474 



DISTRIBUTION IN SPACE AND TIME 



It is supposed to have been a leaf-eater, pulling off branches, or 

 even uprooting small trees. A related form (Mylodon), which 

 attained the size of a rhinoceros, possessed an external skeleton 

 consisting of small bony plates imbedded in the skin. Remains 

 of the skin, &c., of an allied type (Neomylodon) were not long 

 since discovered in a South American cave, and in so fresh a 

 state as to warrant a belief in the animal's recent extinction, 

 while some naturalists, partly on the strength of native traditions, 

 believe (or at any rate hope) that the creature still lives in the 

 desert regions of Patagonia. Gigantic Armadilloes, of which 



one type (Glyptodon) was about 16 

 feet in length, inhabited America in 

 comparatively late Kainozoic times. 

 Turning to Australia, we find 

 that some of the immediate prede- 

 cessors of the Pouched Mammals 

 (Marsupialid) of that continent at- 

 tained large dimensions. The skull 

 of the Pouched " Lion" (Thylacoled], 

 a form related to the existing Pha- 

 langers, was about 9 inches long. 

 Its name is rather unfortunate, for 

 it was probably of vegetarian habit. 

 Very much larger than this was a 

 gigantic animal (Diprotodon) related 



both to the Phalangers and Kangaroos, for it was about as large 

 as a rhinoceros, its skull alone being over 3 feet in length. Its 

 limbs were adapted for walking. 



Three large extinct Mammals have a special interest as 

 being contemporaneous with prehistoric Man in Western Europe, 

 including Britain. One was the Irish "Elk" (Cervus Hiberni- 

 cus, fig. 1333), remains of which are not uncommon in the peat- 

 bogs of Ireland. The female possessed no antlers, but the male 

 was well -endowed in this respect, for in him these weapons 

 sometimes had a spread of about 10 feet. The Sabre-Toothed 

 Tiger (Mackairodus) belonged to a group of Flesh- Eaters now 

 extinct, and possessed enormous upper tusks, which are respon- 

 sible for its name. The lower tusks were quite small. It seems 

 that the huge weapons of creatures of the kind were too well 

 developed to be of much use, probably indeed acting as encum- 



- 1333. Irish Elk (Cervus Hibernicus], 

 much reduced 



