APPENDIX A 333 



Andes, and I do not undertake to declare positively that no such animal 

 exists in some unknown and hidden spot among their recesses. 

 Roughly speaking, there are many thousand square miles of snowy 

 summits, ravines, high plateaus and valleys in this region. The task of 

 finding a final answer to the Mylodon problem on the drag-net principle 

 of passing to and fro throughout the whole district would be so gigantic 

 and prolonged where the natural difficulties are great, as to be practically 

 impossible. Such an answer must be left to time and the slow process 

 of things. In the meanwhile I can merely state my own conviction that 

 the odds are very heavily against the chances of such a survival. The 

 probable habitat of the Mylodon would naturally be the forests. I 

 penetrated these in more than one direction, and one of the most 

 striking characteristics of the forests was the absence of animal life, 

 evidence of which grew less and less the farther we forced our way into 

 their depths. It is a matter of common knowledge that, where the larger 

 forms of life are to be found, there also a liberal catalogue of lesser 

 creatures co-exist. The conditions which favour the life of the greater 

 favour also the existence of the less. This is presumptive evidence only, 

 and though it has certainly influenced my own conclusions, I do not 

 wish to force it upon others. I have stated the case as fairly as I can, 

 and I leave my readers to form their own opinions. 



