No. 479] 



EXTINCTION OF MAMMALIA 



787- 



seasons, to hundreds of cattle which, exhausted by thirst and 

 starvation, are unable to extricate themselves from the boggy 

 places that they have entered in pursuit either of water or of the 

 little green herbage due to its presence. The accumulation of 

 so many bodies in one locality points to the fact of their assem- 

 blage around one of the last remaining oases in the region of 

 desiccation which succeeded an antecedent condition of plenteous 

 rains and abundant waters. An identical explanation has been 

 suggested by Mr. Daintree ^ in his 'Notes on the Geology of the 

 Colony of Queensland.'" 



Living Environment. Plant Life 



Under climate we have considered the relations of cold, heat,, 

 moisture, and desiccation to hunger, thirst, the feeding and migrat- 

 ing habits of animals. We may now look at the food supply of 

 the Herbivora in relation only to unmnal conditions of lifr. 



Forestafion, Drfinrsiaiion, and Rrjor, station Vorvsts funiish 



of the browsers and of the Probosciiha. Aniono' Arlio.hietyha 

 the <Uvr, aiuono- 1 Vrisso.hiervhi the taj.irs are t vpical'forest animals. 

 Conditions, tlu-refore, which cause deforestation would l.ec.me 

 a means of extinction; sueh <..n(htions are ,a) intense e(.hl and 



interior of Australia and the Tampean region !.f Soutli America 

 were in PlioeiMie and early Pleistocene times i)artially covered 

 with forests. It i^ eertahi'that the Holaretie reo-ion ov eireum- 



the smaller ishuuls <,f tlie\Me.hterrant>an ha!e been ,leforeste<l." 

 Reforestation would confine^ and limit the desert and plains tvj.es. 

 Progressive moisture and reforestation would l)e very unfavorable 

 to the horse (see Morris, 1.S05, p. 261). Thus both migration 

 barriers and migration tracts are formed by forests. 



1 Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc, vol. 28, 1872, p. 275. 



