CAMELS AND LLAMAS. 85 



confined to Africa and Asia, and the latter to South 

 America. Here, however, geology comes to our aid, for 

 in former times camel-like ruminants were abundant in 

 North America, while the fossil camels of India show 

 certain resemblances to the llamas, and we can thua 

 understand how the present distribution of the two 

 sections of the group has come about. With the possible 

 exception of some herds of the Bactrian species in Central 

 Asia, which are, however, probably descended from 

 individuals escaped from captivity, wild camels are now 

 unknown, and we cannot even determine the original 

 habitat of the single-humped species. 



Thus ends our brief survey of the chief groups of living 

 ruminants and their distribution. Did space permit, we 

 might go on to refer to their extreme importance to man, 

 both as sources of food and of clothing, and as beasts of 

 draught and burden, but having reached our limits, we 

 trust that we may have aroused in our readers an interest 

 in these highly specialized animals which may induce 

 some of them to devote further consideration to the 

 subject. 



