J. D. Dana on American Geological History, 333 



But here our boasting ceases, for, as Agassiz has shown, the 

 present Fauna of America is more analogous to the later Ter- 

 tiary of Europe than to the existing species of that continent. 



In the Palaeozoic Ages, to the close of the Coal Period, the 

 American continent was as brilliant and perhaps as profuse in its 

 life as any other part of the world. It was a period, indeed, 

 when the globe was in an important sense a unit, not individu- 

 alized in its climates or its distribution of life, and only partially 

 in its seas. But from this time the contrast is most striking. 



The whole number of known American species of animals of 

 the Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary Periods 

 is about two thousand ; while in Britain and Europe, a territory 

 even smaller, there were over twenty thousand species. In the 

 Permian we have none, while Europe has over two hundred 

 species. In the Triassic, none ; Europe, one thousand species. 

 In the Jurassic, (the supposed Triassic here included) sixty ; Eu- 

 rope, over four thousand. In the Cretaceous, three hundred and 

 fifty to four hundred ; Europe, five to six thousand. In the 

 Tertiary, hardly fifteen hundred ; Europe, about eight thousand. 



America, since Palaeozoic times, has therefore been eminent 

 for the poverty of its Fauna. 



Again : the Mammalian Age in America, although commenc- 

 ing with huge Pachyderms, shows little progress afterward. 

 The larger quadrupeds continue to be mostly herbivorous, and 

 the Carnivora, the higher group, are few and of comparatively 

 small size. The Herbivora are still the typical species. While in 

 Europe and Asia, at the same time, — that is, in the Post-ter- 

 tiary, — the Carnivora are of great size and ferocity, far exceed- 

 ing the largest of modern Lions and Tigers, and they exist in 

 immense numbers. The single species of Lion described by Dr. 

 Leidy, from a bone from near Natchez, hardly lessens the contrast. 



South America, as has been remarked by Agassiz and others, 

 sustains the inferior position of America. The huge Sloths, 

 Megatheria, and other Edentates of the South, are even lower in 

 grade than the ordinary Herbivora, and place that Southern 

 continent at an inferior level in the scale. Although there were 

 Carnivora, they were much smaller than the European. The 

 Edentates are its typical species. 



The supremacy of the great Oriental continent is, therefore, 

 most signally apparent. 



The contrast is still greater with Australia and ISTew Zealand, 

 whose past and present Fauna and Flora have been well said by 

 Agassiz and Owen to represent the Jurassic Period, — the pres- 

 ent era affording Trigonias, Terebratulae, Cestraciont Fishes, and 

 the Araucarian Coniferae, all Jurassic types, besides Kangaroos 

 and Moas. Among Mammals, as is well known, the Marsupials, 

 the lowest of all in the class, are its typical species. 



