580 ERA OF MIND. 



have been found; also extinct species of Palapteryx and Notornis. Palapteryx 

 is related to Apteryx ; and both Apteryx and Notornis have living species. 



On Madagascar another species of this family of gigantic Ostrich-like birds 

 formerly existed. The species has been called JEpiornis maximus. From the 

 bones of the leg it is supposed to have been at least twelve feet in height. The 

 egg was over a foot (thirteen and a half inches) in length. 



The great Auk of the North Sea (Alca impennis) is reported to be an extinct 

 bird by Prof. Steenstrup. The last known to have been seen were two taken 

 near Iceland in 1844. The bones occur in great numbers on the shores of Ice- 

 land, Greenland, and Denmark, showing that it was once a common bird. 



A species of Manatee, Rytina Stelleri Cuvier, known in the last century on 

 the Arctic shores of Siberia, is now supposed to be extinct. 



The Aurochs (Bos Bison) of Europe, one of the cotemporaries of the old 

 Elephant (E. primigenius), would have long since been exterminated from Eu- 

 rope but for tbe protection of Man. Though once abundant, it is now confined 

 on that continent to the imperial forests of Lithuania, belonging to the Russian 

 emperor. It is said to exist also in the Caucasus. The Bos primigenius of the 

 Post-tertiary is supposed to be the same with the Urus (Ure-Ox or Bos Urns) 

 described by Caesar in his Commentaries, and stated to abound in the Gallic 

 forests, and is a distinct species from the Aurochs, with which it has been con- 

 founded. The species is now quite extinct. It is said to have continued in 

 Switzerland into the sixteenth century. 



The American Buffalo (Bos Americanus) formerly covered the eastern part of 

 the continent to the Atlantic, and extended south into Florida, Texas, and 

 Mexico ; but now it is never seen east of the Missouri, excepting its northern 

 portion, and its main range is between the Upper Missouri and the Rocky 

 Mountains, and from northern Texas and New Mexico to Great Martin Lake in 

 latitude 64° N. (Baird.) 



The spread of the farms and settlements of civilization is gradually limiting, 

 all over the globe, the range of the wild animals, especially those of large size, 

 and must end in the extermination of many now existing. 



Man. — Some of the fossil relics of Man are skeletons or isolated 

 bones, — stone arrow-heads and other implements, — pieces of wood, 

 bone, or stone, hacked or otherwise marked with a tool, — pottery, 

 — bronze implements, — coins, — engraved tablets of stone, — buried 

 cities, such as Nineveh and Pompeii. 



One of the most perfect of fossil skeletons found in solid rock is 

 represented in fig. 845. It is from a shell limestone of modern 

 origin, and now in progress, on the island of Guadaloupe. The spe- 

 cimen is in the Museum at Paris. The British Museum contains 

 another from the same region, but wanting the head, which is in 

 the collection of the MedicalCollege at Charleston in South Caro- 

 lina. They are the remains of Caribs killed in a fight with a neigh- 

 boring tribe about two centuries since. In the county of Cork, 

 Ireland, a skeleton was formerly obtained beneath a bed of peat 

 eleven feet thick. Fig. 846 represents a ferruginous conglomerate 



