r^ 



148 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



example, the elephants, the noblest of the 

 mammals, are at present represented by' two 

 species confined to India and parts of Africa.* 

 In the Middle Tertiary there were, in addition 

 to the ordinary elephants, two other genera. 

 Mastodon and Dinotherium, and there were 

 many species which were distributed over the 

 whole northern hemisphere. The sub- Hima- 

 layan deposits of India alone have, I believe, 

 afforded seven species, some of them of 

 grander dimensions than either of those now 

 existing. We have no trustworthy evidence 

 as yet that man lived at this period. If he had, 

 he either would have required the protection 

 of a special Eden, or would have needed su- 

 perhuman strength and sagacity. 



But the grand mammalian life of the Middle 

 Tertiary was destined to die out. At the close 

 of the Pliocene came an age of refrigeration, 

 when arctic cold crept down over our conti- 

 nents far to the south, and when most of the 

 animals suited to ten.perate climates were 

 either frozen out or driven southward. During, 

 '^r closing, this period was also a great sub- 

 mergence of the continents, which must have 



* The Ceylon elephant is by some believed to be distinct, but is 

 probably a variety of the Indian species. 



