indeed, may be extinct : 
its genus is now limited to central and southern Asia. I 
am unable to detect any specifie distinction in the fossil 
bones of the pliocene species of Lepus and Arvicola from 
those of the Hares, Rabbits, and Voles that still exist in 
this island. Native species are still obviously departing, 
whilst varieties of the domesticated animals are coming 
in. 
We learn, then, from history, that part of the reduction 
* The Beaver of North America, (Castor fiber,) is a distinct species from the 
Castor Europeus. 
