EXTINCT ANIMALS 



something of the history of the migrations or 

 movements over the surface of the earth of the 

 large animals which have lived upon it. The 

 line which separates New Zealand from the rest 

 of the world, which we call Theriogaea — the 

 land of big animals — shows that the large 

 islands of New Zealand have no such animals 

 upon them. Till man went there some thousand 

 years ago there were no large animals. The 

 largest animals were great birds. There were no 

 cattle, or cats and dogs — not even mice. Thus 

 this piece of land seems to be separated from 

 the history of the movement of animals in the 

 rest of the world. It is an old and detached 

 land-surface. Then you will see a second line 

 between Australia and the rest of the world. 



Australia is distinguished by its marsupials 

 (kangaroos, wombats, phalangers, etc.). The 

 young of the marsupials are very small when 

 born and are placed by their mother in a pouch 

 of skin overlying her teats. Those animals 

 which are nourished inside the mother before 

 they are born are of a much larger size at birth. 

 They are the Placentals, and there are no 

 aboriginal Placentals in Australia. 



The greater part of the world (the rest when 



64 



