NATURAL HISTORY OF THE. PRIMEVAL WORLD. 



47 



thirteen or fourteen feet in height. The framework 

 of the leg is of a singularly massive character, and the 

 entire skeleton is remarkable for its solidity. 



It was from the examination of a single bone of this 

 strange bird that Professor Owen, in 1839, before any 

 complete remains had been discovered, built up con- 

 jecturally its entire structure, determined its most 

 important characters, and assigned to it its true place 

 in the scheme of nature an interesting proof of the 

 value of comparative anatomy, and a strong testimony 

 to the degree of perfection which that science has 

 attained. 



Several species have been distinguished, as Dln- 

 ornis elephantopus, Dinornis ingens, and Dinwnis 

 giganteus. 



The Palcepteryx, or ancient Apteryx, is another 

 genus of fossil birds whose remains have been dis- 

 covered in the Pleiocene deposits of New Zealand. In 

 the form of the sternum, and the structure of the legs 

 and pelvis, it resembled the living Apteryx, a bird not 

 unlike the penguin, about two feet in height, with 

 merely rudimentary wings, and a very long, slender 

 bill. The New Zealanders, in allusion to its peculiar 

 cry, call it Kiu;i-lla-i, 



The Epiornis, a bird much larger than the ostrich, 

 but of the same character, would seem to have been 

 at one time indigenous to Madagascar, probably when 

 that island was a portion of a vast eastern continent, 

 long ago submerged. The eggs of this bird may 

 possibly have suggested the fable of the roc's egg 

 in the story of " Siubad the Sailor ;" for, from speci- 

 mens brought to Europe, it is evident they were 

 capacious enough to hold the contents of two hundred 

 and forty hen's eggs of the ordinary size. 



The Quaternary epoch is that which geologists con- 

 sider to have immediately preceded the great deluges. 

 Sir Charles Lyell and some other men of scientific 

 reputation prefer to call it the Post-Tertiary epoch, and 

 they subdivide it into 



1. The Posf -Pleiocene period; 



2. The Recent, or Upper Post-Pleiocene. 

 Whichever division or designation we adopt, it 



seems certain that after the Pleioceue period and before 

 the creation of man intervened two remarkable periods; 

 that of the European deluges, and that which is known 

 as the Glacial. 



The Pleiocene period gradually declined in tempera- 

 ture, until a climatic condition prevailed utterly incom- 

 patible with the existence of the former fauna and 

 flora. The animals and plants which succeeded 

 belonged to genera capable of enduring a low tempera- 

 ture, and finding subsistence on a frozen earth. 



Thus, in the accompanying illustration (Plate 10), 

 we find the bear seated at the mouth of its den or 

 cave, and gnawing the bones of the elephant. On the 

 high ground above the Hyaena spelsea watches with 

 savage eye the moment when it may pounce on the 

 food thrown aside by its formidable rival. The great 

 wood-stag, and other semi-gigantic animals of the 

 epoch, stalk along the farthest shore of a narrow lake, 

 where some small hills emerge from the valley, clothed 

 with pine and fir and other hardy trees. Mountains of 

 recent elevation lift their huge bulk against the horizon, 



wrapped in a shroud of frozen snow, to remind us that 

 the Glacial period is approaching, and that its influence 

 is already making itself felt. 



The most abundant fossil remains belonging to the 

 Post-Pleiocene are those of the elephant and the horse. 

 The extreme profusion of the bones of the mammoth, 

 embedded in the latest deposits of the globe, is only 

 surpassed, we are told, by the prodigious quantity of the 

 bones of the horse, which lie buried in the same forma- 

 tions. The extraordinary plenty of the remains of 

 these two animals is a satisfactory proof that, during 

 the Quaternary epoch, the earth was inhabited by these 

 in immense herds. "It is probable that from one pole 

 to the other, from the equator to the two extremities 

 of the axis of the globe, the earth must have formed a 

 vast and almost limitless prairie, overspread by a mag- 

 nificent carpet of verdure. So abundant a pasturage 

 would be absolutely needful for the support of these 

 prodigious troops of herbivorous animals of great size." 



In the Western hemisphere we may conjecture that a 

 more genial temperature prevailed than in the Eastern. 

 Over its verdant plains, and under a warm and sunny 

 sky, roamed gigantic pachyderms, colossal in propor- 

 tions, but of harmless and gentle disposition. Some- 

 times they would seek the shade of the primeval forest, 

 and among the tall trees, festooned with parasites and 

 creepers, would be gathered, perhaps, such a group as 

 our artist has depicted in the accompanying illustration 

 (Plate 11). Here we see the Glyptodon crawling to 

 the water's edge, the huge Megatherium bringing down 

 a tree that it may feed on its tender shoots and succu- 

 lent buds, the elephant meditating in the cool shades ; 

 while, undaunted by the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the gigantic Mastodon, a couple of monkeys are dis- 

 porting themselves among the herbage. A small ape, 

 the Cercopithecus, which first made its appearance in 

 the Miocene period, is climbing a pliant stem with 

 wonderful agility. The vegetation is identical with 

 that which flourishes in tropical America at the present 

 time. 



In upon all this abundant life broke so far, at least, 

 as the Old Continent was concerned a succession of 

 terrible and destructive deluges, produced, perhaps, by 

 the sudden upheaval of some vast extent of dry land, 

 by the formation of some mountain or mountain-range 

 in the vicinity of the sea, or by the elevation of some 

 portion of the sea-bed itself. These commotions would 

 necessarily pour a vast body of water over the earth, 

 with extraordinary violence; inundating the plains, 

 filling up the valleys, sweeping away the grove, the 

 wood, and the forest, and spreading everywhere ruin 

 and destruction. A recent writer observes that of two 

 such deluges in one hemisphere there is indisputable 

 evidence, and he names them the European and the 

 Asiatic. The former occurred before, and the latter 

 after, man's creation. The former consisted in fact of 

 two cataclysms; of which the first occurred in the north 

 of Europe, through the upheaval of the Scandinavian 

 mountains. "Commencing," he says, "in Scandinavia, 

 the torrent spread and carried its ravages into the regions 

 now known as Sweden, Norway, European Russia, and 

 Northern Germany, sweeping before it all the shifting 

 soil on the surface, and covering the whole of Scandi- 



