NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PRIMEVAL WORLD. 



" The following families constitute the arborescent 

 flora of the period, in addition to those already men- 

 tioned : 



Amygdaleae. 



Aceraceie. 



Anacardiaceae. 



Balsaminaceaa. 



Calycanthacese. 



Oapparidaceae. 



C'elastrinaceae. 



Ericaceae. 



Jnglandacea;. 



Leguminoss. 



L:mracese. 



Magnoliaceae. 



Meliacese. 



Myrtaceae. 



Oleaceoe. 



Pinnaceae. 



Rosaceae. 



Santalaceae. 



Sapindacese. 



Sapoteaceae. 



Styracaceae. 



Tiiiacea. 



' In all these families great numbers of European 

 genera are found, even more subdivided into species 

 than is now the case. Thus, as Brongniart observes, 

 we reckon in this flora fourteen species of maple ; three 

 species of oak ; and these species are found in two or 

 three very circumscribed localities, that, at the present 

 time, would probably not represent, in a radius of 

 several leagues, more than three or four species of 

 these genera." 



Such is the character of the vegetation which the 

 artist has represented in his ideal landscape. In the 

 background he shows us a mountain of recent eleva- 

 tion, to remind us that the epoch was one of frequent 

 convulsions, that the soil was subjected to violent 

 changes, and mountains and mountain ranges then 

 rose above the waters. In the foreground a rhinoceros 

 rises from the marshes of the river-bank ; an elephant 

 calmly surveys the scene before him ; a horse gallops 

 in unrestrained liberty over the grassy plain ; and thirsty 

 cattle come down to the stream fur refreshment and 

 repose. 



We now arrrive at the 



POST-PLEIOCENE PERIOD, 



also called the Pleistocene, and sometimes described as 

 the introductory age of the Quaternary, or, as Sir Charles 

 Lyell would call it, the Post -tertiary epoch. 



The earth in those remote days presented a strange 

 but animated aspect, which a writer already quoted has 

 described in graphic terms. 



The reader, with the help of fancy, may discern a 

 panorama of shallow seas swarming with humble forms 

 of animal life ; islands covered with bushy palms ; banks 

 on which turtles basked in the sand; vast basins of 

 fresh or brackish water, in which the tide made itself 

 felt, and which abounded with various species of sharks; 

 rivers in which crocodiles increased and multiplied ; 

 woods which sheltered numerous mammals and some 

 serpents of large size ; fresh-water lakes which received 

 the spoils of numerous shells. Dry land has increased 

 immensely. Groups of ancient isles have united into 

 continents, with lakes, bays, and perhaps inland seas. 

 Gigantic elephants, considerably larger than any now 

 existing, terminate the epoch, and probably usher in the 

 succeeding one ; for the reader must not suppose, as we 

 have already hinted, that any absolute barrier existed 

 between one period and another, or any broad and 

 unmistakable line of demarcation. But, judging from 

 their remains, these primeval elephants must have 

 existed in great numbers. It is said that on the coast 

 of Norfolk alone, the fishermen, in trawling for oysters, 

 fished up in thirteen years no less than two thousand 



molar teeth of elephants. Considering the slow increase 

 of these animals, such " quarries of ivory," as Figuier 

 calls them, must have required many centuries for their 

 production. 



The lakes and rivers were at the same time infested 

 by the hippopotamus, not less colossal or less formid- 

 ably armed than the species now inhabiting the African 

 solitudes; and in the marshes and the marshy plains 

 roamed the two-horned rhinoceros, and three species 

 of Bos (or ox), one of which was hairy and bore a mane. 

 Deer of gigantic size compared with living species 

 bounded across the broad savannahs. There, too, the 

 reindeer, the goat, the horse, the ass, the bear, and the 

 roe, enjoyed the delights of unlimited freedom. In tht 

 rank jungles lurked the tiger, as large as any feline 

 species now existing. Another animal of the same 

 race, the Machairodus, was probably the most ferocious 

 and destructive of Carnivora. A terrible bear, surpass- 

 ing in size that of the Rocky Mountains, and bands of 

 wild hyaenas, established themselves in the caverns ; two 

 species of beavers, and one of apes, now first appeared 

 in the lists of created life. 



Geology records few more interesting incidents than 

 the discovery of ossiferous deposits of the most varied 

 character at Kent's Hole, near Torquay, and in the 

 Kirkdale Cave of Yorkshire. The occurrence in these 

 deposits of the bones of animals not generally found 

 together, has been the cause of much speculation. Dr. 

 Buckland was of opinion that one of the last great 

 physical events affecting the surface of our globe was a 

 violent inundation which overwhelmed great part of the 

 northern hemisphere, and that this event was followed 

 by the sudden disappearance of a large number of the 

 species of terrestrial quadrupeds which had inhabited 

 those regions in the period immediately preceding it. 

 Recent geologists, however, trace their extinction to the 

 slow and successive action of local causes, and especially 

 to a gradual decline of the temperature. 



The more interesting of these Post-pleiocene extinct 

 animals we shall describe. To our hemisphere there 

 belonged the mammoth (Elephas primigenius) ; the 

 bear ( Ursus spelceus) ; the gigantic tiger (Felis spelcea) ; 

 the hyaena (Hyaena spelcea} ; the ox (Bos priscus, and 

 Bos primigenius} ; the gigantic stag (Cervus megaceros) ; 

 and the Dinornis and Epiornis among birds. 



In America, during this period, existed some colossal 

 Edentates of remarkable structure : The Megatherium; 

 the Megalonyx; the Mylodon. 



The Mammoth exceeded in dimensions the largest 

 of existing elephants, for it measured from sixteen to 

 eighteen feet in height, and it was distinguished from 

 living species by the semicircular curvature of its 

 monstrous tusks, which were from twelve to thirteen 

 feet long. From its ally, the Mastodon, it was dis- 

 tinguished by its teeth ; for while those of the latter 

 were covered with rough tubercles, the mammoth's had 

 a broad uniform surface, regularly marked with furrows 

 of large curvature. Its teeth were four in number ; 

 two in each jaw, when the animal was adult ; its head 

 was elongated, its forehead concave, its jaws curved 

 and truncated in front. The whole of its huge bulk 

 was clothed with long shaggy hair, and along its robust 

 neck and back waved a thick heavy mane. Its trunk 



