THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



Africa, where its remains occur in the early Miocene strata 

 of Mogara and Tunisia, this species ranged right across 

 Europe to the confines of North- Western India, having 

 probably reached Italy from Africa by means of a land- 

 bridge by way of Sicily, and thence travelling through 

 Greece into Asia. On the latter continent it appears 

 to have given rise to the modern elephants, as remains 

 of the former are unknown in any other part of the 

 world. 



If this be true, it follows that elephants of the 

 modern type subsequently migrated into Europe and 

 thence to Africa, while in the other direction they 

 wandered by way of Behring Strait to America. Hence 

 we are led to the remarkable conclusion that while the 

 first elephants appeared in Africa, the modern African 

 elephant is of Asiatic parentage, and a comparatively 

 recent immigrant into the land of its forefathers. Next 

 to man and the carnivora, elephants appear to have been 

 the greatest travellers the world has ever produced, for, 

 starting from their North African birthplace, they 

 reached by the Behring Strait route nearly to the ex- 

 tremity of South America, while to the north they 

 penetrated the Arctic circle, and to the south, on their 

 return journey, reached the coast in the neighbourhood 

 of Cape Town. 



Another great traveller was the horse. The first un- 

 doubted horse-like animal was Eohippus^ a little creature 

 about eleven inches in height at the shoulder, and in 

 general rather more like the flesh-eaters than the horses of 

 the present day. The back was arched, the head and 



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