74 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



facts as to the relative size of animals in the 

 past and the present. 



As a matter of fact, it seems probable 

 that our actual fauna and flora are on the 

 whole not only quite as big as any previous 

 ones, but even a great deal bigger. If we 

 take single instances, no known extinct animal 

 was as large as some of our modern whales ; 

 if we look at the ensemble of our existing 

 species, no known period comprised so many 

 large forms as we can show at the present 

 day in our three or four great cetaceans, our 

 two elephants, our hippopotamus, our rhino- 

 ceros, our bisons, our giraffe, our walrus, 

 and our horses. These would probably form 

 a total assemblage of larger average size 

 than any previous epoch could produce. 

 Similarly, in almost every special class, we 

 could apparently show larger species at the 

 present day than any which we know to have 

 existed in fossil forms. Our whale is the 

 biggest known mammal ; our gigantic sala- 

 mander is the biggest known amphibian ; 



