No. 480] EXTINCTION OF MAMMALIA 



841 



petition in any given region. Rabbits exert a great influence on 

 the food supply of the marsupial Herbivora of Australia. This 

 factor of the browsing competition of the smaller Herbivora on 

 islands is one which, while by no means demonstrated, is a possible 

 cause of extinction of the larger Herbivora in larger areas and is 

 worth considering even in relation to the sudden disappearance 

 of the Titanotheres. For example, the extreme multiplication 

 of the Oreodonts (Oreodon, Agriochoerus) and horses (Mesohippus), 

 small browsers which swarmed in herds in the Middle Oligocene 

 period in the regions of South Dakota and Nebraska, may possibly 

 have cut off part of the food supply of the Titanotheres. 



Application to the Oligocene and Miocene of Europe. — Since 

 the introduction and unchecked increase of small browsing animals 

 may in course of a century or a number of centuries — a compar- 

 atively short period in geological time — efi'ect a profound influence 

 in a country upon the forests, since sheep and goats are forest 

 destroyers especially under the artificial conditions where the 



especially (lestnictivc ..f \\w circumscril.cd flora of i>laii.l>. we 

 should con.si.lcr the part the smaller browsing animal, may have 



of Malta, ( yprus, and (^rete, as recently explored by Mi.s Hate/ 

 we have fine examples of comparatively recent insulation. 



It appears probable that Cyprus became an island first, because: 

 (1) no submerged bank connects it with the mainhuul. and the 

 200-fath()m line is reached within a short distance of the coast 

 line; (2) the terrestrial fauna an<l avifauna include several distinct 

 races peculiar to the island, a fact confirmed by Kobelt from his 

 study of the recent MoUusca. The reduced existing Cyprus 



and shows the effects of .lefore> t'alion in histori<' times. The 

 largest ammal on the island is th.- nuuitllon Ah-is nphi<nn 25 

 inches high at the shoulders: yet thi. i^ the smaUrst of all the wild 

 sheep, an<l is related in Ka-^t Persian speci<'s. 



'Bate, Dorothea M. A. " IMeistocene .Mainm;ilia in Crete.'" (itol. Mag., 

 n. s., dec. 5, vol. 2, pp. 193-202, May, 1905. 



