XXXIV INTRODUCTION. 



Machairodus, the great Spelaean Tiger, Hyoena, and Bear, 

 together with the gigantic pliocene Pachyderms, became 

 extinct here and elsewhere, as it would seem, before the 

 creation of Man, which would indicate that the extir- 

 pating cause, if it were extrinsic to their own constitution, 

 had been due to changes of the configuration and climate 

 of the great continent over which they ranged. We can 

 only associate with the insular condition of Britain the 

 subsequent progress of extirpation, through the agency of 

 Man, by which the smaller kind of Bear and the Wolf 

 have ceased to exist with us. Whilst the Fox, the Badger, 

 the Otter, the Polecat, the Wild Cat, and the Stoat, 

 owe their prolonged existence, as British species, to their 

 comparatively less noxious character and insignificant 

 size. 



With regard to the Rodentia, the great Trogonthere 

 seems to have become extinct in England and the Europaeo- 

 Asiatic continent before the historical period, whilst the 

 smaller pliocene Beaver continued to exist with us like the 

 Wolf, until hunted down by man : it still survives in a few 

 of the great continental rivers.* Of the little Lagomys of 

 our ossiferous caves no living example remains in either 

 England or Europe : the species, indeed, may be extinct : 

 its genus is now limited to central and southern Asia. I 

 am unable to detect any specific distinction in the fossil 

 bones of the pliocene species of Lepus and Armcola from 

 those of the Hares, Rabbits, and Voles that still exist in 

 this island. Native species are still obviously departing, 

 whilst varieties of the domesticated animals are coming 

 in. 



We learn, then, from history, that part of the reduction 



* The Beaver of North America, (Castor f/ter,) is a distinct species from the 

 Castor Europceus. 



