230 ANIMALS OF THE PAST 



in, it was found that the majority of these were 

 tile-fish, while from the reports of various ves- 

 sels it was shown that the area covered by dead 

 fish amounted to somewhere between 5,000 

 and 7,500 square miles, and the total number 

 of dead was estimated at not far from a billion. 

 This enormous and widespread destruction is 

 believed to have been caused by an unwonted 

 duration of northerly and easterly winds, which 

 drove the cold arctic current inshore and south- 

 wards, chilling the warm belt in which the tile- 

 fish resided and killing all in that locality. It 

 was thought possible that the entire race might 

 have been destroyed, but, while none were 

 taken for many years, in 1899 and in 1900 a 

 number were caught, showing that the species 

 was beginning to reoccupy the waters from 

 which it had been driven years before. 



The effect of any great fall in temperature 

 on animals specially adapted to a warm climate 

 is also illustrated by the destruction of the 

 JNIanatees in the Sebastian River, Florida, by 

 the winter of 1894-95, which came very near 

 exterminating this species. Readers may re- 

 member that this was the winter that wrought 



