Aug. 1833. 



FOSSIL QUADRUPEDS. 



101 



sists of underwood^ which probably contains much nutri- 

 ment in a small bulk. Dr. Smith also informs me that the 

 vegetation has a rapid growth; no sooner is a part con- 

 sumed^ than its place is supplied by a fresh stock. I appre- 

 hend^ however^ that our ideas respecting the quantity neces- 

 sary for the support of large quadrupeds are exaggerated. 

 It should have been remembered that the camel^ an animal 

 of no mean bulk^ has always been considered as the emblem 

 of the desert. 



The belief that where large quadrupeds exists the vege- 

 tation must necessarily be luxuriant^ is the more remark- 

 able, because the converse is far from true. Mr. Burchell 

 observed to me that when entering Brazil^ nothing struck 

 him more forcibly than the splendour of the South Ameri- 

 can vegetation^ contrasted with that of South Africa^ together 

 with the absence of all large quadrupeds. In his Travels^* 

 he has suggested that the comparison of the respective 

 weights (if there were sufficient data) of an equal number 

 of the largest herbivorous quadrupeds of each country would 

 be extremely curious. If we take on the one side the 

 elephant^t hippopotamus^ giraife^ bos caffer^ elan^ certainly 

 three species of rhinoceros^ and probably five ; and on the 



* Travels in the interior of South Africa, vol. ii., p. 207. 



-|- The elephant which was killed at Exeter Change, was estimated 

 (being partly weighed) at five tons and a half. The elephant actress, as I 

 was informed, weighed one ton less ; so that we may take five as the 

 average of a full-grown elephant. I was told at the Surrey Gardens, that a 

 hippopotamus which was sent to England cut up into pieces, was esti- 

 mated at three tons and a half ; we will call it three. From these premises 

 we may give three tons and a half to each of the five rhinoceroses ; per- 

 haps a ton to the giraffe, and half to the bos cafFer as well as the elan, 

 (a large ox weighs from 1200 to 1500 pounds). This will give an average 

 (from the above conjectures) of 2.7 of a ton for the ten largest herbivorous 

 animals of Southern Africa. In South America, allowing 1200 pounds 

 for the two tapirs together, 550 for the guanaco and vicuna, 500 for three 

 deer, 300 for capybara, peccari, and a monkey, we shall have an average of 

 250 pounds, which 1 believe is overstating the result. The ratio will 

 therefore be, as 6048 to 250, for the ten largest animals from the two 

 countries. 



