THE QUATERNARY PERIOD 



369 



Life of the Quaternary 



The species of plants and invertebrate animals of the whole 

 Quaternary period were much the same as those now living; there- 

 fore we shall pass them by without special description. Among 

 the Vertebrate animals, the species of the lower classes, such as 

 Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, and Birds, were almost all the same 





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Fig. 229 



A great Ground-sloth, Megatherium americanum. (After W. B. Scott, by 



permission of The Macmillan Company.) 



as those now living, but in the highest class of Vertebrates (Mam- 

 mals) there were important changes. 



Mammals, except Man. — One of the most characteristic 

 features of Quaternary (especially Pleistocene) Mammals was the 

 great size of so many. In fact, as regards size and diversity of 

 forms, the Mammals may be said to have attained their culmina- 

 tion during the Pleistocene epoch. Comparing the Mammals of 

 that epoch with those of today, we find that many species, espe- 



