PSYCHOZOIC ERA— AGE OF MAX— RECEXT EPOCH. 



605 



it. The change will be completed when civilized man dominates the 

 whole earth. 



The rocks of this epoch are the present river-deposits, lake-deposits, 

 sea-deposits, volcanic ejections, etc., already treated of in Part I. The 

 fduna and flora of this epoch are the species still living on the earth. 

 These are different from those of the Tertiary, and largely from those 

 of the Quaternary, times ; but the change, as we have already shown, 

 has been gradual, not sudden; man himself being one of the chief 

 agents of change. 



The Change still in Progress— Examples of Recently-Extinct Species. 

 — The gradual change of fauna has been going on through many ages, 

 and is still going on under our eyes. Many remarkable 

 Quaternary species have lingered, and become extinct by 

 the agency of man, even in historic times. Among the 

 most remarkable of these are the huge wingless birds, the 

 remains of which have been discovered in New Zealand, 

 Madagascar, and Mauritius, viz., the Dinornis (huge bird), 

 jfflpiornis (tall bird), Palapteryx (old wingless bird), the 

 Solitaire, and the Dodo. Through the kindness of Mr. 



CD. Voy, I am able to give 

 good figures of the skeletons 

 of several of these extraor- 

 dinary extinct birds, taken 

 from photographs (Figs. 

 987, 968). 



The Dinornis giganteus 

 of New Zealand, and the 

 ^Epiomis of Madagascar, 

 were probably twelve feet 

 high. The tibia of the 

 former has been found near- 

 ly a yard long, and as thick 

 as the tibia of a horse, and 

 the egg of the latter, well 

 preserved, thirteen inches 

 long and nine inches in di- 

 ameter, with a capacity of 

 two gallons. The toe-bones 

 of the D. elephantopus (Fig. 969) rivaled in size those of the elephant 

 (Owen). These huge birds must have been capable of making tracks 

 nearly as large as those of the supposed birds of the Connecticut Valley 

 sandstone (p. 455). Such tracks have indeed been recently found in 

 New Zealand, in a very soft sandstone. The Dodo, of Mauritius, a 

 heavy, clumsy bird, of fifty pounds' weight, with loose, downy feathers, 



Fig. 969.— Dinornis elephantopus, x ^ (after Owen). 



