﻿1 88 EVOLUTION IN THE PAST 



as it has some simian characters ; and the same remark 

 applies to the teeth. It seems, therefore, that Pithecan- 

 thropus fell short of being a human creature, but was some- 

 thing above an ape. He may, therefore, be regarded as a 

 member of the more progressive section that had diverged 

 from the stock in which anthropoids and men had existed 

 as intermixed possibilities. He may, in short, be termed a 

 super-ape. 



As to his manner of life but little can be surmised. His 

 food probably consisted of small mammals, eggs, roots, 

 and berries. Big game certainly haunted his neighbourhood 

 — elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses ; and there 

 were also wild boar and oxen. But it is doubtful if he had 

 the wit or the power to overcome any of these animals. The 

 particular individual of which remains have been found 

 cannot, it may be mentioned, have been of very active 

 habits ; for the state of his thigh-bone shows that he was a 

 martyr to rheumatic gout. This affliction, it is to be feared, 

 he had to abide without remedy. 



Whether he and his fellows — for there must have been 

 others of his kind — had learned to manufacture tools and 

 weapons cannot, for want of evidence, be determined. It is 

 highly probable they had some skill in chipping stones, for 

 rude flint implements, known as eoliths, have certainly been 

 brought to light from later Pliocene strata. These relics, 

 however, have not been found in Java. 



Many eoliths, indeed, have been discovered in equivalent 

 strata of France and England. It would seem, therefore, 

 that in the later Pliocene, super-apes, if not men, were living 

 in western Europe. No other signs, however, of such beings 

 have been discovered. The increasing coolness of the climate 

 leads one to suppose that these explorers, if not astute enough 

 to clothe themselves with the skins of animals, must have 

 had their bodies well covered with hair. In any case, their 

 conditions must have become exceedingly trying as the 

 Great Glaciation approached. 



