THE SABER-TOOTHED TIGER, ANOTHER CONTEMPORARY 



From a drawing by Charles R. Knight 

 OF THE HEIDELBERG MAN 



Remains of this great feline are found in many portions of the globe, the particular 

 specimen from which the picture was made being of South American origin. In many ways 

 the creature was not a true cat, the high shoulders and short tail being rather bearlike than 

 otherwise. The feet, however, were truly feline and were armed with many powerful claws. 

 The long, saber-like canine teeth must have been very effective weapons, and could, no doubt, 

 inflict terrible wounds upon an adversary. These teeth projected on either side of the lower 

 jaw when the mouth was closed (see pages 119 and 123). 



for either beasts or men. Both the hu- 

 man and the brute inhabitants migrated 

 thither in great waves from Asia and 

 from Africa, in the latter case it being 

 probable that the source of the migratory 

 wave was also in Asia, north Africa be- 

 ing merely the route of passage for 

 the majority of the forms. 



Very few mammalian forms trace their 

 origin to Europe in the sense that others, 

 such as horses, camels, anthropoid apes, 

 hippopotamuses, ant - eaters, elephants, 

 kangaroos, trace their several origins to 

 Xorth America, Asia, Africa, South 

 America, and Australia. But a number 

 of the phylse received their special de- 

 velopment in Europe, and this has been 

 notably the case with certain forms of 

 man. 



The view held by some writers, that 

 northern (including especially north- 

 western and north central) Europe was 

 the special center of dispersal for vig- 

 orous and dominant life types which 

 overran the world, is without foundation 



in fact. Again and again within com- 

 paratively recent geologic times northern 

 Europe has been almost denuded of life. 

 Only for short periods has it been a cen- 

 ter of dispersal, and even during these 

 periods it has merely dispersed types, 

 perhaps developed types, of creatures 

 which in the normal course of events it 

 has been receiving as dominant migrants 

 and invaders from other regions. 



This is as true of the "Nordic Alan" 

 who overran southern Europe fifteen 

 hundred years ago as of his mixed-blood 

 successors who during the last live cen- 

 turies have on a larger scale overrun 

 most of the earth, and of the parasitic 

 companions of these mixed-blood suc- 

 cessors, such as the rat, the rabbit, the 

 house sparrow, and various weeds. 



The great cultures and great cultive 

 races of Europe in prehistoric times came 

 from elsewhere, doubtless Asia. The 

 men who used metals, who owned flocks 

 and herds, and who grew crops — that is, 

 the men out of whom it was possible to 



117 



