RETROSPECT 189 



^ 



animals of the Pleistocene. Hither, if we read the story 

 aright, came great ground sloths to quench their thirst 

 and here they became first caught, then engulfed in the 

 treacherous pitch. It needs the pen of Wells to depict 

 the tragedies that took place about this innocent look- 

 ing, black-hearted lake of pitch; to tell of the mighty 

 struggles of ponderous Mylodon to free himself from the 

 trap only at each throe to sink a little deeper in its semi- 

 solid depths. Then we see the prowling wolf of those 

 days and the vicious sabre-toothed tiger snarling and 

 quarreling over their helpless, hapless prey only to find 

 themselves in turn trapped and slowly sucked down to 

 death. Nor did the chain of destruction end here, for 

 birds of prey, eagles and vultures, flocking to the scene, 

 also became ensnared and perished miserably. Truly, 

 as Dr. White so well put it, Nature is extravagantly 

 wasteful and terribly cruel. 



From the discoveries thus briefly touched upon, we 

 are enabled to make certain general deductions in re- 

 gard to the geography of the past. It is clear that for a 

 long time Africa and South America were, like Australia, 

 independent continents within which were slowly de- 

 veloped peculiar and curious forms. Later on, when 

 Africa was united with Europe and Asia, its huge ele- 

 phants migrated east and w r est into new territory and 

 established themselves for a while over practically the 

 whole northern hemisphere. Similarly, South America, 

 in Pliocene times, was united with North America and 

 the Giant Ground Sloths, Megatherium and Mylodon, 

 with some of the quaint armored glyptodons, slowly 

 made their way along the coast to Florida and even 

 South Carolina. 



And then came the evening of these races of great 

 lumbering animals and one by one they fell by the way- 



