46 



NATURAL HISTOKY OF THE PRIMEVAL WORLD. 



reMstaiice of the pait .seized, and luingiiig it down to tlie 

 body. 



For the long and slender branchial and anti-branchial 

 bones of the climbing sloth we find snbstituted in its 

 gigantic predecessor a humerns, radius, and ulna of 

 more robust proportions; of snch proportions, indeed, 

 in the Mi/loJon rohitstus, as are unequalled in any other 

 known existing or extinct animal. 



Tlie tree being tluis partly undermined and firmly 

 grappled with, the muscles of the trunk, the pelvis, and 

 the hind limbs, animated by the nervous influence of 

 the unusually large sjiinal chord, would combine their 

 fnrces with those of the anterior members in the efforts 

 at prostration. 



" And now," says Professor Owen, "let us picture 

 to ourselves the massive frame of the Megatherium, 

 convulsed with the mighty wrestling, every vibrating 

 fibre reacting upon its bony attachment with a force 

 which the sharp and strong crests and apophyses loudly 

 bespeak. Extraordinary must have been the strength 

 and proportions of that tree, which, rocked to and fro, 

 to right and left, in such an embrace, could long with- 

 stand the incessantly repeated efforts of its ponderous 

 assailant." 



A complete skeleton of the Mylodon was discovered 

 at Buenos Ayres. It measured eleven feet from the 

 fore-part of the skull to the end of the tail. It probably 

 belonged to a young individual. 



Our survey of the animal life of the Pleistocene 

 period next brings us to the Gbjplodon, another of the 

 South American quadrupeds, covered, like the modern 

 armadilloes, with a stout, tcsselated, bony armour. In 

 size it equalled the largest rhinoceros. It was, in fact, 

 a colossal or magnified armadillo, which it resembled 

 in its habits, food, and principal structural peculiarities. 

 " Otherwise its armour," as a writer has pithily observed, 

 " would cover more than a score of armadilloes." 



It is obvious, however, putting aside the question of 

 hulk, that the marked peculiarity of the Pleistocene 

 period is the approximation of its forms of animal life 

 to those of the present age. The megathere is the 

 natural forerunner of the sloth ; the glyptodon of the 

 armadillo; the mammoth of the existing elephant; the 

 niacrauchenia of the modern llama ; and the mery- 

 colliere of the camel. 



In the Eocene stage of the Quaternary epoch we find 

 the faiuia of Europe characterized by its palteotheres, 

 anoplotheres, xiphodons, river-hogs, alligators, croco- 

 diles, gavials, and turtles ; in the Pleiocene sub-period 

 these decline, or become extinct, and their places are 

 occupied by mastodons, mammoths, deinotheres, camels, 

 giraffes, cave-bears, lions, and hyaenas. AVe come still 

 nearer to what we may call the modern world, and in 

 the Miocene period distinguish, as the principal forms 

 of quadrupedal life, mammoths, hippopotami, rhino- 

 ceroses, antelopes, wild oxen, tigers, bears, and horses. 

 A similar gradation is noticeable in Asia, where the 

 middle sub-period was characterized by numerous spe- 

 cies of sivatberes, elephants, camels, lions, tigers, giraffes, 

 crocodiles, and huge tortoises ; the upper period, by the 

 horse, ass, urus, rhinoceros, and mammoth. The 

 fiirms of North America are so like those of Europe as to 

 buggest the existence of a closer communication between 



the two continents in those days than now obtains. 

 In South America we ascend by a succession of similar 

 stages to the megathere, the scelidothere, the megal- 

 onyx, the mylodon, the glyptodon, and the macrauchene. 

 The remarkable Marsupials of Australia were similarly 

 anticipated by the gigantic Diprotodon ; the wingless 

 birds of New Zealand by the Palaqiteryx and the 

 Dinornis ; and the African ostrich by the huge Epiornia 

 of Madagascar. 



We shall close our sketches of the natural history 

 of the primeval world with a glance at the last-named 

 forms of animal life — the wingless birds. 



The Dinornis* is a genus of large binls of the tribe 

 Brefipcniies. No species of it is now known to exist, 



Diuoi-ui^ and iu 



hut its bones have been discovered in the upper Pleio- 

 cene deposits in New Zealand — in caves, in marshes, 

 in beds of rivers, and on the sandy shore. From 

 certain traditions still current among the natives this 

 bird would seem to have survived, along with its con- 

 geners the Palaapteryx and Aptornis, to the close of the 

 seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century. 

 Us New Zealand name is Moa. It is said to have 

 b-!en hunted for the sake of its flesh and the beautiful 

 feathers of its plumage. It was a stupid, lethargic 

 bird, incapable of flight, and living upon vegetable food 

 in the sequestered depths of the forests, or on the 

 to]imost crags of the mountains. In size it greatly 

 exceeded any living bird, some of its bones being 

 double the dimensions of those of the ostrich, while 

 the body was even disproportionately bulkier. The 

 legs were long, and the Dinornis probably stood 

 * From oiivcfj terrible ; and (Qvte, a bird. 



