CHAPTER X 

 A STRANGE EXTINCT BEAST 



THE terraces of gravel deposited by existing rivers 

 and the deposits in caverns in the limestone regions 

 of Western Europe — the so-called " Pleistocene " strata — 

 contain, besides the flint weapons of man and rare speci- 

 mens of his bones, the remains of animals which are 

 either identical with those living at the present day 

 (though many of them are not living now in Europe) or 

 of animals very closely similar to living species. Thus -we 

 find the bones of horses^ like the wild horse of Mongolia, 

 of the great bull (the Urus of Caesar), of the bison, of 

 deer and goats, of the Siberian big-nosed antelope, of the 

 musk-ox (now living within the Arctic circle), of the wild 

 boar, of the hippopotamus (like that of the Nile), and of 

 lions, hyenas, bears, and wolves. The most noteworthy 

 of the animals like to, but not identical with, any living 

 species are the mammoth, which is very close to the 

 Indian elephant, but has a hairy coat ; the hairy rhinoceros, 

 like, but not quite the same as, the African square-mouthed 

 rhinoceros ; and the great Irish deer, which is like a 

 giant fallow-deer. These three animals are really extinct 

 kinds or species, but are not very far from living kinds. 

 In fact, the most recent geological deposits do not contain 

 any animals so peculiar, when compared with living 

 animals, as to necessitate a wide separation of the fossil 

 animal from living " congeners " by the naturalist who 



