POUCHED MARMOT. 17 



small societies. The Alta'i mountains occiipy an area of 

 about 40,000 gcogTuphical Square miles — a wlde space for 

 tliese little creatures to move about in, compared to the 

 naiTOW luiiits of the Mendips, if conüned to these hüls in 

 England. The height of the snow line of the Altai chain 

 is not veiy satisfactorily ascertained, but it is probable 

 that its generul elevation does not fall short of 8,000 feet. 

 At the town of Fykalka, sltuated in the southern slopc, at 

 the height of 4,000 feet above the sea, the land is cultivated 

 with success, yielding barley, rye, oats, millet, and summer 

 wheat, bcsides garden vegetables. 



"The writer of the article 'Altai/ in the Imperial 

 Gazettcer, says a marinot peculiar to these reglons abounds 

 in the vicinity of the snow. These animals are preyed 

 upon by the glutton and the bear. The royal tiger prowls 

 through the steppes on the south, and haunts particularly 

 the reedy shores of Lake Balkliash ; it is not unlikely, 

 therefoi-e, that his predatory incursions sometlmes extends 

 into the x\ltai. How exceedingly llke the picture of our 

 Altai, the Mendips of some ages ago ! although I am some- 

 what inclined to think that this marmot might have lived 

 down to the period when man took possession of this 

 Island, and indeed to, perhaps, ages afterwards. These 

 animals being used as food, even now, were most likely 

 used as such by the early inhabitants of this country, and 

 very likely became extinct through mau's agency. 



" The climate of the Altai, where these animals are found, 

 does not imply that the climate of England has undergone 

 any matex'ial change since these animals inhabited the 

 Mendips, and the tigers roamed along its slopes, or the 

 deer or Irish elk boundcd over the plains. Analagous 

 animals are still found proximately inhabiting the Altai 

 chain, whilc we know that at a period probably long after 



VOL. X., 1860, PART I. c 



